Book Production Rules
The Book Materials
If the writer is copying from other texts, she may copy a number of volumes equal to her Scribe skill, up to a maximum of six, in one season. A Fast Scribe may work at double this rate.
Producing them with Clear Script takes no extra time, but requires a Dex + Scribe total of 15+. Producing Well Coloured texts also takes no extra time, but requires access to a supply of coloured inks, and a Dex + Scribe total of 9+. Preparing a volume for normal illumination increases the size of the work by one quarter, while preparing it for superior illumination increases the size by half. A volume will normally accept two glossators (see below). If the space is increased by half, six glossators can be accomodated. Note that, if the glosses are not to be illuminated, this increase is from the initial size, whereas if they are to be illuminated to match the text, it is from the final size. Thus, a work prepared for superior illumination and six normal glossators would be twice the normal size, while one prepared for similar illumination and illuminated glosses would be two and a quarter times the normal size. The raw materials cost twice as much as the raw materials for making them. Thus, a normal volume, in standard binding, and enough normal black ink to complete it, would cost 70 pennies.
Each +1 from the following virtues of a book has an effect depending on the type of book. For a text on an Hermetic Art or a knowledge, it adds one to the book's value for the purposes of learning speed ONLY. For a text of an Hermetic spell, add double the bonus to the learner's Lab Total. For a Lab Text, it adds to the studying magus' Magic Theory to see whether the text can be used. If a text has been glossed, but the gloss does not have a beneficial character possessed by the book, the speed bonus is only added to the base score. If the glosses have all the characteristics, the bonus is added to the modified score. Thus a book with a base score of 20, all the qualities and two glosses would have an overall score for learning rate of 26 if the glosses were not of such high quality, or 28 if they were. Either way, the text could be used up to a level of 22.
Glosses are marginal comments added to a work to make it clearer. They increase the amount that can be learnt from a text. Glosses must be written by someone other than the author of the book, and a given person can only write one gloss on a given text. The number of glossators of a particular text is limited by the physical form of the books - see above. In addition, glosses cannot raise the level of a text above its author's knowledge at the time he wrote it (this means that books written by Strong Writers or those with Increased Understanding should be noted as such). No text may have more than six glossators to any profit.
In order to gloss a text, the glossator must have a score equal to or greater than the book in its area of study. This score may have been gained by studying the book in question, but if it was, and the glossator's score is now equal to that of the book, she must now spend a further two seasons studying the book, preparatory to writing the gloss, and at the end of the second season her score increases by one. If the glossator's score was not gained purely from the book, and it is now higher than the book's score, she may immediately proceed to write the glosses, as long as she has spent at least one season studying from the text in question. Actually writing the glosses takes a single season. For books on Hermetic Arts, the gloss adds one to the score of the book for the purposes both of learning rate and amount knowable. For books on knowledges, it adds two experience points to the number that can be gained. If the experience points added by glosses raise the effective level of the text, then the learning rate is also increased.
Glosses can also help understanding of texts written by those with the Incomprehensible flaw. Each gloss adds one to the roll for comprehension, but glosses for this purpose do not add to the level of the text. Lab Texts may also be glossed in this way, for the same bonus. Finally, Incomprehensible spells can be glossed by anyone who knows the spell, and this gloss completely removes the learning penalty. A glossator can gloss sixty levels of spells per season.
Commentaries
Commentaries are separate books that expound some text, increasing the amount that can be learnt. In order to comment on a text, a scholar must first study that text for long enough to raise his score from zero to the level of the text. Thus, the commentator will always have a score at least equal to the level of the text.
Commentaries do not add to the rate of learning from a text, and it takes a season to study a commentary and gain one level of Art from it, assuming that the original text can be referred to. If it cannot, the commentary counts as a work on the Art with a score equal to one-third that of the original text, and can teach three levels per volume.
A particular commentator can only produce a number of commentaries equal to his intelligence on a given work. The first commentary takes three seasons, and occupies a base of a single volume. The second takes six seasons and occupies two, the third takes nine and occupies three, and so on. While producing commentaries, the commentator will increase his knowledge to the level of the text plus the commentary. To be of use, a commentary must be produced to a standard equal to the text it is commenting on. If the commentary is used as a stand-alone text, any bonuses will apply to its learning rate.
Glosses on a commentary only give any benefit when the commentary is read as a stand-alone text, and thus space is almost never left for additional remarks. One individual can both gloss and comment on a single text: the two are separate modes.
Commentaries on knowledge work in the same way, except that each volume is worth two experience points in the knowledge.
Multiple commentaries by different authors may be used with profit, as long as the total of all commentaries and glosses does not raise the final effective level of the text beyond the score of the author at the time of writing. This means that a single volume of notes by a great master could ultimately be commented on to such an extent that all the secrets of the Art were seen to be hidden therein.
Commentaries can also be written on Incomprehensible texts. In this case, each commentary gives a +5 bonus to the understanding roll. Commentaries devoted to this purpose do not increase the score of the book in question.
Virtues and Flaws
Fast Scribe (+1): Allows you to copy texts at twice the normal rate. Does not affect the rate at which you write up your own knowledge, but does apply to illumination as well as simple writing.
Astute Commentator (+1): You may write a number of commentaries on a text equal to one and a half times your intelligence. In addition, each commentary only takes you two thirds the normal time to write (so the first takes two seasons, the second four, etc.).
David Chart