25 July 2009
Today’s Tabbloid
PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
ROGUE FEED
[Lost Works] Library’s and
Librarians of the Old World
JUL 24, 2009 05:52P.M.
So for this entry I thought I’d go into the archive and dig up some old
Warhammer FRP articles. Some appeared in Warpstone, others
appeared in Shadis, and a few appeared on the old Warhammer FRP
Listserve, as this piece did. Warhammer FRP 1E is one of my
favorite games, and even today, for me, it is still a favorite. Looking over
these old pieces I cannot help feel a itch to play this game again. Sadly, I
do not have time.
As for the origins of this article, it is a simple one, I wrote it library
school. As a former librarian, I am amazed how much this profession
influenced me. This was first written back in the late 90s, and was
revised a couple of times. It only appeared on the Warhammer FRP
Listserve, so for many this is a new piece.
Library’s and Librarians of the Old World
Attached to any large university, temple or guild hall you will find a
library. A library is a place where much of the knowledge of a
organization is kept. You will not only find books, but rare maps,
archived ledgers, copies of contracts, and other forms of written
information. To keep a library running you need two very important
people: clerks and librarians.
Shelving books, and the daily running of the library falls on to the
shoulders of clerks. They are the people that library visitors come into
regular contact with. Next to the librarian they are also the only ones
who understands the classification system. Librarians are the most
important people when it comes to libraries, because they are the ones
who developed the classification system. As a result of this they are
usually the ones who know where everything is. More importantly
librarians know how to use the collection to research a topic. This article
will introduce libraries to the Warhammer Fantasy Role Play world,
and introduce two new careers as well.
Libraries
Eventually a player will want to have his character visit a library to track
down information. Be it a location of a lost tower, or a 50 year-old
contract, most answers can be found in a library. Unlike libraries today,
Old World Libraries are run completely different. First of all libraries are
not open to the public. A person must be either a member of a guild, a
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student, or professor of a university to gain access. Once you get past the
doors a visitor does not have easy access to the library’s collection.
Books, scrolls and other items of value are guarded carefully, and the
cost of replacement is so high that most of the collection is chained. If
the collection is not chained the stacks will certainly be closed.
A Chained Book is what the name implies: the book is physically chained
and locked to the shelf, and the only way for the book to be moved is if
the chain is unlocked. What the librarian does is drill a small hole near
the spine of the book. Then a fine chain is threaded through the hole and
is locked in place. The other end of the chain is then secured to the shelf.
You will find chained books in most university libraries, because it deters
students and scholars from walking away with books. By chaining the
books to the shelf the librarians knows that the collection is safe. If books
are not chained then the library usually employs closed stacks. A closed
stack collection is one where only clerks and librarians can walk among
the shelves. If the person needs a book, they request it and it is brought
to them.
Regardless if the book is chained or the collection is closed, no library
allows the patron to check-out materials. There are some groups like The
Order of the Illuminated Reader, that loan books to their members, but
the penalty for not returning the book is very high (for more information
please see Dying of the Light). Since most libraries prohibit their
collection from being checked-out there are many attempts to steal or
even remove pages from books. To discourage this, most libraries hire
guards to watch the doors and wander up and down the isles. If a patron
is caught stealing a book the penalty is usually a stiff fine or jail. If a
patron is caught cutting pages from books, the penalty depends on the
type of library. For a university or geographical library the punishment is
prison and the offender being striped of all university privileges. Guild
libraries tend to lean toward imprisonment, and the stripping of guild
membership. However, there has been some reported cases of the guilty
party being sold into indentured service. Religious libraries have a
modified form of punishment, which usually involves the offender
working off the damage for a number of years. If a book thief or vandal is
caught in a magical library, justice is swift, lethal, and permanent.
Navigating a library is difficult even for the literate. All libraries have a
cataloging system that is unique to their library. A cataloging system
employs letters, numbers or the combination of the two. The purpose of
the cataloging system is to make the retrieval of a book very easy.
However, this often proves not to be the case because all libraries use
their own system of cataloging and their is no agreed upon system in
place. With no agreed upon cataloging standards, and the cramped
nature of shelves a person would become quickly lost in a maze of books
and paper. That is why all libraries employ clerks and librarians.
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
Clerks are the people that most library visitors come into contact with on
a daily visit. It is the clerk’s job to reshelve the books and manage the
daily operation of the library. Most common research questions and
book requests can filled by a clerk. They may not have the necessary
training of a librarian, but they know enough to point a person in the
right direction. Unlike librarians, the work a clerk does is free, and it
does not cost the patron anything extra to have a book brought to them.
Though a clerk may not have developed the libraries cataloging system,
they are familiar with it. Clerks also serve another important function:
they act as the flood gate between the patron and the librarian.
Librarians are too busy to answer simple questions like: “When was
Emperor Franz born?” It is the clerk’s job to handle such trivial matters,
and steer the general public away from bothering a librarian.
Clerks may know how to find the books, but it is the librarian who knows
who to make them sing. Librarians are experts in research, and can
quickly locate what the PC is looking for. However research is long and
expensive, and only the most wealthy can afford to hire the services of a
trained librarian. The average price is 5 GC’s per hour of research. If the
librarian is a specialized one, the price will be even higher.
Table 1 — Cost of Research
Type Price in Gold Crowns Hours to Find Answer Librarian
5 d4 Geographical 5 d4+1 Law 6 d6 Religious 7 d6+2 Magical 10 d12
There are five types of libraries that are common to the Old World, and
these are the ones that PC’s will come into contact with during their
careers. The five types are: university libraries, geographical libraries,
guild libraries, religious libraries, and magical libraries.
University libraries are attached to all major universities. These
libraries are staffed by regular librarians, and there are no specialized
librarians on staff. The collections contain books and scrolls that deal
with broad topics of: history, literature, anthropology, philosophy,
archaeology, chemistry, physics, legends, myths, and sometimes music.
University libraries are open to registered university students and faculty
members. Non students are typical charged 1 GC just to get into the door.
Geographical libraries are a special library that deals with only maps,
atlas, and charts. Currently there are only two such libraries in the Old
World, and they are attached to the libraries of Altdof and Marienburg.
These libraries operate independently from the typical university
libraries, and have their own policies in place. They are staffed by
geographical librarians and the research they conduct deals with
navigation and mapping.
Guild libraries are an important part of all guilds, and they often have
their own section within the Guild Hall. These libraries are the archives
of guild history, and you will find papers dating back to the founding of
the guild. Guild Libraries are staffed by Law Librarians, and they look
over the sensitive nature of the collection. Only guild members have
access to these libraries, however bribes have been known to be paid by
non-guild members to gain access.
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25 July 2009
Religious libraries are special libraries located in the main temple of
each of the main faiths. Though the Verena libraries are renowned for
their subject coverage, other faiths have libraries as well. The purpose of
a religious library is simple: store and preserve the important writings of
the faith. All religious libraries contain religious texts, and other
important writings devoted not just to the patron god, but the other gods
as well. Religious libraries also tend to be archives of the former head
priests and priestess writings. All religious libraries are staffed by
religious librarians, and many of these librarians are also former priests
as well. Unlike other libraries, religious libraries are open and
admittance is usually in the way of a donation to the church.
Magic libraries are the rarest of all libraries in the Empire and the Old
World. Though the high elves realm of Ulthuan are known to have the
largest library devoted to magic, this is inaccessible to non-elf wizards.
The only publicly known Magic Library is located at the School of
Wizardry in Altdorf. Wizards who want access to this library pay a yearly
fee of 50 GC’s, which allows them access to the collection. This fee does
not include research and all research done by magic librarians is still
paid for. The Altdorf magical library is a heavily guarded building, and
probably is the most secure building in the whole Empire, if not the Old
World.
Using Librarians
Librarians offer many possibilities as both NPC’s and as PC’s. NPC
librarians can be a source of employment for adventures who need to
earn money. Librarians are always looking for new books to acquire, or
tracking down book thieves. Add to this that most librarians have access
to rare information, a librarian will often higher a group of adventures to
track down a object that was discovered in a book. Adventures who come
into contact with books during their adventuring, will often find
librarians anxious to buy what they have. NPC librarians tend to be quiet
and aloof. They rather conduct their own research, and find the
interruptions from a patron to be an annoyance.
Sometimes a librarian will grow tired of being among books, and only
reading about adventures. These librarians seek to experience life, and
see if what they have read is true. A librarian who takes to the open road
will often find that what he reads was not entirely true. Player character
librarians are adventures. They seek to uncover lost knowledge and
experience the events they have only read about. Though they are not the
best of fighters, they use their knowledge to solve problems.
New Careers
The two major careers that are present in libraries are clerks and
librarians. Clerks perform most of the daily duties of keeping a library
working, and as mentioned most PC’s will come into contact with clerks
when they visit the library. Librarians run the library and they are the
ones who keep the collection in repair, developed the classification
system, and perform research.
Clerk (Academic Basic)
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
M WS BS S T W I A Dex Ld Int Cl WP Fel — — — — — —
+10 — +10 +10 +10 +10 — —
Entries: Initiate, Scribe, Student, Wizard Apprentice
Exits: Charlatan, Cleric, Counterfeiter, Initiate, Lawyer, Scribe, Student,
Wizard, Wizard Apprentice
Skills: Blather, Languages, Read/Write, Super Numerate; 25% Secret
Language Classical; 25% Law, 25% Linguistics
Trappings: Eye Glasses, Writing Kit, 1d20 Forms and Petitions,
Dagger, 2 Gold Crowns
To run a government the size of the Empire it requires a lot of lower level
bureaucrats to keep the wheels of government moving. Universities also
need people to keep track of admissions and manage the daily running of
the university. Libraries need clerks to shelve books, deal with patrons,
and manage the daily running of the library. Merchants, coaching
companies and guilds use clerks to manage the books and keep track of
the expenses. Though many think that clerks have no real power this is
not the case. After all it is a clerk who process your guild membership
form, court petition or University admission. If you anger a clerk you will
soon discover that your paperwork has conveniently become lost.
Librarian (Advanced Career)
M WS BS S T W I A Dex Ld Int Cl WP Fel — +10 — +1 — —
— — +20 +10 +40 +20 +20 +20
Entries: Cleric, Clerk, Lawyer, Scholar, Scribe, Student, Wizard
Exits: Charlatan, Cleric, Lawyer, Scholar, Wizard.
Librarians can also choose to become a specialized Librarians. To do so a
librarian has to purchase all the skills for a general Librarian and pay an
additional 100 EP. If a specialized librarian wants to move into another
specialty, they must first acquire all the skills in their current specialty
and pay an additional 100 EP.
Skills: *Book Repair, Evaluate, History, Linguistics, Lip reading,
Read/Write, *Research, Scholarship (Apocrypha Now, page 64),
Secret Language–Classical. (*new skill see below).
The following skills are available to specialist librarians:
Geographical Librarian: Astronomy, Cartography, Navigation
Law Librarian: Law, Super Numerate
Magic Librarian: Magical Awareness, Rune Lore, Secret Language-
Magick, Scroll Lore
Religious Librarian: Scroll Lore, Theology
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25 July 2009
Trappings: Reading Glasses, Writing Kit, 1d4 Books on Various Topics,
Book Knife (treat as improvised weapon), Spool of Bundling Twine
A librarian is responsible for the running of a library, and will supervise a
number of workers who shelve, repair and manage the collection. It is
the librarian who developed the library’s cataloging system, and
generally they are the only one who knows where anything is.
Scholars see librarians as nothing more than failed teachers. Students
and patrons on the other hand see them as enforces of silence and the
guardians of books. Librarians disagree with these views, and they see
themselves as the caretakers to the past. A book or scroll, they argue, is a
window to the past and this window must be preserved. Librarians will
always seek out new materials for their library’s collection, and will
protect the collection as if it was theirs.
It is rumored that recently the secret order known as the Ancient Order
of the Illuminated Readers has started hiring librarians to work in the
Unseen Library. The reason for this is due to members of the order
finding it next to impossible to find anything on the stacks. Since
librarians have started working in the Unseen Library, the collection has
started to become easier to navigate. For more information on The Order
of Illuminated Readers please see page 188 of Dying of the Light.
New Skills
Book Repair
A character with this skill can repair and preserve scrolls, maps, charts,
books, and anything else made of paper. Dex tests are made with a +10%
modifier when a librarian is trying to repair or persevered something of
paper. If the roll is failed the object is badly damaged and may in fact be
ripped.
Research
A character with this skill knows how to use books and other written
materials to conduct research. Int tests are made with a +10% modifier,
failure indicates that it takes the character one extra hour to conduct
research, while success indicates that it takes the character a hour less to
conduct the research.
Posted in Games, thoughts Tagged: Games, Lost Works, thoughts,
Warhammer FRP, writing
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
ROGUE FEED
GenCon is comming. Rogue
Games is getting ready
JUL 24, 2009 05:43P.M.
The countdown has begun. In a few weeks, Rogue Games will be in lovely
Indianapolis Indiana, running demos and selling games. Here are a few
things you need to know.
Booth Number: 2038
New Product: Colonial Gothic Revised ($24.99) and Thousand Suns:
Foundation Transmissions ($12.99).
Cool Things for GenCon Only: Colonial Gothic eBook CD ($2.50)
and 12 Degrees Dice Pack ($6.00).
Other Products: The complete line for both games, as well as a few
rare things as well.
Demos: Colonial Gothic demos in the booth starting Friday. Why not
Thursday? Graeme Davis will not be in town early enough. Three cool
demos are planned, and if you want to play, stop by the booth.
There you go. Plan accordingly.
If you are not going to be at GenCon, have no fears. Like we did last
year, anything new being released at the show will be ready to buy and
download from Drivethrurpg.com on Thursday. So if you want Thousand
Suns: Foundation Transmissions before your friends, you will be able to
buy it and download it Thursday morning. In addition, the PDF
Guarantee is in effect for GenCon as well. How? That is for me to know,
and you to find out. Ok, that is not nice, simply put,you buy any of the
Rogue Games books after the show you will get the PDF.
ROGUE FEED
Vote Old School
JUL 24, 2009 12:09P.M.
Voting for the ENnie Awards starts today and continues until August 1st.
Normally, this would mean very little to me, since I’m as skeptical of fan
awards as I am of industry-based ones, but, dyed-in-the-wool hypocrite
that I am, I’m making an exception this year. Mythmere Games’s Swords
& Wizardry has been nominated for “Best Free Product,” one of only two
products in the category that I think, in my highly biased opinion, abides
by its spirit. I’d like to urge everyone who feels the same way to cast a
vote for S&W by following this link. I don’t expect it to win, but stranger
things have happened and, by some stretch it should take the prize,
that’d be a remarkable achievement, not just for Swords & Wizardry but
for the entire old school movement.
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25 July 2009
There’s also a category “Best Publisher” and both Goblinoid Games and
Mythmere Games have been nominated. Since you can vote for up to 20,
if you do vote, make sure to cast votes for both these companies, who’ve
done a great deal for the old school renaissance over the last couple of
years. We owe them both a debt of thanks for what they’ve done thus far.
Again, I don’t expect either one to win, but I’d hate for that to be for lack
of trying on our part. So, if you’re so inclined, please go vote. I don’t
normally participate in the ENnies as a voter; I made an exception this
year. Perhaps you should too.
ROGUE FEED
Dwimmermount, Session 15
JUL 24, 2009 10:43A.M.
The most recent session of Dwimmermount saw further exploration of
the current sub-level, with several combats against hobgoblins and ogres,
who seem to be the primary inhabitants of the place. Like the orcs of the
earlier levels, the hobgoblins employed Thulian weapons and armor,
including a strange device that appeared to be an “azoth projector” —
basically, an arcane flamethrower that used ignited azoth for fuel.
Unsurprisingly, Dordagdonar, who’s revealed himself to have quite a
fascination with human technology despite his avowed disdain for
“ephemerals,” decided to dismantle the device — it was mounted onto
the floor — and take it with him when he returned to civilization, in the
hopes of re-mounting it on a wheeled cart and finding a way to make it
function with another fuel source.
The session itself was noteworthy not so much for its actual events but
for the way those events helped to give me some further insights into old
school play. First, the characters lost another hireling, Drogo, and, rather
than planning to replace him at the first opportunity, they didn’t really
see the need to do so. Indeed, Brother Candor is contemplating releasing
Sam the Archer from his service, since Sam is just a 1st-level Fighting
Man and is increasingly outclassed by the monsters they’re encountering
in Dwimmermount. The party, which once consisted of a very large
number of hirelings, is slowly shrinking in size, with most of the
remaining NPCs being either henchmen (like Henga the Shield-Maiden)
or specialists (like Gaztea).
What this suggests to me is that hirelings are most useful in the earliest
levels of a character’s life — level 1-3. As they reach 4th level or
thereabouts, hirelings prove less useful, as the PCs can now handle much
greater dangers without having to ring themselves with cannon fodder.
Hirelings are thus the old school way of augmenting low-level
effectiveness, which only makes sense, since low-level characters are
quite fragile. However, managing hirelings is a strategic obstacle,
requiring the players not only to locate their employees but also
negotiate a salary that they can then provide. Likewise, as NPCs,
hirelings cannot be totally relied upon: they’re subject to morale and
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 25 July 2009

have goals of their own beyond being used as canaries in the coal mine.

I rather suspect that much of the early roleplaying in a campaign comes

from interactions between the PCs and their hirelings; that was certainly
the case in Dwimmermount. Over time, the players develop affection for
some hirelings over others and it’s these that wind up becoming
henchmen. That was the case with Henga and would have been the case
with Brakk, had the goblin survived the bucket of acid that fell on his
head in Adamas. It’s thus my experience that, far from being an
impediment to roleplaying, hirelings (and henchmen) actually encourage
it.

The other thing I noticed was that, when Dordagdonar suggested re-
tooling the azoth projector for his own use, I didn’t bat an eye at the
suggestion. Certainly I suggested it’d take time and money to complete —
if it were even possible — but I didn’t even consider dissuading his player
from this plan. One of the things I like about this campaign is that,
because there’s no grand plan, rolling with the punches is a matter of
course. While I’m sure my players could come up with an idea that might
derail my very limited plans for the campaign, the odds of its happening
are pretty small. That’s frankly very liberating for me, much in the way
that not having a large and detailed map of the world is liberating: I can
easily add new things as I need them.

At present, the only civilized places the characters have been are
Muntburg and Adamas. They know about Yethlyreom, the city of the
necromancers, but they’ve never shown any inclination to go there,
which is why it hasn’t yet been placed on the map. That gives me the
freedom to make it near or far as required. The same goes for any other
future settlements or locales I might decide to include in the campaign.
This approach has really cut down on my prep time for the game sessions
— to nearly none at all — but it does demand a fair bit of mental agility
on my part, but then that’s part of the fun of it for me. Having to make
things up on the fly is one of the joys of being the referee; it’s also why
having lots of random tables was a hallmark of old school play.

Oh yes — the PCs also found an old Thulian battle standard in

Dwimmermount. They’ve decide they’re going to offer it to Saidon, the
priest of Typhon, since he’s known to be a collector of antiquities. And of
course their visit to him gives me the opportunity to further flesh out his
faith and what it’s up to while the characters are off exploring the
megadungeon ...