Table 5: Encounters Inside The Library Of All Worlds

Reconstruction of Library of Alexandria for Carl Sagan's Cosmos
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/egypt/alexandria-library-bibliotheca-alexandrina  

Roll a D30 and consult the list below:

1. A child offers to give you a tour of the Library of All Worlds for one bead. One hour only.
2. A Scratch family scribe looks up when you approach, and declares: "One bead per page to take a letter, one bead per five pages read."
3. A group of 1-15 Strangers are being guided on a tour of the Library by a member of the Collections staff. 
• On a D10 roll of 1-6, the tour guide is a boy or girl from the House of Wisdom apprenticing with Collections; 
• On a 7-8, this is a delegation includes high dignitaries, and the tour is by a Librarian; 
• On a roll of 9, the delegation of dignitaries is guided by Heather Scratch, head of Collections; 
• On a 10, the delegation is led by Hermes Branch Crookstaff, the Librarian of All Worlds. 
4.  From 1-3 bookhounds approach you, demanding to know whether you have books or scrolls to sell.
5. Wandering help check from a Librarian. "May I help you; can I be of assistance?"*
6. A troop of Mankines trudge by carrying books and scrolls. One if the troop stumbles and drops a whole pile of scrolls. A Librarian approaches with a stick and  begins to beat and castigate the ape.
7. A group of scholars are playing the Jeweled Bead Game, which uses polyhedral gemstones with strange markings and symbols on the facets. 
8. A scuffle breaks out between two scholars who have been standing at the Reference Desk. "I was first!" one says. "No, you imbecile, I was first!" the other rejoins. They come to blows.
9. A group of 1-6 Crow guards wearing Librarian's medallions appear, as if from nowhere, and drag a female scholar away. She begins yelling and screaming for help. A book falls to the floor during the altercation. Where did it come from?
10. When you pass by a shelf, you hear a low moan from nowhere. Several books on the shelf appear to have been damaged recently.
11. You hear a munching sound from nearby, and a sound like strips of paper being torn. You see no one is around nearby, but the sound persists.
12. A group of students is gossiping about an upcoming lecture at the Chamber Platinum. You hear the phrase "imploding realms" before they notice you and hush up.
13. String music is coming from a nearby study carrel. A group of scholars and youth sit at the feet of a woman who is playing an oud. They appear to be completely captivated by the music. A man begins to chant poetry while she plays.
14. A old man who is clearly distressed is rummaging around among the papers and books he has spread out all over a large study table. "Where IS it?!? Where did it go? I just left the table for a minute."
15. A woman scholar looks up as you approach. "Stop that" she says."I am trying to concentrate. This is a library. You're breathing: I can hear it a mile away."
16. A cart of books begins rolling across the floor of its own accord.
17. Someone is stooped over a card catalog.** You can't make out their face or their gender; they are robed and hooded. They are pulling out cards and pocketing them.
18. In your peripheral vision, you see someone taking a razor to a book. They are carefully removing certain pages. You are uncertain whether you were seen observing them.
19. A spontaneous lecture breaks out in a nearby gallery. Gather 'round my friends, and let me tell you what I have learned recently about: 
• the history of the _____
• the affair of the ______
• the lies and calumnies of the _____
• my dissertation _____
• how the professors of the House of Wisdom abuse their research assistants _____
20. You hear the sound of blades clashing from a nearby entrance to the Vasty Stacks.
21. You feel a sudden flow of magical energies toward you. Suddenly, two Plume guards with Library medallions arrive. "What did you see?" they ask expectantly.
22. A group of students is playing the Jeweled Bead Game. Gold beads are in small piles around them as they play. It's a competitive game. Gambling in the Library precincts. "Want a piece of the action?" one of the students asks.
23. A dissheveled man stumbles out of the Vasty Stacks. "What year is it?" he demands to know. "What realm am in? Who is King?"
24. One of the New Philosophers is holding forth in a gallery against the tyranny of grand narratives. Again. One of his students asks "What about REAL tyrants like you?" The philosopher slaps the boy so hard that blood and a tooth spatter the Library floor.
25. A grey haired faun brings flowers and fruit for a woman Librarian at the Reference Desk. He leaps over the counter, kisses her, and then runs back the way he came.
26. Several Librarians are trying to handle a large green Ogre barbarian. The Ogre is 8' tall, and dressed in full plate armor. In one hand he holds a precious scroll; in the other, his axe. They are imploring him to put the scroll down before he damages it with his massive mitt. He is becoming enraged.
27. A woman approaches you. She hands you a scroll. "Take this to the Underground Library in Strangerside. You will be richly rewarded."
28. Glancing in a nearby study carrel you discover a body. Did the scholar die of natural causes, or was their foul play?
29. Someone has a large scroll rolled out and weighted down at each of its four corners. It is a richly inked spherepath tracing the connections among dozens of realms. The reader has ink and quill and is marking the scroll. Spheres and realms are disappearing. New ones are appearing. Connections between realms appear and disappear under his plume.
30. An odd gong sounds. Librarians appear from everywhere. They tell everyone they see: "You must leave immediately! There is great danger!"  

*In some parts of the Library, this function is carried out by a Shelf-Bound Spirit with the gift of projection.

**There are many card catalogs scattered thoughout the Library of All Worlds, as well as a master set at the Reference Desk in Collections and in the Acquisitions in the bowels of the Library. Some of the card catalogs in the library catalog the entire collection (with the exception of secret holdings). Others only catalog materials held nearby the catalog. It is the odd duck Librarian who chooses to have her spirit Shelf-Bound to a card catalog, but occasionally this does happen. The two master catalogs are well-protected magically.

http://www.libraryhistorybuff.org/cardcatalog.htm

Table 4: Encounters Around The Library of All Worlds

Sunday was my Father's Birthday. He loved books, so to honor him,this week, I am doing a series of posts about books, bookstores, and libraries in Everway.

Books are sacred; they preserve thoughts, minds, and souls through the ages.

Books are profane; they are commodities to be bought, sold, and stolen. 

Books are always of great value. They are written and bound by hand, on paper made by hand. Some women and men search their whole lives for just one special text. Others spend their lives accumulating more and more of them. Still others are agents, finding books for wealthy or desperate patrons.  

Bookhounds like these women and men are willing to die for the right book; still other bookhounds are willing to kill for them.

Many of these Encounters Around The Library of All Worlds were inspired by a card draw from the RPG Inspiration Cards.

 

Usually, I used a combination of the image, Title, and Archetype. I often used the Event, Character Trait, and Character Quirk descriptions as well.

Table 4: Encounters Around The Library of All Worlds 

(Roll a d12)

1. A bidding contest has broken out in a book stall selling rare texts. This particular fight is over The Book of Feathered and Jeweled Masks, by Paradise Host. The text is an illustrated volume on the erotic arts.
2. A fortune teller has set up a table and is reading fortunes by randomly selecting pages to read from The Book of Lost Dreams. Each page of this book has complex, swirling images of people, plants, animals, stars, and planets. 
3. There is a constant flow of locals in and out of a one story structure called The Book House. This book and scroll shop goes down three stories underground. Most of the patrons are youth of the Scratch and Crookstaff families. Strangers and Outsiders will be treated rudely if they enter the store without a local escort.
4. A group of six or seven men and women are having a friendly argument pouring over a scroll. The document purports to be the provenance for a bundle of books from The Library Realm. This discussion is happening in a tent in one of the many booths selling books and scrolls.
5. Several boys and girls of the Scratch family are reading and/or writing letters to paying customers. One of the boys is clearly not transcribing faithfully what the patron is saying. He scratches one note for every 5-6 words the patron says. The patron seems not to notice this.
6. A table is overturned. "Heresy! Outrage! How dare you sell our Holy Book!?!" an outraged Outsider priest screams at a bookseller. The priest summons an iron mace with a gesture and advances on the bookseller.
7. As you approach one booth, glancing at the books for sale, a Troll-like bookseller aggressively approaches you. "You're not going to leave here without buying something, now are you?" she growls at you.
8. A bookseller suddenly hides several titles when an obvious bookhound approaches his booth.
9. You spot a finely bound book with a green cover of glistening iridescent scales. The cover is embossed with the image of a dragon. The book's title is The Life of Alurax The Illustrious Dragon As Told to Lord Answer of Wingspan. You feel a sudden urge to possess this book at all costs. Just at that moment, a wealthy browser places a gloved hand upon its cover, and taps twice with his index finger. "I want this one" he says.
10. You find an out-of-the-way booth with two chairs, a table, inksets, and large pieces of parchment. Parchments with elaborate multi-colored ink patterns drawn on them are hanging on strings overhead, drying. A sign over the booth says "Spherepaths Drawn Here." The proprietor is facing you, and has not noticed that someone at the back of the booth is taking one of the drying parchments off the string.
11. A sudden breeze blows scrolls everywhere. The must have come from several nearby booths. Scrollmen and browsers alike leap into action to grab up scrolls. A few girls run away with a couple each.
12. A spontaneous poetry reading has broken out under some trees. About 30 people have gathered to listen to a contest of poetic skill between three poets. Winesellers move among the crowd. There are books everywhere around the seated audience. One book gets up and begins to skitter away.

Table 3: Encounters Around The Arenas

The following encounters take place near the Arenas within the walls of the city of Everway. A few of the contests turn deadly, but most are competitive demonstrations of athletic and martial skill.

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~mccorkhi/rubber.html

Each of these Encounters Around The Arenas was inspired by a card draw from the RPG Inspiration Cards.

 

Usually I used a combination of the image, Title, and Archetype. I often used the Event, Character Trait, and Character Quirk descriptions as well.

Table 3: Encounters Around The Arenas (d12)

http://library.thinkquest.org/J002486/HTML/artifacts.html

1. A group of Strangers and Outsiders have lined up for try-outs for the armed sports in the Arenas. Members of the Crow and Watcher families begin to goad some of the try-outs to show off their skills. An old man and a boy face off. Both are given weapons as the Crows and Watchers smirk.
2. A young Crow woman swaggers toward you, pointing her finger. "I challenge you!" she points to one of your party. "And I challenge you" she points to another of your party.
3. You see a series of strange beasts in cages being drawn on carts toward the Arenas. One or two of the strange creatures uses words. "Shut up or you'll get worse" one of the Keepers with the carts shouts into a cage, brandishing a club at the strange creatures. 
4. A young woman named "Glory Crow" strips to the waist and grapples with a sweaty, barrel-chested  man called "Top Stonebreaker". A crowd gathers around their wrestling match. Each contestants' holds become increasingly unsafe and aggressive. A few bet-takers are working the crowd. Suddenly, the woman screams in pain. She draws a knife.
5. Trumpets blare. One of the Arenas is about to seat spectators for the games. It is time for the competitive ballgame, in which a hard rubber ball is passed between two teams until one side scores a victory by sending the ball through a very small stone ring.  A Strangerside ball team will be facing off against the Crows. A clown distracts the crowd as it lines up to pay a bead for admission.  A child is picking pockets as the clown distracts people nearby.
6. A weapons merchant has set up a booth. There are a number of fine blades on display, and several that are rusty, crusty, and/or of inferior quality. One of the blades speaks to you. Literally.
7. A famous Strangerside gladiator called Old Skull walks up to the Arenas. A Crow approaches him, and stops him. "I thought you were dead" the Crow says. "Let's see what we can do about that." Old Skull squints, his brow furrows. His eyes are full of cataracts. "I'm not defenseless," Old Skull says as he reaches for a sword.
8. Deathraven Crow arrives. The crowd parts for this clan elder. She begins to berate a young fighter. "Killraven," she says to the redhead. "Don't embarrass me again. You'd better find someone to really hurt today. Preferably one of them." She points to a group of Outsiders waiting in line for tryouts.
9. Two Watcher family members face off. A woman is singing as they spar. The woman has distinctive snake tattoos wrapping around each of her arms. They move as she sings. Both men look dizzy and confused as they fight.
10. A disheveled man offers you tickets to a feast being held by the Watcher family. He shows you a handbill for the feast, which is at their family house nearby. You will be able to meet some of their ablest gladiators. All you need to do in return is go out the city gate behind the Arenas, and get a barrel of wine from a vendor named Indulgence, who has a wine bar on the beach. He says to ask for the Shimmermoon Bleed - that is the best red wine.
11. King Emerald Horizon arrives for the games on a splendid litter. Just as he dismounts, several beasts break free of their cages and head right for him. The sky suddenly dims. Eclipse beginning! The Kings guards begin swinging their swords at everyone! 
12. Two Outsiders face off, as people begin placing bets. Swords ring out, but the two warriors seem slow to engage. An Outsider in the priestly regalia of Huitizilopochtli begins to laugh. "They are lovers!" he exclaims scornfully.

http://mymongo.deviantart.com/art/Huitzilopochtli-122132203

There are a few gladiator references from a certain Silver Age Marvel comic thrown into this table for good measure. Let me know in the comments if you spot them.