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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Loonook" data-source="post: 3999637" data-attributes="member: 1861">Good Gaming: Let’s Get Down to Business Part 2 Why Bards Don’t Suck, the Importance of Being An Earnest Mage Slayer, and QuestionsNow, welcome back.  It’s been almost a week (if not a week) and we’re just starting to get into the good stuff… but as I said before, sometimes paychecks and other obligations will make these articles appear in a hodgepodge sort of way.  The opening salvo being fired, we’re going to explore some of the issues inherent in the departments of verisimilitude, building better defense, and similar modes.  I’m going to also state something which may shock (and awe) some of my audience:  I have a bit of a problem with 4e and the new path that the game we know and love has taken.  I can understand the reasoning behind the current MMORPG model of gaming; heck, the ideas are somewhat solid, and we some of the possibilities are amazing.  However, I feel that the current system shock we’re all dealing with is coming from a good standpoint; the knife work that is being performed on settings.  Spellplagues, elemental chaos, and new forms of the demonic and angelic formats are neither necessary or warranted.  If anything, the creation of a new aesthetic in D&D is destroying an established mythology.  You see, we work in a very interesting milieu as gamers, DMs, and (for those few who are lucky enough to be involved) game designers.  We are building stories, creating narrative, and producing a product unique to our chosen hobby/business.  There’s not going to be a lot of people who get to recreate the divine institutions of our world.  In our own ways, DMs and designers serve as small Homers, Miltons, and Dantes, populating our worlds with a unique, kitschy, serious, funny, or dramatic sense of place and self through institutionalized mythos.  When the entirety of that mythos, and the structures inherent therein, are decimated . . . it becomes a problem.  The Greeks could bring their mythology to Persia, and the Europeans spread Christianity to the far reaches of the world . . . but the metaphysical frameworks of societies were only shifted.  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_hunting_grounds" target="_blank">The Happy Hunting Grounds</a> could coexist with the Christian Heavens, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehenna" target="_blank">Gehenna</a> could exist in the same area as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jahannam" target="_blank">Jahannam</a>.  But again, we didn’t have to worry about running into <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaqqum" target="_blank">the Fruit of Zaqqum</a> near the River <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx" target="_blank">Styx</a> . Of course, this is not why we are here, and I digressed egregiously… I apologize.  We’re here to discuss the wonders of magic, the world, and its practice.  And my first point of order is to show that a common misconception for what it is: Bards Do Not Suck.  Moreso, it is our image of the Bard, a Barry Manilow-cum-Merlin that needs to change.  It is sad that the bard gets thrown around so boldly; it is even sadder that we don’t see the value of the Bard as something beyond mere troubadour.  I propose to you, Gentle Reader, that the Bard should not be considered necessarily a singer of repute, but rather a well-educated gentleman or noble class in a mid to high magic setting.  Now, I know, some of you have probably just closed this document . . . but hear me out.  One of the problems behind the bard is our own linguistic shortcoming; we see Bardic Music, countersong, etc. and believe it must always be so.  However, some of the best bards I have seen mentioned and played were not singers, but orators.  Oratory is a great skill, to be sure.  Though it is hard to find a song which would inspire me to greatness, I can think of a dozen speeches which have brought on strong emotions, fascinated me, and inspired me to strive for excellence.  One of the best (and most well-known examples) lies below. . . .We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;For he today that sheds his blood with meShall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,This day shall gentle his condition:And gentlemen in England now abedShall think themselves accursed they were not here,And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaksThat fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. (Henry the V, IV, iii)The St. Crispin’s Day Speech is probably the best rallying cry in the English language.  Similar speeches (MLK’s ‘I Have A Dream’) have driven men and women across time and space to feel and fight for a cause.  Though I myself have a problem imagining a strongly-worded serenade inspiring me to heights of combat prowess, I can assuredly find myself readied and pumped if I was knee-deep in mud and vile to hear the speech quoted above.  So, we have bards who have the gift of gab.  Bards also have a large knowledge of diverse topics, a smattering of magic, some martial training, and skills which lend themselves well to statecraft and getting oneself out of sticky situations.  This diverse repertoire, in many settings taught at a bardic college, harkens to the idea of the liberal arts or classical education as found in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_university" target="_blank">Medieval University</a>.  The image of the bard as a fop, a man of wisdom, stage and statecraft, a jack of all trades . . . I feel that this is the bard in a nutshell.  Indeed, with a couple of adjustments based on later discussions, the bard could rival many in the pursuit of a nobleman/courtier class.  Though some nobles chose a more martial path, and others went into the priesthood, the standard wise and learned ‘Renaissance Man’ is pretty well encapsulated by the Bard.  With some adjustments, similar classes (those which have a touch of magic alongside their martial prowess) can fit the role, but the Bard is probably the best to represent a medieval-to-mid-Renaissance nobleman of culture and standing.  It is for this reason that I renamed the Bard the Courtier class in one of my games (which focused on courtly intrigue) and gave them diverse ways to enter into some mystical traditions which would otherwise be off limits to a Bard in good standing.  Education, in any society which has the means to support it, becomes a division of class, race, status, religion . . . and numerous other possibilities.  However, it is through this same education (and the development of learned men) that many of our own society’s advancements come.  If you have ever had the chance to read texts on medieval education . . . you would see why these ideas go doubly so for worlds in which magic exists.  A resource like magic, left untapped by a kingdom, will cause its overthrow.  The control of the means of production of mages, clerics, and similar individuals is a necessity of rulers and others, and keeping them happy would also be important.  However, the control of that means of production would require a stiff punishment of those who stepped ‘out of line’.  With a group of nobles who have dabbled in magic, take interest in the subject, and find themselves delighted by its prospects, it would be no wonder that certain forces would desire ways to quell magic rebellion.  Even in a world where magic doesn’t work, we have dozens of examples of manuals on the tracking, hunting, and elimination of practitioners of the Art.  The best known example (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_maleficarum" target="_blank">Malleus Maleficarum</a>) was preceded by plenty of similar tracts which discussed the issue.  Yet, in many settings, there are no witch hunters, and those who do hunt the rogue spellcaster have very few tools to do so.  The science and philosophy behind magic is explored, its functions labeled, and countering actions are determined.  Though we have no idea whether these actions would ‘work’, we should have a good idea of what a D&D setting’s treatise would look like.  However, the specialized field of hunting down magic users is relegated to a handful of feats, less than half a dozen prestige classes, a few useful class abilities, and the occasional bone throw.  No wonder we have mages running amok… only mages can challenge mages on a battlefield!  This is idiocy.  Western society created a way to fight witches and warlocks without an actual threat . . . the least we can do as DMs is give a bit of a hand to the forgotten ones who should have been trained how to handle these issues in the first place.  A lot of the problem is we ourselves have no idea why we do what we do in our games.  There’s not a solid grasp of magic in general; we just sort of let it hover in the ether until some ruling comes down, or we make a house ruling, and then it fades into wherever it goes.  We. Can. Do. Better.Ask yourself the following questions.  If you want, send me your responses (as always, I’m my SN at yahoo) and I’ll post any which are really intriguing or especially elucidating:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What is the main ‘force’ behind magic?  How does this differ for different arcane spellcasters? Divine Spellcasters? ‘Raw Force’ Casters (Warlocks, etc.?)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If you have Psi, how does this differ from ‘normal’ magic?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> How does a wound heal when Cure Light Wounds is cast?  Do different religions/clergy change this result?  How about Druids? Bards?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Does magic follow the rules of thermodynamics (as you understand them)? Conservation of Energy? </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Where exactly do Summon Monster targets go to?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> How exactly does one Teleport in your game?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Do spells of the Polymorph subschool alter the genetics of a target?  Does this change based on the level of the spell or caster?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> What spells are globally known? What spells are specific to region (if any)?   </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> How do Caster NPC classes fit into the social dynamic of the setting? Are they necessary in your setting? Are they the ONLY casters?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> How does disease/blindness/deafness affect the population?  How common are healing spells?  Raise Dead and similar?</li> </ul>Those should keep you going for a bit.  I hope I get at least a couple responses… these articles are just as much for you as they are for my own expansion of play knowledge.Anyways, next article I hope to explore the possibilities of other classes ‘getting theirs’ when it comes to fighting arcane and divine casters, along with exploring how to handle magic research alongside technological developments.  Until then…Good Gaming,Slainte,-Loonook.</blockquote>

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