Hello there everyone!
I was exploring Vallaki today and stumbled upon Houlgraves, someplace I don't often go to. (Though it is a nice little nugget.) But this time I actually decided to really look through his inventory as I'm playing a character who doesn't know much of the land's history - so naturally he went to the book store. However, I found some odd things. Considering that most of the books in there are by the this prolific author (and elf) Zecht D'Selvarine - as well as several odd books (of which I shall address each separately - I wonder exactly their purpose and their value to Barovia.
Barovia seems to very much dislike erudition - with only a privileged minority being truly educated (it's easier to suppress serfs who don't understand the value of their labor, lol). The other aspect is the general xenophobia of Barovians. (I know Houlgrave is an 'outlander' himself, but he seems like the kind of guy who'd obey the law - at least on face) It seems odd that there would be an offering of books by an actual admitted elf. Though I suppose it wouldn't be much of a bookstore if there weren't any in there - so I suppose that could be something to just give his area a point. (Unless there are books from around the core that are legal and non critical of Strahd or his boyars and burgomeisters.) I just bring this up on a general air of atmosphere and local culture - maybe making it seem more appealing for the Barovians who can/do read (and maybe making it something that if you want an odd book, you might have to meet Houlgrave after hours to pick up some of his.. 'rarities'.)
The other books that I find weird for him to have though contain gobs of info that seem copy-pasted right out of the Gazetteers or seem to be... well, kind of illegal. These are the following books I would suggest to remove/replace with something more fitting:
The Great Upheaval - This book seems to be big concept/leap to push around in Barovia. It is talking about the events that basically 'rebooted' the Ravenloft campaign setting during the transition from what I believe 2ED to 3ED. It has a lot of lore about specific people, specific events. Talks about Azalin and the Dukkar and what have you. I don't think it is appropriate for Barovia because it seems like a book that should be an actual rare find in a dungeon or in possession of some top University. It also is fairly meta, in my opinion and seems to open. It'd be great if was made more speculative and objective, rather than.. "Stuff happened and here is how it did exactly."
Marilena Cristescu's Theological Essays, Vol. I - This book is interesting and seems to criticize in game happenings between Morninglordians and Banites. Banites declaring the Morninglord faith is yet another incompatible heresy and this Cristescu woman appears to be rebuking them in theological fashion. However - my only big criticism of this book - is that it has some open criticism about Strahd and his government. It declares in a sense the Church being opposed to the Banites ideas of oppressive rule, whilst also poking at Strahd. I think it's a bit too 'enlightened' to be distributed so openly.
My last suggestion would be that maybe other sorts of things be added to his inventory to represent his collections of 'Rarities'. All he has are gemstones, which in my opinion seem a little out of place. It would be interesting for him to have some sort of collections of antiques or maybe supposed relics of heroes/historical figures. Also ink.
So to sum it up for all the people who don't want to read (and I don't blame you, this may seem nit-picky) - I feel that Houlgraves doesn't support the feel of the setting and should have his inventory fixed up to a degree. His books should be things from around the core (books about the myths and histories of other lands, that might be considered fictional/interesting to Barovians who are of a richer background). The other thing is that they should be Kosher for Barovia and not at all critical of the rule of Strahd or his government, that stuff doesn't seem like it'd fly.
Also in general I'd like to see books cost more. For some reason they all cost like 1 to 2 gp. In Barovia books may not be valued by the peasantry, but in this kind of setting and era (and a land where there is no moveable type) books would cost a lot. Hundreds, not teens of gold. (Also instituting some sort of system where you actually need to buy the books, before you can read them would be awesome - so it isn't just me -reading- their inventories, not buying them. How else is Houlgrave/any book store going to stay in business? Knowledge is meant for those who are rich enough to afford it!)
(Also I'd say that this isn't like a priority thing, I'm not crying for this to be done because it is absolutely necessary - just think if someone gets free time on the dev team...)
What are you thoughts/statements/criticisms of the above?
