Off the Shelf: Philosophy Texts

From time to time adventurers may find themselves in libraries and other places where books can be found. Some players will want to know exactly what's on those shelves, so with that in mind, Off the Shelf consists of lists of book titles for the referee to use in rolling or choosing exactly what the adventurers find.

Philosophy texts are used in pedgogy and as reference works for fields such as law and natural history, and as such may be found in a wide variety of libraries maintained by those working in education, theology, and law. Roll 1D6+2 for the number of texts, then roll 1D20 for the individual titles. Duplicate rolls may be treated as additional copies of the same volume or re-rolled at the referee's discretion. On a roll of 1 o 1D6, the text is personally signed by the author.

1. Novum Organum, Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Alban
2. Essais, Michel de Montaigne
3. De animae immortalitate, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
4. Horae Subsecivae, Anonymous*
5. Quod nihil scitur, Francisco Sanches
6. Quaestiones celeberrimae in Genesim, Marin Mersenne
7. Apologia compendiaria fraternitatem de Rosea Cruce suspicionis et infamiae maculis aspersam, veritatis quasi Fluctibus abluens et abstergens, Robert Fludd
8. De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum atque artium declamatio invectiva, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
9. Theologia Platonica de immortalitate animae, Marsilio Ficino
10. Civitas Solis, Tommaso Campanella
11. Disquisitionum magicarum libri sex, Martin del Rio
12. De l'Infinito Universo et Mondi, Giordano Bruno
13. De optimo reip. statv, deque noua insula Vtopia, libellus uere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festiuus, Sir Thomas More
14. Les Six livres de la République, Jean Bodin
15. De hominis dignitate, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
16. Il Principe, Niccolò Machiavelli
17. Della ragion di Stato, Giovanni Botero
18. Bewijs van den waren Godsdienst,** Hugo Grotius
19. Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio, Niccolò Machiavelli
20. De Constantia Libri Duo, Qui alloquium praecipue continent in Publicis malis, Justus Lipsius

* Attributed to Thomas Hobbes
** Published in Latin as De veritate religionis Christianae

A final note: most of the books in this list were published prior to 1630, reflecting Renaissance rather than many more famous Early Modern philosophers - I'll add another list or two for later in the 17th century in the future.

Book Faire

It's Book Faire week at my kids' school, and I met my son's class this morning to check out the selection with him - and to keep him from blowing his money on crap toys, the number of which seems to proliferate each year, unfortunately.

He picked out a book on baseball's greatest hitters, and another on snakes - complete with 3D glasses - and finally, You Wouldn't Want To be a Ninja Warrior! a book I pointed him toward knowing his love of Ninjago.

I'd never heard of the You Wouldn't Want to Be . . . series before, but in addition to the book on ninja warriors, I also purchased two other titles, You Wouldn't Want to Be a Samurai! and - this will surprise no one - You Wouldn't Want to Be a Pirate's Prisoner!

Pirate's Prisoner describes the fate of a Spanish treasure ship captain captured by pirates in 1716. The book opens with a description of the treasure and supplies aboard the captain's galleon, a map of the Caribbean, and a description of sailing in convoy for protection. After the ship is separated from the convoy, English pirates swoop in aboard a fast-moving sloop and capture the galleon. What follows describes the trials and tribulations inflicted on the Spanish captain as the pirates attempt to learn more about the treasure fleet's course. In the process the book covers everything from how ship's crews manage their food and water to the rules of piracy to what the various crew members on a ship are called and what they do - and it also describes, in clear-eyed detail, different tortures inflicted by the pirates on their prisoners, including flogging, keelhauling, and more, as well as the fate of the pirates once they are captured and brought to justice.

I'm impressed by this book for a couple of reasons. First, I like that it doesn't attempt to talk down to kids. The darkly comic illustrations manage to present the gravity of the Spanish captain's situation - and the reality of pirates' treatment of prisoners - without devolving into grotesque horror. Second, it's a remarkable resource on life at sea in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

For gamers who want run or play in a historical roleplaying game campaign, children's books, particularly the study guides found in teachers' supplies stores, offer a great alternative to academic history texts or even popular history books. They present details of daily life in ways that many history books written for adult audiences don't; if you want to know the material culture of a medieval knight, or a Renaissance painter, or a wagon train scout, you could do far worse than finding a children's book on the Crusades or Michelangelo or Westward Expansion. Better still, they tend to be much more extensively illustrated than history written for adults. In short, children's books often have exactly the sorts of details which gamers want for running a historical campaign.

The Seafaring Man With One Leg

Daddy Grognard reviews Long John Silver, a novel by Bjorn Larsson.

There are a couple spoilers, but nothing major. This is sitting in my Amazon queue, and I think I should probably get it this week, before we go on vacation.

Off the Shelf: Mathematics Books

From time to time adventurers may find themselves in libraries and other places where books can be found. Some players will want to know exactly what's on those shelves, so with that in mind, Off the Shelf consists of lists of book titles for the referee to use in rolling or choosing exactly what the adventurers find.

Mathematics texts are used in pedgogy and as reference works for fields such as accounting, engineering, and architecture, and as such may be found in a wide variety of libraries maintined by those working in these fields. Roll 1D6 for the number of texts, then roll 1D20 for the individual titles. Duplicate rolls may be treated as additional copies of the same volume or re-rolled at the referee's discretion.

1. La Géométrie, René Descartes
2. Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio, John Napier
3. Arithmetica Logarithmica, Henry Briggs
4. Angulares Sectiones, Francisco Vieta
5. De Driehouckhandel, Simon Steven
6. Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalità, Luca Pacioli
7. Francisci Vietœi universalium inspectionum ad canonem mathematicum liber singularis, François Viète
8. De resolutione et compositione mathematica, Marinus Ghetaldus
9. Cursus mathematicus, nova, brevi, et clara methodo demonstratus, per notas reales et universales, citra usum cujuscunque idiomatis intellectu faciles, Pierre Hérigone
10. Problèmes plaisants, Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac
11. Clavis Mathematicae, William Oughtred
12. Academia Algebra, Johnann Faulhaber
13. Geometria rotundi, Thomas Fincke
14. Artis Analyticae Praxis, Thomas Harriot
15. De Planis Triangulis, Giovanni Antonio Magini
16. Tuhfat al-a'dad fi-l-hisab, Ibn Hamza al-Maghribi
17. Livro de algebra en arithmetica y geometria, Pedro Nunes
18. Arithmeticorum libri duo, Francesco Maurolico
19. Compendium arithmeticae Vrstisii, Petrus Ryff
20. Van den Circkel, Ludolph van Ceulen

Off the Shelf: Plays

From time to time adventurers may find themselves in libraries and other places where books can be found. Some players will want to know exactly what's on those shelves, so with that in mind, Off the Shelf consists of lists of book titles for the referee to use in rolling or choosing exactly what the adventurers find.

Plays may be found on the shelves of many educated persons, or stuffed in the pockets of players. Roll 1D6 for the number of plays, then roll 1D20 for the individual titles. Duplicate rolls may be treated as additional copies of the same volume or re-rolled at the referee's discretion.

1. La Reine d'Ecosse, Antoine de Montchrestien

2. Les Amours tragiques de Pyrame et Thisbé, Théophile de Viau

3. Fuenteovejuna, Lope de Vega

4. Scédase, ou l'hospitalité violée, Alexandre Hardy

5. Tyr et Sidon, ou les funestes amours de Belcar et Méliane, Jean de Schelandre

6. The Revengers Tragædie, Thomas Middleton

7. Amor, honor y poder, Pedro Calderón de la Barca

8. Les Bergeries, Racan

9. Every Man in His Humour, Ben Jonson

10. Lucrèce, ou l'Adultère puni, Alexandre Hardy

11. El caballero de Olmedo, Lope de Vega

12. Orbecche, Cinthio (Giovanni Battista Giraldi)

13. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra, Tirso de Molina

14. La Sylve, Jean Mairet

15. La viuda valenciana, Lope de Vega

16. The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy, John Webster

17. La Bague de l'oubli, Jean Rotrou

18. Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, William Shakespeare

19. La Entretenida, Miguel Cervantes

20. Mélite, Pierre Corneille

A final note: for those of you wondering how I could leave out Racine, Corneille, and Molière, this list is up to about 1630 - I'll add another list or two for later in the 17th century in the future.

Off the Shelf: Atlases

Atlases are typically compiled from maps produced by many different cartographers and feature lavishly decorated woodcuts depicting cities, coastlines, and other features as well as the relevant geography. They often run to many volumes; roll 1D6+5 for the number of actual books which comprise an atlas.

Atlases may be found on the bookshelves of many nobles and learned men such as clerics, magistrates, or professors, as well as in colleges, palaces, and abbeys. Roll 1D6 for the number of atlases, then roll 1D20 for the individual titles. Duplicate rolls may be treated as additional copies of the same volume or re-rolled at the referee's discretion.

1. The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, John Speed

2. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Abraham Ortelius

3. Speculum Orbis Terrae, Cornelis de Jode

4. Theatri Geographiae Veteris, Petrus Bertius

5. A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World, John Speed

6. Geographia, Ptolemy, edition by Giacomo Gastaldi)

7. L'Isole piu Famose del Mondo, Tomaso Porcacchi Castilione

8. Cosmographie Universelle, Guillaume Le Testu

9. Atlas Novus, Willem and Joan Blaeu

10. Atlas Novus, Jan Janssonius

11. Caertboeck Vande Middel-landsche Zee, Willem Barentsz and Petrus Plancius

12. Enchuyser zeecaertboeck, Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer

13. Typi chorographici provinciarum Austriae, Wolfgang Lazius

14. Rudimenta Cosmographica, Johannes Honter

15. Brittania, William Camden

16. Nuzhat al-mushtāq fi'khtirāq al-āfāq, Muhammad al-Idrisi

17. Cosmographia, Sebastian Münster

18. Roteiro de todos os sinais, conhecimentos, fundos, baixos, alturas, e derrotas que há na costa do Brasil desde o Cabo de Santo Agostinho até ao estreito de Fernão de Magalhães, Luís Teixeira

19. Livro vniversal das navegasões feito em Lisboa por Ioão Teixeira Cosmographo de Sva Magestade, Anno 1643, João Teixeira Albernaz

20. Topographia Helvetiae, Matthäus Merian

Off the Shelf: Military Manuals

Military manuals are used as reference books, particularly for siegecraft, mounting artillery, and the construction of fortifications. They may contain plates showing drills using the pike and musket or for cavalry. Many include extensive commentaries on the military tactics and strategy of the ancient world.

Military manuals may be found on the bookshelves of many nobles or in the quarters of soldiers. Roll 1D6 for the number of manuals, then roll 1D20 for the individual titles. Duplicate rolls may be treated as additional copies of the same volume or re-rolled at the referee's discretion.

1. Wapenhandelinghe van Roers, Musquetten ende Spiessen, Jacob de Geyn
2. De Re Militari, Vegetius
3. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Julius Caesar
4. Taktika, Nikephoros Ouranos
5. Strategikon, Kekaumenos
6. Harengue militaires, et concions de princes, capitaines, embassadeurs, et autres manians tant la guerre que les affaires d’Estat, Françoys de Belle-Forest
7. De re et disciplina Militari aureus tractatus, Giulio Ferretti
8. Tratadi de re militari, Diego Salazar
9. Elogia militaria, Julius Roscinus Hortinus
10. Architettura militare, Antonio Lupicini
11. The triumphs of Nassau, or, a description and representation of all the victories both by land and sea, granted by God to the noble… Lords, the Estates Generall of the United Netherlands Provinces under the conduct and command of his excellencie, Prince Maurice of Nassau, Jan Janszoon Orlers
12. Della espugnatione, e difesa delle fortezza, Gabriello Busca
13. Della Architettura militare, Gabriello Busca
14. Nova inventione di fabricar Fortezza, Giovanni Battista Belici
15. Corona e palma militare d’artegliaria, Allessandro Capobianco
16. De’ discorsi de Guerra, Bernardino Rocca
17. Teorica et practica de fortificacion, Cristobal de Rojas
18. Le capitaine de Ierosme Cataneo contenant la manière de fortifier places, assaillir et deffendre, Girolamo Cataneo
19. The Theorike and Practike of Moderne Warres, Robert Barrett
20. Architecture et perspective des fortifications et artifices, Jacques Perret

Off the Shelf: Chapbooks

Chapbooks are popular books printed on cheap paper, often a single sheet folded into a booklet of eight to twenty-four pages, and illustrated with woodcuts, typically reused from other publications. The subjects vary from religious texts to poetry to almanacs to chivalric romances. Many French chapbooks come from printers located in the city of Troyes, in the provice of Champagne, southeast of Paris.

Chapbooks are popular with all classes, but they are primarily written for peasants, tradesmen, and merchants. As such they may be found in many residences or carried, stuffed in pockets. Roll 1D6 for the number of chapbooks, then roll 1D20 for the individual titles. Duplicate rolls may be treated as additional copies of the same volume or re-rolled at the referee's discretion.

1. Le Roman du vaillant Chevalier Ogier le Danois gui fui un des douze pairs de France, lequel avec le secours du roy Charlemagne chassa les Païens hors de Rome et remit le Pape en son trône
2. Histoire des avantures heureuses et malheureuses de chevaliers, avec sa bourse et son chapeau. Enseignant comme un jeune homme se doit gouverner
3. Histoire de Jean de Paris, Roi de France
4. Histoire de Jean de Calais
5. La terrible et merveilleuse vie de Robert le Diable
6. Histoire de Richard sans Peur, Duc de Normandie, fils de Robert Le Diable, Qui par sa prudence fut Roi d’Angleterre, & fit de grandes conquêtes & vaillances
7. La vie du fameux Gargantuas, Le plus terrible geant qui ait jamais paru sur la terre
8. La vie joyeuse et recreative de Tiel-Ulespiegle
9. L’hystoire des deux nobles et très-vaillans chevaliers
10. L’opérateur des pauvres
11. Le grand calendrier et compost des bergers
12. La plaisante et triomphante histoire des hauts et cheualeureux faicts d’armes, du tres-puissant & tres-magnanime, & tres-victorieux Prince Meliadus, dit le Cheualier de la Croix, fils vnique de Maximian Empereur des Allemaignes
13. La complainte des argotiers
14. Prédictions et pronostications généralles
15. Les quinze effusions du sang de nostre sauveur
16. Le palais des curieux
17. Légende et vie chrestienne
18. La vie mort et passion et resurection de nostre sauveur Jésus-Christ
19. Recueil général des quaquets de l’accouchée
20. Predictions perpétuelles du nombre d’or ou cicle

Off the Shelf: Fencing Manuals

From time to time adventurers may find themselves in libraries and other places where books can be found. Some players will want to know exactly what's on those shelves, so with that in mind, Off the Shelf consists of lists of book titles for the referee to use in rolling or choosing exactly what the adventurers find.

Fencing manuals are reference works for teaching the use of the sword and other weapons. The manuals are often extensively illustrated with engraved plates. Fencing manuals are most often found in fencing schools or in the private libraries of nobles. Roll 1D6 for the number of manuals, then roll 1D20 for the individual titles. Duplicate rolls may be treated as additional copies of the same volume or re-rolled at the referee's discretion.

1. L’Espée de Combat, ou l'Usage de la Tire des Armes by François Dancie

2. Scola overo Teatro by Nicoletto Giganti

3. Neuer Diskurs Kunst des Fechtens by Joachim Koppen

4. The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science by Joseph Swetnam

5. The Private Schoole of Defence by George Hale

6. Gran Simulacro by Ridolfo Capo Ferro

7. Discours de la theorie de la practique et de l’excellence des armes by André Desbourdes

8. Sienz e Practica d’Arme by Salvator Fabris

9. Trattato in materia de scherma by Marco Docciolini

10. Paradoxes of Defence by George Silver

11. Libro de las Grandeza de la Espada by Don Luis de Narvaez

12. Regole do molti cavagliereschi esserciti by Frederico Ghisliero

13. De veris principiis artis dimicatoiae tractatus brevis by Heinrich von Gunterrodt

14. Traicté contenant les secrets du premier livre sur l’espée seule, mère de toutes armes, qui sont espée dague, cappe, targue, bouclier, rondelle, l’espée deux mains & deux espées, avec ses pourtraictures, ayans les armes au poing por se deffendre & offencer à un mesme temps des coups qu’on peut tirer, tant en assillant qu’en deffendent, fort utile & profitable por adextrer la noblesse, & suposts de Mars: redigé par art, ordre & practique by Henry de Sainct Didier

15. Ragione di adoprar sicuramente l’Arme, si da offesa come da difesa by Giacomo di Grassi

16. De libro que tratta dela philosiphia de las armas by Jeronimo De Carranza

17. Trattato di scientia d’arme, con un dialogo di filosofia by Camillo Agrippa

18. Descorso sopra I’arte della scherma by Camillo Palladini

19. Gründtliche Beschreibung der Kunst des Fechtens by Joachim Meyer

20. Opera Nova by Achile Marozzo

And now, when a Spanish swordsman says he "has studied his Agrippa," you know what's on his nightstand.