Bard Off

A Bard Off (or Bard-Off) is an ill-defined contest between two musicians to decide which of the two is superior at their craft. The lack of any formal structure or judgement from a third party, characteristic of the typical attitude of bards, indicates that victory is decided simply through immediate mutual acknowledgement of which piece was played better. Presumably, this is an unwritten bardic rule, and any bard worth their instrument would recognize their loss and admit it readily. What this says about the idea that the quality of art is subjective is unclear.

Bard offs are the mechanism by which the Bard Supreme is chosen, but the rules of this too are unclear. Merrius claimed the title by defeating all the bards of the land in bard offs, but lost it to Iago Montéló after one defeat, despite having beaten him twice prior.