Bards and strangled bunnies.

[Qetesh]

To put it a little more clearly playing a bard is a social role.  The bard role thrives in environments where they are appreciated (as per the docs) and have opportunities to perform for people.  When the overall populace of steady players ignores bards, mocks them, or goes contrary to the documentation with absolutely no appreciation then the bards suffer and tend to pursue non-bardic goals.

Bards are granted a lot of freedom in how they choose to play their characters.  There are six Circles they can enter and each Circle has specific strengths and weaknesses. Further to that, bards can choose to take on a patron and through their patron (or for their patron) acquire some level of political clout but they can also choose to do nothing of the sort.  Basically, a bard's player can decide to be political or they can decide to not be.  Both options and everything in between are perfectly acceptable.

In the end, it is a matter of personal choice.  There is no absolute definition of how a bard must be played.  Therefore, it is incorrect to state that everything a bard does has to be political or hold political undertones.  If a bard wants to do that - all the power to them.  If they don't want to - that's cool too.  

Bards are _the_ cultural role of Tuluk and they enhance Allanak as well.  Therefore, the only real requirement for a bard, in my mind, is that they learn how Tuluk works and operates as they develop the character.  Since more bards start out as apprentices they don't have to understand everything from the get-go they can learn as they develop.

Since there are a good deal of Bards around these days and I have seen them talked about in more than one thread. I thought I'd put an end to the derailments and start up a topic on them.

What Marko says above is right on point. Bards can be political, they do not have to be though. Besides being entertainers. They can be well traveled, fashion experts, naturalists.. sculptors, painters.. They can be anything... Bards are the creative forces of Tuluk, and more importantly, they history tellers of the common people.

I think people get caught up on this idea that a single bards song can topple a Nobles reputation. And thus they must be deeply political PC's. It's not that simple, Tuluk is known for subtly..  So if you are expecting a bard to go ahead and strum out a piece that is an outright slap in the face of a noble, the bard will most likely end up a good deal dead. I can see how that might not be really appealing to the player all that much.

What I would like to see more, are the bards taking more of the current events that go on and spinning stories on them. And not vague, long draw out accounts with abstract heroes. But specific names and specific events set to simple songs that the common person can understand.

Example: A magicker elf is caught in the north by Faithful Fancy Face because Chosen Lady Victima Winrothol had been attacked. Everyone and their mom knows about it and its been talked about in quiet circles.

Sing Blah.. Blah.. Evil Magick Casting Elf defiled our lands..
Sing Blah,, Blah.. Blah.. Faithful Fancy Face in all his glory, he is so grand..
Sing Blah, Blah.. Evil Magick Casting Elf try to steal our Chosen Lady Victima Winrothol away..
Sing Blah, Blah.. Faithful Fancy Face in all his glory, saved the day..
Sing Blah, Blah..  Faithful Fancy Face chased Evil Magick Casting Elf all through our beautiful lands, guided by his glorious light's hand.
Sing Blah, Blah.. Evil Magick Casting Elf was found in his layer, with a lock of the Chosen Ladies hair.
Sing Blah, Blah..  Faithful Fancy Face moved as swift as light and heroically won the fight.
Sing Blah, Blah.. Evil Magick Casting Elf lost head on the Faithfuls blade, staining red, his cloak with a cross of Jade.
Sing Blah, Blah.. when Evil Magick Casting Elf's was burned where it lay on the ground a dull black gem was all that was left to be found.

Throw in some nice emoting and a few better words than I have selected and you have a clear, historical account that will have people talking. Also, altering accounts of things that may have transpired is a great way to Highlight certain people and cast shadows of doubt on others.

Most likely whoever is paying you for the song will be keen on having themselves glorified and perhaps others made out to look weak.  In my above example, it's clearly showing that even a Defiling Elf is no match for the power of this particular Northern templar, at the same time it is showing an association with the elf and the south.

Songs about how pretty the city is and lost love, and new love and unrequited love are nice as well, and we have plenty of them.

But I do absolutely love it when a bard actually tells stories, new and old based on IC events. And it's my personal opinion that it is where most of their focus should be.


Just my thoughts. Discuss.

[Cuusardo]

Using current events for inspiration is a great thing, IMO.  If you haven't been playing the game as long, and you are pretty much clueless about a lot of events in history that aren't the huge, earth-shaking ones, this gives a bard a LOT to work with.

If you need something historical in nature, don't be afraid to email the IMMs to ask how you can get it.  I've always found that the IMMs are extremely helpful, and very valuable resources.