I was 38 years old when I realised I was a bard.
But the realisation vexed me, because until that point I’d never had much time for bards.
How could I ever have been so empty?
Yet, perhaps the fault was not entirely my own.
They were there only to serve others.
They could do a few other things but none as well as the other classes could.
Look across RPGs and it’s a similar story.
And it leaves you wondering why.
They did have bards.
But how many of you played as one?
Honestly, I didn’t even notice them - perhaps I had been conditioned not to by then.
That’s not to say there haven’t been some good bards in computer games.
But why you’d choose to play support in a single-player hero fantasy is beyond me.
You want the glory, right?
The computer can support you.
Quite a turnaround, isn’t it?
Bards are more than their toolbox of abilities and parts.
Fundamentally, bards are entertainers; they’re talkers, negotiators, intermediaries.
Bards are the charismatic heart of a party.
That’s what I’m there for.
What would the Oxventure group be without Dob, played by the lovely Luke Westaway?
But widen that thought even more and you begin to see the importance of bards in fantasy more clearly.
The two together are comedy gold.
Everywhere you look in fantasy, you’re free to feel the presence of bards.
In Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles, the main character is effectively a bard.
And oh my gosh will they not stop singing in The Lord of the Rings.
What would fantasy be like without bards?
It is born in the exaggerated retelling of stories, built upon it.
What good is an adventure if it’s not chronicled and told?
Thisis what’s hard to pin down about bards: it’s the social value in what they do.
But how do you program that into a game?
It’s not really a numbers thing.
Whether anyone can manage, I don’t know, though I’m encouraged when people try.
I am looking forward to Baldur’s Gate 3 particularly - yes I saw the recent addition of bards.
And if anyone is going to ‘get’ what they do, I think it’s Larian.
But perhaps there will always be an elusive side to bards that simply won’t translate.
Perhaps so that really find them, you will need to go tabletop.
