For Whom the Bard Tolls

[Harad Navar]

New player comes into an NPC settlement. One of the first things is to hit the local tavern. Who are the bards singing about?"

They aren't singing about the first player to build a tailor shop. They are singing about the first party to wrestle and hold a castle out of the wilderness. They are singing of the marvelous settlements forged from danger and reward in the wild. They are singing about the first war, why it stated, who was the greatest hero, who won.

Ask not of whom the bard sings for the bard sings of you. I think it would be a great for players (the beta players especially who are going to help forge this game into it's highest potential) to have the opportunity of having the bards in NPC settlements tell their story. Choosing whose story will be told could be by vote or by GW choice. In any event the opportunity to become an acknowledged legend to inspire (or caution) new players would be a great draw for more player interaction of the sort I think GW is looking for.

And the bards can sing of the great bandits and evil doers that new players should watch out for. They could even sing of the longest outstanding bounties. That would be a lot more fun that a posted list.

[avari3]

Why not just have real bards that RP and make the songs? I'm making a bard, his first song will be "the adventures of Nihimon"

[Hark]

The world tracking what players have done and using it as a way to build in game lore would be amazing to have. Bard songs would be a fun and interesting way to do that.

[Psyblade]

Depending on the size of the hexes and how many, I can see something like the eve sovereignty map appearing with API to show what happens. Those would be cool to see happening. Also, would love to see something along the lines of an ingame wanted poster board or hero board that can be used for lore.

[Marthian]

I am Marthian, and I fully support this!

No really, I like this idea.

Although I would think some things may sound silly as a song. I'd probably have some chat options to talk about (just a list. Some things may just be better left under "exploration")

*Warring factions/settlements/companies
*People that are publicly known (such as: Very high reputation of killing random people)
*Locations

There's probably more.

[Jameow]

How would you do it though? Player submitted lyrics to you give to the bard? (I can see some... interesting results from that)

The bard having access to local stats and compiling a song from various possible random lines, with some logic to the choices? (branches in phrase depending on various conditions like alignment of target, their recent exploits etc)?

[Harad Navar]

Why not a bard competition?

[Jameow]

That would be cool too :D

[Hark]

If the game kept an event log it could be used in conjunction with thing like knowledge skills and bardic lore for players to research past events. Players could in turn use these records to build songs, or any other creative uses for lore.

[Nihimon]

Hark wrote:

If the game kept an event log...

I'm pretty sure it will.

From LFG! (Looking for Group!):

Quote:

You'll be able to track those you've been in a party with and see what happened during those adventures, and you'll even be able to note if those individuals were friends, enemies, or neutral for later encounters.

I remember reading that the day they posted it, and thinking that sure sounds like a really cool event logging system :)

[Harad Navar]

Could you see a bard's guild being the first PR firm? The Ballad of Bokken's Fangberry Additive? A bard's guild could be a great way for chartered settlements to try and gain reputation to attract more players to join.

[Harad Navar]

And what about those bards with dance as a performance? The Rock(troll)ettes?

[Chiassa]

I keep thinking Monty Python here. "Brave, brave Sir Robin..."

As long as I don't actually have to sing into voice chat. NO ONE wants to hear that!

[Dak Thunderkeg]

Here's hoping for a more robust song / dance option. At the very least on the music end, bards should be able to play more than just the same four songs.

LOTRO's music system seems to be decently flexible.

[Jameow]

I would like something like LOTRO's system too.

I also liked vanguard's mechanics for the bard, there were various song slots and you could fill them in with various abilities, sort of creating your own aura/spell/buff as a bard. Would be nice if ontop of that they added the ability to add an actual player created tune to it.

[Nihimon]

Chiassa wrote:

I keep thinking Monty Python here. "Brave, brave Sir Robin..."

I had the same thought when Avari said this:

avari3 wrote:

I'm making a bard, his first song will be "the adventures of Nihimon"

But, not being as clever as Monty Python, I couldn't think of anything funny to say...

Jameow wrote:

Would be nice if ontop of that they added the ability to add an actual player created tune to it.

Player-created tunes have many of same the drawbacks as player-created images or animations. Instead of worrying about graphic porn, you have to worry about One Direction and Taylor Swift.

Perhaps a website where players could submit their player-created art of all types for community approval first? It would be fairly low-cost to automate their acceptance into the game-world if they passed some bar on that website. Then, if someone flagged it as inappropriate in-game, the moderators could take a look at it.

[Dak Thunderkeg]

I don't think GW approval should be necessary for soundbites. An instrument should have the ability to play a series of notes in lieu of a handful of premade songs. Since instruments don't have lyrics, its not as if it can be twisted to be vulgar.

Its something LOTRO has done, and it is popular even inside the hardcore roleplayer community.

[Harad Navar]

@Nimimon, I like the off-line aspect of that. Could player art be sold that way when we get to build personally grafted building interiors?

[Waruko]

Nihimon wrote:

avari3 wrote:

I'm making a bard, his first song will be "the adventures of Nihimon"

But, not being as clever as Monty Python, I couldn't think of anything funny to say...

(spacer)

Nihimon and the Bandit

Oh the first thing he did, was cast Gravity on his Bow,
Oh the second thing he did, was cast a magic Strike so True,
Oh no!
Oh no!
The bandit moved next to him.
And Nihimon attacked it with a melee weapon with his low Strength rating but is was alright cus he hit him but just did poor damage at which point the bandit kicked his butt AND THEN!!!!!!!
Nihimon raaaaaaaaaan aaaawwwwwwaaaaaaay ah!!!!

The bard shrugged and cast Sleep. The End.

(True story from a Kingmarker session. Cept for the bard casting sleep thing I just had to add a part were a bard was awesome and saved the day. Though there was a awesome bard in that campaign. Maybe still is, not sure.)

[Nihimon]

LOL! Thanks, Waruko.

I make a much better Wizard than Bard, which probably isn't saying a whole lot :)

[Waruko]

Nihimon wrote:

LOL! Thanks, Waruko.

I make a much better Wizard than Bard, which probably isn't saying a whole lot :)

Its just Wizards have to study to become awesome is all. Bards are naturally awesome all the time. See: Danny Kaye or Neil Patrick Harris.

Either way both classes are still miles above fighters. I mean, these guys (and gals) want to stand in front of a monster three times their height and trade blows. That's not just stupid that's INSANE.

[Jameow]

I think a bit of Taylor swift on a lute wouldn't sound particularly out of place :p

That's the thing about instruments, play it on the right one and it totally changes the feel.

[Nihimon]

Oh, I'm not saying they sound bad. It's just that listening to some music in a fantasy world and then suddenly realizing it's "Call Me Maybe" is somewhat immersion-breaking.

That said, I think it might still be worthwhile. I know it's popular in LOTRO. The chance to hear a really well-done Celtic folksong probably outweighs any irritation from hearing "Another One Bites the Dust" on a flute.

[Dak Thunderkeg]

I suppose my point is that the potential downside of immersion does not cancel out the possibilities of adding a similar feature.

Its popular with a heavier rp crowd without game policing. Either they think the robust nature is worth hearing the occasional Copperhead Rd. , or they keep a lid on their events themselves.

Features that require a lot of developer babysitting IMO are less likely to be included in a game.

[Nihimon]

I agree with you, Dak; I think the upside outweighs the potential downsides.