[Dungeon Fantasy] Spellbooks

[Ed the Coastie]

I apologize if this has been answered before, but I cannot seem to find a definitive answer.

What, exactly, is a spellbook from the point of view of Dungeon Fantasy? Is it a weighty grimoire (or, more likely, a series of them) containing details on every spell that a mage knows?

My default assumption is that a spellbook is a grimoire containing a select number (no more than 2d, and probably only 1d) of spells. These spells may have been part of a theme (all fire magic, for example), or perhaps they were just the mage's personal favorites. A separate Thaumatology roll is required to identify each spell contained within.

It seems to be workable. Any ideas?

[Harald B]

Since the gurps magic system doesn't really require a mage to have spellbooks other than for learning and possibly research purposes, I don't imagine them to carry around a single book containing all their spells. Instead I'd expect those with a home to have a number of grimoires on various subjects, each with a few key spells in them and a lot of text of varying levels of importance. (Besides spells, a lot of pages (and books!) will be taken up by groundwork and magical theory.)
I like to think of spells as being like complex mathematical proofs. They take up only a few pages (well, most of them, anyway), but even experts may want at least as much explanatory text to go along with it. And while the explanatory text appears to be written in normal language, it will contain enough jargon and specifically defined terms that a layperson will still be non the wiser for it.
I'd probably use thaumatology rolls to identify the spells, yes (or maybe just one roll per grimoire, to speed things up a bit). I'd allow condensed grimoires with spells only and little to no explanatory text, but at the cost of significant penalties to those rolls and making it much harder to learn the spells unassisted.

[roguebfl]

Harald B, the GURPS magic system is very compatible with spell books if you use Modular Abilities (Super memorizations/Grimore) Spells only -20%. main issue then is not so much the size of the books, but how to price the spells as that will be the main limit not cp then.

[Kromm]

I see spellbooks simply as "what you need to learn new spells via self-teaching rather than external instruction." In the DF PDFs, my assumption is that wizards who find spellbooks can put points into new spells without having to return to town and pay the Wizards' Guild for instruction. As for size . . . I don't want to pin that down. I like the idea of some spellbooks being pixie-scratches that you need magnifiers to read, others being on supernaturally thin and light scrolls, yet others being hefty books with metal bindings, and a few being stone tablets you need a cart to move. Standardization is boring from a dungeon-gaming point of view.

[Bruno]

I've always looked at a spellbook in GURPS being sort of "Casting Ignite Fire for Dummies". With each spell a separate skill the idea of needing a whole textbook to really self-teach yourself a single spell isn't quite so bizarre.

But I also like to weigh my players down with their lewts, and I love libraries :D

[demonsbane]

Agreeing with these posts, I don't see really interesting the mage's book being not more than a rechargement tool for the next day spells.

But I like the idea of a wizard's "Lorebook" (I "borrowed" the idea from FFG Midnight Campaign Setting), a special and personal volume (or volumes, or sheets, or whatever with info inside) containing not only some already learned spells, but spells sketched in development, and useful tidbits of knowledge for supporting some knowledge skill.

I remember there are some interesting "rules" for "using books" in the game in High Tech.

Hey, a good & heavy book can even save your life if you block with it!

[JAW]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I've always looked at a spellbook in GURPS being sort of "Casting Ignite Fire for Dummies". With each spell a separate skill the idea of needing a whole textbook to really self-teach yourself a single spell isn't quite so bizarre.

But I also like to weigh my players down with their lewts, and I love libraries :D

Yaeh i single point is what 200 or 400 hours of self study - that could be reading a big book - or it could be reading a short cryptic page from book with dozens of spells and think about it a lot or it could be arduously repeating some excercises detailed in a fev pages, ("Every morning you should snap your fingers 20 time think of candles and and flintstones - if you have a candle and flintstone it helps to look at them when doing it - then jump up and down and yel UMUMUMUMUMUFHUUSH on top of your lungs" point at some flammable materials - after doing this for a week or so you may set the flammable material on fire - continue doing it and you might later be able to set the fire by just concentrating and snapping your fingers..")

[Xenophile]

Originally Posted by Kromm

As for size . . . I don't want to pin that down. I like the idea of some spellbooks being pixie-scratches that you need magnifiers to read, others being on supernaturally thin and light scrolls, yet others being hefty books with metal bindings, and a few being stone tablets you need a cart to move. Standardization is boring from a dungeon-gaming point of view.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

[Ed the Coastie]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I see spellbooks simply as "what you need to learn new spells via self-teaching rather than external instruction." In the DF PDFs, my assumption is that wizards who find spellbooks can put points into new spells without having to return to town and pay the Wizards' Guild for instruction. As for size . . . I don't want to pin that down. I like the idea of some spellbooks being pixie-scratches that you need magnifiers to read, others being on supernaturally thin and light scrolls, yet others being hefty books with metal bindings, and a few being stone tablets you need a cart to move. Standardization is boring from a dungeon-gaming point of view.

Thanks, Kromm...that is more or less what I was looking for. Gives me a couple of ideas for the wizard's library in my Rainbow Sheep adventure...

Originally Posted by Bruno

I've always looked at a spellbook in GURPS being sort of "Casting Ignite Fire for Dummies". With each spell a separate skill the idea of needing a whole textbook to really self-teach yourself a single spell isn't quite so bizarre.

Oh yeah. Good analogy.

[RobKamm]

Of course there is another simple possibility for why spellbooks are so often depicted as large, leather and steel bound tomes, illuminated with gold-leaf, etc. This makes them very expensive items and thus powerful as power items. Perhaps the notes on how to cast spells, thaumatological musings, and the rest are simply window dressing for the "greater" purpose.