Music

Here's a completely original statement - music is a great source for inspiration.

Okay so maybe not an original statement, but everyone has there own things that really set their mind turning. I was thinking, while I was doing some writing, just how important what it was that I was drawing inspiration from was. I wanted to toss some things out.

Starting with something a little higher class - nothing stands out more to me for science-fiction than classical music. This is obviously the most pronounced for the space opera and even hard sci-fi, but it spreads into other things as well. For whatever reason, electronic or synthetic music tends to come across as too on-the-nose once your setting is in the sea of stars. Mahler specifically was apparently a favorite for the LotGH music editors, so I've gotten to hear quite a bit of his work through that.

I would have to say that fantasy almost goes in the opposite direction twice in this regard. Perhaps its out of an appreciation for the more gonzo material, but I'm quite fond of anachronistic, electronic sounds when dwelling on fantasy materials, almost as much as I appreciate folk music. But what really makes me "feel it" is blending those elements together. Kaoling, the composer/song-writer whose album cross-fade is up there, stands out quite strong in that regard. Her Vocaloid tracks (like The Wind Extolling Freedom) might not stand out as well for those not as accustomed to the pitch, but the compositions are stellar.

More in the same vein as the above. The previous was a Japanese producer who likes to use a made-up language (seemingly based a little on Welsh) for harmonies in Celtic music. Here's Celtic music from a Chinese (or Chinese-Canadian) producer with Japanese lyrics over it. Whatever else globalization has brought us, it does wonders when you're talking about our species-wide mutual appreciation for music.

Jeremy Soule gets a lot of praise for his musical work, with TES as a series being one of the most notable in the video games (though I'd say the original Guild Wars was some of his best work). But when it comes to actually running things at the table, the older games in the series are the ones that really stand out in this regard. If I know that Skeletons are going to be coming out, I make a strong point of keeping their Daggerfall sound-files on standby.

The only music allowed on Halloween (designated night for one-shots where the maps are drawn side-view instead of overhead) is music from Castlevania.

"Arthurian legends", "folk music", and "Heather Dale" all tie pretty close together for me. There's other artists in the folk genre, but her specific niche aligns perfectly with my personal interests. The occasional SCA song helps brings back childhood memories, too (I'll probably never forget that damn rooster song the camp bard used to play while all the adults were smirking at us).

I have to imagine that power/symphonic metal is one of the most known of genres in the fantasy gaming community. I have no citations for that but it strikes me as likely. Bringing it up doesn't really highlight anything new, but I would have to say that anyone who enjoys the genre should check out the Unknown Power Metal channel. It's a good way to sample a lot of smaller bands, with tracks ranging from Middle Earth FRP to LotFP in terms of intensity.

It's hard to talk about strongly evocative music without bringing up the progressive rock genre. Though a track like Grendel has an obvious fantastical connotation - and I really love this song - there's a lot of things that can be found. Lamb might not have made it to the silver screen, but I have to imagine that a worthy adventure layout could be made out of it. Though I'd be hard pressed to convey a good Slipperman voice without permanently damaging my throat in the process, so maybe it's not the wisest idea.

Dragon's Dogma (which is also an excellent game) has a great soundtrack full of bits and pieces that make good table-use. There's only a few tracks I would mix in for just the listening (Coils of Light for easier listening, as an example - and that's not even an instrumental!), but the individual bits and pieces? Almost all great for playing in the background. I'd worry a bit if some of the fight tracks weren't a bit too 'exciting' to pull out at every turn, but the above track is almost synonymous with Griffon in my mind.

And then there's dungeon synth. Great for the table, great for reading, great for the workplace. While this isn't a comprehensive list of things that I bring up for inspiration, it's a pretty good sample, and this track makes a great conclusion. If there were any big takeaways I could give from here, as in "most obscure thing relative to the hypothetical reader of this post" it would probably be Kaoling, whose works have been one of the biggest contributors for the last month or so to the music I keep playing near constantly. The workout playlist is another matter.

Backgrounds, and also a Name Change

I didn't like the former name for the blog, so I went with a change, since it's still so early in the process. This should do a better job of reflecting the FRP theme. So I think that's pretty cool.

Game Related

In terms of game projects, my normal gaming session is current subject to a hiatus. Which means that as far as game materials are concerned, all there's been to do has been to write. One of the major sub-projects that came up recently was trying to make a better background generation method. Here are a few points guiding me:

• Even a 1st Level Fighter is a Veteran. Even a 1st Level character has already seen some shit, and spent a good part of their life training to that point.
• Following the above, rolling for a background should not look like rolling on a list of professions. The class of a character already informs their professional skills. Further skills should reflect those learned during that path of career progression.
• No skill sub-systems. Therefore, whatever "skills" are noted should be things that can be described in under a sentence and have minor impacts on the game, if they do anything at all.
• The material needs to be randomized and supplementary to basic character generation. It should be an optional element of a game system.

The closest thing to emulating a number of these features is the Traveller character generation method (specifically CT in this case, what with the whole old-school theme) - something that can be tacked on with the same ease as making three or four extra rolls (little more than determining starting cash) while also being easily expanded upon. Since there isn't a statistic for social class built into the D&D style of character generation, I've determined to instead patch in a modification of the Arduin background generation. The whole project still needs to be smoothed over a lot more, but a copy of the work so far is pasted here.

Besides this, I've been cleaning up the main game rules document and refining the classes. The linked CryptPad file lists what appears to be a lot of classes, but thats's a bit of a misnomer. What I've been doing instead is working with the framework used to create kits in 2E to generate sub-classes that trade offer up certain advantages or restrictions from the standard classes. I wouldn't say that they're inherently balanced, but I think that's okay (if you rolled that Charisma 17 and can put up with being committed to the Church and Crown, you deserve a freebie, Paladin). It has the additional perk of allowing "race as sub-class" which removes the need for a section on race selection and firmly frames the game as "majority human" while requiring less tables and being more flexible than "race as class". Hurrah for simple solutions!

Non-Game Related

I'll have to add Ergo Proxy to my list of top shows (both television and animated) - and probably no less than top five when it comes to that. I worry a bit going into shows like it because of the risk of entering into the "2deep4u" problem. It's not an accusation that worries me a great deal, simply considering that quite often, shows get that label without really deserving it, especially when you start looking into the psychological genre. That's not the case here - so long as you pay attention, even the most ridiculous episodes or scenes can be puzzled out within a few minutes. It manages to have a few exciting action sequences, but this never where the highlight is, and only come across as the occasional bonus. One other thing of note is that rather than being the typical child character tossed in by some lazy writer as way to make the plot happen by screwing things up, Pino ended up as my new benchmark for 'well written child character' in media.

Ironic that the AutoRiev ends up more of a real girl than some child actors.

The only problem is that it's hard to talk about the show without giving away something. There's a reason the OP for the show doesn't kick in until a few episodes into the series, and even by that point, it still gives information away (in theory - this will be viewer dependent). It's a strong work in the psychological and science-fiction genres, and if you know a bit of philosophy or religion, you'll get a few extra bonuses along the way. As for where this intersects with gaming - the middle episodes provide a lot of great examples for encounters that go outside the normal 'monster with a statblock', and it's hard not to feel the gears in your head turning when you see a lot of the show's setpieces and technology.