As your players’ characters walk into the sights and smells of a mage’s study, the dust and silence of a sage’s library, or the forbidding cages of a demon’s infernal bookstore, they glance around and straightway ask what the books they can see look like.
But what if the only answer you have prepared is the description of the one you want them to find, plus perhaps a couple of decoys? What do you do if they start to drift along the shelves or walk around the tables stacked high with volumes? Are you ready answer their questions? Were you were rushed when setting up the adventure? Did the author add enough detail? If so, worry no more!
Below are descriptions of 100 types of books and tomes. Use them to grab the attention of your players’ characters and to help flesh out the atheneums, bibliothecas and literature repositories in your adventures. Some are obvious, some are uncommon, and some are outlandish! While most the books are not magical in themselves, some only exist thanks to the efforts of casters, and the contents themselves may just be information rather than magical as well. Unless, that is, you decide differently…
