My ideas for bookstores and libraries

[andromacus]

Hello,

today I would like to share some ideas about how bookstores and libraries could be improved with a possible mod.

Generally speaking I always found in the original design of Daggerfall that these two locations are actually of very low use; reading a book does not provide anything other than your personal amusement, and once you read one reading the same book in another game does not add any value.

So what about this: introduce in the game some additional books which are not made to be actually read by the player, but when used trigger a "study" event which provide some chances to enhance some of your skills (chance of success may be dependant on Intelligence attribute), like if they were "treaties" or "manuals" of something.

Skills that I think could be enhanced in this way are: all Language skills (orcish, giantish etc...), Medical, Mercantile, Etiquette, Streetwise, all Magical skills (Alteration, Destruction etc...)

There could also be different levels of manuals that could be found in the game. For example "A beginner guide to Mercantile" can be used only if your Mercantile skill is below 20%, an intermediate guide can be used only if you are 20% and 50% and so on. This could invite the player to spend some time studying to enhance his skills, and could make it valuable to visit bookstores and libraries to look for any interesting book (libraries should also have a fee for consulting books)

Also, another thing I think could add value to the game could be the introduction of magic scrolls. These (rare) can be found in dungeons or purchased (always rare) in some bookstores. Using a magic scroll allows the player to learn a spell. In this way Mage Guild won't be the only way to learn new spells, and also can give some chances to learn some spells for free!

[pango]

Personally I'd prefer books to be seen as having a value as books, rather than requiring to be a game mechanic.
By that I mean, more of the content of those books should be of effective usage. Some books are there purely for lore, and that's fine, it sets the tone, help you understand the world and its history, help you roleplay the experience. Some of the books contain some information actually effective, say dates of daedra summoning, stuff like that.
It would be very cool for more books to contain nuggets of effective information, or conversely that some of the stuff written in books has direct consequences in the current world, hence gameplay.

[Ralzar]

Personally I'd prefer books to be seen as having a value as books, rather than requiring to be a game mechanic.
By that I mean, more of the content of those books should be of effective usage. Some books are there purely for lore, and that's fine, it sets the tone, help you understand the world and its history, help you roleplay the experience. Some of the books contain some information actually effective, say dates of daedra summoning, stuff like that.
It would be very cool for more books to contain nuggets of effective information, or conversely that some of the stuff written in books has direct consequences in the current world, hence gameplay.

Absolutely agree. Some of the once you might at first glance write off as purely fluff actually tells you stuff tangentially connected to the MQ or its characters. Which is handy since the MQ does not, by itself, exactly hold your hand.

Also, the jokes book is really just an explanation of Tamriels racial stereotypes which I thought was a really clever way to present that to the player.

[pango]

I'm all for guides that actually help you play the game (hopefully not breaking the 4th wall too much, style matters).
It would also make sense to have all kind of reference books; Say one book per school of magicka, listing spells and then some (what enemies they're potent against, that kind of stuff). Bestiaries, with links to dungeon types, etc.
Much like you can find books on gardening or DIY, those could be a little more dry on style, The books you keep around and go back to when you're looking for a specific information.

[Magicono43]

Personally I'd prefer books to be seen as having a value as books, rather than requiring to be a game mechanic.
By that I mean, more of the content of those books should be of effective usage. Some books are there purely for lore, and that's fine, it sets the tone, help you understand the world and its history, help you roleplay the experience. Some of the books contain some information actually effective, say dates of daedra summoning, stuff like that.
It would be very cool for more books to contain nuggets of effective information, or conversely that some of the stuff written in books has direct consequences in the current world, hence gameplay.

For my eventual alchemy overhaul mod, I hope to do this sort of things with the books i'm going to add in with said mod. Basically allow being able to know how mechanics of the alchemy system and various ingredients can be used or found more consistently with information from the books. Not the most easy task obviously, but something I agree adds a lot more to the usefulness as well as "immersion" of books and reading material.

[MrFlibble]

Come to think of it, I wouldn't object to books providing both usable information for the player, and acting as a mechanic. These two aspects can be complementary, i.e. you read a book (not just open and close) and then some new ability is unlocked for you.

Let's say the book is on swordsmanship and teaches you how to parry -- I'm completely making this up for the sake of example, mind you -- and says that to parry, you need to make a certain movement while swinging your weapon. After reading the book in-game, this kind of movement is unlocked, but not before, and the player will not be able to parry before reading said book even if knowing the right movement. Something of this kind.

But what bookstores and libraries really need IMO is a shopkeeper and librarian who would help you with book searching. And by this I mean not just a quick search by title instead of browsing the shelves, but also search by topic (e.g. royalty, history, magic, alchemy, entertainment etc.) a the very least.