Core Rules Errata

[JoeCarr28]

A couple of minor things I've noticed in the Monsters section:

1. Effect of poison attacks. Some monsters have quite specific descriptions of how to handle their poison attacks and the subsequent effects, e.g. spitting cobra, black widow. Others have no explanation, e.g. giant crab spider, giant bee. I only really noticed the last two because they occur in the first Morgansfort dungeon. I assume in both cases it's 'save or die', but for consistency perhaps this could be explicitly stated. (Personally I think 'save or die' for a giant bee, which is only worth 13 XP, is a touch on the harsh side, but that's a separate matter).

2. Beasts of burden - each has a stated light or heavy load limit, but there are no separate movement rates for the two loading levels.

[Sir Bedivere]

*** UPDATE: GADS. The sizes here are all wrong. This is what I get for posting this when I was exhausted. See my post two down for the correct sizes. ***

I suggest 1 s.p. for a quill. If I were to add one more thing, it would be a 'quill knife,' for 1 g.p., which is a small knife used for sharpening a quill for writing. (The 'pen knife' was a later derivative.)

On books, if we assume one spell per page, a 64-page book would hold almost every spell in the core rules list. A 10" x 6.25" book of 64 pages (32 leaves, to be written on both sides) would be about the right size, and I suggest a cost of 8 g.p. Does that sound about right? If so, I'll set about finding a proper weight for it.

How I got these numbers:

Medieval paper makers would make a large standard sized sheet which would be folded 1, 2, 3, 4 or even more times and then cut to make the 'gatherings' (or 'signatures') which would then be sewn into a book. If we take the BFRPG sheet of paper (1 g.p.) to be such a large, standard sheet of 20" x 25" (the actual size of a "royal sheet"), then the above book is a quarto (1/4th of a standard sheet*) sized book that requires 4 g.p. for the paper and (I suggest) 4 g.p. for the binding and a hard cover.

Or, we could say spell books require vellum. Because the process of making vellum is longer, and it is made from animal skin, I suggest a base cost of 4 g.p. per sheet, so the same book w/ vellum instead of paper would be 20 g.p.

After doing the research, I think I'll make a table of book sizes, and then some cover and cost proposals for the equipment supplement.

*Correction: When I first put this up, I mistakenly wrote that a quarto was folded 4 times. Actually, it is a standard sheet folded twice to make 4 leaves, each 1/4 of the size of the standard sheet.

[Sir Bedivere]

Just thought I'd add that a great site for paper and book sizes, etc., is http://www.trussel.com/books/booksize.htm.

[Solomoriah]

At the very least, one page per spell level, not just per spell, should be the norm.

[Sir Bedivere]

I wondered about that. Here's info and a table that might be useful if we're doing 1 level per page. It also corrects my wretched mathematics from last night.

Although I'm giving a lot of info here, for the sake of simplicity we might want to pick one standard size and binding for spellbooks. If that seems the best route, I suggest the octavo w/ 4 gatherings, which is a good traveling size, 10"x6.25" with 64 pages, and it would hold up to 64 levels of spells. I would suggest a cost of 10 g.p., 4 for the paper and 6 for binding and a leather cover. Then we would have one item on the gear list, a single size and a single price.

I also think vellum would be more appropriate than paper for spellbooks, and I suggest a base cost of 4 g.p. per sheet (4x the cost of paper). That would make our spellbook above cost 22 g.p. (or, we could also change the binding costs and call it an even 20 or 25 g.p.).

I think 1 s.p. for a quill and 1 g.p. for a quill knife are about right.

Keep reading if you want to see other options and how I arrived at sizes, number of pages, etc.

I've used a standard sheet of 20" x 25" costing 1 g.p. per the core rules. (I suggest 4 g.p. per sheet for vellum.)

The 'number of pages per sheet' is twice the number of leaves (a page is one side of a leaf) for the size, and is the number of pages in a 'gathering' (aka 'signature'). The gatherings are sewn together and, if desired, bound with the cover to make a book.

Book Table
Size (dimensions) / no. pages per standard sheet / spell levels per page

Folio (20" x 12.5") / 4 / 4
Quarto (12.5" x 10") / 8 / 2
Octavo (10" x 6.25") / 16 / 1
Sextodecimo (6.25" x 5") / 32 / half (or one cantrip?)

The total spell levels per gathering is always 16 (e.g., a folio gathering has four pages which can take 4 levels each, while a quarto gathering has 8 pages that can take 2 levels each, etc.). As each gathering is cut from one standard sheet of paper, the cost for each gathering (regardless of size or number of pages) is always 1 g.p.

So, for example, the paper for an octavo-sized book would be 1 g.p. for each gathering of of 8 leaves, or 16 pages. A 64-page book would then cost 4 g.p. in paper (unbound) and be able to hold 64 levels of spells.

Binding includes sewing each gathering and then binding all the gatherings together, with a cover if desired. We could set a standard binding fee (say, 5 g.p.) just to keep things simple. The cost of any book would then be 1 gp per gathering + 5 g.p. for binding. Our 64-page octavo spellbook above would then cost 9 g.p. (4 for paper and 5 for binding).

Or, we could set a standard binding fee based on size, say 2 g.p. for sextodecimo, 4 for octavo, 8 for quarto, and 16 for folio, and then additional costs based on the kind of cover.

Covers could be optional (paperback vs. hardback), and we could have three kinds: hard cover (i.e., stiff card stock covered in cloth), leather (a soft cover), wood covers w/ locks (I've actually seen these), or even some kind of traveling cover w/ water-resistant leather that wraps and ties.

Although I doubt the table and all this are necessary for the core rules, I will probably write this up and use it in my campaign (I play with book-lovers who I think would appreciate it). If people are interested, I could post it as a supplement (Spellbooks & Scriptoria?).

[Sir Bedivere]

Hi, everyone,

Sorry about the errors and repeated editing (for anyone who's been on this morning). It's been an exhausting week, the dogs have cabin fever, and my very small nephew is visiting, so it's pretty wild and distracting around here this weekend.

[Solomoriah]

I'd take it as a supplement, or part of a supplement. I agree it's too much for the core rules.

[Sir Bedivere]

So, for the core rules, I suggest:

quill, 1 s.p., negligible weight
quill knife, 1 g.p., negligible weight
spell book (10"x6.25", 64 pages, can hold 1 spell level per page), 25 g.p., 1/2 lb. (beginning MUs get a spell book as a gift from their masters)

The 25 g.p. cost is in line with the thieves tools and the holy symbol, each of which is 25 g.p.

On the supplement, if I can find time this summer, I think I might do one on the medieval intellectual world and include universities, scriptoria, etc. It could include the spell book info in a gear list.

[Solomoriah]

Beginning magic-users almost always have surplus money; maybe they ought to have to buy it themselves, as thieves do their tools.

[SmootRK]

Spellbook Supplement will be a nice addition, especially if some extras can be added such as locks (with pricing), special materials (dragon hide for instance for protection against fire), perhaps a spell or two designed specifically to protect spell books, a couple of unique spell books (such as I remember Dragon Magazine doing every now and then), and magical spell books akin to Bocobb's Blessed Book (1e small travelling spell book that holds more than normal pages (magically)).

Looks good, perhaps you should start a thread to discuss it separate from Errata.