Musical Inspiration Challenge 2! Part 13: The Gonzo

We’ve encountered Blind Guardian before. They’re a lyrical metal band. I’m a fan, that’s why they’re on my iPod. They weren’t free, incidentally, I had to buy the album for this one.

Well, our lyrics..

High in the sky where eagles fly
Morgray, the dark enters the throne
Open wide the gate, friend
The King will come

Blow the horn and praise the highest Lord who'll bring the dawn
He's the new God in the palace of steel
Persuade the fate of everyone
The chaos can begin, let it in

So many centuries, so many Gods
We were the prisoners of our own fantasy
But now we are marching against these Gods
I'm the wizard, I will change it all

Valhalla, deliverance
Why've you ever forgotten me
Valhalla, deliverance
Why've you ever forgotten me

Valhalla, deliverance
Why've you ever forgotten me
Oh, Valhalla

Valhalla, deliverance
Why've you ever forgotten me
Valhalla, deliverance
Why've you ever forgotten me

Valhalla, deliverance
Why've you ever forgotten me
Oh, Valhalla

Magic is in me, I'm the lost magic man
Never found what I was looking for
Now I found but it's lost, the fortress burns
Broken my heart, I leave this world
All Gods are gone

So many centuries, so many Gods
We were the prisoners of our own fantasy
But then we had nothing to lead our life
No, no, we can't live without Gods

Valhalla, deliverance
Why've you ever forgotten me
Valhalla, deliverance
Why've you ever forgotten me
Valhalla

Oh, Valhalla

Valhalla, deliverance
Why've you ever forgotten me
Valhalla, deliverance
Why've you ever forgotten me

I looked into the song a bit, and haven’t been able to find out who the hell Morgray is. I’m not sure if he’s some ancient Scandinavian guy, or from one of Blind Guardian’s own cryptic canon.

The song itself however is also up for interpretation. Is it about an ancient norseman seeing his religion supplanted by Christianity? Is it about rebelling against the gods? Is it a mournful paean to be welcomed into the halls of endless mead and pork?

That’s semi-irrelevant to us. I say semi-irrelevant, because the purpose of the Musical Inspiration Challenge is to be inspired by our songs. And from listening to this one, and reviewing the lyrics, I’ve decided that this song ties in with our bad guy.

Now, we keep revisiting him. I’ve revised him twice now. But, we’ve always kept to the core (the core we developed back with “Dread and the Fugitive Mind”) that he’s torn between the desire to be free to act as he wants, but tormented by the fact that a final arbiter may or may not exist.

Being rejected by your after life is practically the definition of religious or existential horror. Perhaps, our villain was an accomplished wizard who followed the paths of necromancy but did so with the desire to resurrect the dead to fight forever, in what he perversely thought was an homage to the halls of his undying godly master where the brave fought forever.

He then died himself, and found himself rejected as a poisoner and coward, and sent back, with no explanation. And so he arranged for the old refuge for old heroes to be built, so he could demolish their hopes and dreams, and see if the gods who rejected him would come down and take him, either to destroy him, or at last welcome him into their heaven for contesting against them.

In that way, our villain is both monstrous and tragic. He wants to enter into a world he’s dreamed of, and which has been justly denied him, and so he tries to deny others, while simultaneously trying to find a way to sneak in himself.

Also, I’d add on an actual Valkyrie. Some similar outer planar being trapped somewhere within his euthanizing house of horrors, which he holds in the hopes that one day she will carry his soul to his ‘just reward’ and who is tormented by seeing him grind heroes and warriors into despair and dust.

A ready ally, and also something to add to the ‘gonzo’ nature. I mean, taking on a fear focused lich-viking-doctor running an evil old folks home with a beautiful buxom blonde warrior goddess by your side exhorting you to not give up hope, seems fun to me.

I Understand, You're Still A Jerk

Villains are a tough thing to develop. They’re a really tough thing to develop in tabletop.

I’d argue they’re hard to make work in tabletop because they’re difficult to keep alive, but that’s a subject for another post.

They’re also tough because a good villain requires an emotional investment, and well. As I’ve stated, that’s something you can’t really ‘compel.’  And a lot of bad writers, bad artists and bad adventure designers, try to force it.

A bad guy you can connect to, is one who has a better chance of grabbing onto the heartstrings. Or more to the point, villains and antagonists have as a defining part of their function, the need to provoke and represent things about the protagonist/hero.

Batman’s rogue’s gallery, at least the better parts of them, are mirrors on him.

Bane is a representation of Batman’s preparation and skills, turned to thuggish brutality by his baser aims. A sort of warning to Batman when his high minded crusade turns to an ideal of self satisfaction.

The Riddler is a representation of Batman’s skill with the mind, and skill as a detective, but twisted and pushed to the nth by a desire to show off his intellect to the detriment of those around him.

Two-face is a representation of the duality of Bruce Wayne and Batman, except when those two forces are adversarial and thus pulling someone ‘in two directions, ‘as opposed to the unity of purpose between Bruce and his alter-ego.

And so it goes.

But again, that’s a villain in writing. And way too many DMs try to emulate writing. See, in tabletop, you don’t control the characterization of the hero and the villain, just the villain.

The way the player views the hero might also be tricky to determine, and a lot of players don’t appreciate when someone tries to make clever narrative asides about them. Therefore, a better angle is to harken back to the antagonistic angle.

The villains’ jobs thus become to be warnings along a road, as well as threats to overcome. They’re catalysts the heroes can use to better define themselves. Whether as shining incorruptible knight or tempted anti-hero, bad guys serve to provide that ground work.    

And to accomplish that, you need two things.

Firstly, the villain’s modus operandi and goals need to be sensible.

Secondly, the villain needs to be a villain.

Lack the first, and you have an evil underwear gnome. Lack the second, and your players have either little reason to enjoy beating the guy, or might even feel bad about it.

I hate how it seems every post of mine turns into a Matryoshka doll of other posts, but I’d rather unpack those two ideas a bit more in their own threads.   

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.