Bard

Bard
Faction	Horde
Guild Type	Roleplaying
RP Level	Heavy
Size	Small
Guild Master	Song Priestess Zeluna
Contacts
[Link Website Link]

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Premise

The guild was founded by Zeluna. The young priestess refused to be jaded by her service in campaigns for the Basin, instead, she focused on her dream, a dream to see all the music and all the stories of the world. To meet like minded individuals with the same passion for music and the arts as she. She registered a guild charter in Orgrimmar and set out to find those who played or wanted to learn to be a minstrel, going through all the proper channels to obtain a small farm house to act as the guild's headquarters, and a vault in the city bank.

The organization's official name as recognized by the records of Orgrimmar is "Association for the Education of Musicians and Performers of General Arts", but everyone calls it the Bard guild for short. The duties of a traveling member are to collect all the local folklore, music, plays and stories during their travels that they can. And when returning to the capital bring copies of their work to the founder of the organization, Zeluna for copying into the guild archives.

Goal

To fill capital cities and local road taverns and inns with music!

Guild Archives

This section will be edited with the collections of members of Bard as they go about adventuring.

Roleplay Events

Since the premise of the guild is to fill taverns and inns with music and stories, there aren't designated nights where you can find one in a tavern around whichever capital. That's something you can find anytime a member of Bard feels like roleplaying =) However, here are a list of RP events that Bard does host.

Lessons

Pupils of Bard meet with a Minstrel, or one of member ranks that they are training to become to learn about the basics of that craft. This will be scheduled on the guild calender and if a regular pattern emerges, it will be posted here.

Combat Classes

Although fighting is not organization's main purpose, Zeluna knows how dangerous the world musicians travel in truly is. Combat courses are offered to anyone new to the realm of fighting who is in the ranks of Bard who wishes to take them.

Craft Fair

This is a time for those of all professions in Bard to come together and offer their services to the rest of the guild and have services done for them in return. Or offer goods in exchange for other goods they are also in need of. Bi-monthly. (GHI is encouraged if no actual in-game items are needed/wanted. Keep random drops of possible RP gear, grey RP items, anything you'd want to trade!)

Performances

The thespians of Bard put on a performance of a WoW-ized theatre production. Tickets will be sold and summoning will be provided if the location is not in a starter zone or capital city.

Guild Meetings

Guild meetings will be held bi-monthly in the guild headquarters in Durotar. These gatherings will be primarily guild members, who will perform the greatest pieces of work they have collected during their travels, and turn in the entirety of their collections to Zeluna for the guild archives.

Ranks

Initiate Rank

Pupil Relatively new to the ranks of Bard, these are the people whom are interested in becoming musicians, storytellers, or actors and have come to the guild seeking guidance.

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Member Ranks

Performer A member of Bard for some length of time, this rank signifies persons whom have learned enough of the different sects the guild to be a proficient storyteller, actor or musician but who has not chosen a particular specialization that they wish to devote their time to.	Storyteller A member of Bard for some length of time, this rank consists of people who have devoted their time to the study of lore and storycrafting. These bards collect local stories and even write stories based on their own experiences.
Thespian A member of Bard for some length of time, this rank is made up of those who are focused on the study of developing character and studying lines. These bards create and collect stories that can be acted out in front of audiences. They also may collect various clothing items as costumes and props for productions.	Lutist A member of Bard who has chosen a lute to devote their practice time to. A lute is a stringed instrument with a long neck and tunning knobs. It is the basic form of a guitar. These bards collect sheet music, copying down local pieces for the guild's records as well as their own stock.
Harper A member of Bard who has decided to focus on the art of playing the harp. Lap harps or floor harps, members of this rank have learnings from both, although more proficient in lap harps, because of their more mobile nature. These bards are considered more classically trained then those who play the lute. And often these musicians have to move well in circles of nobility in order to be able to see older sheet music.	Flutist A member of Bard who devoted their learning to the study of playing a flute. The flutes are about a foot to a foot and a half long and made of polished wood, expensive instruments made of silver only in the possession of older bards who have lived frugally for several years in order to obtain one, or those of wealthier castes. (with the exception perhaps of blacksmith characters with a knowledge of flute creation and the materials to create their own).
Vocalist A member of Bard who has chosen to devote their time to training their voice. These bards collect the local music from everywhere they travel in the form of sheet music and can focus on songs from everyday life anywhere up to heroic ballads. They also might collect natural remedies so as to never have a hoarse voice or fall to an illness that would wreak havoc on their vocal cords.

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Officer Rank

Minstrel A member of Bard whom has spent time as each rank, learning each instrument and aspect of entertaining to more than an adequate level. Because of their training in each instrument and dedication in becoming proficient in all the aspects of what makes up Bard, they are considered officers, with the authority to eject people from the guild for conducting themselves poorly in public, as well as the ability to scout for fresh talent among the masses. Another responsibility of Minstrels is to help train pupils in the broadest of ways and help divine any hidden natural talent for a specific instrument or sect of training.

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Guildmaster

Founder Founder of the Bard, Zeluna is by the classifications of the guild, a minstrel, but because she is the founder, she is also responsible for keeping the sheet music records safe in Durotar and making arrangements for musical journeymen, in addition to Minstrel-officer like duties of recruiting and training pupils.

Promotion

All pupils will start out with a skill of 0 out of 450 in all skills of Bard unless otherwise agreed upon with an officer before joining. Pupils will get skill points from lessons and from practicing outside of lessons on their own time. Points will be given out at the teachers and officers discretion, and the most points to be earned in any one practice is 15. Once pupils reach the skill level 150 they can be promoted normally into their chosen rank.

To get into the Performer rank, a pupil must have a skill level of 60 in 4 of the 6 skills (Flute, Harp, Lute, Acting, Singing or Storytelling). Pupils may not use the method of early promotion to enter the Performer rank. Once you have been accepted into one of the specialization member ranks, you receive a +2 to all points earned of that skill, but receive only half the points you earn for other skills. Performers get no bonuses and no penalties for their rank.

Early Promotion

If a pupil would like to go into one of the member ranks before earning 150 skill, they will use a /roll system. The pupil will group with a officer and two guild witnesses and then roll 5 times, the sum of those rolls then divided by five. It that average is above 75 then the pupil can be promoted into the specialization rank they chose before the rolling started. A half point for every lesson the pupil has attended in-game can be added the the lowest score of the roll. This ability has a month cooldown, successful or not.

Member Skills

Skill levels of all members can be found in a updated list at this link.

Bard - Member Skill Wikia Page

Joining the Guild

To join the guild, currently (ie. in its charter-state), please contact Zeluna in-game through whisper or mail to discuss why and how your character will come to sign the charter for the guild. After the guild is formed officially in-characterly, this section will be edited to reflect the new options for joining Bard.

The joining process will always include

• A in-character invitation roleplayed out by the founder or a officer of the guild.
• A discussion (OOC) of your character's skill sets and official numbers will be noted at that time.

Code of Conduct

In-Character

• You will be judged by others by your actions. Keep in mind that you are not only a representing yourself, but the entire organization of bards while you wear our tabard (and tag!). Even if you don't care about someone's opinion of you, your behavior will effect how others treat your guildmates.

• Your word is your honor, keep your word.

• Never turn away from a song or story given freely, and always share your finds with the guild. This guild was created to create and share art, not for people to be trained and then zealously guard all the pieces of art they find in their travels for themselves.

• Never burn bridges. There's always a story left to find or a song that hasn't been taught by you, don't risk destroying a connection to perhaps the only person who can teach it to you.

Out of Character

• Check guild notices and the calender often for events!

• Do not abuse the general channels provided by Blizzard. LookingForGroup is for looking for instance or raid groups. General is for help with quests. Trade is for finding someone with a profession or item you need. If you are found trolling these channels you will be removed from the guild.

• Drama and tension is great, when it's between characters for a story. Leave drama in character. * Godmoding is strictly prohibited. You godmod once, and you get a warning. Twice, and you're gone. All godmoding does is take the fun out of controlling your own character. If you must RP a fighting/mugging scenario ( or any situation where either party doesn't want to lose!) group with that person and work it out, reach a plausible conclusion for the fight so everyone's happy, and basically RP to that outcome, or play with a /roll fighting system.

• Play realistically, this goes hand in hand with the no godmoding rule. Yes a character shouldn't control everything you do, but a level 10 is not going to hand a level 80 his behind on a platter. But, neither is it socially polite to completely destroy someone's character by being level 80 and killing their character. Playing realistically also means play with the reality of World of Warcraft in mind. NPCs are there, unless otherwise is agreed upon by all parties in a RP scenario.
  • Another note to take for playing realistically is taking appropriate action for the locations you are in. You can not set off an in-character Blizzard in the middle of a tavern and expect nothing to happen. This is because there are things called guards, and ICly, they would drag yo butt to the Stockades or to a farm for hard labor as a slave of the King. If you are found doing things like this in-character, prepare to face IC consequences. (ie. Loss of organization membership, and having your character reported to every single 'guard' guild in whichever capital you commit these crimes.)
  • Very important to the rule of playing realistically is a firm separation of in-character and out-of-character information. Don't assume that simply because you as a player are aware of something that your character is as well. If you see someone's nameplate floating above their head, but they are wearing a mask or hood or you've never met them before, don't play as if your character can identify them. MRP or other RP addons may offer information that characters can estimate by simply looking at them (height, weight, some scars locations), but things about character history, secret identities or whatever else that isn't physical that a person puts in these addons is only okay to know ICly, if... your character indeed knows it ICly through digging or previous roleplaying situations!

• Lore... We are very firm believers of following the lore established by Blizzard for the World of Warcraft universe! Even though creativity is important, it best to limit one's self to the resources provided with offical information on Azeroth. This is so that roleplaying can remain in harmony with the majority of the other roleplayers in-game and remains accurate to the game world throughout patches and expansions. So this means Bard will not be taking any Final Fantasy Warriors/Harry Potter Wizards/Naruto Ninjas/Anime Princesses/Werewolves(Worgen are different then this, play them accordingly)/Vampires (sparkily or otherwise).

• Use proper grammar and spelling. Not asking for college level, just put your sentences in a proper form and slap a period or other distinguishing punctuation ("Quotation!") where appropriate. Typos are understandable, misread lines and subsequent responses are understandable. a simple /e nix*)) is as good as erasing your doofed-up line and then you can respond properly.

Member List

Zeluna of the Darkspear Tribe; Founder, Minstrel
Msdantsane (Sani) of the Darkspear Tribe; Charter Signature, Storyteller

Out of Character Information

• Bard was founded shortly after the release of patch 3.3.

If you have any questions about Bard's recruiting, roleplay events or general roleplaying premise, be sure to drop an in-game mail to Zeluna!