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.

Musical Inspiration Challenge: Part 9: The First Encounter

With Or Without You by U2

This begins a long march for me. The march of having to figure out 1.) Encounters inspired by music, and 2.) Encounters inspired by what is for the most part very soft music. In a way, I find the challenge somewhat welcoming, but pop music doesn’t especially lend itself to inspiring a fun time of sword slinging.

Still, let’s proceed as before. Onto the lyrics.

See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side
I wait for you

Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
And I wait without you

With or without you
With or without you

Through the storm we reach the shore
You give it all but I want more
And I'm waiting for you

With or without you
With or without you
I can't live

With or without you
And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give

And you give
And you give yourself away
My hands are tied

My body bruised, she's got me with
Nothing to win and
Nothing left to lose
And you give yourself away

And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away
With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you
With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you
With or without you

///

Well, a good sixty percent of that song is just Bono going ‘With or Without You,’ or ‘And you give yourself away’ but that’s typical for pop. Still, let’s unpack this.

I mean hell, I salvaged something useful from a freaking instrumental about Walruses, I’m not going to be stymied by this.

The song’s primary meaning is about a troublesome love affair (I think) with the whole crux being on the ‘I can’t live with you or without you,’ and so on. If we pull away the deeper meaning and work on just the superficial though, we can potentially get something out of this.

There’s a mention of a storm that makes it difficult to reach shore, this is obviously intended to be interpreted in a non-literal manner, but we’ve got a magic walrus statue to contend with, and a ramshackle pirate outpost. So let’s examine our current situation..

There’s a terrible storm inbound.

The party needs to find our magical Walrus statue.  

They need to get INTO the formerly pirate, now Hellknight infested compound.

We’ve previously established that there’s a jerk hiding down in town who used to be the boss of this place.

So let’s assume that the guy we were inspired to create from when we were looking at ‘Pirate song’ tells the party there’s  a sneaky way in, past the teeth of the defenses, but it requires moving along tough tidal areas, on a sheer unpleasant cliff face. Furthermore, the route was originally abandoned because..

Now see, the “because” is the important part. We need a creature here. And the song’s theme thankfully provides that. Sleight of hand, romance despite itself, touched with our salty air theme. A siren, or a nereid, or even a hag. Some creature that relies upon misdirection and charm, who lives down there in that clashing unpleasant brine filled craphole (that’s even more treacherous with the storm coming in).

So our party has to deal with an aquatic temptress and her enchanted minions, while contending against the weather, slippery conditions and potential risks of drowning.

Seems like a good first encounter set piece to me. Also, the chaotic tumult might help to serve as a good counterpoint as we move less pirate and more Hellknight, watching the destructive chaos of the storm contrast against the destructive order of the Hellknights.

Phew. Two more encounters to go.

Musical Inspiration Challenge Part 2: Our Contestants

Well, let’s begin this poorly thought out challenge idea for an adventure.

I realize I should’ve thought of a way to determine level. Whoops.

Song 1: The Inspiration

A Sound of Thunder, by A Sound of Thunder, from the Album “Out of the Darkness”

This is going to be tricky.

Song 2: The Antagonist.

Never Be Mine by Kate Bush, from the album “Sensual World.”

..not making this easy, huh, iPod? Also yeah, I listen to Kate Bush. I’m old and she’s awesome.
 
Song 3: The aim of the conflict.

Computer Eyes, by Ayreon from the Actual Fantasy Album.

…oh boy. I probably shouldn’t have made this Pathfinder.

Song 4: Why should the players care?

Losing You, by Dream Evil from their Dragonslayer album.

This one should be easy. 


Song 5: The theme of the ‘dungeon.’

Pirate Song by Alestorm from the Black Sails at Midnight album.

Ok, I think I can work with this.. And getting an idea. Alestorm and Kate Bush, yeesh.

 
Song 6: The first complication.
Where is the Walrus? (Instrumental) by Alan Parson’s Project from Stereotomy.

An instrumental titled after walruses. Its ok, Spook, its ok. This is a dumb idea, but WE’LL POWER THROUGH! BWAHAHAHA!

Song 7: Encounter 1.  The first of our encounters.

With or Without You, by U2, from the Joshua Tree Album.

 Well, I’m certainly glad that in my iPod library, with all of the heavy metal I have, it chose the slow pop song by U2 for our encounter. Wouldn’t want to make this easy, would we?

Song 8: Encounter 2.

If I Could Change Your Mind by Alan Parson’s Project from The Definitive Collection. It’s certainly from a real album, but not on my iPod. Artwork on the video looks like its from the album Eve.

Ok, so two out of three of our encounters are now based on easy listening pop and progressive, and our antagonist is based on Kate Bush. I don’t think that this is going to be a barbarian overlord.

Song 9: The Climactic Encounter.

The final battle. THE CLIMAX. Of our opposition against our Kate Bush themed bad guy, and our other encounters involving U2 pop songs and soft 70s prog rock.. We get..

The Evolution of Circuitry by The Megas, from the Megatainment album.

And once again, hrm. Ideas!
Song 10: Reward.

Jonas Psalter by Styx, from Pieces of Eight.

That’s disturbing for its implications about rewards, but..

Song 11: Our Second Complication!

The First Man on Earth by Ayreon from The Universal Migrator.

Even weirder.

So, to summarize what I have to try to form a cohesive story and adventure from..

1.)    Inspiration: A Sound of Thunder by A Sound of Thunder.
2.)    Antagonist: Never Be Mine by Kate Bush
3.)    Conflict: Computer Eyes by Ayreon
4.)    Why should the players care?: Losing You by Dream Evil
5.)    Theme: Pirate Song by Alestorm
6.)    The First Complciation: Where is the Walrus by Alan Parson’s Project
7.)    Encounter 1: With or Without You, by U2
8.)    Encounter 2: If I could Change Your Mind by Alan Parson’s Project.
9.)    Climactic Encounter: The Evolution of Circuitry by The Megas
10.) Reward: Jonas Psalter by Styx
11.) The Second Complication:  The First Man on Earth by Ayreon

First impressions. Apple’s shuffle function is ass. Two Alan Parson’s Project songs and two Ayreon songs in a selection of 11 out of 2,704 musical tracks.

Second impressions. Pirates. Jonas Psalter and Pirate Song are both about piracy, pirates and privateering.

So at the moment, we’re looking at piracy as a potential thing. In our next post though, let’s start unpacking our candidates and see what we can do with them.