SKALDHEIM BIBLIOPHILIA by Dan Thorman

SKALDHEIM BIBLIOPHILIA

Being Extended Rules for Dungeons & Dragons on the Topic of the Written Word

by Dan Thorman

FOREWARD

PAPER

DESCRIPTION

FOREWARD

I have done a great deal of research on the sizes of real-life antiquarian books and the binding thereof. I've had some great fun converting to D&D game terms, weighing in what WotC official information is available and using some of your guidelines. I have struck upon the following system as being enjoyable to play and self-consistent, though not terribly historically accurate. For example, the early books averaged much smaller than the 3lb spellbook, and were somewhat taller and narrower than my more Americanized constructs. Also, continuous rolls of paper were not introduced until the 1800s, but they make a nice convenient unit and are pleasingly reminiscent of papyrus rolls.

PAPER

Pages most often associated with ancient books are papyrus, parchment, and paper. We will not get into papyrus right now (though my Egyptian campaign might). To reconcile the PHB, and some general directives from Clark, I have guestimated the thickness of these coarse (by modern standards) materials to be 1/32 of an inch, and 3/4 of that respectively. A 'leaf' is one physical piece of paper sticking out from a book's spine. Since you can write on both sides of it, it is two pages.

Equipment Price* Weight

Parchment (1 sheet) 2 SP 0.37 oz.

Paper (1 sheet) 4 SP 0.28 oz.

Vellum (1 sheet) 8 SP 0.75 oz.

Sheep or Goat Skin 42 SP 0.50 lbs.

Calf Skin 18 GP 1.00 lbs.

Roll of paper 64 GP 8.00 lbs.

* These are ‘full price’. Resellers can get these for about ½ price.

DESCRIPTION

Calf Skin - Vellum

This is the skin of one stillborn or infant cow that has been separated, stretched and fully treated by a parchmenter then dried into a flat husk of sturdy parchment. One large rectangle (about 3 feet by 4 feet) can be cut from the vellum thus derived. Six large sheets of GreatTome size, or ten standard sized leaves of vellum can be rescued from what remains. Vellum is about 1/16 of an inch thick. Though not often used as pages in books, it is highly prized as a writing surface for being soft, supple, sturdy and smooth. It might be used to post a royal decree or wanted poster. It is also used to make magic scrolls, important legal documents, maps, or coverings for light books.

Roll of Paper

This is a large roll of paper three feet long and six inches in diameter. The paper is wrapped around a lathed wooden pole that is two inches in diameter. The polished and rounded ends of the pole extend out six inches from the roll, and can rest in upright 'stirrups' of a binder's workbench. Fully unrolled, the three foot wide paper would measure 300 inches in length. If used economically, this is sufficient to create 2.5 standard-sized paper books (10 sections of 16 pages each). The pole can be returned for a 2GP discount on the next roll from the paper mill.

Sheepskin or Goatskin - Parchment

This is the skin of one adult sheep that has been separated, stretched, and fully treated by a parchmenter into a husk of flat parchment. One large rectangle (about 3 feet by 30 inches) of contiguous area can be cut from such a skin. This is of sufficient size to fold octavo into a single 16-leaf quire of standard size. If one is careful, five single sheets of loose-leaf parchment can be rescued from what remains. Such parchment is about 1/32 of an inch thick.

QUIRES

A quire is a number of folded sheets of paper sharing a common seam like the pages of a newspaper. A quire can be sewn by a bookbinder to the spine of a book. These are sometimes called ‘gatherings’, as they are gathered together from people working on writing or copying individual sections. The standard quire I am using for my examples are 'octavo' folded from a large sheet to produce a quire with 16 leafs (32 pages you can write on). Ever wonder what a 'folio' is? A 'codex'? These are just different physical arrangements and ways of collecting and storing related leaves of paper. A little research on the internet can provide more detail than you'll ever want to know.

WIZARDS and their SPELLBOOKS

In this proposed system, one quire of parchment is about ½ of an inch thick. Three of them are required to construct a standard spellbook which is therefore 96 standard written pages in length and as thick as a two-by-four. Each would-be apprentice wizard begins working mainly on wax tablets with a stylus. When it is felt that he is ready, he is given one quire of parchment.

In the course of his basic class work in the various schools of magic, the beginning wizard fills his quire with all known cantrips. This eats up 17 pages. Advanced work gains him three first level spells plus one additional first level spell for each INT bonus (as many as seven in all). Because first level spells usually take up two pages each, this could consume another 14 pages in his quire. That leaves one title page for signature by the guild master certifying successful completion of his learning and granting him wizard status. Any pages remaining are usually decorated or filled with the signatures and brief comments of classmates and teachers. Upon formal graduation, the guild master presents the student with a leather-bound spellbook containing his quire and two blank ones.

BOOKS

Early books were made by folding carefully measured large sheets of paper into smaller, even-numbered sections called quires; stitching these to a backing board; pressing/gluing the sections together with heavy clamps or presses; and shaving off the edges.

SIZES

There are all manner of paper sizes available, and you can, of course make books almost any size. I chose to define the following three as examples: Standard, Large Book, and GreatTome.

Height / Width / Thickness / Quires / Weight / Leafs / Text*
Parchment
Standard / 8.5 / 7 / 1.5 / 3 / 3 / 48 / 96
Large / 10 / 7.5 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 64 / 168
Great Tome / 11.5 / 8.5 / 3 / 6 / 10 / 96 / 342
Paper
Standard / 8.5 / 7 / 1.5 / 4 / 3 / 64 / 128
Large / 10 / 7.5 / 1.875 / 5 / 4.75 / 80 / 209
Great Tome / 11.5 / 8.5 / 3 / 8 / 10 / 128 / 456

* This is how many ‘standard pages’ of text will fit in such a book.

PRICES

There are a dizzying variety of options and qualities to consider. I've settled on three general types: Reference, Prayerbook, and Spellbook for which to fix pricing guidelines. Each has a general description below. Note that these designations do not limit the actual contents of the book. A cherished reference work might be copied into an ornate 'prayerbook' style of book. A warpriest might want his missal plain and ruggedly bound, purchasing it as a 'spellbook'. A miserly wizard might not wish to pay for masterwork quality for his backup tome that he leaves back at the tower. I have set the prices in silver pieces to allow more variety and to make it simpler for those with the 'Craft (Bookbinder)' skill to use.

---- Parchment ------Paper ------

Cost Text Weight Cost Text Weight

(SP) (Pg) (lbs) (SP) (Pg) (lbs)

Std. Reference 80 96 3.00 180 128 3.00

Std. PrayerBook 100 96 3.00 200 128 3.00

Std. SpellBook 150 96 3.00 300 128 3.00

Lg. Reference 132 168 5.00 281 209 4.75

Lg. PrayerBook 162 168 5.00 310 209 4.75

Lg. SpellBook 236 168 5.00 460 209 4.75

Tome Reference 252 342 10.00 580 456 10.00

Tome PrayerBook 301 342 10.00 629 456 10.00

Tome SpellBook 427 342 10.00 919 456 10.00

MASTERWORK

For a book, the masterwork component costs half again what the book would otherwise cost. Its specific benefits are to make the book waterproof (while stored away closed), and to grant a minor overall ruggedness against the wear and tear that would otherwise occur from being carried around in a backpack while its owner is subjected to heat, humidity, falling and other adversities. A full leather cover is a precondition for being waterproof. The spellbook examples above already include the masterwork component. Therefore the cost of a book of standard size with full leather is 2/3 of the prices listed above for a spellbooks.

ORNAMENTATION

Minor - These can be purchased for 1GP each

Marbleized End papers - Otherwise, bound books come with plain end papers (glued to the inside of the cover). Marbleizing paper is a minor bookbinder skill that places interesting patterns or a chaotic mist on these non-pages.
Gold Stamping on the Spine - Up to four letters (like 'Thor', 'Odin', or 'Vol I'). It could be a suitable symbol instead (like a lightning bolt).
Velvet Chemise - The medieval precursor of the modern dust jacket.
Cloth Patterning - The cloth of the cover has a simple pattern like diamond hatching or repeating lotus flowers in up to four colors.
Gilding – A top, bottom, or fore edge is gilded.
Highly Decorative, Built-in Bookmark. Sometimes these are functional in some special way that relates to the book. For example, a book about calligraphy might have the letter 'A' repeated down its length in different traditional styles.
Minor Illumination - Large, ornate capital letters at the beginning of each chapter and up to four miniatures are present. This can be done by a very advanced scribe, but is more usually the work of a separate specialist.
Advanced Scrivening - Some of the text (as much as 1/10th) emphasized with red ink. This could be 3D shadowing on the first capital letter in every paragraph, certain words like dictionary entries, or an occasional passage like when the deity speaks.

Major - the DM prices these on a case-by-case basis.

Applied Covers. Bound to the outside of the book, these are usually the product of another craftsman. For example, the bookbinder might be given platinum plates to bind as covers front and the back. Ivory cornerpieces and spine might be supplied for an otherwise leather-bound book.
Extensive, high-quality illumination. This is more content-related than anything the bookbinder might have to worry about.
Gems. The binder may need to hollow out portions of the hardcovers and place gems specially set into screws by a lapidary.
Other Insets. The binder may need to hollow out portions of the hardcovers and position an ivory plaque with a hand-painted scene.

DESCRIPTION

Reference Book

This is a basic bound manuscript, and the staple of libraries everywhere. Lasting for centuries with proper care and gentle handling, it is not intended to endure adverse conditions. Water and humidity are particularly damaging, as are fire and some vermin. Pricing assumes that the reference book is hardbound and covered in plain cloth with leather only on its spine.

Prayerbook

Favored by the clergy, this type of book comes hardbound with half-leather covers and cornerpieces. The owner can select any three minor ornamentations for his book. A clergyman (and only a clergyman) who purchases such a book may have it scriven with the sacred writings of his faith free of charge.

Spellbook

This austere, rugged book is hardbound and covered in full leather. It is of masterwork quality. Clever endbands, and a front-clasp help keep it compact and watertight. The top, bottom, and fore edges are coated with materials that help resist the entry of water as well. The only decoration on the outside is usually blind stamping or etching on the leather covers - often of a glyph representing the wizard's school and/or specialty is present, and a personal arcane mark. Advanced wizards with many books might tool symbols on them to tell them apart, or some just use volume numbers.

TAKING DAMAGE

Hopefully in the case of books, this topic will not often arise. Unless somehow protected (by magic, for example), most exterior ornamentation such as gold lettering has no protection from any kind of meaningful attack. Ornamentation such as tooling and blind stamping has the hardness of the covering material. Covers of any material have one hit point. Cloth covers have a hardness of zero, while full leather has four. Let’s call half-leather two for the sake of convenience.

Within the covers, the bindings of a book are the real armor for its contents. Though thin (generally one tenth of an inch), they are nonetheless made of hardwood, and thus grant a hardness of five to the contents of the book. This hardness does not stack directly with any hardness of the covering material. If an attack has penetrated the cover, the bindings add only the resistance of their hardness that is over and above that of the cover. Bindings have one hit point.

Example: An axe-wielding orc (with ‘forsaker’ leanings, no doubt) attacks your spellbook that is lying closed upon the table. Use rules on striking objects treating the spellbook as an inanimate, immobile, tiny object (AC7). Let us assume that he succeeds and strikes a mighty blow causing eight hit points of damage. The first thing his attack must overcome is the full leather cover. Subtracting its hardness of four and applying one hit point destroys said cover and leaves three hit points remaining. Of these three hit points that penetrated the cover, one is needed to overcome the additional hardness of the bindings, and one is used up destroying them, leaving only one to damage the paper underneath. Sadly, paper has only one hit point per inch of thickness, so the axe probably bit a good 2/3 of the way through the book. Though a whole bunch of ‘Mending’ spells could repair the physical damage, they can no more restore inscribed magical writings than they could a broken wand.

As an object, a book is immune to subduing damage and critical hits. It is only subject to half the damage from fire, acid, lightning or ranged physical attacks; one-quarter damage from cold attacks; and full damage from sonic attacks. Unless masterworked, Books are extremely vulnerable over time to the action of water and humidity.

SKILLS

Craft (Bookbinder)

A bookbinder requires a workbench, artisan tools, leather, and parchment. He crafts books as described above or repairs them for one-fifth the price. The DC for this craft is 10 plus one per inch (or partial inch) of thickness. Masterwork adds plus three to the difficulty class, and applies to the entire book (is not added as a separate component). Five or more ranks of this craft grants a +2 synergy bonus on appraising the value of books based on their physical condition. Five or more ranks of Craft (Bookbinder) also grant a +2 synergy bonus on the skill, Forgery, when applied to a book. This is mainly used as a counter-check to detect forgeries.

Craft (Illuminator)

An illuminator requires an easel and chair, artisan tools, gold leaf, and pigments. He illustrates books by making miniatures (raised illustrations) of rare beauty and fine detail. A fully illuminated manuscript includes also page borders, complex capital letters and other designs. Basically, he can add ornamental value to a written work up to the original cost of the book. He makes his own pigments of black, red, blue and green at 1/3 the listed price. He is also an expert in applying gold leaf over gesso and burnishing. The DC of his craft is 10 plus one per platinum piece (or fraction thereof) of the value he adds. So, a great tome paper prayerbook, originally costing 629 silver (6.29) platinum, could be enhanced by that amount by a skilled illuminator at a DC of 17 with about two to three days of dedicated effort.

Craft (Parchmenter)

A parchmenter requires stretching racks, a warm, dry place to work, artisan tools, and skins. Presumably, he works with tanners and butchers. The DC for this is 10. High quality vellum is 13.

Craft (Writer)

Unlike the scribe, the writer originates written works. He researches them and organizes his thoughts into a useful way to express the needed ideas. The book he writes can be either informative (requiring a complementary knowledge skill), or entertaining (requiring a complementary perform skill that uses spoken language), or both. The writer can collaborate with others who supply the complementary skills. The most useful and cherished books are those that both inform and entertain the reader. The writer’s own ability modifiers are used for all skills checks. The DM can apply negative modifiers if the combination doesn’t make sense or the topic is in bad taste.

SKALDHEIM BIBLIOPHILIA by Dan Thorman

FOREWARD

PAPER

DESCRIPTION

RECOMMENDED LINKS

QUIRES

WIZARDS and their SPELLBOOKS

BOOKS

SIZES

PRICES

MASTERWORK

ORNAMENTATION

DESCRIPTION

TAKING DAMAGE

RECOMMENDED LINKS

SKILLS

Craft (Bookbinder)