Bardic Inspiration: The music that inspires me

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Role playing games and music have been entwined for a long time, in many different ways. Just off the top of my head, there is a Fate world about being a DJ, Void 1680 AM and Ribbon Drive both have you building playlists as part of the play experience, and a plethora of games have the aesthetics and vibes of specific music genres and core inspirational texts, perhaps most famously MÖRK BORG and Ultraviolet Grasslands, though I am sure you could find many more.

The influence of music on play can take many forms, some people listen to music while writing, others play background music to set the scene during play. His Majesty the Worm suggests associating each underworld level with a specific song, as well as using tracks for beginning and ending sessions, for challenges, as well as recurring NPCs. Music can be a terrific tool to set the mood.

In my free-time listening, I experience a bunch of different music, and one of my great regrets is not knowing any music theory. I therefore can't really talk about the music I like with any sort of authority. What I can however, is present a small subset of it, that when I listen to it, really makes me want to write (or play) an RPG inspired by it. Here is a small selection of tracks that make me want to write:

Her Shadow - Poisoned Moon



Soulmuppet have their Sad Vampire Game, this song makes me want to write a Sad Werewolf game. Or perhaps something about witches and curses and the moon. It's good and gets those juices flowing.

Elegi - Den Store Hvite Stillhet



This one is maybe slightly cheating, because it is not only the music that inspires me, but also the excerpts of Fridtjof Nansen's speech in memory of fellow polar explorer Roald Amundsen. It truly evokes the greatness, as well as the bleakness, of the great white polar regions, and the bravery it takes to explore them. I am working on a hack of Snow's Songbirds 3e, and this track, as well as the rest of Elegi's discography, serves as a primary inspiration.

Hexvessel - Son of the Sky

 


I really want to make an occult folk-horror game, and the music of Hexvessel plays a huge role in this. The specific song chosen here is a bit arbitrary: really, any song in their discography activates my Old Gods of England neurons.

Honorable mention: Spiral Skies - Dark Side of the Cross



Slightly different from the rest of the post, this song (and the music of Spiral Skies more generally) does not so much get my writing juices flowing as it makes me just really want to play Ultraviolet Grasslands. Please. Give me the time for more gaming in my life!

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