"I Search the Bookcase!"

eight random rolling tables to populate your libraries

Random Book Titles, Authors, and Content

Use the table below to roll for random books a character might find in a library or on a bookshelf. If the books belong to an important NPC, consider what their interests are, what their bookcases might look like, and what knowledge they would have gained from the books that they own. Feel free to augment or supplement the following table with your own ideas!

Books

1d100	Book Name	Author	Contents
1-2	Bridge to Heaven	Bruvin Darryo	Planeshifting methods to travel to Elysium
3-4	What Prowls at Night	Theus Wolfsbane	Collection of werewolf sightings
5-6	Derytthic ("Rituals")	Grokdos Spearbone	Orcish ritualistic ceremonies
7-8	History of Elfin Wine	Araina Reshtir	Collection of historical elven orchards
9-10	The Sharp End	Linus the Adventurer	Swordfighting tips for beginners
11-12	A Tale of Giants	Malayna Quasiv	Account of the hunting of a clan of frost giants
13-14	True Ley Lines	Unknown	Hypothetical mapping of arcane ley lines
15-16	Borzog the Destroyer	Borzog the Destroyer	Inflated account of Borzog's endeavours
17-18	Gnomish Kin	Yalenna Stone	Genealogical reconstruction of gnomish heritage
19-20	The Webs Below	Porthos Avoren	Account of an encounter with driders
21-22	Mountainous Desires	Babessa Puman	Romantic fiction between a goliath and an elf
23-24	Conjuring Success	Master Wan	Amateur's guide to conjuration magic
25-26	7	Unknown	Theory that everything is tied to the number 7
27-28	The Bearclaws part 3	Minnie Darova	Part in a series about the fictional adventuring group
29-30	The Astral Sea	Hellian	Collection of dangers found in the Astral Sea
31-32	Navigation	Captain Royce	Basic guide to navigating on sea using the stars
33-34	Power of Fire	Tartaros	Overview of the uses of fire magic and arcane flames
35-36	The Ice Time	Torop Bruska	Guide to farming during multi-year winters
37-38	Beyond the Red Gate	N. Otade Vil	Structure and topographical overview of the Nine Hells
39-40	Worship of Ilmater	Unnamed priest	Guide to ceremonies, dress and prayer to Ilmater
41-42	The Twelve	Unknown	Account of the shattering of the Deepblade into 12
43-44	The Planes	The Wayfinder	Incomplete and incorrect overview of the Planes
45-46	Sending and Finding	Master Kraven	Guide to spells that send messages or find objects
47-48	Soothserum	Unknown	Step-by-step guide to brewing the illegal soothserum
49-50	Halfling Architecture	Meynas Brinn	Technical sketches of halfling architectural styles
51-52	To the Bottom	F. Ish	Fake account of a city at the bottom of the sea
53-54	101 Mockeries	Stegey the Bard	Collection of vicious mockery insults
55-56	Taming of the Ewe	Brindleback	Guide to handling aggressive or dangerous sheep
57-58	Fantastical Blades	Mervyn the Sage	Overview of historically significant magical swords
59-60	Zero to Zero	Unknown	Tale of an urchin who becomes a hero and fails
61-62	Uses for Alicorn	Jenna Brodiger	Material uses for unicorn horn, for brewing or imbuing
63-64	99 Plants	Herb Dingus	Arbitrary, illogical and unordered list of random plants
65-66	The Fir	Archdruid Zevan	Account of how a fir tree gave Zevan druidic powers
67-68	Guide to Hemocraft	Unknown	Advanced guide to the uses of illegal hemomancy
69-70	Wood vs. Thatched	Brennan Duryan	Argumentative essay on using wood or straw for roofs
71-72	The Missing Link	Maybel	Hypotheses surrounding the murder of Levos Brin

1d100	Book Name	Author	Contents
73-74	The Skull Lord	Unnamed historian	Account of how the sorcerer Eskalaidos became a lich
75-76	The King's Line	Batueva	Genealogical royal line going back five centuries
77-78	Arcane Grammar	Desthys Vuorin	Guide to grammatical mistakes in spellcasting
79-80	Love Unbound	Elennia	False account of her romance with a prince
81-82	The Silence Within	Mu-Win	Guide to channeling ki and controlling enemy ki
83-84	Oremur	Vistav Ustenar	Guide to deciphering and reading the oremur-script
85-86	Snake-People	Unknown	Account of an encounter with various yuan-ti
87-88	Driv's Adventures	Nemyn Desvin	Children's book about a dwarf child named Driv
89-90	Arcane Metallurgy	Drakash Vertisn	Guide to dwarvish metalcasting of magical hammers
91-92	Eight Eyes	Unnamed thief	Account of a thief who worked under a beholder
93-94	Eastern Riverfish	Unnamed fisherman	Overview of catchable fish in various rivers in the area
95-96	Meyistamev ("Bonds")	Eristereav Mysteraniar	Hypothetical overview of stars "bound together"
97-98	Arcana	Unknown	Extremely dry overview of historical use of magic
99-100	Significance	Dav the Lover	Overview of courtship and marriage in various cultures

Book Materials, Color, Cover and General Appearance

Use these tables to determine what the book looks like, what properties it has and whether a player can read it. Not all of the options within these tables may be compatible with the book contents in the table above. Options that end in a single asterisk (*) may give books unique properties, and could be used as plot hooks for adventures.

Cover (roll 3 times)

d8	Material	Decorations	Cover Color
1	Wood and leather	Woodcut	Black
2	Wood and cloth	Engraved metal	Red
3	Plain wood	Painted	Green
4	Embroidery	Gold leaf	Blue
5	Leather softcover	Treasure binding*	Brown
6	Layered vellum	Metal corners	White
7	Wraparound or tied	Calligraphy	Purple
8	No cover	None	Not colored

Binding (roll 2 times)

d6	Method	Page Count
1	Coptic stitch binding	1-50 pages
2	Long stitch binding	50-100 pages
3	Girdle binding	100-250 pages
4	Stitched or stab binding	250-500 pages
5	Glued	500-1000 pages
6	Loose folios	More than 1000 pages**

**Books that contain more than 1000 (bound) pages may be contained in codices, multiple manuscripts or book series.

Pages (roll 2 times)

d4	Page Material	Page Quality
1	Vellum or parchment	Moldy or brittle
2	Papyrus	Few tears
3	Paper	Well-preserved
4	Leaves, bark, or other materials*	New or spotless

Penmanship (roll 2 times)

d4	Types of Writing	Writing Quality
1	Block letters	Low, untrained, or illegible
2	Cursive	Mediocre or scribbled
3	Calligraphy	Excellent
4	Blackletter	Masterful

Language or Cipher (if Encrypted)

d6	Language	Cipher
1	Common	Arcane cipher
2	Dwarvish	Numerical cipher
3	Elvish	Substitution cipher
4	Halfling	Transposition cipher
5	Gnomish	Musical cipher
6	Exotic	Book cipher

Additional Book Details and Features

Use the following tables to give your books additional features or traits that make them stand out against the rest of the bookcase, or use the "Magical Properties" table to give your books a little extra power. Options that end in a single asterisk (*) may give books magical properties, and could be used as plot hooks for adventures.

Special Book Features

d20	Feature
1	The book is severly weathered or used.
2	The book has burn marks.
3	The book is missing several pages that have been ripped out.*
4	Most pages have handwritten notes in the margins.*
5	The book's cover has been reused from another book, and still has that book's title and author on it.
6	The book contains another chapter from a different book that has been bound into it.
7	The book has a crude map drawn into the cover.*
8	Some of the book's pages stick or are glued together.
9	The book's index contains a number of chapters that aren't in the book.
10	The book's cover has many arcane symbols drawn or painted on it.*
11	The book screams when it is opened.*
12	The book smells vaguely of perfume or refuse.
13	The book has extensive water damage.
14	Someone spilled a burning acid on the cover.
15	The book has multiple clasps or chains on it that keep it closed and locked.*
16	The book's pages are made from multiple different materials, alternated between sections.
17	The book is encrypted in an unknown script or cipher (see the "Language or Cipher" table).*
18	The previous owner of the book doodled pictures of themselves and their animal companions over the pages of this book.
19	Each of this book's pages starts with a cryptic sentence or message.*
20	This book was used as a spellbook by a wizard, or a hag or witch used it as a grimoire.*

Page 2 image art from Final Fantasy, "Gran Grimoire"
Page 3 image art from Pathfinder, "Psychic Manuscript"

Magical Properties

d20	Property	Rarity
1	A soul was captured in this book. If treated well, it may provide information it knows.	Common
2	This book generates one random spell scroll of 1st-level every day at dawn, provided the last one was used.	Uncommon
3	Once a day, reading this book gives one character advantage on Intelligence checks for 10 minutes.	Uncommon
4	This book can be used to cast the scrying spell once per day (save DC 15). (Requires attunement)	Rare
5	This book can be used to cast the teleport spell once per day. (Requires attunement)	Very rare
6	Carrying this book makes the owner immmune to magical sleep.	Uncommon
7	Carrying this book gives the owner advantage on checks made to decrypt ciphers or other encryptions.	Common
8	While carrying this book, the owner can treat any roll of 9 or lower on the d20 on Intelligence skill checks as a 10.	Uncommon
9	Reading this book grants one tool proficiency of the reader's choice. The book then disappears.	Uncommon
10	Reading this book grants one skill proficiency of the reader's choice. The book then disappears.	Uncommon
11	This book's owner can't be surprised.	Uncommon
12	This book increases its owner's number of spell slot levels regained through Arcane Recovery by 1. (Requires attunement by a wizard)	Rare
13	This book's owner can always tell cardinal directions by the stars.	Common
14	This book's owner can understand two additional languages.	Common
15	This book's owner never runs out of ink.	Common
16	Once per day, this book's owner can choose to regain maximum hit points from a healing potion, instead of rolling.	Uncommon
17	This book's owner learns one wizard cantrip of their choice.	Common
18	This book grants its owner a +1 bonus to one ability score of the owner's choice. (Requires attunement)	Rare
19	This book can identify materials by touch.	Common
20	This book can predict the future, as per the augury spell, 1d2 times per day.	Rare