Gaming with Music, on Ezzin

I'm writing this in response to a question I saw over at Jeff's Gameblog.

My Dreaming Gods campaign is still in the brainstorming stage.  I'm planning to experiment with a lot things in the land of Ezzin, but making more use of music is one that I am particularly excited about.  You see, I want music to influence magic in strange ways, but I'm still tinkering with the magic system too.  Maybe groups of singing monsters can produce magical effects?  I also want to tie music to the alignment system and the various beliefs about Dreaming Gods themselves, like this...

Law - Sing soothing music and lullabies to the Dreaming Gods, because life is easier when They slumber peacefully. These people believe that their world will cease to exist if the Dreaming Gods wake up.

Neutral - Some might make music to mimic the sounds of nature.  Others might be attempting to raise the awareness of the Dreaming Gods so that They become lucid dreamers.  Some zealots might even demand silence at all times, perhaps even attacking anyone who speaks above a whisper.  Still others might not care one way or another, or refuse to believe in the Dreaming Gods at all.

Chaos - Sing loud, and/or badly.  Metal music goes here, as do most of the Dwarves of Ezzin.  These people attempt to awaken the Dreaming Gods with high volume, a lot of percussion, disjointed rhythms, dissonant chords, and the sounds of war.  They believe that Ezzin will become a paradise once the Dreaming Gods wake up.

Along this train of thought, some of the "magical artifacts" brought from the dreamlands will be things like boomboxes and ipods, which some people will interpret as having religious significance.  So, you might have a cult dedicated to Dio the Metal Lord or some such.

I was also thinking of having a troupe of NPC Dwarven bards called "Zed Leppzin".  They have learned songs from one of these artifacts, and play them on magically enhanced instruments/tools of destruction.  Their renown is legendary.  They are on a neverending tour of the lands, leaving a string of shattered and liquor-less Dwarven cities in their wake.  I giggle uncontrollably at the thought of the party of PC's defending a city full of drunken, partying Dwarves besieged by an army of orcs while the notes of the Immigrant Song ring throughout the city.

However, I still have concerns about music lyrics being too distracting during games. So I am considering equating racial languages to real-world languages...

Common = English
Elvish = Portuguese
Dwarvish = German
maybe,

Then I could use music sung in those languages to represent folk music of different races.  This might work if everyone at the table is a dummy like me who only knows how to speak English.  Then I could get away with having an elvish singer named Seu Jorge join the party, just so that I have an excuse to play some David Bowie songs sung in Portuguese (this one too).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not entirely convinced that using so much music at the gaming table is wise.  However, I feel that the potential for awesome is too great to ignore.  I'll be posting on this topic again, once I have something substantial nailed down.

What do you think?

American Jukebox

I've recently discovered that the Library of Congress has set loose a National Jukebox upon the interwebosphere.  It is full of historical recordings, mostly 78 rpm discs from the Victor Talking Machine Co. converted to the digital.  These are all now streaming online and freely available.  Huzzah!

Perhaps I am more enthused than most, I love the hiss and clicks of these turntable recordings.  It makes them feel more real somehow even though the sound quality is worse.  I can hear them singing out from past, not polished and smooth but unedited and gritty.  Listening is like stepping back in time for a moment.

"Pictured here is an acoustic recording session conducted in the era before microphones were utilized for recording. Music and speech was funneled through recording horns, which in turn vibrated an attached diaphragm and stylus, thus etching the sound waves onto a rotating wax disc.  At launch, the Jukebox includes more than 10,000 recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925. Jukebox content will be increased regularly, with additional Victor recordings and acoustically recorded titles made by other Sony-owned U.S. labels, including Columbia, OKeh, and others." - About the National Jukebox


I've only just begun to scratch the surface.  There are spoken word recordings such as speeches from President Taft, and many, many songs recorded during the first 20 years of the twentieth century. 

I mention all this on my gameblog because I imagine these recordings might be useful for any GM whose game is set during that time period (Call of Cthulhu anyone?).  Also, the instrumentals might be a source of inspiration for any setting.

My favorite find so far is "La muerte del bardo".  I doubt it would take much effort to work a song named "Death of the Bard" into an adventure.  I don't usually like to play music during the game itself.  However, I do like to have a premade tape or burned CD at the ready.  Then (when the need arises) I can tell the players that a minstrel in the tavern, or bard traveling with the party begins to sing a song(s).  I hit the play button and get up to use the restroom or get a snack.  It's a musical intermission for those who need it, and an auto-pilot DM for those who want to stay at the table and have some in character discussions.

P.S. Oh! My mention of Cthulhu reminded me of other songs.  Anyone who respects the mythos might enjoy "Do you hear the pipes, Cthulhu?" which is set to the tune of ABBA's "Fernando".  Double OH!  There are also the the songs from the parody musical "Shoggoth on the Roof".  You can find many of those excellent songs on YouTube if you're interested, but I've never found a decent recording of the play itself.  Supposedly the play is cursed, unable to be produced.  There are some things that man was not meant to adapt to musical theatre.