Last week, I had a wee think about using narrative songs to plan and play a roleplaying game. I gave an example as well, using Riptide by Vance Joy. I said that part 2 would feature another few examples. Since then, I’ve had a chat with a few folk about the concept and, as it turns out, this is something that is already done pretty well in other places. Kai Poh linked me to a few examples from Itch.io.
Extant Examples
The first is God Damn Them All, based on Stan Rogers’ song, Barrett’s Privateers. This is a journalling game. I didn’t really know what a journalling game was until I had a good look at this one. Conceptually, this is really cool, and the song totally sets the tone for the game, which is what I hoped when I wrote my first post last week. This is really interesting. Here’s the song upon which the game is based:
Next up, following this more obviously narrative song, I was given a link based on a more familiar and less obvious song, Jolene. Dolly Parton is truly a complete legend, but I hadn’t thought to use this song for a game. Let’s just remind ourselves of that awesome song before we go into what this game involves:
This game turns the titular Jolene into a figure that is both monstrous and magnificent. Through flattery, pleading, bargaining, and dissuasion, it is the player’s role to convince Jolene not to take their man. With optional rules for rhyme, singing, this one-page PDF is an absolute delight. I really recommend taking a look.
In the last of the three links I was sent, the Eagles’ classic Hotel Californa has been given the surrealist horror treatment in this third offering. The song has obvious surrealist overtones, and it’s cool to see someone picking this up and really running with it.
I haven’t read this game yet, but it does sound interesting, and it seems there’s a little more meat to it than there is in the other two games. Strangely, it’s actually based, ruleswise, on a mech game, of all things. It does sound really cool
Erik, author of the Unpossible Journeys blog corroborates the potential horror of this song:
“I am still traumatized by Hotel California. Many years ago I was stuck on a bus driving all night from somewhere in Holland to the middle of (then) West Germany. The driver had one cassette tape, which he played to keep himself awake. Yes, it was the Eagles album that featured Hotel California. Several hours of that on endless repeat was pretty meta, actually. Stuck listening to a song about being trapped.”
In discussing the previous post with others, I actually realised that I’d already done this. Back in 2016 I ran a pop culture-heavy game of Dread.
As part of the climax of the game, players are hunted through a wooded area by the actor, Shia LaBeouf. This was lifted from Rob Cantor’s song, Shia LaBeouf, often called ‘Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf:
It actually went really well. The song is a somewhat silly one, but it’s fun and it gives a lot of detail for you to use in building your scenario. There’s also a lot of room for fleshing it out further and really expanding on the whole concept.
Potential Examples
Now, getting back to the original plan for this post, let’s take a look at a couple of songs that we could use as the basis for more scenarios. We will begin with Bad Romance by Lady Gaga.
In this song, Lady Gaga sings about a toxic and obsessive relationship that she can’t escape from. The lyrics are full of dark imagery and twisted emotions, as she describes her lover as both her savior and her captor. The music video for the song also features a variety of bizarre and surreal visuals, such as a bathtub filled with black goo and a group of dancers with alien-like prosthetics:
This song could inspire a scenario in which the players take on the roles of characters who are caught up in a similarly twisted and dangerous relationship. The game could explore themes of power, control, and obsession, as the players navigate the dark and unpredictable landscape of a relationship.
The game could be set in a modern-day city, where the players move in the same circles as an NPC with whom they have a significant relationship. This could be a wealthy and influential individual who holds power over them, or someone who is simply very charismatic and alluring. The city itself could be full of dangerous secrets and hidden agendas, where the players must constantly watch their backs and navigate the intricate social hierarchies of their peers.
Each player would create a unique character to play, who is caught up in a complicated and volatile relationship with the same partner, whether in a romantic, professional, criminal, or other context. These characters could have different professions or backgrounds, such as a struggling artist, a wealthy socialite, or a powerful politician. Each character would have their own motivations and secrets, which could either help or hinder the other players in their goals.
The game’s plot could center around the players trying to navigate the ups and downs of their relationship with the partner, who would be an NPC controlled by the GM. The relationship would be full of dramatic twists and turns, with the partner exerting their power over the players in a variety of ways. This could include emotional manipulation, physical violence, or blackmail.
The game could be structured around a series of scenes that represent different interactions with the partner, such as a lavish dinner party, a heated argument, or a secret rendezvous. The players would have to use their wits and skills to navigate these scenes and achieve their goals, whether that be escaping the partner’s control, gaining their favour, getting revenge, or simply surviving.
As the game progresses, the players would start to uncover the partner’s true intentions and motivations, which could be much more sinister than they initially thought. The game could end with a final confrontation between the players and the partner, in which they must use all their resources and cunning to finally break free from their grip. The game could end on a bittersweet note, with the players either escaping to a new life or becoming trapped in a never-ending cycle of desire and danger.
For the gameplay itself, if you’re looking to use an existing system, I have a few suggestions:
FATE and Fiasco are solid systems that I recommended in the previous post. These are still very much usable for this game for much the same reasons. The flexibility of these systems makes them very adaptable, and they are both systems that reward solid roleplay and social play, rather than just throwing around dice and technical rules-mongering.
Dread, which I mentioned earlier in this article, is also a good contender here, given the tension that you will be looking to build. It has a player elimination element, which can put some people off, but you can’t argue that it’s the perfect system for building suspense. As the Jenga tower that the game uses in lieu of dice gets closer and closer to toppling, the effective GM will ratchet up the pressure in the relationships that form the basis of this game, heading towards the climax of the falling tower.
Finally, the social aspects of this scenario, including the undertones of desire and despair make perfect fodder for one of my favourite games, Vampire: The Masquerade. This relationship could easily take the form of a controlling elder and his vulnerable childer. It could be the prince of a city and the neonates that find themselves under his rule. Blackmail, psychological abuse, criminal intent, power dynamics, politics… they all have a home in VTM.
One last thing to consider on that note is that this type of game does have the potential to be upsetting to some players. I’d consider choosing your group for this game very carefully. Gaming should be fun. I’d find this experience very interesting and thrilling, but I’ve not had the same life experience that others have had. This said, in addition to considering the composition of your group to avoid picking open obvious wounds, I’d also consider using the X card to ensure that you’re also not hurting anyone in less obvious ways.
An X card is just a simple little mechanism by which someone can non-verbally indicate their discomfort with a particular topic or event. It signal the GM to take a pause, back up a little, or just stop until this can be resolved or avoided. I know this is a controversial topic in some circles, but this game seems like exactly the potential emotional minefield for some players that the card was created to address. To learn more, Roll 4 Initiative has a good video on the topic.
For a more traditional RPG adventure, we can turn to songs such as The Heavy’s Short Change Hero.
Short Change Hero is a bluesy rock song with a gritty, western-inspired sound. The lyrics describe a mysterious and enigmatic figure traversing a hopeless place, as shown by the oft-repeated lines from the chorus, “This ain’t no place for no hero” and “This ain’t no place for no better man”. The song has been used in several popular media, including the video game, Borderlands 2, and the TV series, Suits.
This song could inspire a tabletop roleplaying game about a group of characters who are hired to track down and bring in a notorious outlaw who has been terrorising a small town. The game could be set in a gritty, dusty frontier town, where the players must navigate the seedy underbelly of the criminal underworld to find their quarry.
The players would create characters with skills and abilities that would be useful in the pursuit of the outlaw. These characters could include a grizzled bounty hunter, a charismatic con artist, a skilled tracker, or a ruthless gunslinger. Each character would have their own motivations and secrets, which could either help or hinder the other players in their goals. I feel that, given the oft-repeated fact that this is a land that is not one for heroes nor for ‘better’ men, players would often be faced with choices that should challenge and hopefully break their moral codes.
Plotwise, the game would revolve around the players tracking down the outlaw and bringing them to justice, while navigating the dangers and challenges of the frontier town. The players would encounter crooked lawmen and desperate townspeople, as well as rival gangs who want the outlaw for themselves for a variety of reasons.
Structurally, the game would be based around a series of scenes that represent different encounters with the outlaw and their associates, such as a high-stakes card game (possibly played as an actual card game, rather than proxied within game rules), a dramatic showdown in the town square, or a tense ambush in the wilderness. The players would have to use their wits and skills to outsmart the outlaw and their allies while avoiding (or embracing) danger and staying one step ahead of the law themselves.
As the game progresses, the players would start to uncover the true motivations of the outlaw and the forces that are driving them to commit their crimes. The game could end with a final showdown between the players and the outlaw, in which they must use all their resources and cunning to finally bring them to justice. The game could end on a triumphant note, with the players hailed as heroes for their successful mission, or on a more ambiguous note, with the players questioning the morality of their actions and the justice system they serve. I really like giving players enough rope to hang themselves.
Let’s look at the systems I’d consider for this game:
Blah, blah, blah, FATE. You know I love it. You know it’s hella flexible. It would work really well with the intended moral decisions that I’d want to feature in this game. I’d want players to really set out their character’s morality and red lines in their aspects, and then have them really play into thoise aspects as the game goes on.
I feel this would work really well.
Another option is to incorporate the song and the scenario above into a game of Deadlands. Thematically, I think Deadlands would be a good game to use here. It’s already got the western vibe. I feel the game gives you loads of opportunity to explore morally questionable choices. The Savage Worlds system is also a solid, proven, flexible system. I think this would work really well.
And that’s us for this post. I think I might return to this idea in the future, as it’s fun to think through different scenarios and whatnot. I also need to explore the wealth of other games that people have already done based on songs.
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