Fractayle: The Collision of Worlds

Bardic

What is "Bardic"?

Traditionally the responsibility of guiding a gaming group through a fantasy world rests on one players shoulders--be title a Dungeon Master, Storyteller, or whatever.  This asymmetry of work and commitment is both a burden and an unnecessary archaic mechanism for illustrating an imaginative landscape, set of beings, and its tale, as this person would spend hours/days/months before a gaming session preparing.

In today's busy world few people have the time for such asymmetrical gaming, thus--in the name of Dynamic Gaming--Fractayle has developed the Bardic mechanism.

What is "Bardic"?

Simply, Bardic is a attribute that each character has which decides which player will tell a portion of the tale.  This allows for a sharing of the responsibility of telling the tale, allows each player to participate in building the world, adds an element of spontaneity, and teaches each player the enjoyable art of telling tales.

As an added benefit to using the bardic mechanism is that there is next to no "homework" for roleplaying Fractayle: The Collision of Worlds: all you need is a group of friends and your imaginations.  No need for someone to sit up all night preparing a game that might not be played...you just make the game up as you go along.

The Mechanics of Bardic

Using Bardic

When creating a character the bardic attribute is allocated points just like any other attribute.  At the start of each new scene--having a similar meaning to the scene from a movie where the whole tale is like the whole movie--each player rolls a dice and adds their character's bardic to the number rolled.  The only player excluded from this role is the player who ended the scene that has just past as the Bard.  This allows for constant rotation of the bard and prevents any single player with a character that has unnaturally high bardic from dominating the tale with his imagination.

The highest score becomes the current Bard and begins telling the tale from where the old Bard left off.

During any scene in which the current Bard tells a part of the tale in a way which any other player or any group of players disagree with they may challenge the just vocalized segment of the tale by rolling a dice and adding his or their bardic against the current bard's roll plus his--and any backing him--bardic.

Do note that bardic rolls can be combined to challenge or defend the tale.  This means that most tales that most players enjoy will be told...or else they would simply combine their rolls and move the tale into territory that they wanted.

If the current Bard is successfully beaten with the roll then what was just supposed to happen in the tale does not happen and the challenging player becomes the new Bard.  If the challenging players loose, then the tale proceeds as if nothing happens.

An alternative is that a single decision by the present Bard can be challenged in the way described above.  If the challenge is successful then the Bard must change the part of the tale just told into something completely different.  Else it continues as first described by the Bard.  The critical difference with this challenge is that the challenging player does not become the new Bard.  This type of challenge might be used when the current Bard is telling a good tale and, although a decision wishes to be challenged, the player(s) are happy to let the overall scene be told by the challenged Bard.

If this simple, but very important, mechanic sounds confusing then refer to the examples for play for some illustration of the process.

Telling the Tale: Beginning a Scene

See "Predesigned Beginnings" for optional pre-made game beginning scenes

Each scene has simple process that the Bard follows and adds detail and direction to.  In so doing the Bard helps to create a cohesive tale that flows from the previous scenes and into the future scenes while adding color and feeling.

Although not necessary for experienced role-players, the current Bard is advised to follow a general outline for each scene that covers all basic and important aspects of a scene and a tale.  Simply follow the numbers:

1. Transition: If this was not explained at the end of the previous scene, then explain how the previous scene leads into the current one.  If it was explained in the previous scene then perhaps add some color or detail to it.

2. Choose the Scene:  There are different types of scenes that exist to achieve different events within the tale.  Choose one of the following scenes--should be a logical reason why it is this type of scene too--and tell the players what type and why:

   1.  Social Scene: Characters talking to non-player characters will take place here as the story progresses through interaction of a non-violent type takes place here (e.g. a bar, market place, temple, or political forum).

   2. Risky Landscape: This is a scene in which danger is present...but not necessarily active.  This scene could become a Social Scene or a Battlefield, depending on what happens during it.  (E.g. out in the wilderness, exploring a dungeon, stalking a hacker, or walking in the street at night.)

   3. Battlefield:  This scene is where combat is happening or is about to happen and the characters are involved (e.g. amidst a war, an ambush, being raided by Lunar Government police).

3. Describe the Setting:  Verbally describe the scene including the following details and recommended to be in this order:

   1. What do the characters see? (vision)

      1. Placement of all significant items/objects/beings in relation to each other

      2. What does the floor, sky/ceiling, and/or walls looks like?

      3. Add some motion to the static picture

   2. What can the characters hear and smell?

   3. Is there anything that might give rise to taste and touch sensory description?

   4. Add some emotion/humour: eerie feelings, rising hair on the back of the neck, distant humming that just cannot be heard

4. Describe the Beings:  If this scene has beings in it other than the characters that the players are control (and presumably know what they look like) then describe them here:

   1. What do they look like?  What are they carrying?  Dressed in? (visual)

   2. How do they sound?  Do they smell unique?  How do they speak? (loud, soft, with a lisp or an accent)

   3. Any strange habits?  E.g. nervous twitch, compulsive smoking, blank look (could be blind?)

   4. Where are the other non-player characters?

   5. Add motion and/or action to the characters.

5. Add Action:  This is where the scene that has been set in the previous steps is given life and begins to involve players and their characters.

   1. Describe what the actions are of the non-player characters

   2. Give the players each a turn to react

   3. Then resolve actions in order of a random roll or physical or mental check

6. Flow with the tale:  ...and from here the scene should grow organically due to the "what happens next" factor.

Note that if at any stage a player/s disagrees with the tale being told by the current Bard then he/them may contest it with a bardic roll.  See below.

Telling the Tale: Ending a Scene

There are two general ways that a scene will end: naturally or forced.

A natural ending is fairly obvious when it occurs--especially in a "Battlefield" scene--as the driver of the scene is resolved.  E.g. the enemy is defeated, the deal is struck, the characters traverse the mountain ravine successfully and evade the guards.  At this junction the Bard can do one of two things: he can ask the players what their next action is (which the next Bard will use to set the next scene up) or he simply end the scene and leave all the decisions up the next Bard.

A forced ending is when the current Bard creates a "paragraph" in the Tayle that forces the scene to change.  E.g. the enemy stops fighting and leaps through a window to escape, the deal falls through, as the police suddenly appear with a raid.

Whichever ending the Bard decides to use to close a scene he should state that the scene is about to end before closing it.  After closing it he should also ask all players what intentions they have for the next scene (in this way giving continuity to the Tayle and providing options to the next Bard for his upcoming scene) and then perform a summary of the past scene that leads into the ending of the scene.

The Bard's Character

As the player that is the bard is telling the tale he has a certain amount of power and responsibility that is hopefully kept in check by the fact that players can combine bardic rolls against him if he pushes the tale too far out of line.

The problem is that there is a conflict of interest in that the bard's character is within a form of reality that the bard is creating within the tale, thus the character might get special treatment.

Hopefully this is not so--which would be in the case of a mature and experienced gamer--but, human nature being human nature it is recommended that a group chooses one of three things to do with the current bard's character:

• The bard can nominate another player to take control of the character in the best interests of the group.  This could also be abused by the newly controlling player, but as the bard can choose the person to control his character this hopefully offsets this risk.

• The entire group--including or excluding the Bard--can control the character through common decisions

• Or the Bard can be left in control of the character, but the character cannot make any "vital" decisions or actions.  If they make a decision that the group doesn't like then opposing bardic rolls can be made to see if the decision is successful.

A Final Word on Bardic

Bardic is a truly unique mechanism that forms the core of the Dynamic Gaming environment of Fractayle: The Collision of Worlds.  It has many wondrous advantages, but its biggest disadvantage is how it can be abused by selfish players out to "win" a game that can only be "won" by everyone, else it is "lost".

Indulge your fantasies and travel the road of your group's collective imagination, but do so with an open, tolerant, and mature mind.