Bard Songs

Bards don't get too much interest in the OSR from what I can see, not metal enough.  And while I'm not too interested in a Alan-a-Dale type troubadour in a deadly old school dungeon myself, I think there could be room for something like warrior-poets. 

The problem is that resolving music or poetry with an abstract die roll or feat is boring.  To make it interesting I want something actually happening at the table.  Of course we can't expect players to be improvisational poets or to whip out a guitar and start jamming.  Here are two ideas about how you might do it:

Real Songs
Have all the players independently bring in a list of "inspiring" songs or "get-your-blood-pumping" songs, or whatever you want to call them.  The bard player can talk with everyone about what genre of music they like maybe even what bands, but not what songs.  When combat comes around the Bard has to recite some lyrics from a song (maybe a single stanza/chorus).  Every player that has that song on their list gets the boon effects (whatever you decide them to be, probably should be a little better than the cleric chant spell).  This might be clunky but when I imagine the player starting off with "When I see lightning . . " or "Cruising down the street in my six-four . . ." , or whatever, and the players recognize their song getting happy because they realize they are getting a combat boost, I think it would be fun.

But do songs work more than once?  It would be interesting if the bard had to memorize some lyrics from songs they didn't know to get an effect.  So maybe they can only use a repeat after they've cycled through all the songs on everyone's list?  Maybe to simplify, they can never sing the same song in a row?

Patterned Songs
Most inspiring songs tap into shared cultural stories and symbols, but in an imagined world the made up histories and gods aren't going to actually be inspiring (the Ballad of Vecna).  But we do have the shared experiences our party has been through.  You could give the bard templates and have them extemporaneously fill them in at the time of recitation.  Something like:

Hireling Song
Remember ______the _______ who died by/who was  ___________ at _________
Remember ______the _______ who died ___________ at _________
Remember ______the _______ who died ___________ at _________
This battle is for them.

Here a tally of all the lives lost to get where you are grants power.  You might give more bonuses the longer the list.  That would make this song particularly powerful for ill-fated or experienced parties.

Victory song
When the ________ arrayed against us,
and hope was lost amongst us,
we still rose up in triumph because
You [character name] did _________________, and
You [character name] did _________________, and
You [character name] did _________________, and
Now rise up and do the same!

This is more about remembering a recent (maybe the last) victory and recounting it to instill confidence.  Telling which characters got criticals or landed massive blows, etc.  I like this idea because it makes the semi-random events of the gameworld feel more important and historic.

Anyway, some ideas.