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Author Topic: Songs and Games  (Read 773 times)

Sigmund

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« on: October 03, 2006, 09:06:52 PM »
Just heard John Fogerty's Old Man Down the Road again, and was thinkin' the "Old Man" sounds like he would make a great npc... probably for a modern fantasy/conspiracy game (like Dark Matter).

What other songs are great for inspiring characters and/or scenarios? I'm not talking theme music, but songs with evocative lyrics that bring to mind great ideas for adventures and characters.
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David R

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« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2006, 11:55:29 PM »
"Vehicle" by the Ides of March (I think) inspired a whole arc of my Unknown Armies campaign and a few pcs if I remember correctly.

Regards,
David R

Dominus Nox
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« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2006, 12:05:12 AM »
"Veteran of the psychic wars" by Blue Oyster Cult.

OK, probably before most of your times.....:rolleyes:

"See me now, a veteran of a thousand psychic wars. I've been living on the edge for so long where the winds of limbo roar."

"wounds are all I'm made of.."

"I'm not sure that there's anything left of me."

"we've been living in the flames, we've been eating at our brains."

"You see me now the veteran of a thousand psychic wars, my energy is spent at last and my armor is destroyed."

"How dare you say this is victory?"
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Pebbles and Marbles

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« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2006, 12:46:12 AM »
A point of trivia about the Blue Oyster Cult song above:  The lyrics are the work of Michael Moorcock.  I've seen claims that the song is specifically about the character of Jerry Cornelius, but I've never seen confirmation on that.

The phrase "veteran of a thousand psychic wars" shows up in a Hawkwind song from 1975 titled "Standing on the Edge of Time", which was one of several tracks by the band that had lyrics written with Moorcock:

   
We're standing on the edge
The edge of time
And it is dark, so dark on the edge of time
And we're tired of making love
We are the lost, we are the ravaged
We are the unkind
We are the soldiers at the edge of time
And we're tired of making love
Where are our children
Where are our fathers
Where is our desire
And it's cold, so cold on the edge of time
Where is our joy
Where is our hope
Where is our fire
And it's cold, so cold on the edge of time
We are the the lost, we are the forgotten
We are the undying
We are the soldiers at the edge of time
The veterans of a thousand psychic wars
We are ths soldiers at the edge of time
The victims of the savage truth
We are the soldiers at the edge of time
And we're tired of making love
 

fonkaygarry

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« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2006, 01:08:04 AM »
It's a soundtrack song, but I always found the theme to the film "Dikij Vostok" (The Wild East) evocative and just a little wistful.

If I could find it on mp3 (I long ago gave up on finding the original Soviet-era EP) I'd use it for traveling music in a heartbeat.

For the most part, though, music I like isn't much for the RPG vibe.
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Sosthenes

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« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2006, 01:53:40 AM »
I once had a disastrous mini-adventure using Queensryche's "Operation: Mindcrime" album in a Cyberpunk 2020 setting. Not that the basic idea is all that bad, but I didn't do enough prep work and got some plot holes in a criminal investigation...

Apart from that, I once made up a whole campaign arc by randomly playing a mp3 directory and jotting down the titles or other lines from the song. Worked out fine, as this was playing in the Forgotten Realms (using GURPS) and the directory had quite a lot of silly Power Metal in it. I have fond memories of the "Bridge of Death" adventure ;)

I've still got some notes about a campaign start based on Rainbow's "Stargazer", currently set in Kalamar.
 

Pebbles and Marbles

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« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2006, 04:36:45 AM »
I've never borrowed anything from a song in the way of plot, or even a character.  However, I have often borrowed bits of imagery and stuck them in games.  In an old Planescape game, I borrowed some of the imagery from "The Carpet Crawlers" by Genesis, if anyone's familiar with that.  And from Brian Eno's "The Fat Lady of Limbourgh" for the same campaign.

More obliquely, I've made casual reference to things in the "Gamehendge" song cycle by Phish in a few games, though I don't think anyone noticed.
 

Settembrini

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« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2006, 06:23:29 AM »
I once made a gigantic planetary landing with full scale TL 15 Warfare and deep meson sites out of

"The Queen and the Soldier" by Suzanne Vega.


that did rock!
If there can't be a TPK against the will of the players it's not an RPG.- Pierce Inverarity

Volkazz

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« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2006, 07:37:14 AM »
A friend is writing an Unknown Armies arc (or series of one offs) based on the Murder Ballads album from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

V.
 

Bagpuss

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« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2006, 07:42:14 AM »
I have been reliably informed that Eberron's campaign setting was in fact part inspired by Kylie's version of the "Locomotion".
 

flyingmice

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« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2006, 08:33:16 AM »
Bah! I write my own! From FTL Now - in the style of Dave Matthews

Ghost Ship

On the landing pad the/Cracks ran through the concrete
Tri-sedges pushed up to the stars
Cold wind whispered whining/Sedges rustled ratlike
Holding the mark where weʹd gone too far
Our ginger sun slid under/Dim and dark horizons
Launching black shadows across the gray
And as the stars lit lightly/Tracing the course completed
Fingering footsteps along the way
In the starlight glimmering
Soft and shadowed and shimmering
Finned and frosted
with the breath
of another older day
With my heartbeat hammering
Breath all steaming and stammering
I could see her
I believed her
Not forgotten but delayed
But then the mist it parted/Through it the night wrens darted
My dreams dissolved back to mist and tile
No one had sent her screaming/Through the stars all streaming
No one remembered the motherʹs child
In the misty moonlight/Hopeless hope demanded
Shaping a ship from the shadowed dark
Tricks of the light and longing/Tricks of the heart and hoping
Making of moonlight a battered ark
Yet in the starlight glimmering
Soft and shadowed and shimmering
Finned and frosted
with the breath
of another older day
With my heartbeat hammering
Breath all steaming and stammering
I could see her
I believed her
Not forgotten but delayed


From Cold Space Orbital Platform Diving (Waiting for the Shoe) - in the style of David Bowie (Serious Moonlight era)

I can’t get up, no... and I can’t get down
Can’t get out of bed in the morning, I’ve just got no charm
But that’s a horse of a different color, one that I can’t ride
I can’t go back, I’ll fall in the crack that splits my aching pride
I’ll find a smile, walk the tile, shave my hairy face
Drink a strong cup of coffee, and step off into space
(And I’m waiting) - I’m just waiting for that shoe to drop
(Waiting) I’m just waiting for that shoe to drop
(Waiting) I’m just waiting, (Waiting) Anticipating
(Waiting) I’m still waiting for it, (Waiting) Anticipating waiting
(Waiting) I’m just waiting for the shoe to drop
Just don’t feel like it, but I know I’ve got to go
Feel like throwing the whole thing over, make believe I run the show
There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and I’m the cat that’s skinned
Standing here while they work their knives, asking “Where was my sin?”
While the world turns over, underneath my feet
I’m hung like a pearl on a string of beads between the cold and the heat
(And I’m waiting) - I’m just waiting for that shoe to drop
(Waiting) I’m just waiting for that shoe to drop
(Waiting) I’m just waiting, (Waiting) Anticipating
(Waiting) I’m still waiting for it, (Waiting) Anticipating waiting
(Waiting) I’m just waiting for the shoe to drop
Maybe one say I’ll head for home, strap my pack on my back
And take a dive for the ocean, though I know I’ll never get wet
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him think
And while I’m headed for the waves, I’ll have some time to drink
I want to go in a glory, step past the speed of sound
Etch a trail across the skies ‘til my ashes hit the ground
(And I’m waiting) - I’m just waiting for that shoe to drop
(Waiting) I’m just waiting for that shoe to drop
(Waiting) I’m just waiting, (Waiting) Anticipating
(Waiting) I’m still waiting for it, (Waiting) Anticipating waiting
(Waiting) I’m just waiting for the shoe to drop


-clash
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