Concert Mode

A master bard's music can stop a monster in its tracks - literally. Land a great barding attempt and the crowd may demand a full performance.

Overview

Concert Mode is a rhythm minigame woven into the barding skills. When a true master's Peacemaking, Discordance, or Provocation attempt succeeds against a creature, there is a chance the moment becomes a concert: a lute rises on your screen, a real song plays, and colored notes stream down the fretboard. Play them true and your barding grows far beyond its normal power - falter, and the crowd walks away.

Want no part of it? Type [concert to toggle Concert Mode off (and on again) for your character. Concerts never trigger against players or pets.

Triggering a Concert

• You must be a true virtuoso: Musicianship at its very peak.
• A concert can begin on a successful Peacemaking, Discordance, or Provocation attempt against a creature.
• The more of those three skills you have mastered, the more often the crowd gathers.

When a concert begins, the song's opening plays under a giant 5-4-3-2-1 countdown - get your hands on your keys. The gump always opens in the same spot on the right of your screen.

Playing the Lute

Notes appear at the top of the fretboard and slide down the strings. Play each note as it reaches the bottom row. The five lanes run left to right - red, yellow, blue, green, purple - and answer to the commands [c1 through [c5. Bind them to five keys before your first concert; clicking the bottom sockets works, but keys are the instrument.

• Notes follow the actual melody - when the tune climbs, the notes walk toward purple; when it falls, back toward red.
• Chords are real: when the music sounds two notes together, two buttons fall together. Press both keys at the same time - the timing window is forgiving.
• Every press flashes its button bright so you can see your own playing.
• Wrong-lane presses are sour notes and count against you. Mashing is a fast way to end a show.

Keeping the Crowd

A concert is played in roughly 20-second verses. Keep your accuracy high and the song carries on to the next verse; let a verse slip too far and the performance ends on the spot. Songs run their full length - three or four minutes for the long ballads - so a complete performance is a real feat of endurance.

Perfect Verses

Every verse played perfectly - every note hit, not one sour - stacks power onto the ability that started the concert:

And with every perfect verse comes the bardic explosion - a crescendo of pure sound that tears into your target, scaling with your Musicianship and your standing in the Bard class. A show played perfectly end to end is a killing performance in the most literal sense - golden music notes pour off the performer while a disco ball drops onto the victim as the crescendo lands.

The Sanctuary

The show must go on: while you perform, a calming aura radiates from you, soothing nearby creatures so stray spawns don't cut your song short. Creatures you've provoked are unaffected - your victims keep brawling - and bosses are far too proud to be lulled by background music. But note: while a boss shrugs off ordinary barding, a master's playing can still draw one into a concert - the show itself is the one performance they respect.

Everyone within earshot (about ten tiles) hears your song in place of their own music. Play well; you have an audience.

Not in the mood for a show? [concertmute toggles other players' concerts off for your character (it sticks until you toggle it back). Performers always hear their own song.

The Songbook

The shard's songbook is a growing collection of medieval renditions - from traditional lute and pipa pieces to bardcore takes on songs you might just recognize. Each concert draws a random song from the songs you know, and every chart is note-accurate: the buttons follow the actual melody, the same note is always the same string, and busy riffs are exactly as busy as they sound. New songs join the book regularly.

Every bard starts with three songs: Pipa, Wake Me Up, and Cream. The rest must be learned.

Sheet Music

The remainder of the songbook is locked behind Sheet Music - a Mythical Rare drop, the same top-shelf loot tier as the rarest dyes. Each sheet is for one specific song and is named for it: find a Sandstorm Sheet Music and that is exactly the song it teaches.

Double-click a sheet to learn its song permanently - it joins your concert draw from then on. If you already know the song, the sheet is not consumed, so spares keep their full trade value for a bard who still needs it.

Songs currently found only on Sheet Music: Africa, Got High, Paranoid, Pumped Up Kicks, Sandstorm, Sweet Dreams, Toxicity, What Is Love, and Blinding Lights.

Tips

• Bind [c1-[c5 to a comfortable row of keys before you ever proc a concert - the countdown is your only warmup.
• Missing a note is recoverable; sour notes stack up fast. When in doubt, don't press.
• Chords just need both keys down within the window - close counts.
• A failed verse ends everything, but the stacks you already earned keep working on the target.
• If concerts aren't your thing, [concert turns them off entirely.