Guidelines to Library research
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Guidelines to Library research
The Boox Index
Check out the above link before posting!Library research is encouraged but completely at DM discretion. Whether or not the DMs will reveal information through this method is up to the DMs. There are times when DMs will post books available at a library out of convenience, there is also a large selection of player written books available. When you want to do research about something which you cannot find on the forums, there are a few things you need to do and remember.
Remember, a library is not like Google where you can enter "Demon Rune Book" and quickly browse through the search results. Even in a modern library you need to have a pretty decent idea what to look for so you know which registers you need to consult and which indices might be helpful. In a medieval library, there is very little support. Most are just piles of books without any system or ordering. Finding something specific here would have been a nightmare.
If you have a suspicion, you can confirm or deny it with the library, but don't expect to find "The all revealing clue that will end the plot" after taking ten minutes to post about your research unless the plot got really screwed or the DM in charge thinks it needs a push in the right direction.
How to search for lore
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SEARCH through the library forum to see if your topic has been researched.
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POST your research topic, use the topic you are researching as the header for the post. IE if you're researching Oak Trees then Oak Trees will be the title of the post and not Bob in the Library.
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SPECIFIC posts and querries are easier to answer, especially if you tell us what you want. IE Oak Trees is too vague, but "Oak Trees and Nymphs" is a good research topic and you can explain you are looking for specific mentionings of Nymphs who inhabit Oak Trees or Oak Groves in and around Eveningstar or in the Hullack Forest.
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ASSUME NOTHING that is in a canon book is necessarily accurate in this server. Sometimes for the sake of our own storylines, a few details get changed. Usually nothing major, but its safer to ask than to be spectacularly wrong or annoy a DM by knowing information IC that shouldn't be known IC.
Rules
1. Be Specific. Researching generic things in hopes the DM will give you the specific info into a plot won't happen. Also, the more specific your question, the better the answer. A query "I am looking for books and demons" will most likely get an answer along the lines of "You find some. Make some up."
Compare this to the question "I am looking for the demon prince Ccor and if he can be summoned by reciting the Ritual of WoC" - this indicates that the character already has done some research into the plot, has something to add to it and is not only trying to jump on the bandwagon of a DM plot in hopes of getting l007.
2. Research things in game. If something unusual or something strange happens in game, and you want to try to research, go ahead. Please do not research things that have no bearing on the game, like how to weave baskets or make reed flutes. Random things like this just distract us from doing things that are pertinent to the game world and running it.
3. Research takes time. If we decide to make you wait 3 days before you find the info you're looking for, don't bother us every hour asking us to respond to your post. When we respond is when you uncover what you want to know. Likewise, if we don't respond, then your research didn't turn up anything.
4. Research wont' solve plots. The DMs know the various ins and outs to solve a plot (and at the very least know the ending tabs of the plots). We want you guys to figure out in game, not ask us through library posts.
5. Your canon Source Book isn't in the library. DMs control the information that comes out of the libraries. I'm beginning to notice many people interjecting in the library posts, often with information that is taken straight out of a source book. The source books are not in the library, there is a reason we make research hard sometimes, some things in the source books may not have happened in our world. Beyond that, if you haven't learned about something in game, then you haven't learned about it. Example: If you happen to know about the Shadow Weave from a source book doesn't mean your level 1 PC has heard of it–and it may not exist on our campaign world. On the other hand, if you find a book in game titled "Dweomers of the Shadow Weave", you have a pretty good reason to seek out more information now.
6. You won't discover new plots in the library. Just because you know a plot exists in a canon source book, or are hoping to get involved in some DM plot, it will not manifest in a library thread. If you want to get involved in something, listen for the clues in game. That's not to say there aren't clues to plots or mysteries in the library; but to find them-you actually have to read the library posts that exist. The DMs won't make new ones just for you because we're in game handing plot hooks out there. This forum is more to determine if your PC would know something or not, or to help confirm some clue you already got in game. This includes the ubiquitous "looks for information on holy relics of deity Y" threads. If we want those found, we'll give out the hints.
7. Current events are not in the library. Libraries have books, it often takes a lot of time for books to be written. To reflect this in game, the library does not have any books on anything that has EVER happened in game unless a player has actually taken the time to write it (for which they can get a pretty decent reward in gold). So if you want to learn about in-game events, get in game and talk to players. It may even be that the things you learn could be eventually added to the library via this process.
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Reminding people that when searching the forums it means also reading books and past inquiries by other players for information.
Don't be lazy, read a book else you won't get any help if we know that information you are after is there, or close enough to build a foundation upon.
There is information on monsters, weapons, locations, Artefacts, history, noteable people, and not all of it directly contains the specific keywords you might look for. Some of it may have vague references. That means you may have to broaden your search and read a lot.
Riuals and magic in general, outside of Artefacts, is generally not in a library however some information is available if you search.