For those who have doubts that music could function as a tradeskill, I attempted to sketch out one possible implementation. Please don't kill me if I'm mangling musical terms, I'm far from a real-life musician.


AB MUSIC:

Whistling __ Carry the simplest of tunes using only your lips.
Ditties* ___ Basic fragments of melody that stick in the mind. (Does nothing, but can be remembered by others)
Panpipes ___ The enchanting wooden pipes to enspell your audience.
Minuets* ___ Playful and light, a composition to enliven the spirit. (Makes audience less tired, boosts will/endur)
Voice ______ Sing with beauty and depth to add lyrics to your music.
Hymns* _____ The soaring purity of chorals will cleanse the mind. (Occassionally removes an affliction)
Drums ______ The beating percussion drives your rhythm to power.
Bardcraft __ Learn to perform your arts before a large audience.
Boleros* ___ This fiery composition hearkens to battle and conflict. (??)
Flutes _____ Capture the sweet airy sighs of the wind itself.
Laments* ___ Evoke the sorrows of the past to learn from mistakes. (Occasionally increases experience)
Fiddles ____ ...
Serenades* _ These romantic symphonies speak of unity and love. (Binds audience together temporarily)
Harps ______ ...
Requiems* __ These powerful and emotive refrains provide many boons. (Occasionally provides a defence)

etc... maybe compositions to force peace on surroundings, give information on other aspects of the basin, ???

Instruments are -quite- expensive and not made by Musicians, but rather by Jewelers, Enchanters, Forgers, and so on.

Compositions would work as follows. A sheet of music has three descriptive elements: a starting movement, and then two subsequent stanzas. When it is performed, the starting movement is used, then as long as the bard continues to play the two stanzas are repeated to give the continuing music.

Each piece of music would require certain instruments, and each element of a song wears on the instrument (the amount dependent on the properties given in the pattern) so that they will break relatively quickly. If the music is performed for an audience with bardcraft (ie, more than for one other person), a podium and donation bowl must be created that require certain commodities to be expended. Playing music is also rather taxing on endurance and willpower and ego.

If the performer has less than a certain amount of ego (less than full for inept musicians, less than 30% maxego for trans) means that there is a chance you will hit notes out of tune and cause negative rather than positive effects.

If music is a tradeskill, everyone has the opportunity to partake of it and create something beautiful, for weddings, organization festivals, or any other event.

Am I completely off-track here?

Wow, that's quite nice.

Maybe put in, like, ballads and chants and stuff? Not sure what the effects could be though.

Well, I don't think you're off-track, but I think you're making more of it than it's worth the coding effort -- let alone the lessons investment. Couldn't all that be made three or four skills in Arts, help round out a weak skillset where it fits in?

Except that arts has nothing creative about it. The focus is not the end results, but rather the unique music that could be created.

What you created is not a tradeskill, it's a common skill. I don't really see any profits coming from it.
It's a nice attempt, fits in Performance lessonpool, which is empty so supposedly something will be there at some point.

Arts is really more like Crafts right now -- it has some artistry in it (paintings, statues) but even those are pure representational, not imaginative. But it has mostly crafts. I was kind of hoping if new skills get added, it could return it to be more like Arts, both in the skills being more artistic (i.e., less practical) and in them having more room for creativity (as in a design process).

Well, it's very well planned, would it just be something for those that don't fight.

A good way to make it a trade skill is to allow you to sell sheet music and instruments to people, and when someone holds a certain type of instrument it helps them in INFLUENCE with things such as Seduction/Charm, or Begging.


Edit Number 2:
For example...

Elryn stands here holding the sheet music to "the dance of the rats" in his left hand and pan pipes in the other.


play panpipes

Your music wafts out of your panpipes, with the most catchy tune a rat could ever want to hear. (lasts 30 seconds) (these lines would be set by the Trademasters when submitting the song sheet idea, so different cartels can sell different types of music)

Influence Rat with Charm

(after a few less tries than it normally takes you)

You influence the rat, with the boosted powers of your song casing him to instantly fall in love with you.

I did a Music idea way back, let's see if I can find it and bump it.

I think you should be able to pay like 100k for one instrument and be able to play instead of making it a skill set

I'd love to see that as a tradeskill. Seeing as the different types of songs have different effects on people, you CAN sell something there. Never mind the fact that it's somewhat borrowing from the various bard guilds out there... I think it'd make for a cool tradeskill.

How about this for another ability, maybe somewhere near trans...

Anthems __ Anthems may sway the tides of loyalty

Basically the musician could be hired to join a team of village influencers, and then when in a room with an influencable denizen he would like PERFORM ANTHEM CELEST PRAISE, to perform Celest's anthem in a way that makes it sound really splendid and moving, thus increasing Celest's efficiency at influencing any denizen in that room.

Similarly, the musician could PERFORM ANTHEM MAGNAGORA MOCKING to give a really bad performance of Magnagora's anthem, to make them look silly and ridiculous and thus decreasing the efficiency of any attempts to make the denizen support Magnagora.

Finally, if the musician messes up due to too low ego, the performance would just either not do anything, or even do the opposite of the desired effect, when the denizen feels insulted by the poor attempt to sway their emotions regarding that organisation.

I like the music ideas, being a musician myself, just as long as it doesn't go into the unreal.

You should add nocturnes as well *eyeshift*

It would fail as a tradeskill.
You can get bonuses from Astrology, and Astrologists could ocassionaly make some little profits for giving them, but it's not a tradeskill. Influencers can get you unenemied from some particular place and you can pay them for that, but again, it's not a tradeskill.
If it helped during influencing, you'd be just expected to do it. For free of course, as it helps the city.

Idea is nice, but I still doubt it's profitable enough to be a tradeskill.

The idea that I was thinking is that you would seel Song sheets and musical intstruments, and the song sheet matched with the proper instrument would define the ability that is gotten.

So yes, Enchanters and Alchemists and herbalists are expected to give free stuff during times of influence, and so would those with the Music tradeskill, but those who influence to bash would be the main customers. And if the Begging Songsheet worked really well then it might even be worth the money.

the anthem idea is nice... at Trans you can compose national anthems for organizations.

Again, since you have to wield the songsheet and instrument, basically only non combatants, or those who don't need to wield things in battle, would be customers.

Elryn suggested that musical instruments are not manufactured and sold by musicians but bought by them, and the meaning of the skill is performing music. For gold I assume, since it's supposed to be a tradeskill. And that's what I strongly believe wouldn't work.

Idea of crafting and selling instruments with this skillset, now that makes sense. There would be categories and designs, just like with jewelry or armour. I'll say more, it makes -perfect- sense.

But in that case, ability to perform music and using instruments needs to be available to everyone. Just like everyone can use enchantments, jewelry, herbs, potions, clothes, food... Only forging and poisons are limited in that area (especially poisons, kind of sucks).

Or, some instruments using abilities could be scattered through some of the common skills. I'm sure at least a few could be put in influencing, if not most of them.
Or... there would be a few kinds of songs everyone can perform for personal effect, and then a few put in influence, with influencing effects.

But there's a problem with that because it doesn't really make sense that everyone can perform music just like that, given instrument and songsheet.

If the sheets were magical though... sold by musicians too, having limited uses. So it basically plays itself.

Not sure, my thoughts are incoherent right now and I can't put it all together, but I think there are few ways of implementing that.

Well everyone can become a master artist... I'm sure theres lots of creative things you can do with it, like you suggested.

I like the idea of a Music skill, I just dont think it would make that successful of a tradeskill, very very few people would need anything from it, where as all the other tradeskills almost everyone need something out of it.

Untill recently, I believe only 3 guilds needed Poisions...

People with bedevil could use it too.

Plus cooks. But those are pretty small sources.