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[darkhog]

So been playing some Zomboid lately, and one thing from it that I believe would transplant very well to DF, are the skill books.

So, in Zomboid, there are certain books that improve your skills. Why not in DF though? The idea is, any dwarf with a sufficient skill level (competent or better) could write a "how-to" guide on their profession and store it in a library. Then, if some dwarf or another creature (excluding elves) that has no more than two skill level less than the dwarf that written the skill book, it would raise that dwarf's skill level for that specific skill to the level of the book. So if e.g. competent brewer would write a skill book on brewing, and then a novice brewer would read it, he'd instantly become a competent brewer (while also that book would be "too technical" for dabbling brewers or non-brewers to prevent OP situations).

[crundle_bone_earring]

I'm not sure if this would work as well in dwarf fortress as it does in Zomboid. Suddenly gaining a level works well as an immediate reward, but feels silly in the context of a deeper simulation like dwarf fortress: no one will suddenly become drastically better at working wood because they read a carpentry book, unless they are a complete amateur. It could work as a training aid, or teach specific things (how to make new types of armor, how to smelt certain metals, specific fighting techniques), but just a flat increase feels wrong. Also, i'm not sure how well your limits would work, since i could make a level 3 dwarf write a book, then write another book when they are level 5, another when 7, and again and again until you have a book collection that will turn any dwarf with a level 1 on the skill a master overnight.

[darkhog]

Perhaps it could be like a strange mood (though less fatal, if no book writing material is available) in the way that a single dwarf can write only one skill book over his/her lifetime and can't make new ones over and over. It would be randomized then on which level (competent or better) he'd then write one.

[Egan_BW]

Perhaps a system where a more experienced dwarf can instruct a less experienced dwarf to increase the trainee's skill gain from doing that labor. Then you could get a somewhat inferior version of that from the more experienced dwarf writing an instructional book, with varying quality depending on the writer's skill as a teacher and as a writer.
It doesn't make much sense to me to instantly become more skilled just from reading or being told. You need practice!
Also, it might be a good idea for instruction to be necessary for a dwarf to gain certain skills from nothing. Like you can't just take a dwarven peasant and tell them to figure out weapon smithing from basic principles. This would make instructional books valuable goods to trade for, since you might need them to kickstart industries which you don't already have skilled workers for.

And of course, the more gamey thing where you read a book and it does something to you could be part of myth and magic. And those could do more interesting things to you than just increase a skill level, such as transform the reader into a fish-person.

[PlumpHelmetMan]

I'll probably be disappointed if myth and magic doesn't have Egan's suggestion as a possibility, given just how ubiquitous such "eldritch tomes" are in fantasy games and literature.

[mikekchar]

I'm quite certain this is on the TODO list for the devs already.  In fact, acquiring books and/or researching new tech was supposed to *unlock* tech in the game.  It's just there yet.

However, for something people probably don't know about: books already change the personality of creatures that read them.  They can change their view on something.  So while not *that* useful, you could potentially get a lot of books with a particular political slant to change your dwarfs views on various things.  I can't remember *exactly* how the views map to the subjects of the books, though.