Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Of Scroll and Scribe (Revisited)

Back in February of this year, I put a post together talking about parchment and papyrus, in the context of scroll creation for D&D. I had no idea it would go on to become my most-viewed blog entry of all time.

For my newer followers, here are the links to what became a trilogy of articles related to the subject (and founding the basis for a project that, for now, is on the back burner... but staying warm).

Scrutinizing the Scroll Part I: Papyrus, Parchment and Vellum
Scrutinizing the Scroll Part II: Comprehending the Quill
Scrutinizing the Scroll Part III: Investigating Ink


4 comments:

  1. this is brilliant

    akkadians also had wooden books or a kind of wooden book with clay tablets in frames - no idea of frequency though - china and vietnam used wooden books too. I like the idea of finding cave wall spells - also cool is the idea that sumerian contracts made of clay and were literally broken - you could end a tablet spell by smashing it. I have heard of birch bark books used by sth west native americans and in Java. Ive heard of wizards using tatoos for spell books

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  2. eutruscan gold book
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2939362.stm

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  3. Thanks, K. BTW, I really like the clay tablet "breaking" concept. So far, I haven't wanted to go near the whole "book" thing (e.g., long/pasted scrolls, codices, etc.) The 1e PHB and DMG only given occasional mention to spell books (as opposed to the page or so devoted to scroll manufacture in the DMG). I think what it comes down to is that a scroll (being "self-contained" magic) requires much more attention to detail than a spell book (which is really nothing more than a MU's set of instructions for creating the magic later). But I guess that doesn't mean I shouldn't give some thought to some sort of "book" article to continue the series.

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  4. While we're on the subject:

    I've collected all the Oak Gall's from my yard.
    And the nails I put in the flower-bed are approximately 25% rusted.

    (You don't happen to have a better source of iron oxide?)

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