How do you roleplay the Bard’s “Arcane Art” move?
I’m finding it strange and amusing, to have Cassandra the Bard whip out her father’s mandolin (repaired) and have a quick jam session before the Zombies close upon her and her party.
It’s amusing, yes, but I don’t know for how long it will remain interesting. Coming up with song titles on the fly is not easy! Hrm, that gives me an idea……
I’m also wondering how often this should be done? For now, we’ve gone with “once per scene”, so Cassandra doesn’t become just a (heal/buff)bot you turn to before and after every combat.
Advice welcome!
She can do it as often as the fiction will support. In other words, as long as it’s funny and she can keep coming up with good lines. She’ll need a new shtick eventually.
I played a bard in a planarch codex game that was a noise/musique concrete musician so basically anything they did could be turned into a performance if I telegraph that intention. Most of my song titles were jokes at the expense of the party paladin and most of the songs were sequences of rhythms and abstracty patterns instead of the traditional idea of a bardic ballad.
I’m playing a bard/wizard in a game right now that chants ‘spells’
We talk about that in detail here:
BardWeek – Kickoff Hangout
Also here:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/106208215013894151619/posts/hTtxJfqiH5T
And here:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/110330901807759406775/posts/1eAd4RSKcmn
My bard has stolen a magic horn, Jörmungandr, the horn that will signal the end of the world.
When he blows in the horn, along with the sound, illusionary figures come out rushing to the aid of the target.
Your bard needs to step up their game regarding what those imaginary figures can do for staging and presentation.