Once I get off my ass and start writing things past the note-taking stage, I am looking at a series of modules (Olde School, natch) taking their inspiration, but not necessarily the title from my song list.

Example:  Four Little Diamonds, ELO.
Some servant or maid absconds with "a quartet of gems; diamonds, actually" according to the local Baron.  He assures the party that these gems are of trifling value, but have great sentimental attachment, having been in the family for generations.  One was set in the pommel of the family sword, another embedded in a small statue, a third from a battered ring, and so on.  None of the items themselves appear particularly valuable, and the size of the setting in each would indicate a small stone, of no more than 20-30gp value.  The Baron would like the party to recover these for him, and indicates that the servant likely took to the open road to the east.  It has been a day or two, and this servant had a headstart, as she left soon after it nightfall.  His magic-user has been unsuccessfully scrying for her, so he needs people on the ground.

The reward is a few hundred gold each or something, but the Baron indicates he has the local sheriffs out looking as well.  The Baron promises "If the law fails to apprehend this woman, than surely I will do so" with a bit of menace in his voice.  Of course, when the party catches up to her, the servant will claim to be an agent of some powerful good entity, and had to endure horrible treatment at the hands of the Baron to get close enough to get the diamonds back, which are integral to the unfolding plot the Baron is involved in to take over the world, summon a demon apocalypse, or something.  A small and initial step, but nonetheless, a critical one, if it can be stopped.  This is when the Baron shows up on a horse with soldiers and demands they turn the gems back over to him.  No evil cackling or anything, and if the characters refuse, the soldiers kill or seriously injure the servant, engage the party while the Baron finds the gems, and rides back to his manor.  He yells something over his back about aiding and abetting the criminal, and for the soldiers to finish the party off.  The party will have to defeat the soldiers, figure out what to do with the servant, then decide on returning to the manor or not.

This is the first of the series, and ideally each will lead to the next along the line.  In this case, the players will have to discover that the diamonds are some key or element to a portal that contains the MacGuffin for the next adventure, each leading to a more important item, or part of an item, that eventually forms a world-spanning, epic series to save the world/humanity or stop the demonic invasion, or something earth-shattering along those lines.

So, the challenge is thus:  Find a song, more or less follow the plot (changes as necessary) and incorporate some of the lyrics in the outline, or even better, allude to the lyrics in some plot elements or encounters.  

For those unfamiliar with the lyrics:

QuoteSPOKEN:
Is this on?
OK, after four!
Four!

SUNG:
I used to think she was the greatest thing
I really can't give her a diamond ring
She said she'd rather die than ever leave me
Well I never saw her face since then
And if the law don't get her then I will
Four little diamonds

She must be somewhere on the open road
She always said she was the lonely one
She gets you down with her tales of woe
She took me for everything
And if the law don't get her then I will
Four little diamonds

Ooooo
Four little diamonds

I looked around, I climbed up high into the dawn
But she was gone into the night
I thought about the things she said and all the things we'd done
But where could she run
There's just no answer to give

I keep a-wonderin' 'bout her day and night
She probably thinks I was a fool, she's right
She don't know it but I'm gonna keep on searchin for that woman
I'm gonna search everywhere
And if the law don't get her then I will
Four little diamonds

Ooooo
Four little diamonds

I looked around, I climbed up high into the dawn
But she was gone into the night
I thought about the things she said and all the things we'd done
But she ran away
There's just to answer to give

I still her callin' out to me
I still listen for her endlessly
But it never even crossed my mind, she was a cheater
I gotta find out where she hides
Cause if the law don't get her then I will
Four little diamonds

Said if the law don't get her then I will
Four little diamonds

Said if the law don't get her then I will

The bolded parts are the scaffolding on which I tried to hang a plausible story.

A bit long winded, but it leads to my point:  The problem I am running into is that my song list tends towards the somewhat mundane, even though I have a number of tunes I have used to riff some ideas and spun them around my head until they worked out marginally well.

Who has some ideas for me?

Just to clarify, I don't really expect a full write up or anything, maybe just a posting of lyrics and some ideas for using them.

Quote from: StormBringer;249444Just to clarify, I don't really expect a full write up or anything, maybe just a posting of lyrics and some ideas for using them.

I was thinking of trying this tonight when I get home, I need to wrap up my notes for my sunday Unknown Armies game.  I'll post if I come up with anything once I have access to my music library.

Quote from: Idinsinuation;249451I was thinking of trying this tonight when I get home, I need to wrap up my notes for my sunday Unknown Armies game.  I'll post if I come up with anything once I have access to my music library.

Excellent, I am looking forward to it!

I have been running lyrics in my head all afternoon after reading this thread, and I must say the idea is awesome.  Artist that I thought you might want to look into might be Rush, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and even Ozzy has some good lyrics to help further an adventure.  Others might be:

Heart
Cheap Trick
Coheed and Cambria
Train
Cake
They Might be Giants
Weird Al
Etc...

Also if you like songs for certain movies, some have excellent descriptions as well.  I will take a look at some CD's I have and maybe even check out a lyric sight or two, to help with some ideas.

Quote from: Venosha;249463I have been running lyrics in my head all afternoon after reading this thread, and I must say the idea is awesome.  Artist that I thought you might want to look into might be Rush, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and even Ozzy has some good lyrics to help further an adventure.  Others might be:

Heart
Cheap Trick
Coheed and Cambria
Train
Cake
They Might be Giants
Weird Al
Etc...

Also if you like songs for certain movies, some have excellent descriptions as well.  I will take a look at some CD's I have and maybe even check out a lyric sight or two, to help with some ideas.

Excellent!  I will clearly have more ideas than I know what to do with!

Acid Bath - "Graveflower"

Like Murder
Stoned I awoke in your temple
To blackness above you
And death beside me
Where kitchen knives conspire
Razor blades make bloodless love
Like Murder
The ghost of a pale girl is solemnly following me
Pale will she follow me
Into the sea
I feel the flowers screaming
To consume you
Like Murder
Earth and sky your cradle
Earth and sky entomb you
And death beside me
I burrow through the dust
In your skull
But I cannot seem to find your soul
Bloodless and numb
We orbit the sun
Hungry will this pale thing
Follow me into the sea
On the cold side of her face
The reptiles awake
Locust swarm from open mouths
That sing thy kingdom come
While blackness hums
Nothing is true
and I'm tired of your sad today
You're screaming because
There's nothing left for you to say
Bloodless and numb
We orbit the sun
Hungry will this pale thing
Follow me into the sea
Stoned I awoke in your temple
To blackness above you
And death beside me
Where kitchen knives conspire
Razor blades make bloodless love
Like Murder

The players in my Unknown Armies game settled into a motel at the end of last session.  They'd been through a rough night and needed the rest.  One of the players will wake up in the room with a dead prostitute and have no idea what has happened.  Upon moving he'll realize he feels like he's been drugged.  The room also contains a long kitchen knife and razor blades are scattered about.  There's no blood or signs of wounds on him or the dead prostitute.  His clothes are gone.  From there it's all dependent on what he and the other two characters do.

I've got more time to work this out over the weekend.  *shrug*

Very nice.  Sounds like a good start, especially for UA.

"We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun..."

The characters are at the death bed of a beloved friend/relative who is dying young. Before or after he dies, one of the characters detects poison...

"Oh lord, it's hard to be humble...When you're perfect in every way..."

D&D or the like; a divine servant of some sort is planning a coup. All sorts of inspiration around.

"...I've got seven women on my mind. Four that want to stone me, two that want to own me and one that says she's a friend of mine..."

Some poor sap has been engaged to seven women...What? I've been reading Ranma fanfiction...

"Your cheating heart..." I like country and I think this song is sung badly. But...

...He beded, weded and left her - Pregnant. Now this noblewoman is going to deal with it like any self-respecting noblewoman.

She's sending mercenaries after him. Either she'll have his heart...Or she'll have his heart.

Could play either side of that.

Ghost riders in the sky - A characters entire adult clan was damned for a combined act so brutal they were sent straight from life to hell.

Now, the clan wants those who were left to join them...

From Last.fm - Hotel California.

The characters are living the high life. They're riding the top of the world. And all they have to do are a few innocuous errands for a mysterious benefactor...

And here's a plot for it.

The characters were all going to be significant. World leaders, peacemakers, genius scientists, military leaders in a time of need - They were going to change society for the better, on the scale of Martin Luther, Ghandi, Winston Churchill, Einstien...To name four at random.

Except now, they're lazy, pampered and useless. And if they try to change...Well, dead works too.

Quote from: StormBringer;249580Very nice.  Sounds like a good start, especially for UA.

Sadly I didn't get to run it as I left my book at my brothers a few hours away.  Next week it's on though.

Quote from: Idinsinuation;250199Sadly I didn't get to run it as I left my book at my brothers a few hours away.  Next week it's on though.

Oh, it's on bitches!

My next ideas:  Run through the Jungle, CCR; Rio, Duran Duran