Choosing an Instrument is a fun short set in the sword & board genre (think D&D), where a young girl must choose an instrument for her profession: a bard, with the help of a very strange shopkeeper.
I think one of the reasons the Dungeons&Dragons world is so accessible is because the stories set within that world are also accessible. It isn’t hard to dream up a quick escapade, drama, or heart-pounding encounter. Sword & Board genre (for writing) is both very popular and very hard to make a mark in. It’s literally flooded with millions of fan-made stories. An entire line of business exists around writing character sheet biopics!
I’m a big fan of videogame RPGs and often enjoy the cityscapes as much as the actual fighting and adventuring. I’m not partial to the bard class of characters (weird, I know), but I’ve always wondered what shopping for a Bard might look like? Wizards shop staves and magical foci, Warriors look at axes and armor, Clerics might browse for healing poultices and herbs for when their mana is low. Bards shop…another lute? That’s how I came up with this story!
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