Unleash the Archers & RPGs with Playlists
Plus Glass Hammer Follow-up
On the 10th of May, the Canadian power metal band Unleash the Archers will be releasing their new album Phantoma.
The band has delivered three strong singles with videos prior to the full album launch. I especially like the melodic chorus and classy guitar solo in the song “Seeking Vengeance”:
It seems the album will continue the band’s story-driven approach of fantasy and sci-fi inspired songwriting, which band members Brittney Slayes and Scott Buchanan describe in the following video:
The members of the band are tabletop RPG players, and they have streamed some of their D&D sessions:
Pre-order the new album in a variety of formats here.
RPGs with Playlists
In a recent episode of the Dice Breaker podcast, co-hosts Sam Dunnewold and Takuma Okada1 covered using music playlists as an RPG mechanic. Much of the episode was focused on the game Ribbon Drive by Avery Alder. Here is how the game’s use of playlists was described in the podcast:
Takuma: Today we are talking about Ribbon Drive by Avery Alder, which is a game about road trips, about letting go on the open road, and to do that you make playlists, and you share them with each other and play them, and the duration of the game lasts the duration of your combined playlist.
Sam: Yeah, and the playlists in particular are the mechanic we're talking about today, but do you want to tell us a little bit about how they're actually used mechanically in play?
Takuma: Yeah, so, you make the playlists beforehand, you're supposed to make them based on a theme, like you want to have a cohesive theme, but your themes don't have to match at all, they can be, you know, whatever mix you want. In fact, having them kind of clash makes the story more interesting. You bring them to the table. And then we randomly determine the order that our mixes will play in. And once you put the first mix on, you use the two songs to set up your road trip and create your characters. And the first song is kind of like, okay, where are we going? Like what, what is our group's vibe? Like, what is the vibe of this story? What are we doing? And then the second song is used for character creation. And at least one thing from the lyrics has to be pulled directly onto your character sheet. And after that, the mix just keeps playing. You just jump into play after those first songs. And then each time a playlist ends, it's like the end of an act. And then you put the next one on, jump into it, and then once the last playlist ends, then your journey is over unless you finish the game with the alternate resolution mechanic, or the main resolution mechanic, really, before that.
You can listen to the whole podcast episode here:
Glass Hammer Follow-up
Last week’s newsletter covered Glass Hammer’s sword & sorcery inspired Dreaming City album. This week, Lyn Perry's S&S Roundup contained a link to this interview with Glass Hammer co-founder Stephen R. Babb talking about his influences and creative approach as an author and musician. In the following quotes, Babb references several Appendix N luminaries and other noted fantasy authors:
My first literary influence was Tolkien. I’m sure he’s influenced my writing more than any other. Following that, C. S. Lewis, H. P. Lovecraft, Lord Dunsany, and Clark Ashton Smith (and probably a dozen or so more!)
…
One notable thing about those influences I named is that their worldviews are completely opposite. Two (Tolkien / Lewis) have a hopeful view of how things will ultimately play out for mankind. Lovecraft’s outlook is quite grim!
Though my writing flirts with Tolkien’s optimism (it’s there if you look hard), my work is much darker than his. And while I don’t embrace Lovecraft’s cosmicism, I do love the dread it inspires and all the tentacled horrors that come with it! When I combine those optimistic / pessimistic influences in my writing, I hope the result comes off as original.
You can read the full interview here.
Takuma Okada is the author of Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern, which is crowdfunding right now.