Musical Inspiration Challenge 2! Part 12: The Reward

Back in 2014, U2 released an album on iTunes. Probably a coordinated effort between the band wanting their material out, Apple wanting a big story to push their service, and the record company. Still, a free album is a free album. I’d liked U2 previously on their Joshua Tree album, and opted to download it.

The album, Songs of Innocence was supposedly a concept album with the concept being songs based on firsts, first loves, first experiences, and the stuff that made the band come together to create U2. I don’t know the specifics, but I imagine California (There is no end to love) had to deal with the band being in Santa Barbara California at some point.

That’s all kind of meaningless backstory though, the more important question is, how can we relate it to our developing adventure?

Well, onto the lyrics (from azlyrics.com)

Bar-Bar-Barbara, Santa Barbara
Bar-Bar-Barbara, Santa Barbara
Bar-Bar-Barbara, Santa Barbara
Bar-Bar-Barbara, Santa Barbara

California
Then we sail into the shiny sea
The weight that drags your heart down
Well, that's what took me where I need to be

Which is here, out on Zuma

Watching you cry like a baby
California
At the dawn you thought would never come
But it did
Like it always does

Whoa, oh, all I know
And all I need to know is
There is no, yeah,
There is no end to love

I didn't call you
Words can scare a thought away
Everyone's a star in our town
It's just your light gets dimmer if you have to stay

In your bedroom, in a mirror
Watching yourself cry like a baby
California
The blood orange sunset brings you to your knees
I've seen for myself, there's no end to grief
That's how I know

Whoa, that's how I know
And why I need to know
That there is no, yeah,
There is no end to love

Whoa, oh, all I know
And all I need to know is
There is no, yeah,
There is no end to love

Whoa, oh, all I know
And all I need to know is
There is no, yeah,
There is no end to love

Whoa, we come and go
With stolen days you don't get back
Stolen days are just enough

///

The song ties in very well with our idea of the ‘old folks home’ for heroes. We’re using the song for the reward aspect however, and honestly, giving emotional rewards can work, but it requires that we get the players emotionally invested.

And that, my friends, is dodgy and unreliable. In a work of fiction such as a television show, emotional pay off is what it is all about. Still, one of the core ideas in the song is that there is no end of grief, and the singer is making the counter argument that there is no end to love.

Now.

I say emotional investments are difficult, because they are. Making someone feel something is difficult. Evoking an emotion is a big deal, and something that even the supposedly greatest artists cannot do reliably. It is also an act of supreme hubris to assume that not only can you evoke the emotion, but also a specific emotion.

So, while our reward might be the emotional investment of seeing our hero freed from the monstrousity, there also needs to be a tangible reward. In this case, let’s assume that the reward is the facility itself, or even better, the reward is art.

Saving masterpieces and other artwork from say, a bardic hero, has the benefit of being emotionally evocative for the roleplayer, and valuable for the mercenary.

So, let’s say our beleaguered former hero was a musician of some note, as we’ve previously leaned towards. And the reward is rescuing his ancient works, and the works of other musicians and artistically inclined heroes from the villains clutches.