Here's Karek's script for how it could look when a player joins the Musicians' Guil. This is the front room of the Ankh-Morpork Musicians guild. It is not as grandiose as the Assassins guild, nor as intimidating as the building of the Thieves guild. It noticeably lacks the towers and arches of Unseen University. In fact, it consists only of a couple of pokey rooms, painted an institutional shade of brown. There is a desk and a couple of chairs here. On the desk is a sign. A jukebox stands beside the door. There are two obvious exists: west, and south. Satchelmouth is here. (players can have the usual conversation with satchemouth here) > l walls That's a really offensive shade of brown. > l sign It appears to have something written on it. > Read sign "For Your Comfote and Convenience YOU WILL NOT SMOKE" You are suddenly overcome with an irresistible desire to light a cigarette right here. > West You open the west door. You close the east door. This is the back room of the musicians guild. The walls are mostly bare. One of the under-secretaries (or whoever you please) is sitting at a desk. There is a sign on the desk. There are two obvious exists: west and east. There is a Musicians guild enforcer here. > East The enforcer blocks your way, and grunts "If you're not wiff a band, you can't get in" > l desk It is a desk, much like any other. > l secretary One of the under-secretaries of the musician's guild. Years of working with musicians and Mr. Clete has wiped any trace of humanity from her face. > l sign It appears to have something written on it. > read sign "Please direct enquiries to the secretary if you wish to join the Musicians Guild. Remember, without guild membership, you cannot play in Ankh-Morpork. Or anyway, not for long..." > say I want to join the guild The secretary looks at you for a moment and then sighs. She hands you a thick wad of paper. She says, "Read these, please, and then return them to me to become a licensed member of the Musicians guild in Ankh Morpork. This will also entitle you all the privileges thereof." > read form The form would have all the relevant information a player might need to know to join the guild. You struggle your way through the forms in front of you. In amongst all the mumbo-jumbo you discover some facts about the guild. 1) Upon joining the guild, you will receive a slightly different set of stats than the usual player. 2) Unlicensed playing of an instrument in Ankh-Morpork is punishable by having said instrument shoved... well let's just say that it isn't much fun for the piccolo player. And the trongbone player wouldn't be keen on the idea either. 3) There is a fee of A$50 to join the guild. This can be paid in full now, or payed in ten easy instalments of $5 after you have joined the guild. 4) The Musicians Guild is a non-fighting guild. Musicians do not join in the cut and thrust of everyday living. Instead they play (or try to play) music. 5) They really seem to mean it about the unlicensed playing bit. > join To join the guild, please return the form to the secretary. > Give form to secretary You give the form to the secretary. The secretary says "Do you wish to pay up front?" > say no The secretary says "OK, you have been placed in the payment plan" The secretary rummages in her desk, and then hands you a Musicians guild membership card... try not to lose it. The Musicians guild enforcer looks at you as if remembering your face. You are now a proud member of the Ankh-Morpork Musicians Guild, the newest guild in town. MAGICAL INSTRUMENTS We talked about instruments with magic abilities before, which I think is a good solution... (There are a couple named in Soul Music for example). These could be instruments that requires high skills, perhaps music in general, and would have abilities such as stop someone from fighting, another could make one go berzerk, one could have healing magic, etc. How common would those be then ? Perhaps they could be like a quest weapon, like the wyrm sword. Why not have a shop similar to the one in _Soul Music_ that will exchange a standard quest weapon (like a wyrm sword) for an instrument that has certain properties... a flute of healing (heals and drains gp), or a guitar of sanctuary (with a similar effect to the sanctuary ritual on the rods). This would allow (with, I hope, minimal coding) the opportunity for musicians to do most of the quests that already exist, despite the fact that they don't have fighting skills etc. One of the problems I see is that musicians, to be a viable character choice, must have a function on the disc beyond pure entertainment. In the same way that priests and Wizards/witches are populare amongst oher player because they can heal, or enchant etc, musicians need to have something to offer to the other players. I think that quest instruments would be a way of providing this service... after all, if a musician can heal (or whatever) effectively with their instrument, they will be asked to help other players. And because musicians don't fight themselves, their healing etc will be available to other players the majority of the time. As I said, its just an idea. INSTRUMENTS Why not have a random variable attached to every instrument so that each instrument may suit a certain musician more than another. Obviously more expensive (and better crafted) instruments would have a nicer sound, and therefor would be more likely to be suited to every musician than cheaper ones. The effect I'm trying to get is that some musicians play better on a certain type of instrument, and, in fact, on certain individual instruments... one particular violin suits one particular violinist more than any others. This would lead to a try before you buy type situation, where a musician would have to try all three violins in a shop to find out which suits them the most.
