Library

Library is a background from Mage: The Ascension, it measures the character's access to special information.

Overview

This extremely rare Background grants a mage a number of physical sources of knowledge from whichto learn. Typically, this means books or scrolls, but some Spirit-Talkers learn from art on cave walls and carvings their ancestors left for them to find. Paper is rare in the Dark Medieval age, and many of the ancient drawings have faded or been destroyed, so Library is expensive; each dot of Library costs two Background points or two bonus points. Libraries have their advantages, however. A player may roll Intelligence + Library against a varying difficulty to find occult knowledge or magical secrets. The player and the Storyteller should work together before play begins and determine what sort of information a given Library contains (a book pilfered from the Papal library is unlikely to contain information on summoning demons, although one never knows…). Also, a mage can increase her own mystical understanding with a Library. When the player wishes to spend experience to increase a Pillar, she may roll Library (difficulty 8); each success reduces the experience cost by one.

Ratings

X Those copies of Cosmo won’t help you learn Spheres.
• You’ve got a few New Age paperbacks.
•• Lots of fiction, little substance.
••• There’s some useful stuff in there when you go digging for it.
•••• Your collection of arcane data is respectable.
••••• You’ve got a pretty decent collection of diverse lore.
••••• • You enjoy a huge personal archive.
••••• •• Your database features extensive written, recorded, and virtual information.
••••• ••• You’re got full access to a national archive.
••••• •••• You enjoy unrestricted access to personal, national, and classified databases.
••••• ••••• Given enough time (and assistance), you can access almost anything that’s been written down and stored. You might not understand it (damn those codes, lost languages, and foreign tongues!), but you could probably find it.

References

This article is issued from Whitewolf. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.