Breaking the Fourth Wall: Narrative Imperative

[OhGodtheRats]

So a MetaBard is like Deadpool, but referencing RPG tropes instead of comic book tropes?

Or is it roleplaying an insane bard who believes that he's the protagonist of his own tale and that he's simultaneously narrating and reliving his story. He doesn't make references to hit points, xp, etc. because he's not a true Metabard, but any narrative imperatives are totally in character.

I bet such a character believes he can't die because he was still alive to tell the tale before retroactively reliving the experience -- thus death would come as a bit of a shock. What would the ghost of a pseudoMetaBard be like?

I said it in the article but I think #2 there is most apt. Knowing you're the hero of a story lets you get away with murder. Literally in some taverns. So yeah, if you're going to be a responsible (and not game wrecking) metabard, the key is focusing on narrative imperative, rising action, temporary binding and all that other stuff you learned about story structure in AP English.
Hit Points are a surreal thing to talk about in character. Some things, such as suddenly "knowing" when a creature is at 50% health, are kind of hard to explain at the table. I've seen one artificer in the RPGA use the Body Mass Index to give it a shot...it's particularly hilarious to see him rage against undead creatures because "as per my chart" they shouldn't be walking around. The fact that Bloodied is often best described as "The Boss starts to flash red & moves a double speed" reinforces the core notion though.

As for dead Bards.....my home game does some weird things, one of which is that Bardic Knowledge is less "you're good at skills" and more the collected death song of every Bard. Heroes of the Feywild has some story flourishes that touch upon what I do with them, but in my game? Bards go into dangerous places because if the story is grand enough for them to lose their life, the story will go on.
In context: So many Bards have died in the Tomb of Horrors that, while there's still a great story to be told, they only know horrible, horrible tales that few want to relive themselves.