In-Game Books!

Another thing I've learned is man, I put a very high text writing demand on myself.. and a lot of people just aren't gonna read it, ever.

It's discourging.

In this update, I've doubled the number of books available in game (bookshelves etc). But a lot of them are still placeholder text.. I just didn't want to keep copy+pasting the same handful of books. We're up to 35 collectible books for the Bochord. Each one has 1-3 paragraphs of text.

They're organized by title and volume, (EG: "Of Spring and Vine", Volume I, II, & III), and usually written "in perspective" of someone (whether a major character or just some imaginary figure, like a local herbalist). The reality is, with life and work, I'm just not always in the mood to try and crank out one of these super immersive ones. 

On the other hand, I've noticed they're a bit long and I can probably split them. Here's one, "Common Magics 1, Lumi & Umbra"

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  \C[23]Arcane Almanacs\C[0]

Common Magics I: \C[6]Lumi\C[0] and \C[31]Umbra\C[0]

Author: Shin Seio

Oh! How delightful magic is! With as many forms as there are colours in a rainbow! They are all so different! They are all so special! Of all the many crystal spheres across the phlogiston beyond, the Asquerian magics are surely the greatest. There are so many to know. They simply must be documented. And who better than I, Shin Seio, to scribe such a thing? There is much to cover. Let us begin with the common magics. Why, I'm certain just that will take at least two volumes..

\C[6]Lumi Magic\C[0]- Draws upon the Light and positive, creative energies of the realms. Lumi spells usually deal light damage or healing, grant boons of protection, dispelling status effects and even resurrection of the fallen. Lumi magic has been combined with some more exotic martial techniques such as Lumiclaw and Hashashin (to be covered in later entries). 

\C[31]Umbra Magic\C[31]- The opposite of Lumi, Umbra draws upon darkness, death, and the entropic energies of the realms. Umbra spells deal Dark damage and often deal in creation or destruction of Mana (MP). Umbra Magic is capable of empowering or resurrecting allies, but often at a cost, inflicting Curses, or using gold, even hit points as component costs to activating spell. Likewise it can turn its curses against its enemies to devastating effect.

Umbra Magic has been twisted further into more advanced techniques.. Too twisted for an introductory missive such as this.

How delightful! So much variety, and this covers only some common types used in everyday adventuring. Alas, this parchment draws short, too short, and this ramble, too long. Let us take respite to collect our thoughts.

Until the next Almanac,

--Shin Seio

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OK so that's a lot of text, right. Now, it's this character's shtick to be overly verbose, so this is an extreme example. But I think I can cut this in half and make it 2 books fairly easily! One for "Lumi" and one for "Umbra". I also think doing so will make it more likely people will read them. 

Still, I want the game to be text heavy. I want to encourage reading.  I dunno about you, but I read lore books in games, At least the ones I really care about.  I read a lot of Baldur's Gate 3 books.  I read *every* book I can find inside WoW. It adds so much to the experience and world, even when you're gonna turn around and play like a power gamer right after.  

What about you, dear reader. You obviously read, since you made it to the end. How much do you read lore books in game, though?