Books/Papers/Old Tomes - A Way to Add Lore In-Game

I did a bit of searching and didn't see this, and being that I enjoy reading and enjoy being immersed in my games, I thought this idea would fit.

There's already a fair amount of lore that is being worked on for the playable races, for example (go here to easily review the lore, as originally posted on the Dev Blogs: http://starbound.wikia.com/wiki/Race). Though it wouldn't add much in the way of function*, being able to find abandoned books in a cave or a tome in a long-abandoned temple-like structure would add a great deal in terms of bringing the world - or in this case, the universe - to life.

Using these items would open a window that would display an interface that would match the kind of material or item the text is written on:

• Stone (for ancient tablets; could be used for hieroglyphs and similarly old forms of communications)
• Paper (tomes, books, scrolls, torn pages, single pages)
• Portable Display (a tablet PC-like device, in the event it's possible to encounter ruins of advanced civilizations on planets; would require a way to power them to view)

These could be found in a myriad of places, from chests in caves or old mines, a library or similar archive in a village or town (populated or ruined), ancient temples deep in the jungle, abandoned space stations - the possibilities are quite endless.
As for what they could contain in terms of text, some ideas:

• Racial lore;
• Random letters to someone;
• Religious or philosophical mantras;
• Info about fauna or flora indigenous to the planet;
• Info about the planet itself;
• Info about a town, landmark, or an otherwise notable area (context-specific items);

Let me know what everyone thinks! Hopefully I'm not the only one who would want such a feature implemented as a way to make this game and even greater sink than we all know it will be.

*This idea could potentially be tied into side quests as well. For example, by opening a particular book, you could be granted the option to pursue a questline associated with the message within.

 

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I really like this idea. It could open up a lot of cool options ,like leaving clues for other players ,reading signs more closely or other similar things.

 

I do agree, this could open the door for in-game custom content such as user-populated books and scrolls (via blank books, scrolls, etc). This would be most interesting as you play on multiplayer servers - it could potentially lend itself to custom, user-made quests.

The game I was most thinking of when typing my original post was Deus Ex, where throughout the game you could read newspapers and books, all of which fleshed out the world around you and really made you feel like you were there - you weren't just trying to accomplish an objective - you were living this person's life and experiencing the world as you would ours. Of course, there are several RPGs that do this as well, such as the Elder Scrolls series and Arcanum.

 

I think in-game litterature is already confirmed, implemented and whatever else they do with confirmed stuff... the books, appearently, will be acessable from journal, and think that's a temp placeholder name, but book with human-avian relations lore is called "Lusty Avian maid". yeah, TES reference...

 

Looks like you're right! In that case, I'm curious as to how far they've gone regarding written material. Personally, I wouldn't mind being a part of a voluntary team whose sole responsibility was to write up the various notes, book entries, and documents that one could find in Starbound...

 

Great idea for possible side-quests (v.g. find an object, rescue a person, kill Godzilla, gather jewelry of power...)