Character
Fill in a name and pronouns.
Assign a bonus of +2 to the skill you are best at, +1 to the
skill you are good at, and +0 to the last skill.
It’s dangerous to go alone; take a familiar! Pick the type,
pick the skill it adds +1 to, and name it. It can absorb 1
Fatigue in your stead but then no longer provides the skill
bonus until the Fatigue is cleared.
Truths
Select one truth from each section.
Your Background
1. You were found at a library entrance as an infant.
What trinket was found with you that you still keep
around your neck?
2. You found your way into the Library and survived on
your own in the stacks for a while.
The Library can be dangerous. What almost
happened to you during those first few days?
3. You were born and raised in the Library.
Have any of your ancestors been Librarians?
Your Community
1. There are always two: a librarian and an apprentice. You
live with your Librarian and rarely have visitors.
Why do you suspect your Librarian is keeping secrets
from you?
2. You live with your family, royal librarians of a lost
kingdom who travel throughout the Library.
Why does your family never settle down in one place
for long?
3. You live in Periphery, an enclave at the perimeter of the
burned section. The people there try to keep the
gnosiphages from reaching the rest of the Library.
What sound do gnosiphages make when they’re
hunting?
Your Library
1. The Library is a sentient place. A Librarian knows how to
communicate with it.
The Library whispered to you once. What did it say?
2. The Library is a collection of living spaces, each section
its own creature. A Librarian is chosen by their section.
You’ve heard stories about a section that went rogue.
What happened to it?
3. The Library is an ecosystem. A Librarian helps keep it
balanced.
What is your favorite season in the Library?
Actions
Some outcomes allow you to trade in cards. After you
trade in a card, discard it.
Heart, Diamond: Trade in to clear 1 Fatigue
Club, Spade: Trade in for +1 Resource
Travel
When you make your way to a new location, roll
+Navigation.
Light: play either card; trade in the other
Shadow: play either card; discard the other
Dark: play either card, discard the other, and discover
a Complication at the new location
After playing the card, move your token to the new
location.
The
Conduct Research
When you search for something useful, roll +Research.
Light: trade in both cards
Shadow: trade in either card; discard the other
librarian's
Apprentice
Dark: discard both cards and discover a Complication
Address a Complication
When you address a Complication, roll +Lore. Repeat until
you’ve stacked enough cards to match the Complication’s
difficulty.
Light: stack both cards on the Complication
Shadow: stack either card; discard the other, and
Vol i
mark 1 Fatigue
Darkness: discard both cards and mark 1 Fatigue
Ask a Question
When you - the player - want an answer to a yes/no
question not covered by the other actions, roll +2 if the
answer is likely yes, +0 if unlikely. Otherwise, roll +1.
Light: the answer is “yes, and…”
Shadow: the answer is “yes, but…”
Darkness: the answer is “no, and…”
A Solo
Journaling Game
in an Infinite
library
Acknowledgements
Writing/Layout by Dan Bronson-Lowe (bronsonlowe.itch.io)
Editing by Christina Bronson-Lowe
The Librarian's Apprentice by Dan Bronson-Lowe
is released under the CC-BY 4.0 license.
Thanks to René-Pier Deshaies-Gélinas for the game system
and for supporting others in creating with it.
This work is based on Firelights, product of Fari RPGs
(https://farirpgs.com/), developed and authored by
René-Pier Deshaies-Gélinas, and licensed for our use
under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Truths inspired by Ironsworn by Shawn Tomkin
Resources inspired by Jason Cordova’s labyrinth move
for Dungeon World
Events table inspired by the Hints and Hijinx System by
Pandion Games
Concept inspired by The Stygian Library by Emmy Allen,
the Interstitial Library Circulating Collection, Terry
Pratchett’s L-space, and various works from Hayao
Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, including Kiki’s Delivery
Service, Spirited Away, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind,
and Princess Mononoke
Fonts: Cinzel Decorative by Natanael Gama, Open Sans
by Steve Matteson, and Dana Library Hand by Margo
Burns
Dedicated to everyone who
helps libraries function and exist
Introduction
Immense, ever-shifting, and sometimes dangerous, the
Library exists in the space between worlds and times.
Among the many who call it home are the Librarians, and
only those who truly understand it may join their ranks.
You seek to do so.
The path of a Librarian’s apprentice is a long one. Your
current task is designed to test your skills at traversing the
Library and finding information. Retrieve the six
documents requested by your Librarian before the day is
out and you will have completed one more step on your
journey.
Good luck.
The Basics
This is a solo journaling game. You play by yourself, writing
down your actions and answers to the questions posed. This
document will guide you, but you are ultimately in control of
where you want the story to go.
To play this game, you will need:
A journaling method
A flat surface to build your map on
A standard deck of cards without the jokers, shuffled
Two six-sided dice (2d6)
Index cards or random slips of paper
A small token (e.g., coin, poker chip, candy)
Performing an Action
Actions guide your journey through the Library and the
outcomes of your activities.
When performing an action:
Draw 2 cards from your deck.
Roll and sum your 2d6.
Add the applicable skill bonus and any other modifiers
to your roll to get your score.
Compare the score to the value of each card. (Aces are
worth 1; face cards are worth 11.)
Then interpret the result:
Score is higher than both cards = Light
Score is higher than one card = Shadow
Score is lower than or equal to both cards = Darkness
The effects of these results are described for each action on
the other side of this pamphlet.
Using Resources
During your travels you may discover Resources. You can
spend these at any time:
5 Resources = Find a document you’re seeking. Select a
face card from the deck or discard pile, add it to the
map, and shuffle the discard pile into the deck.
3 Resources = Find a safe place to rest. Clear all Fatigue.
1 Resource = +1 to any Action roll (decide before rolling;
multiple resources can be used on the same roll)
You can describe each resource or leave them abstract.
Journaling Your Progress
How much you record about your journey is up to you.
Don't worry about not writing enough. Perhaps your
Librarian requires updates but there’s a word limit to the
delivery mechanism.
The Game
When you start the game, draw a card and place it face up
in front of you. (If it's a face card, reshuffle and draw again.)
Place your token on the card to indicate your character is
there. This is the Librarian’s Office and is where you begin.
As you travel through the Library, you will add more cards
to your map. Each card is a new area.
When you add a card to the map, the new card needs to
touch the card that represents your current location.
If the number on the new card is higher than the one on
your current location, place the new card higher.
If the number on the new card is lower than the one on
your current location, place the new card lower.
Otherwise, place the new card beside your current
location.
Use the tables in Vol II for inspiration about the new area,
its documents, and an event occurring within it. Note details
on a slip of paper and place it on the new card.
If you run out of cards in your deck, shuffle the discard pile;
it becomes your deck.
Finding the Six Documents
An apprentice who hopes to one day become a Librarian
must prove their ability to find requested information within
the Library. You have been tasked with retrieving six
particular documents in one day.
Any time you add a face card to the map, a document you
seek is present in the area. Describe the document based
on the categories housed in that location.
Fatigue
Some outcomes will require you to mark Fatigue. When all
your Fatigue is marked, the day is over. You will have to
attempt the task again another time.
Overcoming Complications
If you encounter a Complication, you must deal with it. Build
a stack of cards as described in the Address a Complication
action. When the number of cards in the stack matches the
Complication’s difficulty, you have dealt with it. This may
mean you have helped, avoided, fixed, fled from, tricked,
pacified, or otherwise overcome the Complication. A
Librarian’s apprentice should only use violence as a very last
resort.
If the card you add to the stack matches the suit of the
room you are in, it counts as two cards against the
Complication.
Document Formats
Information here is presented as...
2d6 Part A Part B

1,1 A single line on A bowl

1,2
1,3
An announcement by
An interpretive dance by
A butterfly
A clay tablet
Complications
1,4 Bumps and ridges on A coin
2d6 Complication (Difficulty)
1,5 Carvings on A computer screen
1-3,1 Difficult terrain (3)
1,6 Decorations on A constellation
1-3,2 A patron in need (3)
2,1 Dents in A crystal
1-3,3 The Library shifts (4)

The
2,2 Drawings on A fire
1-3,4 A document escaping its section (4)
2,3 Etchings on A garden
1-3,5 An intruder (5)
2,4 Flashes of light from A globe

librarian's
1-3,6 A Keeper of the Forbidden (5)
2,5 Hidden text on A map
4-6,1 A gnosiphage (6)
2,6 Images created by A meal
4-6,2 An Acolyte of the Scryptwyrm (6)

Apprentice
3,1 Memories passed along by A painting
4-6,3 A Librarian who will test you (6)
3,2 Runes on A piece of ice
4-6,4 An angry library spirit (8)
3,3 Sparks from A poem
4-6,5 A swarm of hungry books (8)
3,4 Strange symbols on A pool of water
4-6,6 The Thing Below (10)
3,5 The changing colors of A raven
3,6 The emotions of A scroll Vol ii
4,1 The folds in A serpent
4,2 The form of A set of vials The Bestiary
4,3 The humming of A skull
Cattacoon: part lemur, part raccoon, all trouble.
4,4 The melody of A song
Glow mites: crab-like automatons with glowing gems.
4,5 The paintings on A spirit Often tasked with cleaning the Library.
4,6 The pressure from A statue Gnosiphage: a.k.a. booklicker; a withered husk of a
person from the burned section. Steals words and
5,1 The shape of A tapestry
knowledge from documents by licking them; the
5,2 The size of A wand content appears on their skin like tattoos.
5,3 The smell from A weapon The Thing Below: burrows beneath the Library, rips
open the floor, and consumes anything that falls into
5,4 The taste of Bees
the hole. Will haphazardly fix the floor afterward,
5,5 The teachings of Book pages leaving behind a polite note listing what it ate.
5,6 The temperature of Clothing Tumblefluff: library spirit; a ball of dust and library Descriptions, Events,
debris the size of your little finger. Multiple spirits can
6,1 The texture of Colored glass
temporarily merge into humanoid forms as big as & Complications
6,2 The undulations of Knotted yarn your hand.
6,3 The vibrations of Leaves
6,4 Whispers of The air
6,5 Words spoken by The room
6,6 Writing on Trees
 Descriptions Events & Secrets
2d6 Descriptor Feature Category 2d6 1 2 3 4 5 6

1,1 Arboreal Armor Autobiographies

* When library
1,2 Bone Atrium Children's books spirits combine, This experienced This ghost
A troop of
1,3 Burned Coral reef Cities they don't just researcher can continues the
The documents catcoons are
get bigger, they provide you with research project This is an active
1,4 Cavernous Costumes Contains a folded letter 1 here are raiding a
get smarter. The directions. Draw a they did not Library entrance.
mischievous. refreshments
1,5 Chained Eggs Cookbooks ones larger than card and add it to finish when
cabinet.
your hand are your map. alive.
1,6 Cheerful Elevator Destroyed by the author
always hidden.
2,1 Dark Eyes Diaries
2,2 Decorative Feathers Fashion * A collection of
Forbidden A party is A colony of bats This abandoned
2,3 Dilapidated Garden Flying What a cozy nook. sentient
section: underway. emerges to feed on Library entrance is
2 Rest here to clear documents have
2,4 Dusty Gears Gambling Librarians They are singing bothersome sealed to prevent
2 Fatigue. formed a secret
Only. karaoke. insects. use.
2,5 Elegant Gift shop Geology society.
2,6 Ephemeral Glowing crystals Imaginary languages
3,1 Floating Hourglasses Libraries
* The
3,2 Frost Insect collection Marginalia A window here
This lost patron is Scryptwyrm This patron is This researcher is Welcome to 24/7
opens up onto a
3,3 Fungal Instruments Medicine 3 trying to find an trades trying to steal locked in a cage drag queen story
tropical island
exit. Any exit. knowledge for something. with a rare book. hour!
3,4 Futuristic Invisible walls Meteorology beach.
sacrifices.
3,5 Glowing Locked safe Missing a vital page
3,6 Haunted Maps Music
A cluster of library
4,1 Hidden Models Mysteries Another * The Keepers of the
spirits merge to
Librarian's A thick fog fills the Everything Forbidden maintain The furnishings are
4,2 Hive Orrery Natural history form a figure the
apprentice is area. (-1 to Travel here changes a collection of smashed and torn.
4,3 Labyrinthine Paintings Never read 4 size of your palm.
here, trying to and Conduct when not documents that are The damage is
It cautiously
4,4 Long Pits Not really blank complete their Research rolls.) looked at. impossible to recent.
examines each
own task. destroy.
4,5 Lost Potions Plays thing you touch.

4,6 Lower Rain Religious scriptures

This novice * Glow mites are A ring of keys rest
5,1 Modern Rugs Riddles A sleeping patron A small flock of
A swarm of glow researcher is powered by the on the floor. They
5,2 Narrow Scales Saved a life is here with a birds flit about
5 mites scuttles trying to deal minds of those can be taken and
handwritten sign: the room,
5,3 Non-Euclidean Scrolls Smells along, cleaning. with a caught stealing used to resolve a
Do Not Disturb. singing.
Complication. from the Library. Complication.
5,4 Organic Sculpture Spirits
5,5 Primitive Skylights Stained by notable meals * Gnosiphages
5,6 Pristine Slides Star charts The Library shifts. This room is not An Reference Desk feed the
Something large is
Move some of the part of the Library. These hunters is here. Draw a knowledge they
6,1 Shifting Stained glass Survival guides slowly tunneling
6 cards in your map It's a parasite are tracking a card. Play it if it's a steal to the
along under
6,2 Shrouded Stairs Things that are lucky to different impersonating the gnosiphage. face card, discard it burned section of
the floor.
6,3 Stone Taxidermy Too heavy to lift locations. Library. if not. the Library so it
can heal.
6,4 Underwater Teeth Too small to see
6,5 Upper Weapons Will never be written
6,6 Well-traveled Workbenches Written by undead * How did you discover this secret?