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Our group has been having a blast with this AP, and a large part of it has been how our Bard's been leveraging her backstory and artistic ability. I thought I'd share some of her finer moments and see if others have had similar craziness.
Our party is:
Chelaxian Diva Bard, very "high art" minded
Blue collar geokineticist, the bard's younger brother
Young street kid Rogue
Older, patriotic Aroden-worshipping Cavalier, practical but given to flowery speeches and proselytizing
As mentioned, the Bard takes her art seriously. She's from a blue collar family, but runs in avant-garde circles and tries to put on slightly aristocratic pretensions when in that company. She attended the Alabaster Academy and has an extensive knowledge of Kintargan opera and Chelaxian art and culture in general.
This leads to some really, really great public performances. They've been retellings of popular folktales or morality plays, but she always sets up a satirical undercurrent. It's usually subtle, but the initial protest scene opened with her basically staging a theatre version of a political cartoon. She embodied the Spirit of Kintargo, with appropriate ostentatious costume. The other actors dressed as devils holding pitchforks, shafts wrapped with streamers that said things like "NO MINT" or "POLITICALLY MOTIVATED ARSON," tormenting the Spirit and eventually executing her via guillotine. This was what really brought the protest crowd together, and gave the other characters a setting to make their individual marks. The kineticist harnessed the fervor generated by the play to make some populist pleas to his working-class comrades, the cavalier got an audience to listen to him rail against the fall of Cheliax to Diabolism and promote a possible return to its former glory. Our rogue got to read the crowd and pick up reactions and gossip. It culminated with our Bard singing a traditional Kintargan song to rouse everyone, ending with the vandalism of the statue in front of the opera house and Nox and the Chelish Citizens Group being called in to disperse the crowd.
Our first recruitment drive for the Silver Ravens was another public display, but a traditional tale of Hellknights and imposition of order. Woven in were much more subtle references to the need for change. The Rogue kept an eye out for people who picked up on them and invited them to speak with the performers afterwards, those folks becoming our first real supporters and first team of Street Performers.
During last night's session we got some information about a potential Strixx NPC we'd need to talk to, who might be hard to get ahold of. We felt it required an indirect touch, so we went with what else - another performance! This time it was a popular story of the Chelaxian settlement of the Kintargan region, including the displacement of the area's Strixx. Our Bard played the Strixx, our Cavalier made his acting debut as the symbol of Chelish law (with insinuations that he represented an overbearing Barzillai), our Rogue mingled with the crowd and got people interested while keeping an eye out for the people we were looking for, and the Kineticist was set up on a roof, both to observe and to provide special effects (a powerful blow from our law figure was accented by a shower of elemental rock) There were songs with double-speak lyrics implying the Strixx were wrongfully displaced, in the hopes that the vibe would be picked up and make its way to our Strixx NPC who would contact us later. We even had a clergymen from the Church of Asmodeus, oblivious to the undertones, get up on stage as an enthusiastic participant.
Hopefully all that isn't totally a "you had to be there" thing, and comes across here as cool as it was in game. It's just been really great to have a character who does things that tie superbly into their backstory, their class, and the setting, while also allowing participation by all the party members. Those performances have really helped give a sense of the party dynamic, a connection to the city of Kintargo, and an in-game, RP way to build the rebellion and gather momentum.
Anyone else have Bards or other characters really grab ahold of the Kintargan arts angle?
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That is pretty awesome, Andrew. I'm kinda bummed that nobody went with a Chelish Diva bard archetype, but one player just finished playing one in the game we dropped to pick up Hell's Rebels, and none of the others were really interested in making one. Still, it sounds like your players are going the extra mile with this - keep encouraging them!
Yeah, this has been the most vibrant campaign I've ever taken part in! Although I'm not the GM, I'm the Kineticist. I should've noted the GM's willingness and ability to encourage and contribute to these sorts of shenanigans, too!
As a GM: Our group is much more focused on the covert operations of running a rebellion, prefering stealth and sabotage over parading in the streets.
My bard's been busy trying to get busy. We just kinda started, but at the protest he was mostly looking around for "hotties" and then quickly picked up "Tengu" once he found the sisters they managed to recruit. Our Sorcerer has been the one who's been acting more outspoken "Down with Thrune!" They both took Perform (dance) as their "profession." (I told my players everyone got an extra skill point to put into a craft/profession/perform as their "job" before they began the rebellion.)
Still early in the campaign, and I imagine my bard might get more active in time.