Library of time: demi plane idea for my campaign?

[MonkeySage]

The local temple of chronos has a door, which no one ever seems to go through. the only person who has ever gone through came back out a few seconds later, and never went back. the high priest of chronos issues a card to his best priests once every year, which gives them a pass to spend an hour in the library. the priest can do with the pass as they see fit: collect them, give them away, etc.
It is very important that they do not let all of their passes expire while in the library. if one has a pass for an hour, after the pass expires, he becomes a petitioner there, and can never leave.

The library itself is a massive circular structure, with a door for every major temple of chronos. as one enters, he may find the receptionist a fair distance from the entrance. Every book that ever has or will be written can be found here.


If players were to be given to the opportunity to explore the library, how might a gm handle it?
Should their be a chance of the pc going insane?

[Honest Tiefling]

So. How are they going to find their way around to the information they want? Or in the language they speak? How tall are the shelves? Normal, giving way to an endless labyrinth of shelves, or impossibly tall that must be climbed?

[Admiral Squish]

Must it be books? Is there a section for scrolls? Records carved into stone tablets, or ivory strips? Painted wooden boards? Carefully knotted ropes? If you walk far enough, are there storytellers that will share the tales of an oral history?

I imagine the sheer volume of work and the variable nature and languages of the work would make it all but impossible to find what you're looking for without the assistance of a librarian.

[Honest Tiefling]

Petitioners look forward to an eternity of memorizing tales, sorting scrolls, repairing books and escorting the free to their destination. So you can understand that after a few thousand years of memorizing dirty limericks, they're more then happy to show you the necronomicon on the way to your desired book.

[Admiral Squish]

I imagine the petitioners would eventually get to the point where they're casually throwing out "Yeah, just avoid anything that looks like it's made of skin, and always look at the cover for a few seconds before you open one. If looking at it makes your head hurt, put it down."

[Jay R]

Should their be a chance of the pc going insane?

I'm having trouble processing this notion.

Most PCs are paranoid, obsessed with money and loot, and overly violent. Maybe there should be a chance they go sane.

[MonkeySage]

Assume a very broad definition of "book" ^_^.
Fortunately for guests to the library, there are plenty of petitioners desperate for social activity and willing to help.
Our wizard got a one hour pass, and discovered a scroll that lets him summon garden gnomes. The incantation is written in a bizarre language called "english", the somatic component is a dance.
He got out in time thanks to sheer luck and a teleportation panel he stepped on.

[Demidos]

If you're looking for inspiration regarding the layout/people within, you could consider reading Borges' Library of Babel, which describes a NI sized library composed of books with every combination of characters imaginable, meaning that you are guaranteed (among other things) to have a book correctly "prophetizing" every event that will happen in the future, as well as one book that contains all the forbidden knowledge in existence. The problem, of course, is finding them....

[Tommy_Dude]

This is a great idea, but rather than human partitioners, I'd use spirits. Either the idea of an owl spirit with helpers who actually physically collect the knowledge, or the spirits of the dead who have great insight into the universe. The other idea is that the library is stored on the plane of axis or some mechanical demi-plane, the custodians are actually clockwork creations cared for by a marut or other inevitable who's task is care of the library.

[Honest Tiefling]

Or petitioners get turned into the books themselves. The books could open, shut, have eyes between their pages and cast spells to protect, monitor and repair themselves.

[Jay R]

Go read the Terry Pratchett Discworld books. Really. This library is in L-space.

[Ettina]

This is a great idea, but rather than human partitioners, I'd use spirits. Either the idea of an owl spirit with helpers who actually physically collect the knowledge

Have you seen Avatar The Last Airbender?