[Twilight Time] On Being a Bard, Part 2 of 2

[Heather Grove]

March 3, 2003 - On Being a Bard, Part 2 of 2
Volume 4, Issue 3

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Good morning!

This time we bring you part 2 of that excerpt from "Promised Sands." 
Next issue we have a bunch of reader comments on prophecies (we also 
have a related article on the web site this week; check the links 
after the article), and after that--well, after that we have a 
surprise. :) I'll tell you more in the next issue!

Have a great day,
Heather



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CHAPTER X: On Being A Bard --Part 2

[This is an excerpt from the soon to be released game, "Promised 
Sands".  This section is written by Butch Miller.  For more 
information, please visit us online at: http://www.bbrack.com/ and be 
sure to ask your local retailer about "Promised Sands"--the release 
date is May 2003.]


"Travelling as a Bard I have learned much from people I have 
encountered. In return, I have given them a gift of story and hope. 
There is nothing greater in all the worlds."-Culrain, Traveling Historian

Non-Player Characters and Contacts

Another method of injecting personality and flavor into the world is 
through the Non Player Characters, or NPCs, that the characters 
encounter. Each one should be as unique as you can manage. You can use 
stereotypes and commonalities to bring them alive to the players, but 
be sure to give each one a uniqueness.

You can pick up ideas on how to portray your NPCs nearly anywhere and 
everywhere you go. Simply watch the people around you and make note of 
how they act, their behavior, their way of speaking, mannerisms and 
even nervous tics. Adding even a single element that's different from 
the way that you--the person they know--acts or talks is enough to 
convey to them that they are not dealing with the Bard when you are 
talking or acting or snorting or chuckling or whatever in that 
particular way.

As you develop people for them to talk to, it is wise to jot down the 
information you think of to animate their personality in a notebook. 
It's possible that the players will seek this character out again. If 
the character is strong, it may become as familiar to the players as 
their own characters. In some cases, a player character death can also 
result in you turning over the play of an NPC to that player so they 
can continue to enjoy the world without having to take the time to 
draw up a whole new character.

When it comes to the contacts of the characters, you really need to 
keep track of their interaction. If a player is frivolous or nasty to 
his contacts, then the contacts should begin to react to them 
negatively. Being someone's acquaintance and friend is not easy to 
maintain. There is a certain amount of social interaction that needs 
to occur to keep up friendships and associations. Keep this in mind as 
you play their contacts.

It is also fun to encourage your players to draw up a character that 
represents their contacts. Not only does this flesh out the contact in 
much greater detail, but it can be provided to someone to play in a 
pinch or after a character death.

The bottom line when portraying a person in the world you are creating 
around your players is to make it each one unique in some way. Every 
uniqueness will bring alive the character you are portraying and aid 
in the suspension of disbelief. It all goes into the flavor the world 
that you are giving to your players. Present them the world like a 
delicious stew that makes them want to come back for another bowl.


Playing NPCs

It can be a delicate balancing act between focus and memorability, but 
it's the role of the Bard to achieve it.

You have many tools at your disposal to accomplish this task. The most 
obvious means to counter boredom and make the sessions fun is for you 
to really play up your part while performing as an NPC. Variations in 
tone of voice, body language (a surprisingly overlooked aspect of 
running a roleplaying game) and in the 'personality' of NPC's, always 
helps.

Voice and body language are the most immediate and visceral tools the 
Bard has to transport the players from sitting around the kitchen 
table and into the souqs and deserts of T'nah. Accents and vocal 
mannerisms are easy to learn and invent, and due care should be given 
to keeping NPC's consistent with themselves. You ought not to have a 
character speak with a roughly American accent one session and a 
roughly Australian the next. If you opt to signify game race with a 
given real-life accent, this should be maintained with complete 
consistency. Stutters; gutteral, nasal, or chirpy vocal timbres; 
simulating the character to be hard of hearing or forgetful; all of 
these are simple ways of making a character more individualized and 
realistic.

Body language can be subtle or overt. Talking with your hands is fine 
and normal. Hands which shout instead of speak is less common; picture 
an almost uncontrollable flailing of the arms and fingers whilst 
speaking. Mute hands are also rare; the picture of the extreme 
introvert, hands firmly at the side, little or no motion of the head, 
perhaps with eyes or face downcast. One would expect such a person to 
speak quietly and be very shy, a poor source of information.

Surprises don't hurt characterization, though; the extrovert with 
shouting hands may have nothing to say while using many words to say 
it, and the introvert with mute hands could be an exceptionally 
devoted rebel, providing the characters with huge amounts of insight 
into the workings of various organizations. Keep the players on their 
toes, and even though you should give hints in body language, make 
sure you don't give it all away, either.

But even if these extremes aren't used, be sure to use your body 
language to convey the NPC as well as words. Interested listeners lean 
into the speaker, or subconsciously open themselves by keeping their 
arms free or putting an arm or leg closer. Disinterested listeners or 
speakers look about and keep a distinct 'bubble' around themselves by 
holding their arms folded. Sometimes subtle clues in body language can 
even counteract the words the NPC is saying, leaving the players 
wondering if perhaps there isn't more to the exchange than was said.

Caution should be used, of course, but the Bard can easily change the 
mood of the game when appropriate by props and unexpected actions. 
When playing a rowdy bar scene, for example, set some bottles on the 
table, dim the lights, turn some music up a little so you need to 
speak more loudly than normal. Roleplay a raucous drinker; slap the 
table, knock an empty bottle over, laugh far too loudly, be too 
touchy, too moody, or too standoffish. Or when the characters are 
brought before rulers, an important figure may demand obeisance with 
heads bowed and the avoidance of eye contact; impose upon the players 
that they may not look up while the leader is speaking. If they do 
actually look at you when you speak, role-play as if they broke the 
rules and the leader becomes offended. (Or secretly 
pleased--regardless, some result should occur.) Take these examples 
and run with them.

Cliches can kill interest in a campaign as surely as they can kill 
interest in a book or movie. Even when people willingly suspend their 
disbelief, they have their limits--while we can accept the basic 
premise of a fantastic setting without batting an eye, a cartoonish or 
cardboard cut-out style character in that setting sets our radars 
beeping. It's poor craftsmanship and poor storytelling, and it says to 
those witnessing that the creator didn't bother to invest any time in 
the character being portrayed. Even if it's just on a subconscious 
level, we begin to lose faith in such a construct, and that begins to 
gnaw at our interest.

For example, all barkeeps shouldn't be chubby, surly people with 
clubs. Perhaps the players would be surprised to find that the 
innkeeper of one of the largest such establishments in Sephas is of 
the introverted, mute hands types, and he is rarely heard without 
repeating himself; when things get broken in his establishment, he 
sighs and sends a boy to fetch a replacement, rather than leaping 
defensively into the fray.

Use old archetypes and cliches for NPC's, but never rely on them; this 
makes the Bard, and the campaign, too predictable, and thus easily 
subject to boredom. Sentient beings have histories and lives; they 
suffer from insanity, disease, grief, lust, greed, envy, hatred, love, 
addiction; they may be rational or irrational at times, as their mood 
fits, and they are not any more or less consistent than the players 
and Bard are. What does it matter that you made the person up? It's 
still a person. Use all of these things and more to add depth to the 
NPCs your characters interact with, and the world of T'nah will be a 
richer place in your game.


World Conventions

There are a few specifics about life in T'nah that you should keep in 
mind while playing and, for the Bard, preparing for play.

Inns--These are rare. They are few and far-between in every part of 
T'nah; unlike other fantasy role-playing games, it is not a given that 
at the end of a day's travel the party can find a roadside inn. They 
will not. Rooms for rent, boarding houses, inns; these things 
often--not always, but often--exist within city limits, or near enough 
to a city that the benefits of the location extend to encompass the 
establishment. They are almost nonexistent elsewhere, and should one 
be encountered, there is almost certainly a story to be told regarding 
how it came to be there.

Souqs--Souqs are common where people have gathered to survive. They 
are usually chaotic masses of T'nahran life. There is no 'set list' of 
equipment, goods, or wares to be found from place to place. Certainly 
some things are much more likely to be available; most souqs have 
vendors dealing in weaponry and survival gear, and any food and water 
available in the area will be for sale, though the quality and expense 
can be ridiculously varied from place to place. However, as Bard, you 
should be clear that the players should never expect to find any given 
thing at a souq, and even if an item is in stock one time, it may not 
be there the next. The climate of the souq draws literally all sorts 
of people, from the dregs of society to the greatest of leaders 
(albeit this often by proxy).

Extreme Conditions-Everywhere, at all times, the environment, the 
climate, the ecosystem of T'nah is hostile to life. The cold of the 
Glacial Wastes is deeper and more deadly than the cold of our own 
Arctic Circle. The heat of the desert is greater and drier than that 
of the deserts we know. The Winds of Thulh are more powerful than any 
hurricane we know of in our world. The fados of the desert-even small 
ones--are more destructive than our tornadoes. Survival gear, and a 
constant mind for checking that gear and thinking of the weather, is 
not optional. Bards need not be afraid of relentlessly imposing these 
conditions; to truly capture T'nah, you must ruthlessly impose these 
conditions. The climate kills more often and more quickly than the 
deadliest warriors of the world, and this should be made clear 
immediately and often.

Modern Concepts-Most modern concepts are irrelevant in T'nah. The 
concepts of freedom and personal rights are entirely different, at the 
same time much greater and far more limited. Hygiene is viewed quite 
differently, food and water preparation are secondary to obtaining 
them in the first place, and legalities often either totally dominate 
a place or have no meaning whatsoever. Most T'nahrans are not 
well-read, and even were there something for them to read, most are 
illiterate; consider for a moment how differently your own thought 
processes may be were you unable to read, never having learned the 
things you have from books and letters. Now consider a world full of 
this, where any sort of scholarly learning is not only unavailable to 
you directly, but is also unavailable indirectly. Players should be 
prepared to think in as different of a manner as they are able; Bards 
must attempt to place their perspective in this different place. 
Motivations are different as a result of the lack of modern thought, 
and even attempting to think in this manner while preparing adventures 
will greatly enhance the Bard's ability to generate stories with depth 
and the ring of veracity.



What's Your Opinion?:

Comments on this issue's topic? Suggestions? Tips? Special topic 
requests? Drop me a line at (heather at burningvoid.com). If I pass any 
of your suggestions on (either through the newsletter or the RPG 
resources page), I'll attribute them to you. Be sure to tell me if you 
don't want me to use your name and/or comments!

The next issue is coming in just a few weeks--late March.

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SITE UPDATE:

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http://www.burningvoid.com/users/heather/roleplaying/Essays/prophecyconf.html
Prophecy Confusions--Ever thought that confusing, ambiguous prophecies 
seemed a little arbitrary and senseless? Here's our guide to making 
them ambiguous and weird for a *reason.*

http://www.burningvoid.com/users/heather/writing/ms/essay/style5.html
It's part 5 of the style guide: plagiarism!


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