That is not a spell book, that's rope!

[Hand of Evil]

From the following http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8633818/

LIMA, Peru - Archaeologists in Peru have found a “quipu” on the site of the oldest city in the Americas, indicating that the device, a sophisticated arrangement of knots and strings used to convey detailed information, was in use thousands of years earlier than previously believed...

So the question is have you ever used something other than paper for your books?

 

[philreed]

From the following http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8633818/

So the question is have you ever used something other than paper for your books?

I've been known to.

 

[Justin D. Jacobson]

Not a spellbook, but when I was DMing my last campaign, the characters' introduction to epic-level magic was a "scroll" with an epic-level spell. The scroll was actually woven from the hair of an angel.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

In my homebrew setting, certain barbaric races such as gnolls use quipu as their spellbooks.

 

[arwink]

Things that have been used in my campaigns: Rope, etchings on a staff, thoughts captured in orbiting ioun stones, braided hair, fragrances from preserved flowers, runes engraved in swords, a collection of skulls with spells written accross the bone.

I used to vary the idea of "spellbooks" by culture in order to give them a different flavor.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Eberron allows the use of Eberron Dragonshards as spellbooks, whereby wizards mystically imprint their spells within the shard, and bring the incantations to the surface by concentrating when they want to prepare spells.

 

[JimAde]

I have temple wizards in my game that use heiroglyphic inscriptions on the temple walls as spellbooks. Depending on how high in the priesthood you are, you get to meditate in more and more restricted rooms. Some of them (cantrips and 1st-level spells, mostly) are open to the public.

Since all the wizard-priests share this one "book" (and have been trained in its codes) they can all use it and copy its spells into their personal books without making Spellcraft checks.

 

[Desdichado]

I've had a "spellbook" that was the wizard himself, covered with small tattoos. I've had spellbooks that were complex, carved staves made of dragon femurs.

 

[VirgilCaine]

A "barbarian" wizard using quipus is fun.

 

[Staffan]

In Dark Sun, it was SOP for wizards not to use books or something else easily identifiable as a spellbook. Arcane magic was outlawed in most places, as was being able to read (unless you were a noble or a templar). So most wizards figured out some other way of "storing" their spells. I believe knotted rope was listed as one of the examples in the books.