Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Misfit815 06-21-07, 02:23 PM	One of the PC's is a bard who attended the Hylar Academy of Arts prior to our first session. In other words, it's part of his background. Well, now we're in Hylar City for the first time. I'm trying to put a lot of detail into the city, since tomorrow night's session will probably have the party trekking all over it. A trip to his alma mater to gather information is not out of the question. The problem is, beyond the name, I got nuthin'... Does anyone have any material, ideas, references, etc. they'd like to share on the details of such a place?
Elrond Hubbard 06-21-07, 03:14 PM	Don't have any official materials to recommend, but a couple of thoughts off the top of my head. Decide whether the Academy is for arts in general, or just for bardic (i.e., performing) arts. If it's just the latter, decide whether the Academy trains the D&D class Bards (including magic, combat, feats, skills) or just performers in general. These two threshold decisions should go a long ways towards fleshing the Academy out in your mind. I'm thinking of two possible paths for this Academy: 1. Fairly traditional performing arts school, but also the #1 music venue in town. Kind of a regional hub; all the big-name bards around this area travel here to perform, maybe teach a bit, and build their reputation. This could give your party's bard some nice RPing opportunities, where he could sit in on some performances, jam with some other musicians, etc. Lots of adventure hook possibilities here. As far as details, I would just think of this place as a traditional college campus, focusing on performing arts. Lots of classrooms, practice areas, performance halls, maybe even masterwork instrument crafting studios. For flavor, consider the fact that almost EVERYONE here is going to be fairly charismatic and many of them will have big egos. If you've ever been around theater people or art school people, you'll know what I mean. Could be lots of ego clashes here. Also - you could broaden out your idea of what "performance" could mean, beyond the traditional lute/harp/singing stereotype. You could have actors, wacky performance artists, interpretive dancers, sculptors, all kinds of stuff. If they're training folks here in magic, then you'll have all kinds of other opportunities. Just study the low-level bard spell list and let your imagination run wild. 2. The other option I'm thinking of is pretty much a gag, but it could be pretty funny. Consider having the Academy be a truly amateurish operation, the medieval equivalent of those crappy, half-assed colleges you see ads for on daytime TV. Kinda like those schools that send you spam e-mails telling you you can get a Master's Degree in six months. Your party's bard thought it was super-awesome when he was there, but now that he's done some adventuring he realizes how pathetic it is. If he's been bragging about the Acadmey to the party, could make for an embarrassing and humorous moment.
BroadStreetBully 06-21-07, 11:41 PM	i know this may not be what you're looking for, but there are full stats/background for a "bardic college" of sorts in Complete Adventurer, it's under the Fulchuran Lyricist PrC. (it's basically a very large cabin in the woods, but i liked it.)
Commodore 06-22-07, 12:12 AM	Of the options given, I personally enjoy Elrond's #1 the best.