Just a quick content post - I know we're not anywhere near November, but I've been working on a project anyway and decided to share it.
I haven't been on the Forums for about nine months, and I an already sad at the fun conversations and absolute Flamebaux-worthy arguments I missed.
In my home saga we had some fun discussions about the roleplaying of a Library, and about what happens when you go book shopping during a Tribunal. Magi usually can't apply numerical xp to a book, so I wanted some other way to identify and create books.
A library is one of the most important parts of any covenant. Every covenant has one, some have more. Even if the library is just a magically protected cabinet in the back of a rickety wagon, the magi value their books more than their fingers - the fingers are much easier to replace when lost.
Storyguides and troupes can easily work together to build a library that feels real and fun, and they build libraries that show the interests of the elder magi around, and that give the players something to strive for themselves, either in advancing themselves or in having books to write for their own library.
This task gets harder once Hermetic politics and social shenanigans comes into play - It would make sense that players in Stonehenge would want to visit Voluntas for their famed library, or use their temporary alliance with Blackthorn to gain access to a few seasons of really good books on dark magics. Obviously, the players are going to ask the Redcaps to keep an ear out for any rumors of wonderful, rare books that might be available in any library; I haven't had any game where players did not start asking about trading books for more in their own library.
It feels pretty strange, though, to have the Redcaps say "I have a Quality 10 Tractatus on Ignem, and a Quality 9 Tractatus on Magic Theory, and a Quality 13 Tractatus on ignem. There also is a Level 10 Quality 8 Summae on Ignem." I find it rather hard for me to just pull up books and authors out of nowhere, and when we do come up with a good name, often the players may just ask, "Okay, Ignem. What's its Quality?"
This project is designed to make your libraries more interesting. To give an easy list of authors to use, and to give a series of books they've written. I want the books to feel alive, and I do not want a library to be a series of Abilities, Arts, and raw numbers. To make the books feel alive, we need to make the authors into actual characters, even if those characters are long dead, or barely known newcomers instead of well-known archmagi.
To further enhance the reality of libraries, tractati will all have a topic, in addition to a subject. For example, a book on Faerie Lore (Q11) would be focused on forest faeries. This could be used to provide research opportunities, or bonuses to Lore rolls.
Here is the math I played around with to get a simple concept or schema for what I expect from randomly generated Tractati for sale.
My site and source below if people want to follow progress or make comedic commentary.
