Musical Inspiration Challenge Part 12: The Reward

Jonas Psalter by Styx

Oh boy. For all the songs we could have gotten regarding rewards for the players, we get this one.

Jonas Psalter dates back to when Styx, a band renowned for broadway style arena rock, was still trying to be a progressive hard rock band in the venue of folks like Hawkwind.

As to why this song gets my eyebrows up, well.. In case you didn’t listen to it back in post 2..

The lyrics

///

When Captain Jonas Psalter
Sailed his ship to sea
Anne Bonny kept him company

The skull and crossbones flew
Above the ocean blue
The captain's men were a pirate's crew

The ships they sought to take
Were of the Spanish Main
A gift from Ferdinand of Spain

And though you rob and kill to find your dream
Your crimes are hardly what they seem

Tortuga held the treasure of a thousand kings
So Jonas planned to steal everything

Two hundred men stood guard
Around the fortune's nest
But Psalter's steel slew all the rest

And when the smoke had cleared
And bloody bodies lay
Everyone could hear the minstrel play

Woo woo Jonas Psalter
You've captured every prize
There is to dream of in one life

And so we wonder why
We found you in your bed
With that bullet in your head

///

Yeah. It’s about a man who lives on the edge, eternally attempting to gain what he’s seeking, and ultimately failing. Having supposedly accomplished everything a person in his profession could, he still finds himself empty, and kills himself.

Our reward song, folks!!

Also, hilariously, has the pirate theme going for it.

So, since the reward represents what our heroes find waiting for them at the end, what do they get? Well, the obvious response is, they get the pirate booty that’s in the old stronghold. Treasure, glittering gold, precious baubles. And they’ve stopped the HK commander’s plans but..

There is no going home again. Between the storm, the brainwashing and gas lighting, they’ve lost their hometown forever. Oh, it’s still there, and parts might remain, but it will never be the same again.

They’ve ended up in a situation similar to the Hellknights, defeating evil, but losing something precious in the exchange, and it’s up to them whether to become lost to nostalgia, or to move on.

On the upside. Piles of pirate booty!

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.