How familiar is this scenario? Your players’ characters enter an old study, library, or town bookstore and immediately ask what kind of books they find.

The problem is, you’re not prepared to answer that question. Maybe you were rushed in designing your adventure, or perhaps whoever wrote the adventure didn’t bother to tell you.

Have no fear!

Below are 100 titles of books you can use to help flesh out the more literary settings in your adventures. Some are serious. Some are a bit tongue-in-cheek. While none of the books listed are inherently magical, there is no reason why you couldn’t imbue some with eldritch features.

Read through the list and see if any titles speak to you, or roll a d100 to pick one at random and improvise on the spot. Not all titles will fit all settings. That’s okay. Reroll and/or adjust as you need.

Have fun!

d100 Books!

1. The Book of Common Law
2. Carnivorous Gardening
3. The Book of Twelve Seasons
4. A Journey Beyond the Veil
5. Raising Weasels With Confidence
6. What Lights Shine Forever? A History of Sun Deities
7. A Short History of Dwarves
8. What Color Is Your Dragon?
9. Samwell’s Guide to Arms and Armor
10. The Silent Bard and Other Myths
11. The Letters of Saint Cuthbert
12. Secret Doors and Passages (bad poetry collection)
13. A Journeyman’s Guide to Barrel Making
14. Basic Carpentry For Complex Dungeons
15. The Great Extraplanar Hoax
16. Fungal Crop Rotation For Underground Dwellers
17. How To Use a Sundial In the Rain
18. Farming Wheat, Barley, and Giant Frogs
19. A Caretaker’s Guide to Giant Centipedes
20. 101 Untraceable Poisons
21. All Giants Great and Small
22. 50 Things To Do With a Dead Lich
23. Beauty Is In the Eyes of the Beholder
24. Planning Your Castle Construction
25. Tavern Management In Rural Areas
26. The Assassin’s Inspiration (just a hollowed-out book with a dagger hidden in it)
27. Accidental Pickpocketing and Other Excuses
28. Spells We Are Still Trying To Make Work
29. Samwell’s Guide To Wands
30. The Legend of Tucker’s Kobolds
31. Potatoes That Resemble Goblins: A Pictorial
32. Basic Ammunition Accounting for Archers, Crossbowers, and Slingers
33. Vines: Small, Medium, Giant
34. Defeating a Heavy Iron Gate
35. Counting to Ten for Orcs
36. The Arrow of Benevolent Intent
37. Monstrous Philosophies
38. Thirty Ways To Skin a Dragon
39. Warlock vs Sorcerer: How To Spot the Difference
40. Tower Defenses, What Works and What Does Not
41. Samwell’s Guide To Holy Symbols
42. Prayers For the Righteous
43. Identifying Grubs, Worms, and Sentient Fungi
44. Wyverns, Wyrms, Drakes & Dragons: The Differences
45. Recipes For Disaster: A Cookbook
46. A Field Guide To Fey
47. 1001 Things To Do Underground
48. A History of Thieve Guilds
49. Weather Manipulation and Farm Management
50. The Whole Hollow World Atlas
51. The Great Bird Hoax
52. The Physics Behind interdimensional Portals, Bags, and Holes
53. What’s Behind That Door? A Listener’s Handbook
54. Turnips. The Gods’ Own Gift To the World
55. How To Make a Lantern Out Of a Skull
56. Candlemaking for Clerics
57. Surveillance Techniques That Don’t Work
58. The Myth of the Useful Bard
59. Samwell’s Guide To Useless Glyphs
60. Thieves Cant… or Can They?
61. Hunting Mushrooms In the Dark
62. Cursed Idols and Relics of the Desert
63. Climate Change During the Dark Wizard Times
64. Airships. An Inflatable History
65. How To Live Forever—or Close To It
66. Giant Flowers. Friend or Foe?
67. The Most Grand Illusion
68. Daily Affirmations for Tyrants
69. Hidden Staircases and Secret Doors
70. Managing Your Giant Vines
71. How To Get Way With Murder
72. Poisoned Pens. Allegory or Literal Danger?
73. Sonnets for Sorcerers
74. Seven Knights For Seven Dragons
75. River Navigation Through Magical Forests
76. A Biological Survey of Gnomish “People”
77. Mysterious Structures That Glow
78. Samwell’s Guide To Blue-Colored Potions
79. The Unlikely Romance of Owls and Bears
80. Rocks That Sort of Look Like Orcs
81. Animal Husbandry and Midwifery
82. Castle Gardens For Long Sieges
83. Doors That Don’t Go Anywhere and Other Dungeon Tricks
84. How Green Is My Goblin?
85. How To Tell a Brew Is True
86. Cubicles & Commuters: A Fantasy Roleplaying Guide
87. Explosive Grass and Other Lawn Care Tips
88. Is Your Spouse a Polymorph? 50 Signs They Might Be
89. Plots, Intrigue, and Politics
90. The Book of Uncommon Law
91. Feeding Your Village On One Enlarged Vegetable a Year
92. A Simple Guide To Vampires
93. Unwrapping the Mystery of Mummies
94. Ghost Stories Written By Ghosts
95. Samwell’s Guide To Love and Love Potions
96. The Underground Horoscope
97. Orienteering Without a Compass
98. How To Work a Sextant
99. Fabled Treasures and Monsters
100. Puppetry For Evil and Parties

What are some of your book titles? Feel free to share in the comments.

Some artwork © 2015 Dean Spencer, used with permission. All rights reserved.