GM's Tip of the Week

A day or two ago, Croi pointed me at this – look at it! – and said that it would make a very interesting starting instrument for a young bard; perhaps handed down from some famous ancestor or other. She isn’t wrong; you could get all kinds of background hooks from just owning something like that.

However, I almost immediately thought of something rather different; an instrument of legend that a young bard might aspire towards. There is a line in a song that goes, roughly, ‘.. they handed her a fiddle, as black as she was Fey …’, for which you can thank Heather Alexander, and the instrument and the line just kind of clicked in my mind as something a bard would lust after. Or that might start a major uproar in somebody’s campaign if it was stolen/went missing/was damaged.

If you are a GM with a group of players who are that kind of player, a Grand Quest for a legendary instrument might just be the thing you need. It doesn’t have to be this one, of course; a hunt through your local museum, or an image search might just net you a dozen options (although your players might not thank you for sending them after, say, a set of haunted, indestructible bagpipes).

Trying to give another character incentive? A weapon of legend is always a good score – but don’t send them after just any Holy Avenger!  Hint at the hammer wielded by the first paladin, or a blade forged by an elven master-smith, or armor bathed in the blood of angels (that can be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on your group), or … well. You’re a clever GM; your group is full of sharp minds and creative souls, right?

Don’t be afraid to be inspired by a story on the internet. Sometimes, the best campaigns are born from such inspirations.