Library Beyond Time

The Library Beyond Time was a campaign element that I created for one of my players in my first D&D campaign as kind of a throwaway reward for him, in order to balance out high-level rewards I had given to other players in the party. In this version, the library was only accessible by the few wizards who had read from the book of exalted deeds or the book of vile darkness. In this version the library was a short cramped room that stretched out of sight in all directions filled with bookshelves sorted alphabetically. You entered the library by teleporting. The library contained books on every major event in history, and if you attempted to read a book from your future the words would shift around on the page, but if you focused and passed a high skill check, you would be able to gain advantage on any rolls you made during that event. Sadly, the player did not utilize the library that often, and the campaign petered out.


After that campaign ended, I wanted to revisit the idea, but make it accessible by any of the players, and introduce it much earlier in the campaign. I also wanted to change how the players interacted with it. Instead of it just being a chance at a buff in any upcoming fights they could access at any time, I wanted it to become a sought after location that they could use periodically throughout their campaign to answer certain questions they had, or as a device for me to get the players back on track when I needed to. I introduced them to the library by having a trusted NPC take the party there using their personal card when the party was level 3 to find out what poison had been used on one of their friends and how to cure it. I also used this event to show them that it was literally outside of time, by having them appear back in the world immediately after they had left.


I also changed the physical description of the library, since I wanted the players to have more of a sense that this was someplace special. Instead of teleporting directly into the library, I had them appear outside of the entrance, which was a lone lectern with a “Help Wanted” sign hanging from the front in an all white void. Behind the lectern was a set of marble stairs that descended down into the floor. I also changed the library itself. Instead of being a cramped room, the stairs opened into the lobby of a grandiose multi-leveled library with multiple hallways splitting off on each side.

The party was frequently traveling, so I was able to restrict access to the library by having them only be able to access it with the aid of the NPC that originally took them there. Later into the campaign I did give them their own library card, but it did not always work. For instance, if they were trying to use the library to overcome a simple puzzle or something, I would just say that the card seemed to be inactive.

To further show that the library was not within the regular flow of time, I also introduced a character called The Librarian that the party met upon their second time visiting the library. He was standing at the lectern, and when the party talked to him, he revealed to them that he had been the librarian for centuries, and that he had not had a help wanted sign on the lectern at any point in his time there, since the library mostly took care of itself. To further the mystery of this character, when the players looked for his book, they found a seemingly endless hallway filled with books all titled “The Librarian” bound with different materials, some even in paperback. If they tried to read any of them, the librarian would appear and take the book from them.

In actuality, The Librarian was a mantle that was passed from person to person. They would search the stories of the library until they found a story that they personally liked, and would then hand their mantle off to someone else so that they could go witness the story first-hand. This is not something that I revealed until the very end of the campaign, when the current librarian revealed that he was the NPC that had first helped them to the library, by donning the NPC’s iconic mask, and offered his position to one of the players, while placing a “Help Wanted” sign on the lectern.