Skip to main content
added 76 characters in body
Source Link
Zeiss Ikon
  • 16.2k
  • 3
  • 46
  • 80

The traditional D&D Spellbook is far more costly than a simple codex-type book needs to be -- made that way to protect a wizard's most valuable resource. Vellum (a type of leather scraped thin, made specifically for writing and drawing) is much more durable than pulp-based paper, at least as good as papyrus and far less labor to produce, so is the obvious choice for the pages in a spell book. In a setting where the default book is a codex type (pages bound in a stack as opposed to a scroll as was the case in pre-Roman times in our world), I'd expect most such to be made of some kind of paper, simply as an economy measure. Further, loose sheets are likely to be mostly paper (either wet pressed paper, similar to what we used in the 19th century, or papyrus), with a few of parchment or vellum mixed in for more important records.

Simply based on cost, wet pressed paper should be the most common type by the time codex books are the default.

Books in a library, in a pre-press technology, will all be hand copied, so older ones might well be scroll type, while newer ones (less than a few centuries, for the typical D&D pseudo-medieval setting) will be codex type, with either soft covers (for those intended to be portable) or hard board covers (for durability and weight to keep the book from closing itself). You might, therefore, describe a library as something like "A rack of scrolls groans under an obvious overload, the standing volumes weighted down with additional pieces laid on top. Beside it, a shelf case accomodates a pitiful few bound codices -- each ornately decorated with gold leaf, however, and several heavy enough they might be a strain to lift from their overhead perch."

The traditional D&D Spellbook is far more costly than a simple codex-type book needs to be -- made that way to protect a wizard's most valuable resource. Vellum is much more durable than pulp-based paper, at least as good as papyrus and far less labor to produce, so is the obvious choice for the pages in a spell book. In a setting where the default book is a codex type (pages bound in a stack as opposed to a scroll as was the case in pre-Roman times in our world), I'd expect most such to be made of some kind of paper, simply as an economy measure. Further, loose sheets are likely to be mostly paper (either wet pressed paper, similar to what we used in the 19th century, or papyrus), with a few of parchment or vellum mixed in for more important records.

Simply based on cost, wet pressed paper should be the most common type by the time codex books are the default.

Books in a library, in a pre-press technology, will all be hand copied, so older ones might well be scroll type, while newer ones (less than a few centuries, for the typical D&D pseudo-medieval setting) will be codex type, with either soft covers (for those intended to be portable) or hard board covers (for durability and weight to keep the book from closing itself). You might, therefore, describe a library as something like "A rack of scrolls groans under an obvious overload, the standing volumes weighted down with additional pieces laid on top. Beside it, a shelf case accomodates a pitiful few bound codices -- each ornately decorated with gold leaf, however, and several heavy enough they might be a strain to lift from their overhead perch."

The traditional D&D Spellbook is far more costly than a simple codex-type book needs to be -- made that way to protect a wizard's most valuable resource. Vellum (a type of leather scraped thin, made specifically for writing and drawing) is much more durable than pulp-based paper, at least as good as papyrus and far less labor to produce, so is the obvious choice for the pages in a spell book. In a setting where the default book is a codex type (pages bound in a stack as opposed to a scroll as was the case in pre-Roman times in our world), I'd expect most such to be made of some kind of paper, simply as an economy measure. Further, loose sheets are likely to be mostly paper (either wet pressed paper, similar to what we used in the 19th century, or papyrus), with a few of parchment or vellum mixed in for more important records.

Simply based on cost, wet pressed paper should be the most common type by the time codex books are the default.

Books in a library, in a pre-press technology, will all be hand copied, so older ones might well be scroll type, while newer ones (less than a few centuries, for the typical D&D pseudo-medieval setting) will be codex type, with either soft covers (for those intended to be portable) or hard board covers (for durability and weight to keep the book from closing itself). You might, therefore, describe a library as something like "A rack of scrolls groans under an obvious overload, the standing volumes weighted down with additional pieces laid on top. Beside it, a shelf case accomodates a pitiful few bound codices -- each ornately decorated with gold leaf, however, and several heavy enough they might be a strain to lift from their overhead perch."

Answer edited clause in question.
Source Link
Zeiss Ikon
  • 16.2k
  • 3
  • 46
  • 80

The traditional D&D Spellbook is far more costly than a simple codex-type book needs to be -- made that way to protect a wizard's most valuable resource. Vellum is much more durable than pulp-based paper, at least as good as papyrus and far less labor to produce, so is the obvious choice for the pages in a spell book. In a setting where the default book is a codex type (pages bound in a stack as opposed to a scroll as was the case in pre-Roman times in our world), I'd expect most such to be made of some kind of paper, simply as an economy measure. Further, loose sheets are likely to be mostly paper (either wet pressed paper, similar to what we used in the 19th century, or papyrus), with a few of parchment or vellum mixed in for more important records.

Simply based on cost, wet pressed paper should be the most common type by the time codex books are the default.

Books in a library, in a pre-press technology, will all be hand copied, so older ones might well be scroll type, while newer ones (less than a few centuries, for the typical D&D pseudo-medieval setting) will be codex type, with either soft covers (for those intended to be portable) or hard board covers (for durability and weight to keep the book from closing itself). You might, therefore, describe a library as something like "A rack of scrolls groans under an obvious overload, the standing volumes weighted down with additional pieces laid on top. Beside it, a shelf case accomodates a pitiful few bound codices -- each ornately decorated with gold leaf, however, and several heavy enough they might be a strain to lift from their overhead perch."

The traditional D&D Spellbook is far more costly than a simple codex-type book needs to be -- made that way to protect a wizard's most valuable resource. Vellum is much more durable than pulp-based paper, at least as good as papyrus and far less labor to produce, so is the obvious choice for the pages in a spell book. In a setting where the default book is a codex type (pages bound in a stack as opposed to a scroll as was the case in pre-Roman times in our world), I'd expect most such to be made of some kind of paper, simply as an economy measure. Further, loose sheets are likely to be mostly paper (either wet pressed paper, similar to what we used in the 19th century, or papyrus), with a few of parchment or vellum mixed in for more important records.

Simply based on cost, wet pressed paper should be the most common type by the time codex books are the default.

The traditional D&D Spellbook is far more costly than a simple codex-type book needs to be -- made that way to protect a wizard's most valuable resource. Vellum is much more durable than pulp-based paper, at least as good as papyrus and far less labor to produce, so is the obvious choice for the pages in a spell book. In a setting where the default book is a codex type (pages bound in a stack as opposed to a scroll as was the case in pre-Roman times in our world), I'd expect most such to be made of some kind of paper, simply as an economy measure. Further, loose sheets are likely to be mostly paper (either wet pressed paper, similar to what we used in the 19th century, or papyrus), with a few of parchment or vellum mixed in for more important records.

Simply based on cost, wet pressed paper should be the most common type by the time codex books are the default.

Books in a library, in a pre-press technology, will all be hand copied, so older ones might well be scroll type, while newer ones (less than a few centuries, for the typical D&D pseudo-medieval setting) will be codex type, with either soft covers (for those intended to be portable) or hard board covers (for durability and weight to keep the book from closing itself). You might, therefore, describe a library as something like "A rack of scrolls groans under an obvious overload, the standing volumes weighted down with additional pieces laid on top. Beside it, a shelf case accomodates a pitiful few bound codices -- each ornately decorated with gold leaf, however, and several heavy enough they might be a strain to lift from their overhead perch."

Source Link
Zeiss Ikon
  • 16.2k
  • 3
  • 46
  • 80

The traditional D&D Spellbook is far more costly than a simple codex-type book needs to be -- made that way to protect a wizard's most valuable resource. Vellum is much more durable than pulp-based paper, at least as good as papyrus and far less labor to produce, so is the obvious choice for the pages in a spell book. In a setting where the default book is a codex type (pages bound in a stack as opposed to a scroll as was the case in pre-Roman times in our world), I'd expect most such to be made of some kind of paper, simply as an economy measure. Further, loose sheets are likely to be mostly paper (either wet pressed paper, similar to what we used in the 19th century, or papyrus), with a few of parchment or vellum mixed in for more important records.

Simply based on cost, wet pressed paper should be the most common type by the time codex books are the default.