Zaq
2019-09-22, 02:24 PM
Inspire awe is a reasonably interesting ACF from Dragon Magic that replaces inspire courage with the ability to render an enemy shaken with a Perform check opposed by a Will save. It's got a lower optimization ceiling than a pimped-out inspire courage, perhaps, but it's more multiclass-friendly.
That's not really the point of today's discussion.
There's no restriction on what kind of instrument you can use. Which means that you can play the tambourine in a really scary manner. Or the lute. Or whatever. Doesn't have to involve your voice at all. Doesn't have to involve anything that we'd think of as naturally compatible with being spooky or fear-inspiring. Remember, of course, that a D&D bard is usually a soloist and doesn't have any post-processing help (or amps, distortion, whatever).
Your task for today, if you choose to accept it: Find me videos (or other recordings) of "inappropriate" instruments being used in a manner that could inspire fear, ideally without accompaniment, vocal or otherwise. I'm thinking instruments that normally have a bright and generally cheerful sound (note: I don't know music theory and I don't know the proper terms for most musical stuff). Piccolos, mandolins, tambourines, chappa—stuff that you'd really have to work at to make it scary. That mental image is hilarious to me right now. I'm sure it's possible to evoke fear with such instruments. Music is shockingly broad and instruments are shockingly versatile, which is part of why music is wonderful. Nonetheless, I would be most amused by some real examples.
(If you don't happen to have anything on tap, I simply invite you to join me in imagining and appreciating the idea of a tambourine player whose wordless and solo performance is scary enough to inspire fear in onlookers. I'm not sure if it's funnier if it's an orc or a gnome playing the tambourine, though. Feel free to compare the two in your mind. )
That's not really the point of today's discussion.
There's no restriction on what kind of instrument you can use. Which means that you can play the tambourine in a really scary manner. Or the lute. Or whatever. Doesn't have to involve your voice at all. Doesn't have to involve anything that we'd think of as naturally compatible with being spooky or fear-inspiring. Remember, of course, that a D&D bard is usually a soloist and doesn't have any post-processing help (or amps, distortion, whatever).
Your task for today, if you choose to accept it: Find me videos (or other recordings) of "inappropriate" instruments being used in a manner that could inspire fear, ideally without accompaniment, vocal or otherwise. I'm thinking instruments that normally have a bright and generally cheerful sound (note: I don't know music theory and I don't know the proper terms for most musical stuff). Piccolos, mandolins, tambourines, chappa—stuff that you'd really have to work at to make it scary. That mental image is hilarious to me right now. I'm sure it's possible to evoke fear with such instruments. Music is shockingly broad and instruments are shockingly versatile, which is part of why music is wonderful. Nonetheless, I would be most amused by some real examples.
(If you don't happen to have anything on tap, I simply invite you to join me in imagining and appreciating the idea of a tambourine player whose wordless and solo performance is scary enough to inspire fear in onlookers. I'm not sure if it's funnier if it's an orc or a gnome playing the tambourine, though. Feel free to compare the two in your mind. )