Where Did I Get These Spells From?

I had a player who said bard songs and spells should be more research-based than what im doing now. I also read Dolemnwood has priests get new spells by visiting new holy places some requiring adventures which could be nice in a sandbox if characters seek personal power. Dragonslayer has a limit you can't duplicate spells memorised in one memorisation. It also has clerics who can swap spells to cure light wounds and the wizard gets similar for some core wizard spells. A player asked if bards could be more scholarly like wizards. 

Another option is to make some lore fluff tables that have no mechanical effect.
But I guess it's world-building also and makes spells feel more like carousing.
Maybe it's what spell casters are doing while other classes boozing

Im thinking of having separate spell recovery/gain/theory separate from the type of magic which I had in my 2012 game - you can do arcane divine nature or mentalism spells but classes have different learning style theories - they might overlap a bit at times. I just ended up making non core spell classes all work like sorcery which is mostly just a variant casting style that could also just be a choice not even a separate class. Sometimes messing around ends up with pages of rules to create lots of fiddly penalties maybe consider not doing it.

Research
-learned from books and teachers and lab experiments or from a master or school
-can steal find or trade new spells
-roll prime requisite to use found spells, prime req as the total limit  
-spells are memorised and held in the mind, releasing them causes brain damage
-memorisation is rereading and rote learning the spell until it is ready to use

 
Inspirations
-learned as miracles gained by prayer to the pantheon, saints and servants of the deity 
-spells are prepared daily and not limited by books or knowledge. so possibly the tables are more used when gaining a new spell level?
-miracles are pre-prayed for magical events and casting completes the circuit to the source and releases them.

Visions
-learned from contact by a pact or bloodline, communion or ordeals with patron entities 
-limited knowledge of spells but get more power and other benefits or just easier
-spell knowledge comes with visions, physically implanted perhaps in tattoos, scars, hair or even new organs inside the body
-power for spell casting is channelled from the patron. The caster requires rituals creating altered consciousness to draw power from beyond as spell preparation. Some of these beings can only have one champion at a time who may be bonded to their caster's souls like a familiar 

Not really solid yet I might chat with my players

It's quite a bit of complex content and could be in a later magic splatbook safely in a mythical future with everything else too hard.

A later splatbook would have all spells a-z common spells to all not counted vs total spells of that type, lots of elemental stuff maybe my blood-bone-flesh-animus magic system for Xor. It would also have spell lists for various elf subclasses and a list for bards lists for specialist priests. Basically every wild idea that's too hard and I can put it off till after I'm happy with my core rules. Which I've now been revising for 12 years. 

At least these as fluff might give you some fun things for your character to do off-screen.
Could also be for level-ups.

Last table is for skill and fighting class

d12 Wizard Spell Research
1 Studied from collections of ancient manuscripts and occult books
2 Studied in a library with many famous books available to see
3 Traded spells in secret with another wizard and got a fair deal
4 Visited a master wizard who showed you new techniques
5 Visited a master and managed to pilfer some scraps of lore
6 Studied at a formal school or university
7 Copied ancient glyphs and sigils on prehistoric walls and ruins  
8 Studied geometry of the stars or weird angles in a witch's house

9 Spied on other spell casters and experimented with copying

10 Studied ancient artworks including paintings, relief sculptures and sculptures

11 Forced or bargained secrets from a supernatural being

12 Found a secret door to the shadowy library of hell and stole some secrets  

d12 Priest Spell Inspiration
1 Visited a new shrine or temple
2 Studied church secret archives
3 Ordeal of praying, fasting and meditation 
4 Went on a pilgrimage trail visiting sites
5 Went on a proselytising mission
6 Helped establish a new sanctified holy place
7 Plundered enemy cult to recover lost holy text
8 Hunted and punished a heretic or cult
9 Faced a supernatural enemy in a battle of will
10 Recoved a holy relic or place or text held by enemies
11 Horribly harmed defending faith, saved and renewed vows

12 Visited by a saint taught you new miracles

d12 Sorcerer Spell Visions
1 Visions of a past life in service of your patron
2 Visions of your secret bloodline with inhuman ancestry
3 Rituals and chants dedicated to a without food or sleep for days
4 Joined a new sect or cult and initiated in a secret rite
5 Imitated an ancient teacher from books, art or spying
6 Induced altered states with herbal medicine or grog
7 Meditated on dreams to contact beings from beyond 
8 Visualisations of other dimensions based on ancient scrolls 
9 Guided by a senior practitioner sent by the patron
10 Drank potions in a secret place and met the patron
11 Had fevers and fits with wild visions of the patron

12 Performed secret ordeal in a dangerous place where the patron spoke to you

d12 Druidic Spell Inspirations
1 Learned whispered secrets of animals
2 Drank potions under the moon in a naked ritual
3 Erected or repaired a monolith or dolmen
4 Protected wilderness from harm and received visions
5 Performed secret initiations into a new cult or sect
6 Planted a garden of food and medicine for future human or beast
7 Comuned with the spit of a plant or mushroom
8 Directed a sacrifice ceremony for nature spirits

9 Made earthworks for fishing or hunting 
10 Went on a pilgrimage visiting ancient sites 
11 Overcame a supernatural being and spirits rewarded you
12 Had visions of the world tree and visited one of its regions as a spirit 
10 Met a supernatural nature being and had a ritual ordeal with them
11 Danced with faerie beings on a long wild night 

12 Lost in the faerie realm which for you felt like years

d12 Bardic Spell Research
1 Battled various bards in a competition with an enthusiastic audience
2 Joined a different tradition or school to learn their songs
3 Find ancient lost music and songs in books or carved in stone
4 Spent time following a famous travelling teacher
5 Made a friend from a rival school and traded ideas in secret
6 Spied on a rival school and reworked some of their rubbish 
7 Studied with other magicians and adopted their ways into spell songs

8 Found the last old person who knew a song and convinced them you are worthy

9 Learned an important epic poem of a nation or people making you a living treasure

10 Had a musical duel with a spirit to recover long-lost songs

11 Studied an ancient lineage to prehistoric tribes only recorded as oral tradition

12 Battled a famous bard at an important feast or festival 

d12 Non-Human Spell Visions
1 Encounted sacred ancestral spirits in a ritual
2 Dreamed of your clan ancestors teaching you old ways

3 Take place in a huge singing festival of your people

4 Travelled to see the sacred relic of your clan in a secret place

5 Elders guided you through secret initiation ceremonies

6 Had to encounter a hag in a forbidden place to learn secrets

7 Uncovered an ancient relic or text of your people

8 Performed devotions in the temple of your clan

9 An elder came to teach you new mysteries

10 Visions of a past life self-guided you in your dreams

11 Battled an enemy of your clan and rewarded by ancestors

12 Distant planar kin tried to take you from your clan to get a foothold in the mortal world and you resisted and were rewarded by one of the great ancestors

d12 New Skill Source
1 Paid a famous master to show you the basics with a crash course 
2 Went to a privileged school or university
3 Guildsman teaches you in hopes you become their follower
4 Trained in the guildhall with other experienced members with a gym
5 Made friends and cross-trained together
6 Studied the works and techniques of a famous master in books and arts
7 Studied in secrets some master and their students who rejected you possibly by losing to them in competitions or duels

8 Read ancient texts and tretises in a library
9 Joined a strict weird order in a hidden place 
10 Joined a secret fraternal order which so far seems to be about drinking
11 Studied animals and nature and practised from your contemplations

12 Taught by a supernatural being in a hidden place