The Bards College questline deserves a proper mod overhaul

I've been thinking about this a lot on my current playthrough. The Bards College is such a weird missed opportunity. You get three radiant jobs that feel disconnected, then suddenly you're fighting a sea creature nobody warned you about, and then it's over. There's no actual character arc, no real sense of progression through the college itself.

Has anyone found a mod that actually expands this? Not just adding more quests (though that'd help), but like, restructuring it so it feels like you're actually becoming a bard instead of just running errands for Inge Six-Fingers. The college has all this potential for roleplay—regional songs, teaching you about Nordic cultural stuff, maybe tying into the Bards Guild lore from Oblivion—but vanilla Skyrim just leaves it hanging.

I know EnaiSiaion did a bunch of overhauls but I'm not sure if any of them touched the Bards College specifically. Would be curious if there's something out there that actually makes joining feel like a real choice instead of just another checkbox questline.

I don't think there's a comprehensive Bards College overhaul out there that does what you're describing, tbh. There are a few mods that add quests or expand the college's role in the world, but nothing that restructures the whole thing into a proper progression arc like you want.

EnaiSiaion's stuff is mostly focused on combat, magic, and perks - not really questline territory. You might find some smaller mods that add individual quests or NPCs to the college, but I'd be surprised if any of them tackle the core problem you're identifying, which is that the vanilla questline itself is just... thin. Three jobs, a dungeon, one boss fight, done.

Honestly the Bards College feels like it was designed as filler content. Which is frustrating because you're right - there's real potential there for someone to build out a proper faction questline with actual character moments and progression. But that's a massive undertaking. You'd basically need to write and implement an entirely new quest chain, add voiced dialogue (or find a workaround), and make sure it doesn't conflict with the existing radiant job system.

If you're desperate for something, you could look for mods that just add more flavor to Solitude or the college building itself - atmosphere stuff. But for an actual overhaul? I think you might be out of luck on this one. Could be a cool community request though if it doesn't exist yet.