Here are the characters we've discussed for the bard band RP.

Emerald - Vocals, Guitar, Lyricist, Composer
Jack - ???
Pitchpipe - Guitar
Rhagar - Bongos
Wycliffe - Vocalist, Drummer, Guitarist

A thought: Their quest is to form the perfect band. And who knew doing so would be so dangerous? After all, they will want backup in their band.

Here are some characters of mine currently not in the band, but could be (either as backup or actual band members) due to musical talents:

Alexis - Flute
Angel - Vocals, Harp/Lyre
Antoinette - Piano/Harpsichord/Keyboard
Billy - Vocals, Guitar/Lute, Lyre (Is a bard)
Carla - Vocals
Katy - Drums
Liberty - Guitar
Maverick - Vocals, Bass Guitar
Nicholas - Violin
Pan - Panflute
Reverie - Vocals, Lyricist
Rocky - Harp/Lyre
Saint - Violin/Strings
Sunshine - Guitar
Timothius - Vocals, Keyboard, Composer
Velocity - Vocals (Is a bard in 4E, but not in 3.5)

Notes:

-Emerald is a well-rounded musician who can write her own music and lyrics and actually dabbles a little in other instruments besides her voice and a guiter (mostly JUST able to play them, but not fantastically). She plays guitar decent and sings really well. If the best singers are a 10, Emerald is an 8 or so. Emerald has a decent range, able to sing Enya style to Metal style.

-Angel is a decent singer, almost as good as Emerald. She plays the harp well also, but not quite as well as Rocky.
-Antoinette is able to play any classical piece on the piano and can play some things on a church organ as well.
-Billy is the best singer I've ever made. One of those guys who just happens to hit that certain special note where tears are forced from your eyes. When it comes to his lute, he mostly strums, nothing special.
-Carla has an amazing voice, on par with Emerald, though not having Emerald's range.
-Maverick sings like a choir boy for a professional boy's choir. Think Lord of the Rings soundtrack.
-Nicholas is almost as good at the violin as Billy is at singing.
-Reverie's singing is OK. Passable, but nothing to get excited about. With lessons, could learn to be a backup vocalist. But poetry flows from her such that she speaks in rhyme just to keep herself in practice at all times. She could talk normal, but chooses not to.
-Rocky is beautiful at the harp, but is very embarrassed about it because he feels it's a "girl's" instrument. Still, he plays it to relax.
-Sunshine is pro level at the guitar. Able to play Dragonforce stuff.

I had been giving this game some thought for the past few hours, and while cast IS important, there were some other aspects I thought we needed to discuss too.

1) SETTING: While I enjoy fantasy, there are times when I need something else. With a an RP based on a band, I believe we could use the 4E (or 3.5, whatever) rules in either a steampunk or cyberpunk setting. Both of which allow for the fantastical to still thrive, and stage shows would rock!

2) CLASS: If we were to use 4E as our rules setting and have four bards in the party, while initially funny, I believe it would probably get old after a while. However, I do believe that there must be at least ONE bard in the group. Whether that bard is lead vocals or the percussionist, the bard would fulfill the leader role that all groups require.

3) PERFORMANCE SKILL: Should we have one? Or do we hand wave it? I guess it depends on whether it will be used in game.
Will we have a stage performance that we need to have x amounts of successful rolls opposed to y amount of failed rolls? Star Was Saga Edition calls these 'Challenges', which are a way to determines their degree of success or failure.
For example: The band is in a dive bar, it's their first gig. The owner has offered to compensate the band by giving $1000 of his earnings (he's been known to make $10000+ in one night). As it is, the bar only has a few patrons, but soon the neighborhood will be filled with paying customers. Who gets these customers? Usually the bar with the best music. The band will need to score three successes of a DC 15 or higher in order to earn their $1000. For every 5 points over the DC, the band will earn an additional 10%. However should they fail a roll by 10 or more, their pay is reduced by 5%. Accumulate four failures before the three successes, and the band gets paid $0. Each band member MUST participate in this challenge.
"So, who gets the skill?"
We could decide with a roll of the dice. Or by what role you are. In any case, only half the characters should have the skill as a class skill.

If I were to choose a single character for myself, I would choose Wyclef. I have yet to play him, I only created him when I was creating Pitchpipe. At the time the rock-out style of Pitchpipe was just calling my name, but now the sweet steel drum is beckoning me. Wyclef would be a vocalist, drummer and guitarist.  I know for sure he's a dwarf, but class is still undecided, it depends on the roles everyone else chooses.

(I was trying to create this game under my name but was having difficulty. Thanks Tim for getting the ball rolling.)

Thanks for the thoughts. I edited Wycliffe to reflect what you said he plays. I'm game for either steam punk or extreme futuristic (like ultraviolet or some such).

For perform, I think we should have a "BAND" pool skill that is modified by the band members. After all, a band has to play well together. We should also have Reputation to reflect the band's popularity! :)

I hear you on "all bards in 4e would soon get old". If only one of us is a bard, I vote for Emerald because she practically exemplifies the bard class. Maybe it's time we break down and teach 3.5 or Pathfinder to Joe so we can all be bards for hilarity. Thoughts?

I thought the whole point was "a team of bards."  Meaning, you know, a team of bards.  So... we're going to have a ordinary team then?  Who just happen to have musical talent?  Eh.

Also, thought this was going to be a one-shot.  Not an epic, "build an entire board for it" type multi-module adventure.  I'm fine with that if I'm not the one stuck making the plot.

If it's short, I'll run it.  Steampunk.  Probably will have a "battle of the bands" type plot.  Only some bands want to cheat so you have to fight them off from doing their nefarious evil sinister machinations.  And maybe there's an even bigger evil lurking in the shadows.

But yeah.  Jack is made of "I don't know."  Was thinking that he'd have multiple different personas he can turn into to fill whatever roll was needed.  Anime girl with long green pigtails if a keytar is needed.  Piano needed?  Guy Smiley form.  Death metal vocalist needed?  Orc.  Etc.

As for having a "skill" that is needed for skill challenges, no thanks.  One of my least favorite things about 3.5 is it's skill system.  Do not want.  4e is fine without it.

I only say no to an all bard team if we do 4e, there's just not enough versatility. Pathfinder, on the other hand, offers multiple portrayals for an all "bard" team, as we'd each have something unique to bring to the table. Plus, if it's a one shot, it would be an opportunity to introduce a "new" system.

As far as length goes, maybe we could try trading off. You know, like rotating.

Ok so I'll give my own conditions:

We run 4e, I will have a PC.
If someone else is running 3.5, I'll have a PC.
If I'm running 3.5, I will not have a PC.

Here's why: building a 3.5 character is 15 billion times more effort than a 4e character (yay software!) that only gets worse with each new level.  So if on top of building a story, encounters, etc. I have to put in piles of effort to create a character, it stops being fun.  My one exception (only it's not) is the 3.5 game I run for David and Matthew where I have a GM PC paladin that I completely BS.  I don't have a charsheet for him.  I had one for a different GM PC at one point because Tim built it for me, but then changed my mind on using that char.  I just fudge everything the new char does.  For example has yet to fail an important diplomacy check to keep the PCs from getting themselves executed.  (Half dragon half goliath monk, outcast draconic sorcerer bastard of a prince, half alligator half dragon...  in a world where dragons are considered EVIL.  Because they are.  They needed the help.  And no, he's not invincible.  Nearly died in the 2nd day.)

So yeah.  Having to build a story AND a character is not what I consider fun.  I'd have given up on 4e long ago if not for the char builder software.

Then we're decided. We'll teach Joe Pathfinder and I'll run.

I repeat: PATHFINDER

Nice as 3.5 is, there are WAAAAY too many options for even the likes of "game rules dissecting" Joe to swim through on such short notice, which he would need to download PDFs for since WotC has done such a thorough job of destroying all book-resources of 3.5 on the internet. In contrast, Pathfinder has this beautiful website: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/

And, ironically, Pathfinder has more options as far as class build than 3.5, even with fewer books. So. Pathfinder.

Well, I did express an interest in learning Pathfinder (if not 3.5 )sometime.  So now is as good a time as any.  I'll be somewhat busyworkish until 6-7 today but then I'll be around.  Will work out a Terdisas post right now though if I'm up like I think I am.

Well I'm excited about playing a bard now. There's lots of archetypes to choose from, all of which will work in this band-style rp. It's difficult to pick just one archetype, but I am going to go with the Sandman. I think the sneaky, tricky and guile of the class works best for a Jamaican inspired bard. Though Street Performer came in a close second. So I will begin working on him tonight. I'll assume level 1, as we need to make this a "learning as we play" game.
If Wyclef could be added to my list of characters on here, that would be great!

Added Wyclef.  :)

Working on a concise pathfinder character sheet / creator for use with open office Calc.  Very happy with the progress I've made.  Here's a copy of what I've accomplished so far.

https://docs.google.com/open?i...FfiCzS3pya1oxbGdKdnc

The big deal is the collapsible rows.  All the dynamic updating of stuff is just icing on the cake.

Looks pretty good. Though with the "test" chars info already in it, it's hard to tell what parts are editable, and which parts will be automatically generated. Is there a way to add in some drop down menu's for the character classes, etc.?

There is... but I don't know how.  So I'm stuck with the user having to enter the class abbreviation manually in the skill sheet for looking up class skill lists and number of skill points, etc.  I color coded the fields that the user can edit green.  Dark grey are fields with formulas in them.  Left all the other stuff alone as guidelines to help me with designing it.  Finished fixing the skill sheet.  Here's the latest version.

https://docs.google.com/open?i...FfiCzeUdFNGhHR21BekE

Next up will be a sheet for armor, weapons, and gear.  (ARG!  Inventory!)  But it's kinda important to have that done for the sake of armor penalties, AC, attacks, and whatnot.  Finally, I plan to put imbedded instructions in it.