So, I happen to find Bookbinding one of the most interesting, if underdeveloped tradeskills that we currently have. The problem is that it is a design-based skill that has only two basic objects to try making designs for, a scroll and some type of book. The diverse number of books that can be made puzzles me, because I really don't see books beyond around 10 pages being used by more than 0.01% of the playerbase, and to form the majority of the skillset around it seems very wasteful. The library/book system in Lusternia is very complex and interesting, but making the books is such a tiny aspect to it and doesn't really pay off in any sort of useful scale.

Instead, I would like to suggest that the existing design skills be condensed into four abilities: Scroll/Pamphlet as they are now, and Book/Compendium which each incorporate the nouns (and existing designs) of Journal, Manual, Tome, Textbook, Codex and Omnibus. Then, I would suggest new original 'scholarly' items be added in, such as:

Stationery
This would be a way of designing personalized stationery for a character so that when they send mail it doesn't just look like a plain white letter. The scholar would create a template object, and as long as the player has it in their inventory they can REQUEST LETTER WITH . For example:

You carefully study a bookbind design.
Item: Letter Type: Stationery Org: Public
Commodities: leather 2 gold 1
Gold Outlay: 0
IMPORTANT: The main noun of this item MUST use this name: LETTER
IMPORTANT: You may use the owner's name with the symbols: $(owner), $(owners), $(hisher)
Appearance:
a hideously garish letter bearing the seal of $(owner)
Dropped:
Glittering with far too many encrusted jewels, a garish letter has been
tossed aside here.
Examined:
Encrusted with thousands of tiny fake jewels, the back of this hideous
letter is glaringly eye-catching. The writing upon it is difficult to make
out as some of the glue that attaches the jewels has been applied far too
thickly and splotchy watermarks are visible across the page.
Comments:

You would then BOOKBIND FOR , which would create "a letter template" object that when probed shows the examined description but can't be used for anything.

Contract
This would be an item that has one page for writing like a scroll, but also allows the owner of the object to REQUEST SIGNATURE OF ON , which if they accept records their name (sans title) and the date. Each person can only sign once, and it would be possible to REQUEST SIGNATURE OF AS ON , that would also note your position. These signatures could not be forged, and would show when you probed the item. You could copy these contracts, including signatures, using the PrintingPress ability. For example:

This is a plain white contract written in neat lettering upon a papyrus scroll. A simple red ribbon is looped through a reed attached to the back of the contract and allows it to be bound tightly into a cylinder.
It is titled "Cessation of hostilities in Faethorn", and the author is listed as Elryn.
It bears the signature of Elryn, dated 25th Juliary, 226 CE.
It bears the signature of Gregori as Heirophant of Hartstone, dated 25th Juliary, 226 CE.
It bears the signature of Kundu as Eye of Crow of Blacktalon, dated 26th Juliary, 226 CE.

I'd like to think some more about other possible designable items, maybe a lorebook that buttresses your authority with weighty quotations in Influence, or an illustrations or heraldry that have other useful effects, but I haven't quite been able to narrow down exactly how they would work. Does anyone else have suggestions to make Bookbinding a little more, well, useful?

I'd like the ability to learn more than just five other languages. Being a multi-linguist is not enough, I want to be an omni-linguist!

On that note, make languages do something for Bookbinders. I think its cool that we get to learn 5 other languages, so let us do something with them. Perhaps SPEAK DWARVEN BLESSING OVER RUNEBAG, or SPEAK VISCANTI CURSE AT PERSON.

Perhaps a bookbinding artefact that allows you to learn all the languages?

That would be totally awesome and lovely. Though I suspect that I would be the only one excited about this.

I don't see why you can't spend lessons and learn it yourself without bookbinding, or why changelings don't automatically have every language

That would be awesome too. I took Bookbinding just for the languages for RP reasons.

Languages are part of Bookbinding because Bookbinding desperately needs some reason to exist and so they're shoved into there to give it purpose, despite it making no sense that languages are handled that way. I think most bookbinders are bookbinders for the languages and consider the making books part an almost-unwanted extra.

Personally I think Bookbinding just doesn't have enough going on in it to be a tradeskill. As it stands now, most of the skills are just copies of the same few things that barely get used, and stuff shoved in to pad it out that are neither sensible nor really useful. It's an idea that sounds good on paper (hah!) but didn't work. Trouble is, thinking of ways to revamp it, even a complete redesign, don't seem to lead anywhere because there's just not many needs in Lusternia that it could serve.

My favorite idea is to disband bookbinding, move book-making into Arts, make languages available to everyone by spending lessons (and address the inexplicable changeling language issue accordingly), and then move the four magic scrolls to Enchantment. Refund the lessons in full plus a few for their trouble to existing bookbinders.

Failing that, a revamp of Bookbinding would have to start from both ends -- "what does it make sense for bookbinders to do" on one end, and "what does Lusternia need?" on the other end -- and meet in the middle. I like some of Avaer's ideas above but I think they're coming only from the former end. It's trying to find stuff on the latter end and make it meet Bookbinding where we get stuck, which is why I've never proposed a Bookbinding overhaul: there just doesn't seem to be anything much to meet in the middle, so every overhaul ends up having the same skillset-without-a-cause problem the existing one does, which is why I come back to deleting it.

That idea works too!

I like bookbinding.

I think it is very useful. I enjoy designing books, I like all the different kinds you can make. I'm extremely happy when someone needs a book and my bookbinder character gets to make it for them.

Why do people always recommend deleting things I like?

That said, I think that special custom paper and letters would be spiffy! I've always thought it was sad that we have to use boring old letters for everything.

With Gwyl on this one, though I don't really use the languages (except divine during events)...

Never did say that it wasn't. The fact is that all the stuff in Bookbinding is basically one ability spread out over a skillset, with Languages and magicscrolls sprinkled in. In fact, Gwylifar suggested moving everything to Arts and Enchantment, meaning that in this case, nothing is actually deleted, just moved.

EDIT: The above is to Noola.

But I like that it's a tradeskill. I like that my character is a bookbinder, that her job is to make the books. Just cause some folks only took it for the languages, doesn't mean that everyone's RP is bound up in that. My bookbinder hasn't even learned all the languages she's able.

I find much more purpose in the making of books than the occasional speaking of some language to someone who decided not to speak common for an hour.

I'm partly with Noola. I am happy that I am a bookbinder, as I too like the books, making them, the languages, and RP that can come from it.

The number one problem with bookbinding is so few people actually get books. Why? Because there are cost efficient alternatives. A guild can write a GHELP scroll for free, or maybe get a pamphlet for a thousand gold to put in their library. No guild is going to get a codex and use the whole thing. I'm sure when the skillset was first built there was high hope that all of these books would get used. They just aren't. The biggest reason, I believe, is because everything costs so much. I've had plenty of people come to me about getting a book or a journal, then literally blink in confusion when I tell them that it will cost them 3000 gold for the journal or 5000 gold for the book. I do not understand why bookbinding has this extra commodity (I am unaware, do any other trade skills have this gold outlay as well?). Why shouldn't a book just take the commodities required to make it?

I like some of the ideas that have been presented over time. Contracts are a great idea, and I'd love to see them implemented. I'd also like to see the biggest use of paper moved to bookbinding-- LETTERS. Can I go to an NPC and request a cheap jewel? Or a cheap cloth for tailoring? Then why is there an NPC that does the job of Bookbinders?

As much as I like the RP of bookbinding, there's nothing substantial that most of the skillset offers to the game. I'd be willing to have it revamped if it will make Bookbinding a viable tradeskill. Not superior or even necessarily on-par with say Herbs, but let's face it-- if you eliminated Bookbinding entirely from the game, the only things you would miss are the Healing, Protection, and Disruption scrolls... which are just fancy duplicates of other things that already exist. Bookbinding could be cut out and Lusternia would still be the same game.

A sad but true truth.

I agree with everything but the bolded here. Without bookbinding, there would be no books. What about folks who like writing books, who like writing stories and poetry and making up quirky scientific stuff based on the critters in the game, and enjoy putting them out there for others to read. What about the Library system? That's one of the most awesome thing that exists in Lusternia and if it were gone, the game lose a big hunk of cool.

Just cause it doesn't deal with fighting, doesn't make it less valuable.

Well, yes, but I think the emphasis is that Bookbinders only make books and, quite frankly, not that many people spend hours upon hours in their org's library reading these books. Mostly the new ones and that's that.

Hence why it's in need of a revamp. It's an interesting skillset and unique because no one else makes books. But no one needs books, or even wants them. It really is a wonder that people stick with the skill once they find out that in their lifetime as a player it will never turn them a profit, nor will they ever be in demand.

EDIT: Gah, ninja.

Noola, that is true. There would be no books to write poetry or stories in. But there would be letters, and posts, and other ways for those stories to get out. Bookbinding adds extraordinary RP. But it doens't even cover it's basics as really a tradeskill, because very few people use it. And as I (and many others) have pointed out, it's because the books are far too costly. And aside from the scrolls, the other bookbindings past book or manual are rarely used because the cost up there gets ridiculous.

Speak for yourselves.

It's people like Noola that help keep it going!

This is true, buuuut...


REQUEST LETTER

WRITE LETTER AT DESK

PRESERVE LETTER