Robin Discussion

[WhiteRose]

"WANDERING BARD"
Name: Robin (possibly with a different given name)
Age: Late teens
Gender: Female
Appearance: I envision her wearing brightly coloured clothes and some sort of crazy hat with feathers in it (somewhat musketeer style.) This might just be me, though - this is of course open to suggestions.
Occupation: Wandering bard
Class Role: Thief/rogue role; also has some supportive abilities. High damage output, somewhat frail.
Personality: Loud, cheerful, loves telling stories and playing songs. Can be annoying at times.


BACKSTORY:
She probably lived with the others in her traveling caravan of bards, traveling between towns collecting the latest stories and gossip. Because of this, she probably has a massive repertoire of songs and tales memorized. She's also likely to be known, at least somewhat, in some of the locations the party visits.



RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER CHARACTERS:

(This section will be filled out a little later as we get the characters more worked out.)

[winkio]

How about some backstory that the group of traveling bards have extended lives and represent a clan of bards that have actually experienced all the tales that they tell (as in, they are part of the legends).  Of course, this is only known by the bards themselves, but it could make for some interesting situations.

[WhiteRose]

How about some backstory that the group of traveling bards have extended lives and represent a clan of bards that have actually experienced all the tales that they tell (as in, they are part of the legends).  Of course, this is only known by the bards themselves, but it could make for some interesting situations.

Hmm, it's an interesting idea, but not quite to my taste - one of the major features of "bard-dom" is the creative ability of coming up with tales and twisting history to sound more interesting than it actually was. Not to mention the fact that if they were all experienced heroes of legend they wouldn't get wiped out so easily when they're attacked by the Cult. Still, this is just my opinion. If the others like your idea then we can implement it.

[AliveDrive]

one of the major features of "bard-dom" is the creative ability

Sophia/Sophie One of wisdom/creativity.

http://www.names-meanings.net/names/musical

Calliope: Latin form of Greek Kalliope, myth name of the muse of epic poetry, meaning beautiful voice

Those are some I really liked.

[winkio]

I like Sophia as her real name, but everyone calls her Sophie.

[WhiteRose]

I like Sophia as her real name, but everyone calls her Sophie.

I think it will do. Originally, I thought it might be nice to have a slightly more "elvish" sounding name to reflect her unusual heritage, but this works as well.

EDIT: What do you all think of the name Robin? I think it fits considering her wandering, migratory lifestyle and her close relationship with the planet that she has probably acquired through her travels. Just throwing it out there as a suggestion.

[winkio]

Ooh, much better.  The whole songbird/bard thing too.  Nice one.

[Hatsamu]

I do like Robin.
But what about something like "Animyr" or among that line? It sounds more elvish to me if that's what you're looking for.

However, "Robin" might be the name she took for her journeys/adventures/etc.

[WhiteRose]

I do like Robin.
But what about something like "Animyr" or among that line? It sounds more elvish to me if that's what you're looking for.

However, "Robin" might be the name she took for her journeys/adventures/etc.

Let's go with Robin for now, and once we start planning elven culture and style, we can possibly give her a different given name and assume Robin is one of her own invention.

[winkio]

So this character has not been getting a lot of love.  What's her background?  Street-urchin turned bard?  Perhaps high class aristocrat that ran away from home?  Let's come up with something decent here.

[WhiteRose]

So this character has not been getting a lot of love.  What's her background?  Street-urchin turned bard?  Perhaps high class aristocrat that ran away from home?  Let's come up with something decent here.

We already have one high-class type character. My thought for her backstory is that her family is part of the caravan of bards; she grew up traveling the world and hearing tales of valor and heroism. Because her family moves from town to town, carrying the latest tales and gossip, coupled with her social nature, she is well known in quite a few locations, despite her young age. She knows plenty of lore about the land, and a good portion of it is actually true. When the caravan is attacked, her family is killed - this means that her motivation to bring an end to the Cult is even stronger, as it was not only her friends but her family that were killed. Not being the revenge type, really, perhaps if this had happened and she had been left alone, she would have just gone and started a new life somewhere. Because William and Alice also survived and had a lead on the Cult, however, she followed them not just because of their information, but because, being a wanderer, she had no where else to go.

I also think, being a bard, she should play some sort of musical instrument. Maybe a harp or a lute of some sort.

These are all just ideas; feel free to modify them as you see fit or present your own.

[AliveDrive]

I happen to love strings. <3 

[winkio]

So this character has not been getting a lot of love.  What's her background?  Street-urchin turned bard?  Perhaps high class aristocrat that ran away from home?  Let's come up with something decent here.

We already have one high-class type character. My thought for her backstory is that her family is part of the caravan of bards; she grew up traveling the world and hearing tales of valor and heroism. Because her family moves from town to town, carrying the latest tales and gossip, coupled with her social nature, she is well known in quite a few locations, despite her young age. She knows plenty of lore about the land, and a good portion of it is actually true. When the caravan is attacked, her family is killed - this means that her motivation to bring an end to the Cult is even stronger, as it was not only her friends but her family that were killed. Not being the revenge type, really, perhaps if this had happened and she had been left alone, she would have just gone and started a new life somewhere. Because William and Alice also survived and had a lead on the Cult, however, she followed them not just because of their information, but because, being a wanderer, she had no where else to go.

I also think, being a bard, she should play some sort of musical instrument. Maybe a harp or a lute of some sort.

These are all just ideas; feel free to modify them as you see fit or present your own.

Much better than what I had in mind.  I like it.

[AliveDrive]

Not being the revenge type, really, perhaps if this had happened and she had been left alone, she would have just gone and started a new life somewhere. Because William and Alice also survived and had a lead on the Cult, however, she followed them not just because of their information, but because, being a wanderer, she had no where else to go.

At some point, Robin needs to come to terms with this fact. She will be ashamed of her own lack of courage while respecting the team's. This will be difficult for her, and will take a long time before she reveals it to one or all of the characters.

Example: Near end of game. The team gets put off track and loses spirit. Robin, revitalizes them by telling everyone how they make her want to be a better person, heroism, blah blah.

[winkio]

So would should her instrument be? Harp, lute, guitar...

[WhiteRose]

So would should her instrument be? Harp, lute, guitar...

Considering the period, the guitar probably hasn't been invented yet. I'd say probably something like a lute. If we're going to have it be one of the major symbols of the game, though, maybe it should be something unique. A sort of harp/lute would be cool - such things exist, they're just not common. I'll find a reference.

Found one. Something like what is being played here, maybe, though modified to suit our tastes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlDdzNuJto4&feature=related

[AliveDrive]

Some sort of guitar variant, like seen in that video.

[Subsonic_Noise]

How about not sticking to western instruments? A sitar or an oud would give it a nice touch.

[AliveDrive]

In which case I vote sitar.

[Shalaren]

what about a flute?
in greeks mytology a flute is a way to talk with the creatures of nature, like sagittarius for example

Spoiler: ShowHide

I know it doesnt have to do a whole lot with the story, but just think about it, A FLUTE.

[Hatsamu]

I like flutes, but its kinda hard to speak while playing...

A sitar would be nice, they have a cool shape and I used to play one (setting the piano to sitar-mode, of course :V)

[Shalaren]

I like flutes, but its kinda hard to speak while playing...

A sitar would be nice, they have a cool shape and I used to play one (setting the piano to sitar-mode, of course :V)

ummm. abviously when hes talking he wont use the flute ._.,
and when using the flute he wont be talking...
in an rpg game why would you make the situation when he uses the instrument and talks at the same time? unless he also sings x-x.

[WhiteRose]

I think the point that he was trying to make was that if she plays the flute, she won't be able to play/sing/tell the story of the game in the frame.

As for a sitar, it's a cool idea, but it might be more difficult to find songs we can use with a sitar in them. Still, it only needs to be in a few of the songs, so it could be pulled off. It would also be pretty cool looking.

So, my vote is for either a sitar or the guitar/harp combo thing.

[Hatsamu]

What about a zither?

Spoiler: ShowHide

It makes beautiful medieval-like music and it has an original shape for working even as a logo.

[winkio]

Those aren't very portable.  Since she is a wandering bard, I think it should be something of reasonable size.  I'd like to see a lyre, because they are both portable and are made in many unique styles.

[Hatsamu]

Zithers are just about the same size than a lyre actually (a bit bigger than a notebook, maybe, so I guess both are portable)


Anyway, I'm fine with both, though lyres are way too symmetrical for a logotype, but I guess we can find/design an asymmetrical one.


Also, both make good medieval/fantasay music, so my vote goes on any of those.

[WhiteRose]

Having her play the lyre would give us a lot of room to maneuver stylistically, as they seem to have a vast array of different appearances. I think that's a pretty good idea.

[AliveDrive]

I agree.

On a related note, I would like to commend WhiteRose for her use of the word stylistically, which is incredibly fun to say out loud.

[Hatsamu]

So, are we using the lyre? I'm working on her concept art tomorrow and it would be nice adding her instrument :3

[Shalaren]

and as for me ILLL FINALLY be able to complete the logo, so I vote to anything as long as we got an instrument! D:

[winkio]

5 votes for the lyre DO IT NOW!

[WhiteRose]

Lyre sounds good. Feel free to experiment with the design to make it fit into your concept art.

[Shalaren]

Lyre, I would start doing something, but I guess we still need to *stylistise* the Lyre first,
instead of using a different in different concepts. S:

[WhiteRose]

Lyre, I would start doing something, but I guess we still need to *stylistise* the Lyre first,
instead of using a different in different concepts. S:

In that case, could someone go ahead and draw a picture of her lyre as they imagine it, and then we'll critique it and perfect the design? Once that's finished, we can go ahead and start working on the design of symbol for the title screen, and you can start on Robin's concept art.

[Hatsamu]

Ok, here's a REALLY quick one I've just made.

Spoiler: ShowHide

I can make a more normal one or just change this one when I get back home in a few hours.

[winkio]

The arms should have a more solid connection to the base in order to be structurally sound, and thus vibrate well and create a good tone.  Other than that, it should probably be somewhat ornate, so when you color it you should have little designs carved all over it.

Also, it may just be me, but I don't like how the right arm is longer than the left.  I do love the shape of the base and the upper arms though.

[Hatsamu]

Ok, here's a new Lyre:

Spoiler: ShowHide

And a possible version for the game logo:

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[winkio]

That looks awesome!

[AliveDrive]

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This.