First off, right up top (pun intended), can we change the name of this folder to "Performance"? Because, that's what the skill is called now.

Now, my other much more substantive suggestions are going to all hinge on that point: it's called "Performance," not "Musical Lore" like it was fifty million years ago. I'm trusting that this was an intentional move by some savvy GM (or GMs) who realized that you can get a lot more mileage out of a skill called Performance than you can out of music. I also am aware that Performance is on the short list of skills that "need work," so I apologize if one or more of these suggestions a) are already implemented and I just don't realize, b) are already being worked on and none of us players are the wiser, or c) have been suggested all to heck and you all are tired of hearing about them. Disclaimer deployed; commencing suggestification.

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We've Already Got Tons of Performance Actions, Let's Use 'Em

I haven't tried juggling since I came back, since my Perception is working great, but I really feel like that is an activity that should arguably be teaching Performance, as well as Perception and Athletics, which I think is another skill needing work. I know that might sound a little over-powered - a store-bought thinger teaching two Survivals and a Lore - so if you want to balance it, add an element similar to disarming, where you can pick multiple methods. This will at least limit how many skills the player can have actively learning at a time.

JUGGLE <object> FLASHY - Teaches Performance primarily, with a small amount of Athletics and Perception
JUGGLE <object> SKILLFUL - Teaches Athletics primarily, with a small amount of Perception and Performance
JUGGLE <object> CAREFUL - Teaches Perception primarily, with a small amount of Performance and Athletics

Flashy would give the cooler descriptions (probably mostly from what we have now) but would also yield truly embarrassing failures at low levels (also mostly from what we have now). Skillful would be less stunning descriptions but more subtly impressive (like simulating a polyhedral shape with the path of the objects or something). Careful would be very understated and simplistic.

This is my best-thought-out idea regarding adding Performance experience rewards to old actions, but I do have others.

Dancing: Make it work similar to playing a song on an instrument, only it doesn't require an instrument and it does require a dance floor. When you "start" dancing with someone (or alone, I'll get to that) it would begin a timer (like playing a song) that periodically pulses with a generic dancing message (like playing a song), but in addition to those messages the player can intersperse other dance moves, using the current list of possible moves as a springboard, and by successfully applying them can get a small boost to the experience they're getting from the pulses. Also like a song, you can have different types of dances, many of which are actually already song types; and if you want to be really Johnny-Freaking-Clever about it, you can have a check in the dancing code that looks to see if someone is playing a song that has a corresponding dance, and increase the difficulty of the dance the player is dancing if it conflicts, like someone trying to cha-cha to a waltz. There can even be a chance that the player will stumble and a) stop dancing entirely, or b) catch himself/herself at the last moment, and switch to the dance style that matches the song being played, "making it look intentional." The hard part about this is that it would get messy if you've got multiple people playing, but the fix for that is to use the same general mechanics that I'm outlining here to force dancers to obey song styles, and add something similar to playing songs that forces less-skilled musicians to be "drowned out" by the dominant musician in the room (Perf+Cha v. Perf+Cha) and, the loser's music is subsequently squelched to everyone but him/her. (In other words, they would still be able to play and earn experience; I don't want to be a total jerk here, I just want one music style per room. Also, this has the unintended effect of bringing the game "Dueling Banjos" into DragonRealms.) There could also be some solo dance styles, which if you're so inclined would be a great place to put some funny Easter Eggs, like the Napoleon Dynamite and the Carlton. Also, don't forget to include a check in the dance-pulses to make sure the person is still on a dance floor, and if they're dancing with a partner (for couple dances). I feel that it's also important that the low-end skill requirement for your "common" dance styles - waltz, rumba, foxtrot, and the like - should be exactly 0; everyone should be able to participate in a fancy ball and not look like a snowbeast shoved into an evening gown, regardless of ranks. For harder stuff (I'm looking at you, paso doble) there can be steeper reqs.

Playacting: Yeah, I know Bards already have this, but I feel like someone clever (and not stricken with mind-fogging bronchitis like I am) might be able to spend a few minutes brainstorming a way to open it up (while still giving Bards the lion's share) and making it a viable way to train a little bit of Performance in a role-play-friendly atmosphere.

Pleading: I know it's a really minor thing - well maybe not minor but at least done (hopefully) rarely - but it seems obvious to me that this should really train Performance, and once the skill has been more used for a while and people have had a chance to train it like something they might use, it should also depend upon Performance skill to correctly plead innocent. And while we're on the subject, is PLEAD RELEASE working right for the stockades? Just curious.

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Whistle While You Work

This is a suggestion that might be totally useless if Performance gets expanded and can be learned by ways other than playing songs. Even so, I think it would still be cool... I'd like it if Bards could learn Performance while they have a cyclic Enchante active - but hear me out.

I'm not suggesting that Enchantes simply teach Performance (though I do think that could be argued), but rather I think it should be possible for a Bard to capitalize on the musical nature of their cyclics to learn some Performance as well. I was going to suggest Humming for this, but I'm not sure if that would work given how Humming is set up currently, which appears to be a nearly unrestricted fluff verb to show off your Performance skill. Whether it's a part of Humming or not, this is what I'm proposing:

While a Bard has a cyclic Enchante active, he or she can Hum (or other verb) along with the spell to learn Performance. Unlike the Enchante - which will basically go on forever - the Hum (or other) will need to be restarted regularly to keep the Performance experience gain active. Like playing an instrument, certain actions will be restricted, but not as many. For example, the Bard will be able to pick things up and put them down, cast other spells (though ending their cyclic Enchante will end the Humming), and do most of the things that he or she could do normally with a cyclic active; the primary restriction would be combat. Entering into combat - by attacking, engaging, or being attacked - would end the Humming (or alternately, stop the experience gain - this is why I suspect Humming might not work). Other restrictions I can think of would be hiding, stealing, singing/playing an instrument (that'd be double-dipping), as well as any other Performance-teaching stuff that gets added.

Honestly, my modus operandi for this suggestion is centralized around magic. I really would like to be able to, as a Bard, learn Performance and magic simultaneously, since, you know, that's sort of the whole Bard thing: the intersection of music and magic.

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I feel like I had more, but my brain is all foggy with the bronch virus and its aftermath, so I'll leave it here.

I like some of these ideas. Here's what I would do:

- Switch juggling almost entirely to Performance, with a trickle of Perception/Athletics.

- Give some perks on the dance floor that are unlocked with Performance.

- Open up Playact, period, no Performance required (though perhaps a circle req). I play a Bard and I am 100% okay with this. I would like to trust that skilled players are going to handle it responsibly. Ideally even open it up to more areas too, so that we can all RP without those darn parentheses.

- Give a Pleading bonus.

I would probably not advocate for whistling/humming or otherwise learning Performance while using enchantes. It's not that it doesn't make sense, it just makes it too easy. Cyclic magic learning is already pretty darn easy, and free Performance on top is just too good.

>I really would like to be able to, as a Bard, learn Performance and magic simultaneously, since, you know, that's sort of the whole Bard thing: the intersection of music and magic.

Me too... but, again, I find it hard to think of ways to do this without making it too easy.

>>1) ACT verb should lose the ( ) once you hit a specific number of RPAs

Umm no. You get RPAs for participating in different events, never showing maturity. If showing maturity in an event was the basis fro RPAs they would almost never be given out. They are mainly used by GMs to give a gift for those who participate in an event.

Abison/Rystien

Getting pretty far from the topic, which is "ideas for ways to train Performance."

I do like the idea of using playact as a means to that end, however. Bard or not, it makes sense that acting in a play should help you hone your craft, and I could definitely get behind it being opened up to everyone. Maybe just open to everyone when they're actually on a stage? I don't know how rabidly other Bards will get about ownership of playact.

I

>>I do have some plans for something Performance can do for you that folks may find enjoyable.

This sounds exciting, thank you!

>>If you want to use the "invisible RP score" all players have, I'm fine with that, too.

This, or whatever ties into the PIRP system, sounds like a great idea to me. We already allow everyone full access to SMILE and FROWN without the world ending, so I would hope high-RPA players could handle PLAYACT.

>>Turn PLAYACT into an iteration of ACT that has a non-combat AoE Charm vs Will move based on Bardic Lore and Performance where the Bard can cause people to feel certain emotions the Bard wins the check.

This is a fascinating idea. I'm not sure I would do it with PLAYACT, but I'd love to see a Bard cantrip that potentially causes emotions in others. Although I think it would have to be done in such a way that the player could choose to ignore the effect ("No, my Tog is too stoic to really show that emotion!").