[Bards] Topic: Comparisons

[Kevin Valliquette]

For discussion's sake, here's another perspective on the format Robert
mentions: I participated in this style of competition once (at a Northkeep
Castellan 4 years ago or so) and won't do so again. The reason? While it
sounds fun in writing (and to be fair, some people seemed to enjoy it), the
reality is that if you want to have any chance of winning, you have to spend
a fair part of your day going around and, well, bothering people. "Hey, will
you stop what you're doing and listen to the two of us perform and pick your
favorite." Most people will do so unless they're terribly busy, but I get
the distinct feeling that they're only doing so because they're too polite
to say "no, I'd rather not." So, to me, this is a form of "attack
bardic." Your mileage may vary, of course.

Grímólfr


On 12/15/06, Robert Fitzmorgan <fitzmorgan at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>      One format I have used approaches the martial tournament form.  The
> Bards in the competition all meet in the morning and are handed a number of
> tokens.  Throughout the day the Bards challenge one another and wager tokens
> on the outcome.  The Bards determine the nature of the challenge and choose
> a judge or judges acceptable to both of them.  At the end of the day the
> Bards meet again and the 3 or 4 Bards with the most tokens go into a final
> round that is judged by the retiring Bardic Champion and the local Nobles.
>      The Barony of Northkeep often uses this format with the added
> provision that the final round must be an extemporaneous piece composed on
> site to a given topic.
>      It's a lot of fun, you get as much bardic in as you want, and it
> involves the populace in the process of choosing the Bardic Champion.  It
> also allows the people competing for, or running,  the championship to do
> other things throughout the day without being tied to a particular place for
> a long period of time.
>      A couple of things you want to look out for though.  Don't allow more
> than three bards in any particular challenge and don't allow wagering more
> than one token per bard per challenge.  This prevents  4 or 5 bards who are
> way behind at the end of the day from throwing all their tokens in one big
> multi-bard challenge and going from way behind to top of the list on one
> performance.
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