What Is Librarian's Apprentice?

Librarian's Apprentice by Dan Bronson-Lowe and edited by Christina Bronson-Lowe (aka Almost Bedtime Theater) is a solo tabletop roleplaying game. It takes place in an infinite, ever shifting library that exists between time and space. How does that work? I dunno, this is fantasy not reality. Have you seen reality? Yeah, I'll take the infinite library any day of the week. Anyways, Librarian's Apprentice is built on FariRPG's Firelight system. You can get Librarian's Apprentice on Almost Bedtime Theater's Itch page or purchase a physical copy from Tabletop Bookshelf or Indie Press Revolution.

Set Up

When I set up to play Substratum Protocol, my set up leaned- for the most part- towards mostly physical. I have a hardcover copy of the game and used a physical deck of cards and a set of dice. For Librarian's Apprentice, I'm doing something I normally don't do: I'm going all digital (via Almost Bedtime Theater's .pico file for playingcards.io). I don't even have a physical character sheet.

My Character

Speaking of characters: Librarian's Apprentice has a character sheet small enough to fit on a bookmark. (I bet that was on purpose.) Players are only required to give their character a name, pronouns, a pet, and assign values for three stats. The pet gives a bonus to one stat.

My character is named Aire; Aire's pronouns are she/her. She is an elf with pale blonde hair and eyes of different colors. One is brown, one is green. Both look upon the library with focus and wonder. With her is a tumblefluff, a sentient creature born of library dust. It’s no more than the size of Aire's ring finger and likes to observe what she does with little noises of curiosity.

At the age of ten, Aire ran away from the local orphanage. She did not feel love there and was not loved there. For several long weeks the young girl survived on the streets of her city. One day a baker made a delivery to a mysterious place that had no door, a place he called Aeos Solace. Aire sneaked into his cart because she was hungry. She fell asleep next to warm loaves of bread wrapped in cheese cloth. When she woke, she was nowhere but somewhere. She got herself lost trying to navigate the ever-shifting halls of Aeos Solace. So again, Aire survived. For two weeks, this time, until a librarian rescued her from the terrible hands of a Gnosiphage.

The Game

CARD DRAWN

We start on a five of spades, representing the librarian's office. In here, a sixteen year old Aire stands with shaking hands. She'd been out and about organizing books that had come into existence that day. Did she organize them wrong? Did she label their entries in the index wrong? I imagine that the librarian to whom she is apprenticed to assures her she is not in trouble. Librarian Lavandula tells her of her next test as an apprentice. It is not a test of knowledge, but of knowing. Aires is handed a piece of paper with the subject of the documents and the color of a seal Lavandula put on the tome where the information is found. She has until the end of the day to find them all.

ACTION: Travel

My card is a six of clubs. The game helpfully has rolling tables in order to determine what each section we navigate looks like, what's there, etc. I'm choosing to roll for descriptions now, until I see a need for other things.

ORACLE ROLLS: Description

Aire is standing in a dusty section of things written in primitive languages. Here, the "books" are not merely pages bound in thread and leather. Some works are carvings of stone. Some are carved in flesh from species long since extinct. Aire passes through this section, only briefly wondering why it decided to locate itself next to Lavandula's office. "Are you trying to say Lavandula is old, Aeos?"

On a shelf, the dried skin of an animal- who's name and species is long forgotten- lights up. Aire takes it and reads the word that is lit up. The young apprentice hasn't brushed up on her languages in a while, but she is pretty sure the word is a confirmation; Aire smiles at this.

ORACLE ROLL: Events

As Aire walks past the Oldest Works section but is stopped by the site of a cage. Within the cage is another librarian, though not one Aire knows personally. This librarian is a short, stocky figure with a bald head and a red beard. As Aire stops to ask why this librarian is in a cage there comes a growl from the opposite corner of the cage. But Aire sees nothing but a thick hardcover book sitting, propped up, in the corner. Aire is about to command the shelves to send for Lavandula when the book moves. The librarian within the cage reassures Aire that it is simply a rare book that needs "wrangling". Aire doesn't ask questions and moves away.

ACTION: TRAVEL

The next card I moved to is a face card (i.e King, Queen, or Jack- cards that have people on them). We have come to the location of the first document.

ORACLE ROLLS: Description
OUTCOME: 1-5, 5-4

Before Aire is a section of the library that demands respect and quiet acknowledgement. This section is known as Records From The Enslaved And/Or Freed. In this section, there are records from those who were under the cruelty of slavery. Nonfiction is inescapable, even in a place that exists out of time and space. It is a section that is rarely bothered by the supernatural creatures of the library. The stories here hold a weight not understood by any other. Aire isn't uncomfortable here. She makes it a point to come here often. Often she leaves crying from the stories she read. Not all of them end happy. But being a reader here is different than gathering information. How does she go about that? Aire takes a moment and bites her lip. Aire gathers her inner calm and examines her space.

The shelves in this section of the library are old, creaking things that bow with the weight of the stories they hold. Aire once thought them weak, until Lavandula tells her of the time they withstood an attack from a thief with a gun. Aire still feels chills run down her back recalling the story she was told. The floors of this section are not the nice ceramic tiles but polished wooden floor boards. Aire's steps echo on them as if she were wearing heels. To her left and right are the shelves that are three times as tall Aire is. Her steps echo in the silence that is neither tense nor relaxed. She reaches the study area, a series of dark oak wood tables lined side by side in vertical rows. at the head of these tables is a black statue of a figure wearing a long, white dress and hold a sword made of Damascus steel. On the figure's face is eyes glaring off into the distance with a smirk on lips painted a brazen red. Aire stands at the base of the statue and rests a hand on next to the statue's foot. On the shelves behind the statue, Aire spots the seal Lavandula used to mark the book she is to find. She takes a deep breath and opens her mind.

May I take information from your shelves?

The statue's soft feminine voice fills her mind in an instant. No, but you may copy what information you need. Please return the tome to its home when you are done with it.

Aire bows to the statue. I will, thank you.

The book glides away from its position on the shelf and hovers over a table until Aire takes her seat. From her backpack, Aire takes out a notebook and a quill. Then, she opens the book before her.

ORACLE ROLL: Event

Almost Bedtime Theater has no affiliation with Stories In Silver. Game text and mechanics are paraphrased or hinted to in order to protect the works of the creators. In addition to supporting the creators, consider also supporting your local library by getting a library card and/or checking out books. Without books, we are nothing but beings of flesh and bad ideas.