I always liked the concept of questing for knowledge. Trying to rob that forbidden tome from the Tower of Scrolls to learn the secrets the powerful want to keep hidden from our eyes. So I made a tool to transform Books into treasure and making them useful in the game!
Books
Books are a great treasure, both for those who seek wealth and for those who want knowledge and secrets. They can contain all kinds of information and knowledge, from the records of past civilizations, to recipes, to magical formulas written by the powerful Sorcerer-Kings. The table below helps determine what the book contains.
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d66
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Book Subjects
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d66
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Book Subjects
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11
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Astrology
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41
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Jewelry
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12
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Astromancy
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42
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Prophecy
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13
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Biology
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43
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Laws
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14
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Biomancy
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44
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Art
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15
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Herbalism
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45
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Demonology
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16
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Beasts
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46
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Witchcraft
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21
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Ancient
Civilization
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51
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Battles
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22
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Archeology
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52
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Poetry
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23
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Geography
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53
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Traditions
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24
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Legends of a Region
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54
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Diary
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25
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Religions
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55
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Monsters
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26
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Necromancy
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56
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Empire’s Conquests
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31
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Architecture
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61
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Pornography
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32
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Alien
Technology
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62
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Anthropology
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33
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Psionism
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63
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Linguistics
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34
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Elemental Magic
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64
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Illusions
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35
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Death
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65
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Lost Places
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36
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Forbidden Cults
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66
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Music
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Using Books in Game
Books can be used as a source of information and a resource that can be depleted with use. Each tome usually have a Durability score of 2 or 3, and each time the players seek an information inside it, a Durability Roll is made. If it’s a succesful roll, they find an answer to a question (even though that might not be as clear as they want). A failure on the roll reduces the Durability score by one and the answer is not there, as the author of the book rambles about a pointless subject.
I wrote Mindphlayers & Metaphysicians thinking about adventures where the PCs look for knowledge and wisdom, in addition to or even instead of gold, power and glory, so I really like your idea and the simple rule, but I noticed you did not list "Philosophy" among the subjects, why?
ReplyDeleteWhat I'd like to know, as a complete fan of this work, is why tables are never in alphabetical order. Are they written in Portuguese and ported over without being resorted? It's one of the few flaws in these books, and if somebody tries to tell me it's a feature I'm gonna laugh.
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