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

[fusangite]

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 have a friend who is writing he dissertation on Inca understandings of camelid and potato genetics who has a fascinating theory about how the quipu were read and how they worked. But I won't bore this thread unless some sucker rises to the bait.

I've never had an alternative to this in D&D for spells. The closest I came was the illiterate (house rule) barbarian/sorceror who used to eat scrolls to activate them.

However, I'm a big fan of the sutra as a data compression method. Every game world I create, because most have mature civilizations and none have mass printing, uses sutras as the main method of text transfer.

 

[frankthedm]

In my game "Aquan" uses “quipu” and cuniform characters.

large bones, Gems, tablets and staves are valid choices for my game, but, not often used.

 

[jerichothebard]

I played in a game where the spellbooks my wizard found were ancient elven egg-shaped gems, and by twisting them in a complicated rubik's cube fashion, they would project their information out like a hologram. Very cool idea. Spell research consisted of first finding the proper rubik's combination, then learning the spell.

 

[Tonguez]

IMC scrolls come in the form of 'knotted cords' based directly on the Khipu (and the game of cats-cradle). They are activiated by unknotting the cord in a single pull

Yes Fusangite, I'm rising to the bait!!!
Please share with us the fascinating theory about how the quipu were read and how they worked.

so I'm a sucker okay...

 

[wingsandsword]

I had a campaign where the PC spellcaster was a celtic bard, and his spellbook (it was 2e, so all arcane casters memorized, bards included) was a tall oak staff flowing with ogham script.

I had a wizard in one campaign who had a bag of runestones, and for each new spell he learned in went another special stone.

 

[Voadam]

My viking mage in 2e started off with a spellbook of rune sticks. He then had meditation scrolls when he studied under a wu-Jen. His first actual book spellbook was loot from a minotaur mage.

Forgot to note, that first book from the minotaur was made out of the skin of elves.

 

[davidschwartznz]

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

The last Dark Sun campaign I ran, the PCs faced an undead defiler. The doorway to his lab had an unusual beaded curtain. They walked through his spellbook several times and never noticed.

 

[Rel]

In an AU campaign, my Verrik Mind Witch used these bone plaques with holes drilled in them as a sort of "braile" spellbook. He always meditated with his eyes closed and so he used a touch based medium for his spell books.

One cool aspect of the way I played him was that he would take large bones from his foes to make new plaques out of and would use them to inscribe spells that had some significance to the creature in question. For example he might use a Salamander bone for a fire based spell. The GM liked this a lot and gave me tons of treasure!

(Actually he was a bit of a Monty Haul GM and gave everybody tons of treasure. But I RPed hard to EARN mine. )

 

[The Lemon Merchant]

I've considered using alternative spellbooks, but now I don't think I'll be able to keep a straight face when I introduce one. All I can see is the dumb fighter saying "That isn't a spellbook, that's rope."