"Every book that was ever written exists here. Every book that could be written. Every book that should never have been written. You are looking for one. I hope you know which."
Scenario Overview
The Encyclopedist's Archive is a mystery-exploration scenario set entirely within the Domain of Opulence—the infinite library of The Encyclopedist. Travelers must navigate impossible architecture, bargain for information, and recover a specific text before becoming lost forever in the stacks.
- • Players: 2-5 travelers
- • Estimated Time: 3-4 hours
- • Themes: Knowledge vs. wisdom, hoarding vs. sharing, the weight of truth
- • Key NPCs: The Encyclopedist, Palimpsest (her pigeon), The Bookwyrms
Recommended for: Players who enjoy puzzles, exploration, and negotiation over combat. This scenario rewards curiosity and creativity.
Tone: Mysterious, cerebral, occasionally unsettling. Think Borges meets Umberto Eco.
The Hook: Something Is Missing
The travelers need something only The Encyclopedist can provide. Choose or roll:
| d6 | What the Travelers Seek |
|---|---|
| 1 | The true name of a domain ruler who has wronged them |
| 2 | A map to a domain that no longer exists (or never did) |
| 3 | The history of The Count before he became The Count |
| 4 | A book containing a traveler's erased memories |
| 5 | Instructions for closing a specific portal permanently |
| 6 | The location of someone who disappeared into Nowhere Land |
Environment: The Domain of Opulence
An infinite library that defies organization
PASSIVE FEATURES:
- Labyrinthine Architecture: Rooms rearrange when not observed. Travelers who split up may find reunion difficult. Navigation requires successful Reverie or Anima drops.
- Temporal Distortion: Time moves strangely. An hour outside might be a day inside, or vice versa. Travelers lose track of how long they've been here.
- Whispers of the Texts: Books call to travelers, tempting them to read. Each reading offers knowledge but costs time. Some books are dangerous.
ACTIONS (GM triggers 1 per scene):
- Stack Avalanche: A tower of books collapses. Travelers must Sacrifice Forma or take Harm.
- Bookwyrm Appearance: A creature made of bound pages emerges, hungry for stories.
- Helpful Finding: A book containing exactly what a traveler needs... at a cost.
REACTIONS:
- When traveler damages a book → Palimpsest screeches; The Encyclopedist is alerted
- When traveler shares a genuine story → A path opens toward their goal
- When traveler tries to steal → Shelves close in, trapping them until they confess
Scene One: The Invitation
The travelers receive The Encyclopedist's summons in an unusual way—a book that wasn't there before, containing a single page addressed to them:
"I have what you seek. I know you seek it. Come to the Domain of Opulence. Follow the pigeon. Bring a story I have not heard."
"— E."
As they read, an iridescent pigeon appears—feathers shimmering with scripts from forgotten languages. It coos once, then flies toward a nearby bookshelf, door, or wall... which opens into a portal.
GM Guidance: The Portal Transition
Describe the transition as entering a book rather than walking through a door:
- • Reality flattens like pages being pressed
- • Words and illustrations swirl around them
- • They hear the rustling of a billion pages turning
- • Then they're standing in an endless corridor of shelves
Ask each player: "What does your character instinctively reach for—the books, the walls, or the person next to them?"
Scene Two: The Outer Stacks
The Domain of Opulence is not a library—it's an accumulation. Books are stacked, piled, wedged, and balanced in defiance of physics. Paths wind between mountains of text. Some piles reach so high they vanish into a ceiling that may not exist.
Palimpsest leads them through the stacks, but the pigeon moves fast. Travelers who fall behind may find themselves... elsewhere.
Challenge: Following Palimpsest
Each traveler must make a Drop + Anima to keep pace with the pigeon.
SUCCESS (10+):
- • Stay with the group, arrive at the Reading Room
PARTIAL SUCCESS (5-9):
- • Arrive at the Reading Room, but encounter a Bookwyrm first
- • OR: Arrive, but have read a book without meaning to (GM assigns consequence)
FAILURE (4 or less):
- • Separated from the group
- • Must navigate alone (see "Lost in the Stacks" sidebar)
Scene Three: The Reading Room
At the heart (or what passes for a heart) of the Domain of Opulence is a clearing amid the chaos—a comfortable space with overstuffed chairs, a desk covered in open books, and candles that burn without melting.
The Encyclopedist waits for them.
"You came. Good. The pigeon is rarely wrong about visitors. Sit. Tell me why you're here—but more importantly, tell me something I don't know."
The Encyclopedist's Appearance
Describe her however fits your table's tone:
Option A: The Elder Scholar
Ancient woman, bent but sharp-eyed. Ink-stained fingers. Reading glasses perched on nose. Surrounded by floating books.
Option B: The Ageless Collector
Woman of indeterminate age, beautiful in an unsettling way. Eyes that have read too much. Palimpsest perched on her shoulder.
The Bargain
The Encyclopedist knows what the travelers seek. She has it (or knows where it is). But she doesn't trade for gold or debts—she trades for stories.
The Story Exchange
Each traveler must offer a story The Encyclopedist has never heard. This requires:
OPTION 1: Personal Memory
- • The player describes a genuine memory from their character's past
- • Must be emotionally significant
- • The Encyclopedist writes it down; it becomes a book in her collection
- • The traveler's memory of that event becomes... fuzzy
OPTION 2: Witnessed Event
- • Something the traveler saw that The Encyclopedist could not have seen
- • Must be from a domain she rarely visits
- • Less personally costly, but harder to satisfy her
OPTION 3: Oral Tradition
- • A song, poem, or tale passed down in the traveler's culture
- • Must never have been written down
- • Once given, that tradition now exists only in The Encyclopedist's library
Scene Four: The Search
Once the bargain is struck, The Encyclopedist provides directions to what the travelers seek—but she does not retrieve it for them. They must venture into the deeper stacks.
"The book you need is in the Seventh Spiral, third alcove past the statue of the man who never existed. Palimpsest will show you the start of the path. After that... you're on your own. Try not to read anything you shouldn't."
The Seventh Spiral
The deeper stacks are more dangerous. Run this as a series of challenges:
Challenge 1: The Shifting Shelves
The path rearranges itself. Drop + Reverie to navigate. Failure means entering the wrong section (filled with dangerous texts).
Challenge 2: The Bookwyrm Nest
Creatures of bound pages guard this section. They can be fought (Forma), snuck past (Umbra), or negotiated with (Anima—they want a book in exchange for passage).
Challenge 3: The Tempting Texts
Books call to each traveler, offering answers to questions they didn't ask. Drop + Umbra to resist. Reading costs 1d6 hours of perceived time (may affect escape).
Challenge 4: The Man Who Never Existed
A statue that speaks. It asks each traveler: "Am I real?" The correct answer is "Yes"—he is real because he exists as an idea. Wrong answers cause the statue to animate and attack.
Scene Five: The Book
The travelers find what they seek—a book containing exactly the information they need. But there's a complication (choose one):
| d4 | Complication |
|---|---|
| 1 | The book is chained—part of the Forbidden Archive. Taking it will anger The Encyclopedist. |
| 2 | The book is incomplete. The final pages are in a different volume, elsewhere in the stacks. |
| 3 | Reading the book reveals a truth one of the travelers would rather not know. |
| 4 | The book is a Bookwyrm in disguise—it attacks when opened. |
Scene Six: The Escape
Leaving the Domain of Opulence requires The Encyclopedist's permission—unless the travelers can find another way. Options include:
- Return to the Reading Room: Thank The Encyclopedist, who opens a portal home
- Follow Palimpsest: The pigeon knows hidden exits (requires befriending it)
- Find a Book About Escape: There's always a book. Finding it is the hard part.
- Use a Potential: Some Potentials can pierce domain boundaries
Epilogue Options
How Does It End?
Good Ending: Friends of the Archive
The travelers leave with what they sought and The Encyclopedist's respect. She invites them to return anytime—and may send them books when they least expect it.
Neutral Ending: Debt Unpaid
They escape with the information, but one traveler forgot to pay with a story. The Encyclopedist will collect eventually—and she is patient.
Dark Ending: Lost in the Stacks
One or more travelers never escape. They become part of the collection—their stories recorded in books they can no longer read. (Consider using this only if players agree to narrative risk.)
Appendix: Random Book Table
What Book Do They Find?
When travelers inevitably examine random books, roll d20:
| d20 | Book |
|---|---|
| 1 | A cookbook written by someone who has never eaten |
| 2 | The autobiography of a reader's future self |
| 3 | A murder mystery where the reader is the victim |
| 4 | An encyclopedia of colors that don't exist |
| 5 | Love letters between two books |
| 6 | A travel guide to a domain that exists only while being read |
| 7 | The definitive history of tomorrow |
| 8 | A book of maps that leads to other maps |
| 9 | The complete works of an author who never wrote |
| 10 | A dictionary that defines words that shouldn't exist |
| 11 | A children's book that ages with the reader |
| 12 | The last will and testament of a concept |
| 13 | A book that reads the reader (dangerous) |
| 14 | Poetry written in pure emotion (no words) |
| 15 | The Count's personal diary (heavily redacted) |
| 16 | Instructions for folding reality like paper |
| 17 | A book containing the name of the Abyss (chained shut) |
| 18 | The Encyclopedist's first book—a shepherd's ledger |
| 19 | A blank book that writes what the reader is thinking |
| 20 | A book that is also a door (opens to a random domain) |
Author's Notes
This scenario draws inspiration from Jorge Luis Borges' "The Library of Babel," Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose," and the Codex Seraphinianus. The Encyclopedist herself represents the idea that knowledge is both liberation and burden.
Play her as someone who genuinely wants to help—but who has forgotten what it's like to not know something. She can be an ally, a patron, or a very patient antagonist.