I'm not all that familiar with the lore surrounding holocrons, but I'm curious how much the Gatekepers are aware of what's going on around them, and/or how dependent they are on sentients for news of the outside world. Can a holocron turn itself on, or is it purely a passive conduit for information, which must be turned on or off by a living sentient? Do they hear what's going on around them? Can they use their internal gyros (assuming they have any) to tell how far or how fast they've been moved? Can they sense the presence of droids, or animals, or only living sentients? Do different Gatekeepers have different abilities depending on how and by whom they were built?

Currently, my houserule is that a holocron's Gatekeeper program can clearly hear normal conversation around itself within Short range, and can understand any language which its creator understood, but it cannot see anything that happens around it unless its holographic projector is turned on. The Gatekeeper can also use its holocron's internal gyros to tell when it is moving quickly or being handled, and it can recognize the Force-signature (and by extension, the Morality score) of any living being that touches it. Does this fit with the known lore surrounding holocrons?

Given that they can teach users things they would need to be able too. You cant teach lightsaber skills very effectively without being able to see what your student is doing. Same for many things.

I doubt that is something that people have bothered to make canon. I'd rule that it's whatever works best for your table. Since that's a pretty boiler plate answer, I'll give some basic reasons about the tech you might consider.

Since they are technological devices, they would be limited to whatever the designer of the holocron installed. If they didn't include any external observation devices, and provided the Gatekeepers with individual agency regarding observation of their surroundings, then they probably can't do it. I feel like that is probably a feature/app that isn't really super necessary for your standard holocron.

Contrary to that, they are able to perceive and teach the people who activate them, which would suggest they are able to observe what's going on around them, so they can, for example, advise someone on how to hold their posture in a lightsaber stance, a subject this holocron happens to have. In order to do their job as an instructor, assuming they aren't just replaying old videos from living trainers, the Gatekeeper would need to be able to actively, real-time, watch the student doing stuff and correct them. So that would imply external observation apps.

Bottom line though, it doesn't matter. Their design isn't codified and etched in stone. They are magical talking rocks with a library of information in them, meant to be the "hidden knowledge" for a character to find, and rediscover lost traditions to save the day in the future trials.

Make them work in a way that best suits your story. Personally, I tend to lean towards the level of things of that sophistication are sentient, or pretty darn close, so having them being able to interact with the outside world to some degree, just opens up more storytelling possibilities. And I'm always a fan of more options, than less. Just my two cents though.

55 minutes ago, LazerSwordsman said:

Currently, my houserule is that a holocron's Gatekeeper program can clearly hear normal conversation around itself within Short range, and can understand any language which its creator understood, but it cannot see anything that happens around it unless its holographic projector is turned on. The Gatekeeper can also use its holocron's internal gyros to tell when it is moving quickly or being handled, and it can recognize the Force-signature (and by extension, the Morality score) of any living being that touches it.

I'd say that's a pretty good way of covering it.

A holocron's gatekeeper is far from being some omnipotent being, seeing as at it's most basic the gatekeeper is really just a very fancy interactive AI. So a holocron from the time of the Jedi Civil War that's not been activated since then isn't going to have a clue about the current state of galactic affairs until the new owner/user updates the gatekeeper with that information.

Now that I think about it, Chronicles of the Gatekeeper to some extent addresses this, as the gatekeeper or the adventure's holocron is quite unaware of events that transpired after it's creation, including the final fate of that Jedi.

If you want to add tech to the magic box, perhaps it lacks it's own sensory inputs and needs to be plugged into a holo recorder (or a droid) to see/hear what's going on around it.

I run it as a storage device with an expert system AI for accessing and using that information (like Clippy). That AI is based upon the creator's personality but doesnt have the creator's knowledge beyond what is stored in the holocron. I assume it has basic audio/visual sensors for accepting commands and providing feedback. I also don't believe it is aware of anything when not actively in use.

19 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

If you want to add tech to the magic box, perhaps it lacks it's own sensory inputs and needs to be plugged into a holo recorder (or a droid) to see/hear what's going on around it.

I run it as a storage device with an expert system AI for accessing and using that information (like Clippy). That AI is based upon the creator's personality but doesnt have the creator's knowledge beyond what is stored in the holocron. I assume it has basic audio/visual sensors for accepting commands and providing feedback. I also don't believe it is aware of anything when not actively in use.

Oh I love the idea of a holocron with some stuffy old Jedi Master's hologram, plugged into, and interacting with some spunky astromech. That would be such a fun NPC to play. Seriously, imagine Yoda and R2, with the way they argued and bickered with each other in Empire when they first met....but it's in one body. And then, later on, when they develop camaraderie with each other, having the cunning of a Jedi Master, coupled with the tech savvy, slicing prowess of a droid.....dang I think I might have to write that little guy up now.

59 minutes ago, KungFuFerret said:

Oh I love the idea of a holocron with some stuffy old Jedi Master's hologram, plugged into, and interacting with some spunky astromech. That would be such a fun NPC to play. Seriously, imagine Yoda and R2, with the way they argued and bickered with each other in Empire when they first met....but it's in one body. And then, later on, when they develop camaraderie with each other, having the cunning of a Jedi Master, coupled with the tech savvy, slicing prowess of a droid.....dang I think I might have to write that little guy up now.

Buck Rogers TV series had Twiki wearing Dr Theophilus around his neck like a Flavor Flav clock. What you describe reminds me of that.

21 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

Buck Rogers TV series had Twiki wearing Dr Theophilus around his neck like a Flavor Flav clock. What you describe reminds me of that.

I barely remember that show from my childhood, definitely don't recall a sentient bling necklace, but that would surprise me from Buck Rogers

I was thinking more having it directly interfaced with the droid, and internalized. But that's me, I'm always a big fan of A.I. stories, and have always felt that Star Wars is an untapped treasure trove for that kind of storytelling.

40 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

Buck Rogers TV series had Twiki wearing Dr Theophilus around his neck like a Flavor Flav clock. What you describe reminds me of that.

you mean twinky

https://www.imdb.com/videoplayer/vi1320943897

36 minutes ago, KungFuFerret said:

I barely remember that show from my childhood, definitely don't recall a sentient bling necklace, but that would surprise me from Buck Rogers

I was thinking more having it directly interfaced with the droid, and internalized. But that's me, I'm always a big fan of A.I. stories, and have always felt that Star Wars is an untapped treasure trove for that kind of storytelling.

Twiki (the Droid)

Dr Theopolis (the Holocron)

Twiki with Dr. Theopolis

In I, Jedi Luke tells a gatekeeper to explain something to Corran and the gatekeeper explicitly turns to Corran and explains it. Very hard to turn to someone you can't see, so they can see when they're on at the very least.

This is way different than how I saw them to me they had a telepathic link with the use and though them can see or hear

Holocrons are self-aware (to a point), self-learning and have sensors (at least according to a legends sourcebook). So they can perceive their environments and learn so long as they are active.

2 hours ago, NanashiAnon said:

In I, Jedi Luke tells a gatekeeper to explain something to Corran and the gatekeeper explicitly turns to Corran and explains it. Very hard to turn to someone you can't see, so they can see when they're on at the very least.

Been well over a decade, maybe two, but that was my favorite Star Wars book back in the day. I’m going to have to re-read that one to see how well it’s held up.