Bard’s Tales by Megan Robertson is a role playing game supplement published by Raging Swan Press. Although this is published for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and is covered by the Open Game License, this is a completely generic supplement with no game stats.
This is a fourteen page PDF which is available from RPGNow for $1.50 but was purchased at the reduced price of $0.90 during a sale. Two pages are the publisher’s standard plain front and rear covers, one page is blank, two pages are front matter, one pages is the Contents, list of Performances and Open Game License and one page has a sample from Bard’s Tales II. The PDF comes in two versions, one optimised for screen and low end devices and the other for print and high end.
The Foreword expresses the aim of the supplement; to provide character bards with material to actually use at the table.
The first section is Ditties, Poems, Stories and Rhymes. There are five short pieces here; two pieces of nonsense, a legend about hungry ghosts, one about Padfoot and a riddle. Next in the section are Seven Horses and Without, both traditional songs.
The next section is Bleached Skull Gnolls. This is apparently inspired by the Bleached Skull Gnolls supplement, set in The Lonely Coast, and it is a tale told in the fishing villages of that place.
The King and the Giant is a story about a poor king.
The King’s Knight Out is a rhyme that looks as if it’s traditional too, being about King Arthur.
Short Stories has three different brief stories, The Unfortunate Event, The Man Who Came Himself and What Did You Do?
Finally, Twm Siôn Cati, has two Welsh pieces (written in English) about the titular Twm, a rogue from Tudor times, The Missing Bullock and A New Cooking Pot.
Bard’s Tales in Review
The PDF is extensively bookmarked, with all the major and minor sections linked. The Contents and Performances sections are to a similar level of detail, and are also hyperlinked. Navigation is excellent. The text maintains a two column format and no errors were noticed. There are quite a few black and white illustrations, all stock by the looks of it. Presentation is good.
Now, the idea behind this supplement is interesting – providing players with material that their bards can actually use. Sadly, it’s not so good on execution.
Much of the material is already available; only Bleached Skull Gnolls looks like it might be original. Sure, this supplement collects everything into one place, so does provide a level of convenience.
There’s also the fact that not much of the material is truly usable in game. Many players, and GMs, won’t want to sit around and wait as one person reads an entire story out during a combat round. Many of the pieces are too long for this. Only a couple will truly work as performances, which perhaps a bard could sing to use one of their abilities. Some could be passed out as local legends and stories as handouts for players to read. Perhaps they could also be recorded to provide part of a backing soundtrack for an inn.
This is an interesting idea and concept, but sadly it does not really work in execution. Bard’s Tales can be found by clicking here.
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