Making the library trip into an adventure

[hymer]

Usually, getting information goes down to make a roll, possibly hand over some coin, and then get what information is appropriate for those circumstances, possibly in the form of a handout. I'd like for the PCs' next trip to the library to be a tad more interesting, if possible. I'd like to make it more of a hunt, with smarts and rigor being rewarded.

So, playgrounders, please inspire me with ideas and experiences. How to make the visit to the local sage much more interesting than it usually is? The campaign is a pseudo-medieval a few dabs of magic.

[Lacco]

I would make a dungeon crawl out of it.
The sage/librarian remembers that the book he needs to give you the information has been...misplaced. Into forbidden section. Well-protected, underground, secret forbidden section. Which is partly underwater. Aaaaand there are lots of critters down there (nobody ever goes there).

Also, see the "how to simulate huge dungeon" thread - I'm preparing a dungeon in a underground temple with large library, where players have to hunt down some information.

[pasko77]

Usually, getting information goes down to make a roll, possibly hand over some coin, and then get what information is appropriate for those circumstances, possibly in the form of a handout. I'd like for the PCs' next trip to the library to be a tad more interesting, if possible. I'd like to make it more of a hunt, with smarts and rigor being rewarded.

So, playgrounders, please inspire me with ideas and experiences. How to make the visit to the local sage much more interesting than it usually is? The campaign is a pseudo-medieval a few dabs of magic.

Instead of books, you can have memory blocks, like in harry potter, where you re-enact what is told in the book.

[Comet]

I've been thinking about this a lot for Call of Cthulhu. Some thoughts:

Time pressure. Do you run with what you've found already or stick around to learn some more at a cost?

Characters acting as gatekeepers. All the information might not be stacked neatly at the local library, it might be stashed away in private collections or forbidden archives around the city.

A labyrinth of frustrating language barriers. One book references another which references yet another still. All of them are in different, exotic languages. Teamwork is required.

Distractions. Things keep happening while the players try to sit down and read a book. Can they shut out the overwhelming noise of plot hooks and exciting happenings and dedicate themselves to the pursuit of knowledge?

Splitting the party. Linked to the above, the players will inevitably decide to leave one character in the library to study while the rest go out and take care of other business. Don't make this an easy choice.

[TricksyAndFalse]

Last time I ran a library scene, I had a rival group of scholars interested in the same material. There was an initial race to get the reference materials, and neither group got all the books they needed. After that, there was eavesdropping and attempted book-swapping by both parties. The PCs also beat their rivals in an opposed diplomacy check to get permission to see the restricted section.

[Kantaki]

Take a page out of Walter Moers "City of Dreaming Books". The library is an massive labyrinth out of books, the older the book you need is the deeper you have to go, the lokal Fauna has adapted to the conditions and there are other adventurerers seeking rare books who are more than willing to fight for them. Other hazards could be trapped bookshelfs that others used to protect their hoard or simply derelict parts of the library.

[khadgar567]

Take a page out of Walter Moers "City of Dreaming Books". The library is an massive labyrinth out of books, the older the book you need is the deeper you have to go, the lokal Fauna has adapted to the conditions and there are other adventurerers seeking rare books who are more than willing to fight for them. Other hazards could be trapped bookshelfs that others used to protect their hoard or simply derelict parts of the library.

If you want to up the ante turn this one into hunger games style survival plot with book they want as price( in demi plane of some sort)

[Maglubiyet]

Try having them take their three hyperactive nephews, all of whom are all under the age of ten. That's always entertaining.

[Kantaki]

If you want to up the ante turn this one into hunger games style survival plot with book they want as price( in demi plane of some sort)

Up the ante? As if the catacombs of Bookholm aren't bad enough already, even with out a crossover with the Hunger Games. As if the average bookhunter needs a reason to off an rival. All Jokes aside, the only difference that would make is that there are rules about the killing. Who Needs those? The only question is how Long it takes the Player characters to burn this place down. "FIREBALL bad! And stupid mage calls babarian dumb."

[Honest Tiefling]

What time period is this? If you want something more mundane, then the players can find the library they want, no problem! The hitch is that it isn't a public institution like our modern libraries. It might even be a research library owned by an organization who wants to keep potentially violent thieves away from their precious books. So now they have to talk or con their way into the library, and keep up the bluff or convince someone to help them find it.

If they flub it at first, put in a back up plan that someone within the library is willing to help them, provided they steal another book or sabotage the work of another person. Their failed attempt might have gotten their attention, and who is going to trust some ruffians off the street, and they might do it for a bit of coin anyway.

[Jay R]

One very useful tool is to drop a clue about the next adventure in the sage's maunderings, so they eventually learn that paying attention has more value. I've started dropping hints to my third level players about an adventure that will hit them at about tenth level.

[khadgar567]

Up the ante? As if the catacombs of Bookholm aren't bad enough already, even with out a crossover with the Hunger Games. As if the average bookhunter needs a reason to off an rival. All Jokes aside, the only difference that would make is that there are rules about the killing. Who Needs those? The only question is how Long it takes the Player characters to burn this place down. "FIREBALL bad! And stupid mage calls barbarian dumb."

if you want your dm evil enough here is your plot ( or subplot ) just insert sub bigbad who has the book they want and the exit book if you use dimension for the whole hunger games plot

[VoxRationis]

Maybe the books have been poorly preserved; burns and holes obscure bits of the information they seek, and they need to track down multiple volumes to get what they want.
Maybe the books are organized by a system that doesn't make sense at first, but follows consistent rules that they can puzzle out over time. Puzzling it out will make the search trivial, but first they have to learn it.

[Drakeburn]

Well, I have a few ideas on how to make their adventure through a library a lot more interesting.....

1) You could have a dragon inside who has made its hoard from several valuable books, including the book the PCs are looking for.

2) Have a monster be a caretaker/guardian/librarian of the library. It can be either a dragon, a lich, or whatever monsters seems suitable for the role.

[Feddlefew]

The Dungeon Dozen has some interesting ideas, if you're willing to go digging. My favorite is

Lich remains at large in royal library, magically disguised/concealed: alternately helpful with research projects and capriciously deadly should patrons offend his literary sensibilities

(ICYDNK, control or comand + f brings up a search function in most browsers.)

[Keltest]

You could take the time and write out exactly what it is the party will find in the library. Different lines of inquiry and different levels of thoroughness can result in different bits of information being revealed. Whether or not the party can access them may depend on things like the intelligence, wisdom or charisma of whoever is looking, the amount of time they spend pursuing a specific work (add in a time limit for this one). Obscure some information behind allegory and metaphor. Perhaps even a riddle, which if they cant solve themselves would require a quest to obtain the services of someone who can.

Just be sure that the players can actually get what they need to know.

[LibraryOgre]

I'm thinking of "The Sleeping Dragon" by Joel Rosenberg, where they wind up going to the library... and dealing with the librarians. The dwarf, who is the POV character for that section, encounters one librarian who demands payment for EVERYTHING... information, like the name and title he insists that he be called by. Location of rooms, etc.

The other librarian is affable. He knows the room he's specialized in, talks and has tea. He's a source of gossip and information.

For fun, consider having people be required to be unarmed in the library, and the entire thing in a magic-dead area... and then toss in kung fu thieves who can make the party stretch to deal with things.

[Scunch]

I'm about to use this in my game...

The party needs an ancient book (perhaps so old that it's magically preserved) but the language is so old no-one can read it. If there is a "comprehend language" style spell in your game you can say that "although you understand the literal translation of the words, the syntax and imagery makes it too difficult to gleam any useful knowledge" or something to that affect. Then have a NPC drop a hint that there is ONE person who can translate it and then you can do whatever you want from there. Maybe the person is an Indiana Jones type and he's trapped in an ancient temple, or maybe it's a scholar who's been kidnapped or what have you.

[khadgar567]

I'm about to use this in my game...

The party needs an ancient book (perhaps so old that it's magically preserved) but the language is so old no-one can read it. If there is a "comprehend language" style spell in your game you can say that "although you understand the literal translation of the words, the syntax and imagery makes it too difficult to gleam any useful knowledge" or something to that affect. Then have a NPC drop a hint that there is ONE person who can translate it and then you can do whatever you want from there. Maybe the person is an Indiana Jones type and he's trapped in an ancient temple, or maybe it's a scholar who's been kidnapped or what have you.

In my honest opinion make that person kidnapped by random secondary big bad and put hunger games like rescue plot to motion

[Cazero]

The expert your playes need to consult is an old excentric with irrationnal demands. In particular, he wants them to answer riddles with a time limit. And he forgets what the question was when the players are about to find the answer.

[Kantaki]

In my honest opinion make that person kidnapped by random secondary big bad and put hunger games like rescue plot to motion

And let it take place in a City of dreaming books style Location.

[Lapsed Pacifist]

The last time I GM'd a library encounter the PCs had just convinced the librarian to hand over the Necronomicon when a Nazi wizard and his goons rolled up. Long story short, a major explosion caused the building to start to collapse and the PCs had to use the Library Use skill to follow the Dewey decimal system and escape.

[Jay R]

I find it delightfully ironic that a trip to the library in a fantasy adventure game can be boring, while a trip to a real library is always a fulfilling adventure.

[Kantaki]

I find it delightfully ironic that a trip to the library in a fantasy adventure game can be boring, while a trip to a real library is always a fulfilling adventure.

Is your local librarian a Sphinx to? Those get way to angry when the books are overdue.

But really an adventure to find some old tome should not be solved with "You go into the library. For a fee of 3 Gold pieces the librarian lends you the book you search. For an additional fee of five Gold pieces you can use the local facultys to create a copy. You return successful to your quest giver and collect the payment of sixteen gp." That sounds boring. An massive Labyrinth with it's own Flora and Fauna and monstrous keepers that demand odd payment for their service, where you have to defend your find against rivals sounds way more fun.

[Shamash]

Well if this is a medieval fantasy, and mages are not using magic like technology, a library will be a rare and hard to find thing.

Public free knowledge may be something normal for us but if the setting you are using is anywhere near "Realistic medieval" or "Dark fantasy" few people know how to read and all the books are handwriting.
That makes them both expensive and rare.

The idea of a public library in a medieval camping is really weird to me. Normally they belong to a university, temples or are private places in lord's mansions. So getting to the library may be an ordeal and convincing the guy to let them read the book is another deal. The best part is that they can solve it with swords and killing.

[LibraryOgre]

I find it delightfully ironic that a trip to the library in a fantasy adventure game can be boring, while a trip to a real library is always a fulfilling adventure.

Is your local librarian a Sphinx to? Those get way to angry when the books are overdue.

Some of us are ogres.

-The Library Ogre

[Kantaki]

Some of us are ogres.

-The Library Ogre

Sure but only ogres who know oxymoron is another word than moron and that using the former does not mean you call them stupid qualify for this Job. And those are rare around there. Stupid dwarven-friends driving them away. But our central library has an mindflayer. Nobody returns the books late there. Not more than once.

@Shamash: Searching a Dungeon-Library sounds more fun than paying an rich guy to use his.
I think no one there proposes a normal public library, most suggestions there are either outright dungeons or collections owned by more... unusual denizens of a fantasyworld.

[hymer]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, guys!

[Laughingmanlol]

Someone mentioned bookhunters, reminding me of this webcomic, which is an action-packed 70's police procedural where the protagonists are trying to track down an antique book stolen by a master criminal from a public library. The fact that it's all taken completely seriously adds to the absurdity, but it would make sense if transposed to a setting where magical tomes have significant power.
For perhaps a session's worth of material, how about this? The players arrive to find the librarians investigating after what was a preliminary information-gathering break-in, to set up the subsequent heist. While there, another attempt takes place, stealing a valuable and powerful tome, less well-guarded than the one the players seek. Either the players act suspiciously or hinder the librarians, in which case they'll be implicated in the case and have to prove their innocence before being allowed access to their information, or they manage to assist while remaining free from doubt, in which it will be explained that access to the secure archives is impossible while the thieves are at large. In either case, they will be tasked with bringing in the thieves and their loot, by tracking them down in an investigative segment with suspicously clear clues, then perhaps having to infiltrate their safehouse or have a cart chase. Depending on how they handle the point of meeting the gang, they can either parlay, in which case the criminals will offer their assistance in a final heist to claim the desired book or surrender, or fight, and have to catch them as they flee, playing a shell game with the stolen tome. In either case, the gang are professionals and will surrender to avoid death.
If the players cooperate with the criminals, they then have an open-ended heist to break in and steal the book they're after, with the gang filling in skill gaps in the party.
If they bring them in instead, they are rewarded with access to the secure stack, and can withdraw the book - after obtaining library cards, of course.
As they leave, book in hand, a lieutennant of the BBEG appears with a squad of minions to take or destroy the book by force. It can be revealed the thieves were an unwitting distraction to make the librarians trust the players with the book and let it leave the safety of its storage. If the gang is still in action, they might double-cross the party to get the payment (with the cooperative heist, they could already have done so!), or if the party converts them to their cause all but the leader, aware of the conspiracy, might swap sides. Ending with a combat is always fun, but if it's one where that halfling contortionist who'd pick your pockets even as you put him in manacles might decide to join you out of resentment of having been played himself, that could make it more memorable.