u/MechaniCatBuster

This feels like it will come up eventually. Somebody is going to want to get after them juicy books of doom. Is there anything agreed upon? Anything in the source material? I skimmed Dunwich Horror but it seems like the theft was off screen (before Whatley met his fate).

The scenario Edge of Darkness also implies that it isn't feasible. Why? Is the restricted section barred? Behind panic doors? Under watch by no less then 12 super cool dudes at all times?

I'm thinking about maybe requiring a theft in a scenario but without knowing more about what might be involved it's hard to be sure. So just looking for more information mostly.

I mostly am looking for ideas for Lots really. I have no idea where to start to research that sort of thing though. I can think of a couple books like various Aleister Crowley works, but I can't make a whole auction out of those. I can't really just use books from the Keeper's Guide because that would make them all important, and we need at least some "nothing" lots. Would be more on point if all of them were books though. The plan is that the PCs need to acquire one and how the auction goes determines whether or not they get off scot-free or need to do some thieving.

So to summarize, I'm looking for ideas, or some paths of research to find out what kinds of things an Occult auction might be selling. Or the kinds of things that might be for sale at an estate auction. That would work too.

I know some of the basics:

• City Hall for things like civil records (Blueprints, death certificates, deeds etc.)
• Libraries for history and general information (general info about the area, historical accounts, books on cults or natural phenomena etc.)
• Newspapers for reporting and current events (Old articles about a family, articles about disappearances, etc)
• Police Station (info on crimes, murders etc)
• White pages? To help locate someone?

But are there more? What other "always available" investigation options existed in the 1920s?

Resources you might use to pick up the first strand so to speak?

So you can find useful stuff in libraries and city hall and such. But when is it too much? When do you say "The cops won't allow you to access that" or "City Hall lost the blueprints for that building" or something else of that nature? When is it too much?

Looking for opinions. Want to fine tune play, so that I know what are reasonable breadcrumbs for players, but also I don't want to ask for something I shouldn't AS a player. So looking at it from both sides the GM screen.