ssod

Tag Documentation: `<book>` – Discoverable Lore Books

The <book> tag is used to embed a reference to a lore book within the game world. It allows players to encounter and acquire books, which can later be read from their inventory.

🧩 Syntax

<book BOOK_ID>

BOOK_ID: Numeric ID of the book from the books database table.

📚 Purpose

The tag introduces a book that the player may discover and optionally acquire. Books contain world lore, fiction, technical texts, or historical records.

🎮 In-Game Behaviour

When a <book> tag is encountered:
- The game engine queries the books database using the provided ID.
- A short flavour text snippet is shown to preview the book’s tone or content.
- The title and author of the book are presented to the player.
- A clickable link appears allowing the player to read or pick up the book.

🌐 Internationalisation

The system checks for a translated title, author, and flavour text if the player’s locale is not English (en).
Translations are pulled from the translations table where available.

🔍 Book Availability Rules

The book will not be shown if:

The player already has the book in their inventory.
The player has stored the book in their bank.

🧠 Flavour Text Matching

Flavour text is selected dynamically:

The system searches for flavour entries in book_flavour_text whose JSON tag lists overlap the book’s tags.
If no match is found, a random entry is shown.

This provides thematic immersion without needing unique flavour text per book.

📘 Example

<book 17>

May display:

“You find a dusty volume hidden behind the shelves.”
📕 The Severance Litany
By M. Vael Thalven

📝 Tips for Authors

Only use valid book IDs known to exist in the books table.
Avoid repeating the same <book> ID multiple times in unrelated paragraphs unless thematically appropriate.

<pickup> – For acquiring items (including books).
<i> – Inventory/shop item listings.
<if item "Book Title"> – Conditional logic based on books owned.

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