Bard Toys

[Mr_Rieper]

Just throwing out a few random ideas that might benefit bard RP greatly, if they can be implemented. This is mainly just a thread to tickle Artos or Mithreas and possibly inspire them, so here it goes.

How about:

An item or -command that creates the musical notes effect above a character's head without giving mechanical benefits or expending a bard song charge? It could take the form of an equippable instrument, if such things exist out of CEP. The idea behind this is that players can use it to signify their character is singing or performing and can keep doing so until the performance is finished. It does not do anything but provide a visual effect and cannot be abused for combat purposes.

*EDIT* A *sings* emote that creates the musical notes effect would be ideal, in a similar vein to the *casts* or *conjures* emotes that are used in RP.

Songnotes and Songbooks - These would be like regular notes but modified so they can be read in the middle of a battle. Regular notes are fine for this but the formatting can be unsuitable for song verses and it also shows the timestamp + signature when read. Songnotes would not have this timestamp and would be still be noticeable not not obnoxiously so.

The basic idea behind this is that it's a pain in the Snuggybear to type out song lines when you're trying to fight and do a million things at once. You can make macros, yes. But who wants to have the vast majority of their ability bar taken up by text macros? It'd be much simpler if bards could draft songs BEFORE they go into fights and then "read" the Songnote before using their bard song ability. I wouldn't mind sacrificing inventory space to share my vast collection of ballads with people, especially during actual encounters.

And finally, songbooks. These are like notebooks except the entries can be read out aloud. Immensely useful to make and store songnotes inside these, possibly even store them in libraries.

Of course, modify these ideas as you wish. It's just a rough idea.

[The Rambling Midget]

The basic idea behind this is that it's a pain in the Snuggybear to type out song lines when you're trying to fight and do a million things at once. You can make macros, yes. But who wants to have the vast majority of their ability bar taken up by text macros? It'd be much simpler if bards could draft songs BEFORE they go into fights and then "read" the Songnote before using their bard song ability. I wouldn't mind sacrificing inventory space to share my vast collection of ballads with people, especially during actual encounters.

And finally, songbooks. These are like notebooks except the entries can be read out aloud. Immensely useful to make and store songnotes inside these, possibly even store them in libraries.

This, I like. Perfect for Warchanters.

I'd also love to see songbooks which can be carried in inventory to alter the benefits of Bard Song toward specific purposes. Attack, Defense, Skills, and whatever.

[Cuchilla]

Songnotes and Songbooks - These would be like regular notes but modified so they can be read in the middle of a battle. Regular notes are fine for this but the formatting can be unsuitable for song verses and it also shows the timestamp + signature when read. Songnotes would not have this timestamp and would be still be noticeable not not obnoxiously so.

The basic idea behind this is that it's a pain in the Snuggybear to type out song lines when you're trying to fight and do a million things at once. You can make macros, yes. But who wants to have the vast majority of their ability bar taken up by text macros? It'd be much simpler if bards could draft songs BEFORE they go into fights and then "read" the Songnote before using their bard song ability. I wouldn't mind sacrificing inventory space to share my vast collection of ballads with people, especially during actual encounters.

You can keep your songs in a text document, notepad, notebook on your computer and copy/paste from it. It doesn't take long to switch from the game to the document and copy/paste. But I admit, in the middle of a fight, you need to be quick.

[Mr_Rieper]

You can keep your songs in a text document, notepad, notebook on your computer and copy/paste from it. It doesn't take long to switch from the game to the document and copy/paste. But I admit, in the middle of a fight, you need to be quick.

Sadly, you gotta be very quick. I've already transcribed one song to 3 separate normal notes, a note for each verse and titled each note as "sings:"(This does make it confusing though, thankfully they don't all combine into one stack so I can order them properly). It'd be pretty damn great if it didn't have this fat timestamp on it, though I suppose it's not the note's intended purpose. The gold text is really great though, very noticeable and epic.

I'll be reading a verse out each time I use bard song and OOCly ask people how it affected their immersion. I'm worried some people might find it obnoxious though. Still, it's a hell of a lot faster to just click on a note, then on your character, use bard song and fight than it is to minimise and copy paste while awkwardly clicking on monsters then back onto the chat box. And god forbid the line doesn't copy properly, then it takes even longer.

[Seven Sons of Sin]

Don't you macro your emotes and one-liners? That's what I did on Nelehein sometimes.

[Preacher]

I vaguely recall if you do *sings* it does musical notes above your head doesn't it?

[Cuchilla]

Maybe a "combination" of the 3 features -disguise, sings and the concept of different spellbooks. Lemme explain:

Bards would be able to prepare a few verses, lets call them "sings1", "sings2", "sings3" ... etc. So when you type -sings3, it would 1) make the bard sing, and 2) bring the text of "sings3".

Not sure if this would be possible, but it would make it possible for the bard to prepare some verses, and easily perform them. Instead, like now, of switching from the game to your notebook, copy a verse, switch back to the game, paste the text into the dialogbox and at the same time press sings.

That would be nifty, but if it's possible to do, I have no idea ...

[Mr_Rieper]

I vaguely recall if you do *sings* it does musical notes above your head doesn't it?

Just tested it, unfortunately it doesn't. Though, it'd be totally awesome if it did. This would definitely work in place of my first suggestion, crossing my fingers for this.

Don't you macro your emotes and one-liners? That's what I did on Nelehein sometimes.

I do, but I don't like to use them too often and I'm working on building a huge collection of different song verses, stories, emotes and one liners as I RP my character. It's a temporary fix to what might be a big problem. Also, I'm not sure how many ability slots I'll need now that I've changed from being a caster, but if I were still a caster, I would definitely not have any slots to spare.

How about a version of the "written letter" item that has no signature, no timestamp and cannot be placed on boards or into books? It's sole purpose is to be read aloud and when a person does so, only the text is displayed in a different color. It can be called a memo instead of a letter, or something.