Books, 1 (d100)

An eclectic library of dusty tomes, fictional textbooks, pocketbooks, paperbacks, hardcovers, booklets, leaflets and magical manuals. Paper leaves and the binding surrounding them can help define a character, kick off a subplot, fuel a fetch quest or simply serve as a generic macguffin. Commonly seen in video games such as Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, World of Warcraft and Skyrim, book items are a way to subtly world build while still handing out sellable loot. A wizard has a spellbook, a cleric has a holy text and now you have a trinket list.

d100 Result

1

A bestiary containing only several dozen different entries on one common animal, some of them offering mutually contradictory information.

2

A book of flumph grammar

3

A book of labelled “Magical Lore”, that contains a hollow interior compartment.

4

A book that gives you a powerful migraine whenever you try to read it. You are still unsure of what knowledge or story it holds.

5

A book that perfectly records the holder’s dreams when held while sleeping.

6

A book that you faintly remember from your childhood that you thought was lost for many years.

7

A book with a children’s fairy tale that change every time it is read.

8

A book with a harmonious mystery story, however whenever you turn the last page it takes you back to the middle of the story so you don’t know how it ends.

9

A botany book filled with dangerous misinformation.

10

A children’s storybook entitled “The Magic God’s Gifts”

11

A dark book with an imposing black sigil on the front cover. Every page is completely blank and untouched.

12

A detailed guide on the anatomy of rocks, with graphic illustrations of how geodes are conceived

13

A detailed guide on the anatomy of rocs.

14

A detailed guidebook to making pickled foods.

15

A diary belonging to a pleasure slave.

16

A diary of a man who claims to have been cursed to forever walk the earth, the writer is unidentified and the last few pages are missing.

17

A diary of a notorious philanderer that contains useful information on how to dress yourself quickly in pitch darkness without making a sound.

18

A durable handbook which contains the epic poem, The All-Knowing Winter Gods’ Legend

19

A graduate student’s first published copy of their thesis “A Report on the Kingdoms’ Ideological Treaties”. The dedication is made out to her friends and family.

20

A graduate student’s first published copy of their thesis “Similarities in the Uncommon Areas of Habitation of the Troll and the Dragon”. The dedication is made out to all of his colleagues and hired guards who died during the research portion.

21

A guidebook to making, changing and maintaining bowstrings. It’s filled with grammatical errors.

22

A handbook of etiquette and the courtly manners of nobles of an empire that fell.

23

A heavily smudged handbook entitled “A Tactical Comparison of the Shortbow and Spear”

24

A holy text of The Blessings of the Infinite Birth God

25

A holy text of The Wisdom of the All-Knowing Summer God

26

A journal filled with poetry hand-written in Primordial.

27

A journal recounting a famous battle that contradicts what is commonly thought about the event. It was written by a great sage who claims to have been present.

28

A journal that details the great adventures of a hero no one has heard of, complete with vivid descriptions of nonsensical creatures and terms, all written in messy handwriting, but with impressive diction.

29

A large blank tome that seems to be missing most of it’s pages.

30

A leather bound book with pages showing in detail how drow and demons couple to create Draegloth, in graphic detail.

31

A muddy book with a single phrase repeated over and over: “The gravesoil never washes away”

32

A pocket book of dwarven poetry

33

A pocket instruction manual depicting bizarre fighting stances of leaping, spinning and holding weapons by the wrong end.

34

A portfolio of dried pressed flowers, along with taxonomy descriptions of them

35

A reference tome and organizational guide of an abandoned library.

36

A romance novel written in undercommon titled “Just one Layer of Grey”.

37

A seemingly untouched copy of “An Encyclopedia of the Forgotten Notables of the Earldom”

38

A seemingly untouched copy of “The Muscular System of Griffins: New Speculations”

39

A seemingly untouched copy of The Latest Research Into The Circulatory System of Chimeras

40

A slightly out of date guidebook to foreign inns, taverns, and transportation

41

A small book entitled “Path to Forgiveness”, edged in gold filigree. Inside, some pages have been cut away to insert a small gold ingot and a handwritten note, stating “As agreed, three more once Jarl Khoral is crow pickings.”

42

A small empty book wrapped in a red velvet covering, embroidered with a the sign of an open hand.

43

A small handbook entitled “A Discussion of the Origins of the Stiletto, Knife or Shoe?”

44

A small nickel edged book with a hummingbird motif lock. If successfully unlocked, the book contains hand written essays on avian husbandry and training by the reputable (and deceased) Falconer Kothmai.

45

A small notebook full of drawings and sketches of the local area.

46

A small prayer book, the cover is stained with an unidentifiable slime.

47

A small water-damaged book labelled ‘The Genealogy of the Walpo Family.’

48

A terribly written novel whose plot seems to match events that have happened in the reader’s life.

49

A theatre playbook from a performance where many of the audience died in a suspicious fire.

50

A thick book comparing and contrasting various stories of myth and legend in an attempt to discover what is and is not true, entitled “The Legendary Facts Concerning the Forest God”

51

A thick journal bound in grubby fur filled with awful, highly disturbing sorcerous ramblings.

52

A thick research tome entitled “The Subtle War God’s Sanctuaries”, which goes into great detail over the various locations, defences, staffing and purposes of the sanctuaries.

53

A thick tome containing a modern transcription of an ancient prophecy predicting that the highest of the land will fall when the sky cries blood.

54

A thick tome entitled “Personal Transformations for Mages, Volume 3”

55

A tome filled with cryptic writings, all in Common, but with confusing terminology.

56

A torn, warped copy of “Evard’s Poetry: 100 Poems for the Aspiring Prince”.

57

A torrid romance novel entitled “The Infamous Priesthood and the Protector Goddesses”

58

A translation guide for a fictional language.

59

A wizard’s journal, recounting the tales of many arcane experiments.

60

A wood bound copy of The Codex of Advanced Alchemy

61

An orcish phrasebook containing only variations of phrases which include the words: food, enemy, and fight.

62

My Journey Among the Merfolk, A Landlubber’s Adventure: A book bound in otter leather whose writing only appears when it is submerged in water.

63

The diary of a prison guard with half of the pages written in a strange cipher.

64

The journal of a philosopher, full of wise sayings and anecdotes.

65

Tongues and Their Reading: A pocketbook of flame identification, used to tell magical flames from natural ones and much more.

66

A heavily smudged handbook entitled “Halberds and Slings: A Tutorial to Variations Thereof”

67

A seemingly untouched copy of “Similarities in the Social Hierarchies of the Unicorn and the Cockatrice”

68

The first publication of a graduate student’s thesis “Unicorns’ Child-Rearing Habits: An Examination”. In the dedication the author thanks her friends and family but especially her long suffering romantic partner. She goes on to say how she will be retiring form the field of unicorn research in order to focus on becoming more “intimate” with her fiancé and they will be married and have the wedding consummated as soon as a sober enough priest can be located.

69

A copy of “Current Studies of Centaurs’ Integument”, bound in what appears to be horse hide.

70

A book entitled “The Uncommon Areas of Habitation of The Roc” which is the third volume in a series of ten.

71

A blood spattered veterinary textbook entitled “An Examination of Hippogriffs’ Sensory Systems”

72

An engaging and sharp witted series of bound essays entitled “The State’s Legendary Literary Conflicts”

73

An incredibly dry book entitled “Excretory System of the Ettin and the Cockatrice: Similarities”

74

A dog-eared copy of “A Revolutionary Discussion of the Manufacture of the Falchion”

75

A surprising well written and engaging arcane spell book entitled “A Necromancer’s Guide to Abjuration, Protecting the living with the Dead”. The author has managed to work in a few humorous anecdotes and words of wisdom which balances out the otherwise grim subject matter.

76

A book entitled “A Comparison of the Sleeping Patterns of the Hippogriff and the Sea Serpent”, which has been signed by the author.

77

A mage’s handbook entitled “The Peacetime Use of Revised Transformation”, which outlines the way in which traditionally combat oriented transmutation and transfiguration magic can be repurposed into civil engineering and public works projects.

78

A wood bound copy of “The Capitol’s Economic Famines”

79

A thick tome entitled “Regarding the Forgotten Prophets of the Territories”

80

An action and adventure novel entitled “The Agents of the Winter Goddess”

81

A sturdy travel book entitled “Prayers to the Infallible Snow God”

82

A cheap pulp handbook in a shoddy binding entitled “An Expose of the Territory’s Infamous Poets”

83

A large atlas entitled “The Major Charges of the Frontiers”. Opposing pages have historical and modern maps, allowing the reading to easily compare the changes in borders, cities and natural resources.

84

A seemingly untouched copy of “A Revolutionary Tutorial on the Development of Shivs and Crossbows”

85

A mage’s handbook entitled “Practice Summonings for Apprentices”, that seems to be mostly advice, rules and guidelines on what not to do, rather than how to actually perform a summoning.

86

A blood spattered medical textbook entitled “The Methods of Locomotion of Minotaurs”

87

A bound collection of blueprints and architectural sketches entitled “The Temples Built for the Omnipotent Wind Goddess”

88

A bound collection of stories that aims to dispel the mythos around tales of local adventures and focus on the facts of their tales. It is entitled “An Encyclopedia of the Minor Heroes of the City”

89

A heavily smudged handbook entitled “A Concise Discussion of the Variants of the Glaive”

90

A mage’s tome entitled “A Treatise of Evocation”, that seems to be an in-depth contrast and comparison on the varying types of violent magical force that can be applied to a myriad of common creatures and materials. The tome provides conclusions as to which type of destructive magic works best against which objects, as well as situations where alternate types of energy could be efficient. For example, against frozen or extremely wet stones (Including stone building foundations), fire spells can be used to great effect, as the stone cracks and shatters once reaching a certain temperature causing objects around it to take damage as well.

91

A mage’s tome entitled “The Codex of Basic Abjuration” which explains the methodology behind how protections spells work and how various magic decides what is and is not harmful to the protected creatures. It is apparent that at some point a large amount of work went into creating spells that would protect a creature from being harmed by fire while still allowing them to feel warmth.

92

A copy of “An Overview of Goblins’ Integument”, bound in what very well be goblin leather.

93

A quickly and shoddily made handbook entitled “An Examination of the Recent Religious Assassinations of the Kingdom” which weaves a vague and confusing web of conspiracy theories around the deaths.

94

A bound collection of blueprints and architectural sketches entitled “Sanctuaries of the Spring Goddess”

95

A small handbook entitled “Minor Stories of the Birth Goddess” which seems to be a collection of lessons, procedures, herbal concoctions and advice in the field of midwifery concealed as stories and fables.

96

A wood bound book entitled “A Comparative Evaluation of the Wood Axe and Battleaxe”, which is incredibly boring despite it’s sharp and violent subject matter.

97

A strangely thick tome entitled “A Brief Comparison of Battleaxes and Tridents” which goes into incredible detail on the two radically different weapons.

98

A bound collection of blueprints and architectural sketches entitled “A Study of the Famous Architects of the Empire”

99

A bound collection of blueprints and architectural sketches entitled “The Sanctuaries of the Eternal Woodland Goddesses”

100

A thick historical tome entitled “The Literary Annals of the Capitol”, which is the fourth volume in a series of ten books.