The Bard Express -or- the "Bard Patrol" service...

..... "Bard Patrol" service (half-baked idea)

This might make an interesting campaign idea ...for somebody.

Just read a lot of discussion about Bards.

I don't normally run much Fantasy/Sword & Sorcery type game sessions.
However, I remembered the classic historical idea of the Bard was a traveler who would bring news from other towns and villages, tell stories, and oh yeah maybe sing or play an instrument.

Then I thought of the movie "The Postman"

In "The Postman", mail carriers in the post-collapse world pretty much fulfilled that role of a classical 'bard'.

SO,...How about a Fantasy setting where the Bards are much, much more important. They are organized into a mail and message service for the central government and they actually do act as the eyes and ears of the central authority - whether its a King/Queen or a ruling council. I picture them going off on important missions or quests like that group ride scene in "The Postman" - where they all head off in different directions to get the mail delivered.

If using GURPS terminology - there's no reason a tech level 3 or 4 society couldn't have come up with something like the Pony Express - it just takes a civilization where literacy is much more pervasive than it was in the middle Ages.


- Ed C.

Well, based on my experience in 3.5, that has the potential for a prestige class, if there isn't one like that already. I don't know about all the technical details, but you could put some interesting riding-based skills or feats in there. It definitely is an interesting idea for a campaign. However, I'd be reluctant to make an entire party out of bards because a bard is like a swiss army knife. While it can do its main job (cutting things that you would cut with a knife) exceptionally well, and it can do other things adequately (screwdriver, corkscrew, etc.) it doesn't do them as well as a tool designed for that job would do. While a bard -can- check for traps, open locks, cast spells, and fight monsters, there are other classes that do the same job, just better due to game design. So it's a neat idea, but I wouldn't want all my PC's playing as one.