One of my players asked this at the weekend, and I got thinking about the songs, legends and folktales that get passed thru a culture and beyond. Maybe I need a way to gauge if the villager has heard the bawdy ballad that a bard wrote sometime else on his travels - maybe a roll followed by another on the Reaction table to see what he thinks of it's creator ?
- or is crafting that popular tune or tale like crafting a masterpiece that the Bard gets a bonus from whenever he uses it - almost like a magic item ?
- and is there a chance it's 'the wrong place, wrong time' and the song/tale gets a penalty - almost like a cursed item ?
...and also, spreading insurrection by songs and satires - the spread of counter-cultural ideas is almost like Trade - except it depends on a Domain's Morale in place of demand ?
- and this may have an effect on the Morale, and may also make it's originator a marked man if his identity becomes known.
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This book is a great addition to the ACKS system, as well as any OSR game, for much of the material in here could be easily ported to another game of choice. If you are running ACKS, this book will help tailor make the system to your world. If you are on the fence about ACKS, check this book out. Its flexibility and substance just might make you a convert.
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We had a great discussion about bard hijinks at Gen Con that sounds like it's right along the lines of what you are talking about here - nice to see that parallel development is pointing to the same conclusion!
I think these are fantastic ideas. I particularly like the idea that NPCs could be familiar with songs the bard wrote in the past.
Perhaps once per level a bard is capable of creating a masterpeice. Some sort of throw could be used to determine whether the song/performance goes on to critical acclaim or if the bard hurries out of town with a red backside of tomato juice! Who knows, the future bard might walk into a town and other bards are singing HIS masterpiece!