The Bard's Tale is an action/role-playing game in which the player takes on the role of the Bard – a sardonic and opportunistic musician and adventurer, driven by carnal rather than noble pursuits. The Bard is not interested in saving the world, his humble motivations are strictly "coin and cleavage."

A truly non-linear game, the player chooses the Bard's responses towards other characters he encounters with either 'snarky' or 'nice' dialogue. Each choice changes the course of events in the game. The action takes place in medieval times in a land based on the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland – the inspiration for many of the classic fantasy stories.