1

A pulpy horror book filled with short stories made to terrify adolescents and thrill young adults. A creature who reads the book suffers from a Random Nightmare later the next time they sleep.

2

A large reference book on the subject of minted coinage within the realm. The top of each page has an illustration of both sides of a coin from a rubbing of the original, lovingly and delicately inked. Below is everything anyone could possibly want to know about the coin: number of dies in the designs, the date each went into service, the date each was taken out and destroyed, dates of repairs and re-engravings on each, quantities of each kind of coin struck. There is even a statement about whether or not there are known counterfeits. According the inside cover, the tome belongs to the Royal Assay of the city of TunFaire in the kingdom of Karenta.

3

A brand new copy of “Volo’s Guide to What to Expect When You’re Expecting” with a couple of pages dog-eared in and “Congratulations!” written on the inside cover.

4

On the Sending Out of the Soul: An eight-page pamphlet on astral projection. The first seven pages of the pamphlet contain vague mystic writing; however, the eighth page details a formula for effecting astral travel. Among the required ingredients are a brazier and a mild hallucinogenic herb. The formula is always successful but has an unforeseen side effect: it invokes the horrid Outer God the Hydra. Knowledgeable PC’s are aware that the pamphlet first appeared a few generations ago and circulated among occult groups. Most copies were destroyed in the wake of a series of grisly murders.

5

Dictionnaire Infernal: A full description of the hierarchies of demons. This edition includes sixty-nine illustrations of demons by Louis Le Breton a skilled warlock, infamous for trading his soul for legendary artistic talent rather than arcane power or material wealth.

6

A journeyman’s guide to the proper practices of the guild who oversees the use of Roll on "Random Artisan's Tools". The travel volume includes how to care for your tools and how to interact with other crafters to seek replacement tools and have worn ones maintained. Other chapters detail acceptable prices for goods sold and services rendered along with advice on any specific ethical concerns the guild may have on trading. Most of the book contains descriptions and diagrams on how to perform basic tasks with the tools to the guild’s standards.

7

A small book, entitled “The Torrid Affair of Knight Gawain,”. When placed on its spine it automatically falls open to particularly risqué page.

8

A personal journal owned by a psychiatrist who was studying the concept of nightmares and their metaphysical properties. The doctor recorded dozens of firsthand accounts of her patient’s slumbering terrors within this volume as well as notes on the patients themselves and how the dreams affected them. A person who peruses the journal for more than a few minutes suffers from a Random Nightmare the next time they sleep. Upon waking they feel compelled to document their experience on one of the blank pages left near the end of the book.

9

Alchemy of the Flesh: A dark green tome describing how to use a plethora of humanoid viscera and organs to enhance standard potion brewing techniques.

10

Tome Of The Endless Tale: A small, worn book with fanciful creatures or locales on battered leather covers, the tome’s pages fill with serialized stories that engage and distract the reader. The Tome focuses on a specific genre (See Note) but the stories crafted within the pages are unique to each reader, tailored by the magic from their own imagination and so vibrant that the book’s tales seem to come to life in the mind’s eye. Once per day, the reader can speak the command word written on the book’s inside cover to fill its its pages with a serial story tailored to the speaker. This story typically takes 1 hour to read, continuing from where the last tale completed. —Note: The DM can choose a genre or roll at random; 1, Adventure 2, Romance 3, Mystery / Crime 4, Horror 5, Thriller / Suspense 6, Fantasy 7, Science Fiction 8, Historical fiction.

11

A cloth-bound book of short stories by famous pulp novelist Cissifin Judeel. The volume is in excellent physical condition.

12

A bound section that includes chapters six, seven, and nine of some kind of book on mechanical engineering, seemingly torn from a larger work. They describe in enormous detail how to construct an intricate clockwork mechanism, but what it’s supposed to do is left unclear – and, besides, with chapter eight missing you wouldn’t know how to build one of the most important parts…

13

A cookbook, containing stunningly delicious recipes which, unfortunately, require extraordinarily rare and hard to find ingredients to make. It is no doubt someone’s life’s ambition to cook and eat all of them at least once.

14

An anonymous epic poem about the Brass Spear Prince, full of stirring speeches and descriptions of battle scenes. For many noble travellers, this inspiring story is the reason why they became an adventurer in the first place.

15

An old bestiary, full of detailed information about monsters and magical beasts. Its sources appear to be approximately one-third hard evidence, one-third rumour or hearsay, and one-third the author’s own fevered imagination, with no indication in the text as to which is which. It’s information could easily save your life one day if you can only work out which parts of it are actually true…

16

A strange book whose pages are thin, blank stone tablets bound with knotted leather cords. Skeletons and zombies bow and grovel in the presence of the book.

17

Phoenix Breviary: A hand-size book bound in what appears to be black ostrich hide. Its pages are empty. Placed in a fire, the book will be unharmed and reveal the canonical hours of a banned cult for as long as it is surrounded by flame. Anything written in it will disappear until revealed similarly.

18

A joke book, full of genuinely hilarious (If rather mean-spirited) jokes. There are enough one liners alone for hours of belly-laughs and the text would be extremely valued to a jester or entertainer.

19

An anonymous journal, which records in obsessive detail the suspicious activities of a variety of seemingly-innocuous local citizens, whom the author seems to have been keeping under close observation. Either he was totally paranoid, or they are engaged in some kind of conspiracy. Maybe both.

20

An instruction manual, which describes in lunatic detail how to build a giant mechanical owl in order to further the cause of righteousness in the land. (The causal relationship between these two things is not made clear.) Chapters 3 through 9, which cover the construction of the owl’s internal mechanisms, have been ripped out.

21

A book of abstruse speculative philosophy, heavily annotated by some previous student. The annotations to the early chapters are detailed and lucid, but as the book goes on they grow increasingly incoherent, finally lapsing into ravings about a Beast and a City made of Red Steel. Due to the quantity of crazy annotations on its final pages, the last sections of the book are effectively illegible. You’ve never seen another copy.

22

An antiquarian manuscript whose author attempts, from the surviving literary and numismatic evidence, to deduce where the major strongholds of the local sorcerer-kings were back in the Age of Wonders. If she’s right, then there are at least three in the area which have been completely forgotten about, one of which is now buried under the streets of a major city…

23

The memoirs of a famous explorer, describing his many travels. The last chapter describes his plans for his final expedition, from which he never returned. But if the reader can work out where he went wrong, then maybe they’ll have better luck…

24

A catalogue of birds found in this and adjacent kingdoms. Holding the book makes you want to obsessively tick off every species you manage to spot. A former owner of the book seems to have ticked off far more of the really rare ones than you, which causes oddly strong feeling of jealousy. One day, you will surpass him!

25

A child’s sketchbook. On every page that isn’t just unintelligible scribbling is a horrific monster.

26

A book of rather moving and helpfully non-specific love poetry. Memorize some of it for next time you need to persuade someone just how much you adore them!

27

A notebook in which someone has recorded, in great detail, the gastronomic preferences of a whole range of important and powerful people who live in a nearby large city. Very handy if you want to make a good impression - or to set someone else up to make a bad one!

28

An extremely spicy erotic novel about the life and loves of a famous courtesan. You keep it with you for, um, further research purposes.

29

A book of woodcut illustrations, more than a century old, depicting various fantastical monsters. One of them shows a particularly grotesque many-tentacled beastie fighting with a figure in spiked armour, who (Unlike every other figure in the book) has a string of nonsense words engraved beneath them. Disturbingly, these words form an anagram of one of the PC’s names.

30

A book of heretical, politically seditious, and intermittently obscene drinking songs, complete with musical scores. Owning it is highly illegal, but you can’t bear to part with it: after all, it might well be the only copy which survived the purge…

31

A children’s story book with a pressed faerie sprite between the pages…

32

An engrossing and well-written mystery novel: it’s not very deep or clever, but pick it up and you’ll soon be wondering where the last six hours went. Handy if you need someone to be distracted without realizing it.

33

Naga Naga Yo Fraga Blaga: A book whose cover is designed to look as if it was made from green scales, and its pages have golden edges. The volume talks at great length about an ancient race of serpentine creatures of great intellect and natural mastery of sorcery.

34

Of Gospels and Prophets: A stark white leather cover with gold filigree encompasses this religious reference book. The book does not delve deeply into any specific topic, rather approaches the “mile wide, inch deep” style with no more than 3-5 sentences on any of its entries.

35

Demozain: A book written by a dozen ur-priests. It makes no attempt to hide the ritual that would summon a sentient black hole to consume a world, but between the lines it reveals secrets of where the gods truly get their power.

36

A palm-sized notebook that always has at least one more blank page.

37

A blank spellbook bound in scarred wyvern hide.

38

Libro Venenum: A vile text filled with pages of aged papyrus and wrapped in dried lizard hide. Translated it proclaims to be the Book (of) Poisons and must be handled with absolute care. The reader is insight into the long-forgotten art of toxic magic, practised primarily by hags.

39

Folio Malevolence: A profane book whose spine is crafted from the bones of tormented fairies. The pages are all exposed with no actual cover and emit a foul odor. Upon close examination one can see skin has been stretched and matted onto the parchment. The runes on these pages make the reader feel uneasy and waves of hatred flow over them. Good aligned characters will feel immediate aversion to the text. The text itself orders the reader to let malevolence overwhelm then and to lead a life of malice and constant all-consuming rage at the world and everything in it.

40

A diary that begins quite normal, even boring, but becomes increasingly nonsensical, and the final few pages are indecipherable scrawlings.

41

A heavy book titled “The Many Faces of Perun”. Dozens of flowers are pressed between its pages.

42

Opuscule Covetous: A small notebook created with haphazard pieces of vellum tied together with gold wire. If the pages are spread out they appear to be covered in numbered pictures. Anyone who puts the pages in the correct order will see the drawings magically animate. The story they show will be capturing and include scenes of immense wealth and decadence. Those viewing will be intoxicated with avarice and immediately desire the treasures presented in the story. Unbeknownst to the cursed readers this is an elaborate trap set by a witch. What appear to be treasures are actually items the witch herself desires but cannot obtain. Examples would be a sacred holy relic, a newborn child or perhaps a lock of hair from a person pure of heart. No matter what the item they will always appear as something else to the afflicted character. The curse will cease once one or all of the items are obtained and presented to the witch.

43

A bound album of various portraits and sketches of individual local people and families. Someone went through and meticulously clipped out the heads of all the people in the pictures, leaving the rest of the scenes intact.

44

A ledger listing quantities and types of Roll on "Humanoid" bones and teeth along with dates, costs, and prices of sales and purchasing.

45

A book of anatomy with detailed drawings on xenomorphic creatures completely alien to this plane of existence.

46

A book of genealogical research of a prominent family in the nearby city, mostly consisting of a bound collection of public announcement posters and firsthand accounts of the local historical society.

47

The Parchments of Pnom: A manuscript written by Hyperborea’s leading genealogist and soothsayer. It is written in the “Elder Script” of that land and contains a detailed account of the lineage of the Hyperborean gods, most notably Tsathoggua.

48

A beginner’s guide for people learning to play the Roll on "Random Musical Instruments". The slim volume includes diagrams with all the parts of the instrument along with instructions for proper maintenance and care. Past the introduction the book contains the basics of how to play, along with a dozen simple songs that even someone who is unskilled in the performing arts could learn to play by reading the book and putting in a few weeks of regular practice.

49

A lengthy tome that boasts as its title “A complete history of the Roll on "Humanoid"”. The thick tome is dense with small, fine handwriting and goes into impressive (If dry) detail on the known origins of the people along with the high and lows of their past.

50

A military historical reference book focusing on the construction, maintenance and historical and modern use of the Roll on "All Random Weapon Tables" as it pertains to various forms of warfare.

51

Book of Dzyan: This work is an ancient text from a far away land, which contains “unwelcome truths”—cosmic revelations inimical to any human mind, which the Book tries to reconcile. As such, it describes accounts of mental and physical rites which are protective to mortals, as well as otherworldly threats and how to deal with them. Anyone who casts bard spells can research the spell contrary melody in this book to learn it in place of a 5th-level spell known.

52

A child’s sketchbook that features named stick figures of various people in a dozen different hands. The cover is marked with a surprisingly ornate rune, almost beautiful, though reading it makes one’s eyes droop.

53

De Vermis Mysteriis: An eldritch and bizarre spellbook, written by Ludvig Prinn, an ancient alchemist and necromancer who was burnt alive as punishments for his crimes against nature. Its pages are full of spells and rituals that summon strange entities, familiars, and creatures from beyond space and time. It also has a number of rituals for contacting and dealing with Great Old Ones, Outer Gods, and their minions.

54

A tiny leather bound book that contains a piece of writing such as a story, a poem, a manuscript, or a recipe. Each day, a new piece of writing magically replaces the previous one.

55

A cookbook, heavily bookmarked and written on, with pictures to accompany each recipe in the book. Licking the pictures allows you to find out how each dish tastes. Writing new ingredients in the recipes alters how the pictures taste. The back of the cookbook has empty pages to allow people to write down their own custom recipes. A few of the pages already have recipes written on them, some of which sound absolutely revolting.

56

A small novel, in which its 100 pages are used to describe a pebble. It consists of a single run-on sentence, and the description is often repeated throughout the book.

57

A leather bound book that bursts into flames when opened and extinguishes itself when closed. The book itself is completely fireproof.

58

A translation manual that teaches the basics for a long lost language. The guide assists the reader in translating basic words and phrases from the lost language into a commonly known language. This manual has significant values in archeological and research circles.

59

A bible that contains the founding texts of a now extinct religion that was wiped out long ago. This tome chronicles the origins of a murderous and wild sect that broke off from a popular, but now dead, religion. It gives notes on famous individuals this sect claims to have killed, their method in doing so and gives small insight into where more information about this sect may be.

60

A humble prayer-book bound in homespun cloth. Even with all your knowledge and sophistication, these simple hymns still have an almost supernatural power to soothe your troubled mind.

61

The Book of The Keeper of The World: A yellow book that is almost as bright as the sun itself. A bloody skeleton is on the cover with a text in an unreadable arcane language, presumably the title. Eating pages of this makes something in the world just disappear out of everyone’s mind, a nothingness filling the place it used to be.

62

A reprint of a banned book, the last copy thought destroyed decades ago.

63

A ratty journal overflowing with loose sheets of yellowed paper. They are filled with maddened scrawl and diagrams and calculations and degenerate ranting.

64

A heavy book filled with Holy Scripture from the Loregiver and proclamations of Fate.

65

A holy text containing the sacred oaths of the first paladins from each paladin order in the multiverse, listing those of Good alignment as examples to strive for while warning against falling to the dark temptations of those who made their oaths for personal gain or other dark desires.

66

A book containing a list of artifacts designed for dark purposes, primarily those associated with Evil deities, as well as instructions on how to destroy these items. Several items on this list have already been crossed off, presumably destroyed by previous holders of this book.

67

A large tome that contains what is likely the largest repository of knowledge on healing salves in existence. It lists out materials, costs, where to find each ingredient, and how to combine these ingredients. There is virtually no ailment that cannot be cured by at least one of these restorative mixtures should the text prove accurate.

68

A small prayerbook that contains a single long incantation that can be used to contact a celestial who specializes in helping unfortunate souls tricked into a contract with a devil find a way out of their unfair bargains.

69

Book of Ashur: An arcane tome, bound in ancient dragon hide that contains much wisdom on the conjuring and subjugation of spells.

70

Liber Noctus: A decrepit tome that bristles with dark secrets and eldritch powers. Reading from the grimoire summons dark thoughts and grim deeds.

71

A blessed tome containing tales of ancient valour, glory, and self-sacrifice are bound to inspire those of noble heart to greater deeds.

72

A large book, bound in human skin according to the note tied to it, supposedly it was owned by an ancient necromancer during the age of thunder but its impossible to open as the spirits bound by it will lash out at the carrier. At the bottom it reads that it’s currently on loan from Candlekeep.

73

A thick, heavy leather-bound book that contains illustrations and descriptions of over 3000 different kind of animals, plants, fungi, and minerals that can be used as alchemical ingredients, and how to safely collect, preserve, and store them. It was written by a renowned dark elf alchemist and explorer in the north lands. He spent decades studying and experimenting with the various creatures and plants that inhabit that environment, and compiled his findings and recipes in this book.

74

A worn-out leather book that has a map of the southern land on its cover. It contains detailed descriptions and directions on how to find and harvest rare and expensive alchemical ingredients that grow in remote, dangerous or hidden locations in the southern land.

75

A green book that has a dwarven hammer as symbol on its cover. It contains detailed secret information on how to use dwarven alchemy, with a specialized focus on creating oils and elixirs to mix into liquid metal alloys during the forging of weapons and armor.

76

An old yellowish book that has an elegant symbol on its cover. It was written by a legendary elven alchemist who mastered the art of creating healing potions, over the course of more than half a millennia of dedicated focus.

77

A collection of slim volumes on a variety of topics, including a registry of the nobility, City Watch commanders, and other notable citizens. Blank pages, a vial of ink, a pen. A number of interesting maps.

78

A single tome that is a combined multi-volumed summa of unified theory of arcane & divine magic, mechanical physics, psionics, and the cosmos.

79

An old, small, leather-bound, time-worn book with a goat’s head tooled into its cover. The leather is badly foxed and the pages are barely readable. If studied carefully it seems to be the journal of a fiendish cult.

80

A sketchbook half-filled with disturbingly accurate anatomical studies of various people, the copper plates that cover it etched with a pleasingly abstract rendering of a human heart.

81

A strange esoteric translation manual that teaches the basics for a long lost language. The guide assists the reader in translating basic words and phrases from the lost language into a commonly known language. This manual has significant values in archeological and research circles.

82

A hand-written guide by a purportedly self-taught monk on how to manifest and nurture ki powers. Although the information is not grounded in traditional aesthetic principals, anyone with knowledge of ki will recognize some validity to the methods being discussed. It is from an unknown author.

83

A religious text of an extinct cult that was wiped out long ago. This tome chronicles the origins of a murderous and wild sect that broke off from a popular, but now dead, religion. It gives notes on famous individuals this sect claims to have killed, their method in doing so and gives small insight into where more information about this sect may be.

84

A bound set of written texts, recording the beliefs of a famous lone wanderer and philosopher. The individual is well-known throughout the land for his beliefs and exploits but it was previously unknown that he had personally committed any of these things down on writing.

85

A book of spells with particularly elaborate verbal components written in an unknown but important-looking script. Arcane PC’s can determine that only one or two minor spells actually work. Extremely close inspection will reveal that the rest of the “incantations” and “magic words” are actually disguised and encoded reports from a deep-cover spy

86

A worn, leather-bound journal filled with notes and sketches, offering insights into the daily life of its previous owner. There are many blank pages. Reading from the journal causes miniature illusions to appear for others showing the details of the event written, whether truthful or fanciful.

87

An alchemical codex containing the formulae for various poisons.

88

A dusty, ancient tome filled with arcane knowledge and forbidden secrets, written in a strange serpentine language and illuminated with intricate flowing illustrations.

89

A notebook that contains private notes from a psychiatrist about a patient. The first two pages are banal and clinical; by the fifth, they are inscrutable ramblings.

90

An identifiable book with a dozen assorted silver nails impaling it. The nails look disorderly and haphazardly hammered, with many bent in strange angles. The book is constantly wet, and the title is illegible.

91

An arcane spellbook that doesn’t seem to have belonged to a single wizard, bearing many different hands and styles across undoubtedly centuries. Many pages are damaged, arcane scribblings made illegible by time and deterioration. On the pages that remain, it seems that many of the spells appear modified in some way.

92

A well-worn and obviously fake booklet on how to talk to ghosts.

93

A bound journal filled with sketches of plants and animals.

94

A medical journal written in a dead language. It’s filled with diagrams and drawings of medical dissections of inhuman alien creatures.

95

The Book of Fate’s Mercies: A book that details incidents where people were saved from death by random chance. For example, a barking dog caused someone to walk just a little quicker down the street, which moved them out of the path of a stampeding horse. The last story in the book is about you, potentially causing you to be extremely aware and reactive but utterly paranoid and agoraphobic.

96

An inconspicuous diary of a young girl named Fyla. At a young age Fyla’s talents allowed her to see into the abyss and corrupted her mind. She wrote in detail about the monsters under her bed and her fears of what awaited her when they would finally come for her on her 18th birthday.

97

The Book of Wisdom: A tome that contains a collection of sayings, stories, poems, and hymns from every known culture, religion, and philosophy. New entries appear at random, as new Wisdoms are collected and recorded by other disciples carrying a copy of the Book of Wisdom.

98

A spellbook made from high quality blank parchment is covered in tiny runes. When one of these small inscriptions is pressed the parchment changes color.

99

Tome Of The Spellblade: A soft-covered leather bound treatise containing writings describing, in the most basic terms possible, methods of magical fighting. Even so, the material is fairly dense and requires definition and reiteration of various terms and ideas. Fortunately, it also contains many detailed diagrams.

100

Fearful Codex of Ancient Wisdom: A weighty volume bound in pale, scaled leather of unknown origin. This magical tome contains a wealth of knowledge both mundane and esoteric, and is inhabited by an archival spirit that will direct the reader to their desired content on request. Unfortunately, the spirit has undergone a great deal of trauma over the millennia and the “fearful” part of the title is now literal. Attempting to simply open the codex and read normally will reveal nothing but blank pages, with perhaps a fleeting glimpse of text slithering away to pages deeper in the book. Only through persuasion can you access the codex. The book has definite dislikes, some of which follow: Being read by firelight is terrifying - paper burns! Natural light is better, but being read outside in the weather is undignified and risky. Magical illumination is best, preferably indoors and someplace quiet. Any kind of liquid nearby is alarming - ink runs and paper is ruined! Don’t even think about eating while you peruse the codex. The book doesn’t really like to travel either and would prefer to tucked away safely in a library somewhere when not in use. It enjoys the company of other books but isn’t fond of other magical tomes, even non-sentient ones. It’s also really, really phobic about the number eight, and invariably uses constructions like “two cubed” or “nine less one” in its own text when needed.