Instruments (Objects Help)

'Yes', said Pippin. 'Well, yes, well enough for my own people. But we have no songs fit for great halls and evil times, lord. We seldom sing of anything more terrible than wind or rain. And most of my songs are about things that make us laugh; or about food and drink, of course.'

'And why should such songs be unfit for my halls, or for such hours as these? We who have lived long under the Shadow may surely listen to echoes from a land untroubled by it? Then we may feel that our vigil was not fruitless though it may not have been thankless.'

~ Return of the King

Instruments in Arda are designed to aide the travelling bard, providing a place to record written songs, play them later, write them down for fellow minstrels, and finally memorize other books. Instruments are available in many places; some may be bought in a shop, some are available as quest rewards, and some must be pried from NPC minstrels' cold dead hands!

Regardless of the way you came in possession of your instrument, they all work the same:

Song composition

To compose a song on one's instrument, you would type:

    > compose <name of instrument> <song title>

Keep in mind that the title is case-sensitive.

You will then be prompted for the words to the song. The maximum lines allowed in a song depends on the instrument used. For instance, you would only be able to compose and play short chants on a drum, whereas a long ballad can be performed on a lute.

If you leave a blank line in your song, this separates one stanza from another. Each stanza will be played one at a time, allowing the audience time to read and absorb the song. Each stanza may only be 8 lines long.

You are only allowed to know forty songs, for all instruments, at any one time.

To list all songs that you have composed or otherwise memorized, type:

    > songbook <instrument name>

If you no longer desire to know a song, the syntax is:

    > forget <instrument> <title>

Performing songs

To perform your songs, type:

    > play <instrument name> <song title>

Or alternatively (to perform a random selection):

    > play <instrument name> 

Because all good musicians need to practice, you can rehearse your songs to yourself by typing:

    > rehearse <instrument name> <song title>

You will perform your selection a stanza at a time, with a pause between each verse to allow you to catch your breath.

There are a few customizable features of the instrument system that can change the output of your songs:

• song color - You may set the color your songs appear in, as the default is random. You can choose the color in the 'color' command menu.
• song/introduction - Sets the introduction message. You can set this variable with the 'set' command, or through the 'settings' menu. The text you write here will be appended to your name when you start singing. For example, setting it to "takes a deep breath and sings" will make others see: "Yourname takes a deep breath and sings in Westron:". If you do not have this set to anything, the default message from your instrument will be used.
• song/interlude - Sets the interlude message between stanzas. As with the above, use 'set' or 'settings' to change this message. The text you enter here will be appended to your name. The default interlude message is "plays an interlude on his/her <instrument name>."
• song/finish - Sets the finishing flourish message. The resulting text received by listeners is "Yourname finishes his/her song <song/finish message>.". The default value for this setting is "with a flourish".

If you decide you no longer wish to play a certain song, (perhaps it has become inappropriate), you can type:

    > halt <instrument> 

to halt the music.

Songbooks

If you run across a blank songbook in your travels, you can "write" your songs for other bards to learn from:

    > write <instrument name> <song title>

To memorize a book of songs that you have received from someone else (or looted from an NPC), you would type:

    > memorize <instrument name> <songbook> <song title> 

for a specific song, or

    > memorize <instrument name> <songbook> 

to memorize all the songs in the book.

Broken instruments

If you overuse your instrument, it may break and become unusable. Should this happen, though, you shall not despair - you can repair your prized possession in at least three music shops about Arda.