Sounds..brutal.

>Questing through the lost tomb of Jimi Hendrix
I would like to know more

>>4852115
Well, actually, I intended to have a class which built up power based on brutality of previous shit.

You just shot a guy with a gun: enjoy no powers...
You just dropped a tower of speakers out of a plane onto your enemy, while riding it down Angry Marine style: Enjoy having access to the most brutal spells I can think up.

Basically, it's one of those "creativity is encouraged" classes that I love to GM for

Good anime, OP.

I'm kinda working on something similar myself really.

I got a bug to do a Princess Tutu campaign, so now I kinda need a system where I can turn dancing into combat, mix it with actual combat, and then have a string pulling writer of a BBEG, who you defeat simply by giving his plot the finger.

>>4852148
Think about it for a second...
If music held that kind of power, would you leave the instruments and clothing of a badass like that where everyone could find them?

Also, the entire damn thing is probably going to be full of some sort of supernatural "purple haze". After all, the weed had to be named after SOMETHING. Imagine battling your way through a drug trip where your delusions could tear you appart

>>4852149
So, "I wear kevlar" is punished, while "I deflect the bullets while spinning my guitar and channeling the power or rock" is rewarded?

I LIKE THIS SYSTEM

I wish to know more.

>>4852166
Yeah... anyone have any ideas on what I should use for this?

The only systems I'm familiar with are 3.5 or DH (don't turn this into a 4e vs 3.5e shitstorm. I flat out don't care about that)

I kinda think 3.5 might work for it, but I could see how DH might work too.

>>4852187
Yes.

For the record, the class is meant to be borderline suicidal. You will get some stuff to help you survive this stuff but basically it's up to you to not die. But yeah, setting your guitar aside and treating a group of velociraptors like a moshpit will pretty much cause you to become so fueled with brutal metal that the next thing you pour it into is going to go off like an atom bomb. Especially if it IS an atom bomb.

You might try Night Life for this one. Interesting systems.

For one. Number of fans WILL be important. If you've seen Black Heaven it's the same basic deal. Fan's add to your groove, and when you're in your groove, you're a god.

Which is going to lead to shit like realizing you can't beat the other band as is, so you switch to your back up plan, leading your insane hyper loyal klokite... err... fans, in a full on charge to the enemy's fans

>>4852226
>setting your guitar aside and treating a group of velociraptors like a moshpit will pretty much cause you to become so fueled with brutal metal that the next thing you pour it into is going to go off like an atom bomb. Especially if it IS an atom bomb.

Yeah, I'm on board.

Alright, let's talk mechanics.

First of all, I would advise that you study various forms of music. Techno, Country, Rap, Metal, Classical, Opera, etc. These would make wonderful foundations for Classes.

Next, you'll want to concentrate on the concept of a Band being a central part of gameplay, both in numbers and stories. There should be the element of Synergy, perhaps even making it a proper stat. Members of a band should focus around some kind of central theme, and each play their part. Core Class Abilities should be kept very simple for the sake of making it easier to combine them.

Potentially, you can assign one of a few tags to an ability. Support, Lead, and Harmony are three examples off the top of my head. Lead could be the focus of a Group Attack, focusing it at a target. Support can directly boost the power of the Lead, working to set the pace and rhythm of their piece. Harmony can be for larger scale things, designed almost exclusively for group attacks. Orchestras and Barber Shop Quartets come to mind.

These are a few things to think of. Let's get the ball rolling, guys.

>>4852260
Cool. First thing... we need a system.

And an explanation for velociraptors.

There needs to be a summoning class. (Though I definitely intend to do this like D&D where you can multiclass.) Since most "classes" would involve entirely different applications of your music, alot of them may involve switching between styles or even instruments.

I like the idea of a summoning style for the drummer. Just imagine, the most metal war drums in history calling forth horrors right off of badass album art

>>4852287
Really, what I'd like to do is get this done for metal. Make a good solid system, basing the existing abilities around metal but making them general enough to be modded. Then /tg/ can do its usual getting shit done routine for any sort of music they care to use.

I wish to play some kind of techno-metal psychopath, I wish to be able to play a concert on top of a speeding passenger train, which music will turn into some kind of giant mechanical laser dragon.

>>4852291

I propose that we take familiar concepts such as Summoner, Wizard, and Cleric and apply them as some kind of Template or Talent Tree that most (if not all) of the Genre-based classes can take. That way, someone with a hardon for Bass Solos can call forth a wave of Afro-clad Roller Skaters without having to take Celtic Fiddle or some such.

Though Celtic Fiddle would be kickass.

Could includ record labels as a home base.

Different labels give different bonuses/perks.

>>4852287
Right now, core stats:
Strength (required for moshing)
Toughness (see above, also, keeps you from being a lightweight during drugs/alcohol.)
Synergy (Required to keep with the rest of the band when shit goes down, will probably work like wisdom/int (gonna be a major stat for drummers and bassists))
Charisma (gets the fans/band fired the fuck up. Vocalist is gonna max the hell out of this one)
Dexterity (seems like it's be fucking important. Probably going to be one of the max stats for your guitarist(s))

>>4852108
Sounds like a good concept but I fear you might be retarded after reading your examples. Ask your personal assistant to help you with designing the system if you indeed have autism.

>>4852329
I like that. But go on further. They should basically be cults. Think about that for a second. A bunch of hyped up metal bands, banding together to gain the favor of metal gods and destroy everything in their way.

Then we get into interesting fluff region with existing shit like the Knight's Templar and the Illuminati running their own labels

>>4852287
>>4852310

Alright. How about this? We make a multi-layer system that doesn't depend upon a single genre of music to develop.

"Class" could be the Genre of music you play with
"Talent" could be a combination of your instrument and role in the band. (Lead, Support, etc)
"Style" could refer to your visage, stage presence, and the way your performance alters the world around them. This can be how people chose fantasy concepts such as Summoner, Tank, Healer, etc.

But that's raw mechanics talking. We can get shit done and let our imaginations add color and fluff to things.

>>4852329

I like this idea. It's how we could add some kind of Clan or Semipolitical system for groups of bands who share a common goal or enemy.

>>4852362

I'm gonna ask, OP: How much (background) knowledge of music would one need to play this?

>>4852362
Nope, just insanity. And yeah, I did intend that shit to be way fucking over the top. This'd start with garage bands in what are essentially gang wars over who's gonna play the local bar on the weekend and shit like that

The more experience you have, the more genres you can play and master.

>>4852367
its sad that i recognized exactly where that cat was from while scrolling down the page at a rather fast pace and not stopping except when i reached the end, and decided to post this comment i'm writing right now. or rather was writing (when you read this)

Perhaps you should start by thinking what kind of characters you would like to play, or imagine someone wanting to play, so you can figure out what people would want, and how to incorporate it.


"You are surrounded by the Heavy Heads of Gorestring. What do you do?"

"I set my guitar on fire and cast DEVIL HORNS!"

"The bonus to your fellowship is high enough! The Heavy Heads are swayed over by your Metalness, and agree to Rock Out with you into the Lair of the Pophand!"

>>4852396
Yes.

>>4852411

And Groupies. Let's not forget Groupies.

>>4852368
Less than I have. And I play bass (and not even well by bass standards). Basically, if your GM requires you to retarded esoteric bullshit, forget it.
Your guitar breaks, what's wrong with it? Fuck it, roll to fix it, no one wants to know whether it's the pickup or what.
It's out of tune? Roll to fix it.
It's meant to be fun, not a music lesson.

>>4852365
I'm willing to work with that. One thing though, your instrument and role would be liable to influence what styles you'd be given access to. Otherwise they'd be entirely aesthetic and if the instruments are just there for fluff then we lose out on great gear opportunities. I now cite:
"Excalibitar"

>>4852411
I saw that in my head
It was pretty awesome

The crowd is not worked up enough. I release the fire ants from my Ant-farmitar onto the crowd.

>>4852386
Yeah, but we're gonna need a good cross class system to work with this that should probably be implemented later. Because metal needs opera singers

This does sound rather neat. So are you planning any fluff or background for it or is it just "modern day + power of music = awesome"?
Because if music is that powerful I'm guessing it should somehow play an important role in the world. Despite that however, would there be any non-music characters? Would they even be viable? I mean like managers, fans, cosmeticians etc-etc, or would they be npcs?

>>4852149
Your idea is awesome. Enjoy your scribblefaggotry.

>>4852425
Damn straight we need groupies

Let's get genres hammered out to begin with:
Techno, Country, Rap, Metal, Classical, Opera
is what's been listed so far.

I'm thinking that we should go with the idea to have classes (talents) open mostly to everyone (with a few specialties here and there (ex: opera will not get special mosh pit talents for obvious reasons)). Mostly, genre will probably decide instruments, gear, and restrict labels/fans

Ex:
Techno will get the ravers
Metal gets metal heads
Opera gets high society (along with crazy cash flow and influential connections)
Country... I don't wanna say hicks with guns but... low income, white Americans... with guns...

So I really fucking love this idea and my run with it myself.


The problem I see with people point other music types as classes is, I'm not going to lie, who the fuck is playing the techno kids?

I would go FULL ON METAL with this. And there are so many different kinds of metal. Work within the different metals.

Other genres ARE THE ENEMY. Metal shall slay this new shitty emo monster. We shall over throw our long time slave master "classic rock" and destroy others in our ways. We will loot the relics of the metal empires long ago.

Two good examples for types would be European Viking Metal and then Math/techmetal. I wont drop band names cus I dont want people arguing about it. You flesh out each genre, taking them to the extreme and bringing crazy shit to them. Compare them with their cultures and run with that.

The Viking metal guys would be brutal as fuck, super strong and worship the metal gods like a cult. The Math metal guys are pseudo intellects, who write music to portray and solve math problems and mysteries of the universe. I would say as far as unlocking secrets of our world.


I'll think of more..

>>4852481
NPCs. There's a reason it's called "All Bards". You flat out can't compete without music.

On the other hand, those are totally going to be skills you could get on your character. And there's nothing quite like getting assaulted by another band and finding out your manager plays a mean fucking fiddle when shit hits the fan...

hey new guys

/tg/ did this a while back already

it was made of post apocalypse and using rock to save the world

>>4852428

Alright, cool. Now then, let's work further with Statistics and how they work. Here are some ideas.

Speed: Determined by adding Dexterity and Toughness. Determined how fast you can play by merit of your stamina and your quick hands/lips/etc. Each type of Performance Ability has some kind of Time value, and you can perform a number of actions per turn until their combined time equals your Speed. Of course, you can play a bit less or none at all if you want.

Linking Actions: I say we use a simple ABC system, or whatever you want to call it. Attacks have a trait of A, B, or C, and as long as you follow a preset pattern of AABBCAC or CABCBA, your band can perform a specific Group Action. Not the best worded example, but basically it would be some kind of system of tagging abilities to see how well they synergize. Simple combos can take one turn of each person playing into it. Epic things can take multiple turns.

Alternative Hit Points: While we can add some sort of Toughness based thing to see how long someone can last, I say we focus less on "lowering" numbers and more on building them. Well made songs can have some sort of numerical value that grows as its played, perhaps to determine how much the Crowd likes it. As people build songs, the value goes up based upon the value of the performance and the synergy. There could be a target number that the first song to reach wins, or maybe whoever has the highest at the end of a turn limit, or something else entirely.

>>4852521
>it was made of post apocalypse and using rock to save the world
What?

With how you're describing it I doubt this would work for anything but rock. This really shouldn't be called a music based game at all because music is more than rock, and especially more than guitars. I don't see any way you could combine classical with this.

That isn't to say I don't like rock; I play the drum set along with orchestral percussion. I'm really not sure how you'd incorporate notation into any of this, especially since most people that like rock and play it know jack shit about theory. It just sounds like one big rock wank fest.

>>4852501
I was worried about this. Dude, Metal will be one Genre. I know that's not really right but it's the only way to keep it simple enough to be playable. On the other hand, that's what Talents and Styles will before. Making sure every branch of metal gets its chance to shine. And I was considering playing a viking metal vocalist.
(consider the quest of pillaging an operahouse and kidnapping the bitch on stage to work for your band.)

>>4852482
Also, you kick ass dude. Thanks for the scribble

>>4852538
This.

You should really expand this do as many styles and genres of music as possible, simply because each genre of music has a potential to be awesome. Like say, for example choirs singing folk songs could have hiveminds etc.

And you know what else it needs? Instrument-Fu martial arts.

>>4852523
Fatigue for the "how long you can play" part. I like the speed idea (the idea of using "free" "half" and "full" actions for this just doesn't fit)

You will need actual hit points though (theres a big difference between getting tired and getting clubbed over the head with an amp that some asshole mounted spikes onto)

As for the linking system. I like where you're going with that but we should work on that after we have a bit better idea how your abilities will work, that's gonna be one of the hardest parts to pull off

sup guys

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/4030712/

>>4852538
>>4852549

Okay, here is my idea for a character.

Violin player. Classical style. Designed for Synergy. Plenty of abilities that link well with others. This includes those epic little notes you hear in the background of metal songs, the sad solos in Blues tunes, and the epic sets in Orchestral pieces.

This game should encourage mixed-genera groups, or at least be very easy on them. Multiclassing can be an option as well.

Crap, running out of music based pictures. I really need to reorganize my image folder.

I really imagine that the instruments/band roles you have really are the ones that define a combat role.

A drummer, base-player and similar things that just create the rythm are the party tanks and buffers. They are the ones that carry the solid music, create the ground for everyone else to rock from.

The guitarists, saxophone players, and other guys who do the usual cool "guitarsolo" stuff are the hard-hitters, Melee/Range DPS.

Singers are casters, since they can sing about pretty much anything, and their innate imagination power channelled through the rythm created by others manifests into spells and creatures.

>>4852538
The idea is to make the system work for everything. At the same time, rather than appeasing every musical ear in the board, I'd rather get the system to work for ONE style,then get back to you.

Hell, if you want, we'll figure out how to make it work in general, and you can write up the source material for an orchestra.

Which reminds me, orchestras are going to totally require crazy synergy to work, which means that it's gonna need a special talent for a conductor

>>4852589
Oh yeah, and the backstage technician guys who keep the show running in the shadows are the rogues.
You never see them if they are skilled. Also: pyrotechnics.

>>4852549


I just think it's strange going with some many genres. Are those guys from every genre under the sun going to be in a band together? More then likely not.

If I was in a Jazz band and brutal metal drummer asked me if I could join my band I don't think I'd see that happening. I guess some genres can mix but when you get to certain points it's just not something that would work well.

LISTEN TO MY SONG!

>>4852611
Genres would work like DnD races.

What genres do you have so far? And what traits would you want to give them?

>>4852589

I like where you're going with this, but I don't thin kthe system should boil down to "DnD but with Guitars photoshopped into people's hands" and all that.

sure, a Core, familiar angle will help people get involved, but we need to think of things outside the usual role of combat.

"Genesis" could focus on creation and growth. Full on orchestra goes at it? High Level Genesis, grass begins to grow, birds sing, trees come into being, and suddenly a barren wasteland (or even populated performance hall) is overrun with green and becomes an Enchanted Glade.

"Dischord" can be a part of the fun too. Powerful beats that are so subtly off course and beat, that they just... make you feel unstable. Angrier. Manic Depressive. And then that odd music that abruptly changes styles, cuts off beats, awkward pauses? That sort of stuff will shut down your motor skills, or throw you into a state of Hysteria. Sort of like Dementation for Technofreaks....

>>4852585
The violin isn't the one designed to work well with others, it's the other instruments that were made to accompany it, along with few other instruments, mostly piano. At least for the most part, especially in early classical. Later the other instruments get their chance to shine.

>This includes those epic little notes you hear in the background of metal songs
Probably just a synth.

>>4852589
I really don't wanna chain myself down to specifically required rolls based on instruments. But yes, those'd probably be the basics, at which point they'd probably cross over into other territory via styles (many of which should operate at the same time)

For instance, a vocalist would have free hands, allowing for you to focus less on vocal skill and more on monk style beating the shit out of people without taking a beating. But yeah, I do think that vocalists should fulfill the usual "face of the party" position.

Also, general lack of mobility makes me think drummers should be giving most of the buffs and unleashing some devastating spells of their own

>>4852636

Well, good point. But my idea was that an instrument could be part of one of many genres, and from there it could mix well with things from other Genres.

>>4852637
>Also, general lack of mobility makes me think drummers should be giving most of the buffs and unleashing some devastating spells of their own

True, but there should be alternatives for wacky things, like the smaller, portable drums that Marching Bands use. (Though that doesn't fit conventional Metal as well)

Also, I wonder how powerful the One Man Band can be? Perhaps they are the stuff of legends....

>>4852108
>>4852180
>>4852363
>Think about it for a second
OP needs to vary his diction better.

Managers could serve as antagonists, being a shape-shifting race of reptiles who want the power of music for themselves because they are incapable of producing any.

OP here

>>4852686
Your genre would open up a different style set for your drummer talent if you were in marching band.

And no, you would probably all be the same genre in one band. (just like good and evil parties don't tend to play well together). That being said, where shit fits, we'll make rules to make it fit. That's what getting shit done is all about.

That being said, I'm going drinking in like, 20 minutes. I've written down the important stuff in word and am going to screen cap the entire thread before I go so I can work on it later. That being said, the weekend's looking pretty busy so I might not be able to post on any progress till monday.

I've had similar ideas in the past, ever since the long lost Guitar Hero RPG (Some other oldfags might recall it. Its one of the lost treasures of /tg/)

I would go with abstract stats, myself, like groove and rhythm, rather than strength/stamina/whatever, but I'm indie games pundit, so meh. Instruments and Genre's could be used like Aspects, although more the Houses of the Blooded version than the Spirit of the Century original.

Actually, HotB might be a pretty good system to base it off, at core. What would the virtues of music be? Rhythm, Groove, Melody... Hmm...

>>4852704
Thanks for catching that. I hate when I keep repeating the same phrases like that.

rock - barbarian/berserker

hip hop - martial artist/ break dance monk

Classical requires too many people

techno/electronica/disco - some form of wizard or illusionist

rap - the opposite of
>You just shot a guy with a gun: enjoy no powers...
applies; you can competently shoot 2 guns at once, sideways, per hand. Abilities based on how high/drunk you are.

Jazz/blues - some sort of psionic

>>4852727
Call me a newfag, but how does one cap a thread?

>>4852727

Before you go, let's figure out some really basic stuff.

What die system will this use? d10s? d20s? d100s? A variety of sided fatespinners?

I myself am a fan of D4, they don't get much attention. In fact, I would propose that we do some kind of wackyshack combo of D4 and D, uhm.... 12. Yeah.

What'll it be, OP.

(Also, gonna Archive this and put some work into it this weekend)

>>4852729
You are going to need at the very minimum, strength and toughness to tell how many spells you can get hit by and how much it'll hurt if you hit someone with your guitar (which is preferably spewing lightning at the time)

But yes, I have considered using a few more stats to govern shit. In the end, it'll probably come down to playability as to just how many stats there are.

Still, I don't think I'll be going with that many stats to govern the music. Otherwise I think you'd have like, five drop stats that don't heavily apply to your instrument or brand of music (and about 20 stats in general)

>>4852750
I would recommend getting Screengrab or some similar extension for firefox. It allows you to copy/save entire web pages rather than trying to print-screen individual bits and stick them together again if what you want to keep is larger than your screen resolution.

>>4852365
I like this.

Not trolling here, but this could work extremely well in a 4e game. The system already goes for over-the-top combat.

New Power Source: ROCK (or just Music).
Classes/role is the difficult, part. Grouping them by instrument or genre seems wrong since it also determines their role. Rather than picking a class, you could simply choose a Role (the classic Defender, Striker, Leader, Controller) and call it whatever you are in the band. Like a Fighter, your choice of instrument will ultimately affect your choice of powers.

You call your powers "Chords" dailies become "Solos" and you kill things with the power of ROCK

>>4852755
Right now? Most of the shit I've done has been with d20 but I'm not sure that's the way I wanna go with this. d10s and d100s are probably how I'm going to try to use for this (oddly enough I'm LITERALLY half way around the world from my d20 books, though I have a Dark Heresy book sitting right beside me saying I should try to come up with something for ten sideds. If not, I'll be home in about a week and a half and back with my dnd dice and books.)

>>4852772

The idea with indie games is you scrap as much as possible. Abstract statistics could still cover all the bases, but in a more interesting and unique way. In a game about music, you don't really need the full array of physical stats, you can just link any necessary physical aspects to a part of the music. The old D&D stat-set can be removed entirely in favour of something more unique and flavourful.

Gah, sorry, I'm letting my indiefag show...

>>4852796
Thing is, I don't know 4e. I'll probably be playing a game of it when I get back at a friend's request. From what I understand it doesn't allow for quite the level of player side freedom that I want. If that's not the case I'll look into it.

>>4852787
Good, because it's what I'm looking heavily into as semi-canonical basis for the structure at the moment

With that said, there's some Guiness down the street that's calling to me brothers. But if I can make a request of you all, here it is:
Play nice.
Don't troll each other over editions or systems.
Don't fight over music (this includes brands of metal)
We're working with metal primarily at the moment since it tends to lend itself to being over the top and gives a pretty good band structure and distribution. If "All Bards" gets off the ground I'll do my best to come up with source material for as many brands of music as I can.

-OP

Indiefag here- basic ideas for system.

D6 based, six "Virtues" of music (system ripped from HotB), Aspects for genre/instrument (Greater complexity/specialisation = bigger dice bonus. Death Metal gives more dice than Metal, Melodic Death Metal gives more dice than Death Metal etc). Exalted type stunt system- Doing crazy shit gets you dice. Get pool of D6's, set aside many for wagers, and then try to roll above a set DC (10 in the original game).

Alternative idea- Take Mosaic (Look it up on 1d4chan), replace Runes with Genre's. It could work really fucking well.

>>4852802

D10 and/or 100 it is. When I look into the system, I'll keep that in mind.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/4852108/
thread archives here for people's interest and future participation and reference.

Now then. Let's look at the basics of many systems. Specifically, Statistic Generation. Should you roll for stats? Point buy?

I'll say that some kind of Point Buy system would be fun. But not just Stats. You should have a general point pool that allows you guy but Stats, Genre multiclassing, Instrument Proficiencies, and social talents as well. This way we can have someone who has great potential but only knows the basics, a classical Everyman who can play four instruments as backup but has a narrow specialty, or some kind of aspiring Rock God who knows his bass like the back of his hand but has no charisma on stage.

>From what I understand it doesn't allow for quite the level of player side freedom that I want.

Well, you can basically try to do more or less anything you want in 4E, and it does encourage the DM to accept more on the spot creativity than prior editions, as well as helping him figure out consistent guidelines for such, via stunts and skill challenges.

But uh... that being said, encouraging a newbie to engage in epic levels of homebrew manufacture is a little ridiculous.

There are three builds of bards though, and bards are the only ones that can multiclass freely.

Still, it strikes me as a foolhardy quest.

>>4852849

Alternate Alternate- Just use FATE, straight off the bat. It'd work without any changes.

>>4852729
Melody, Harmony, Rhythm, Timbre, Tempo, Dynamics, and Chord Progression/Modulation. That's essentially all music is.

This is why you need people that actually know music theory to work on this.

I think good stats to have would be sight reading and memory. Classical musicians would obviously have a huge advantage when it comes to sight reading, granting them whatever powers they can buy (or find) in the form of sheet music. They can use that power as long as they have it with them.

If the musician can't sight read then they have to rely on practice and memory to play it. It should take them awhile to do this and it greatly limits their powers. They don't need the actual tabs (or whatever) with them to play it though.

>>4852883
>This is why you need people that actually know music theory to work on this.
Only if you want the game to be about wanking about music theory.

>>4852887
Oh yes,because a game about music has NOTHING to do with Music Theory. Brilliant.

>>4852883

Just take the first six, and define each one in the context of the game. That's the best thing about abstract stats, you can use them how you like. Just make sure each sounds fluffy and makes sense in context.

>>4852287
>>4852365

Alright, adding to this a little late, but, my thoughts:

I like this idea of having different genres as different classes.

Let's take this and expand on that: Subgenres.

Work out a system of general genres, such as the aforementioned basics:

Rock, Metal, Pop, Rap, Techno, Country, R&B, Jazz, Classical, etc.

Now for each, there's subgenres and mix genres.

Like, Synthpop, Neoclassical, Pop Rock, Southern Rock, etc...

All those can be the basis for different forms of magic or abilities. Raising your skill in one subgenre grants you the unique abilities and sounds of that subgenre, whereas the base genres define what sort of musical background you have. Such as what sort of instruments you know how to play, what sort of musical expertise you have, how much you stick to a set form or whether you break rules and improv, etc.

Now consider what instruments you're initially skilled in based on your genre. Your level of expertise with those instruments allows you to carry over your skill to other genres, thus, learning new "weapon" skills allow you to branch out your ability, and fulfill different roles, eg: multiclassing.

I've got a shit ton of ideas just waiting to be applied to this, but, there's so many of them that it's hard to know where to start. Let me know what you think of this so far.

>>4852887
>>4852904

Perhaps a balance is what we need here? Too accurate and it alienates the casual player. Too abstract and it could turn off a large portion of potential players.

>>4852904
A game about music might.
A game about ROCKING I'm less certain of.

Eurgh, must everything conform to the D&D archetypes? I know its "Familiar", but its just silly.

If you're going to completely rip from another game, Exalted would fit better. Different Exalt types are different genre's of music, while the caste defines the role in the band. You already have social combat, which could easily be twisted into musical combat, and the rules are already capable of supporting it.

Only halfway through the thread, but I had to say this:
Crowdsurfing railgun

What's with all the guys in this thread saying classical won't work? Orchestras would probably be only NPC things (actually, you could just have the majority of it be NPC with the PCs in there), but string quartets and soloists anyone?

In fact, classical would probably end up being like magic-users in DnD, fuckawesome (or broken, whatever) in the endgame. Yeah, the rock bands are out there melting some faces, but they've just had a pretty linear progression as they get better and better.

Orchestras however would most likely work on an exponential curve, and one good soloist improves the entire thing. Why? Because then everyone else is inspired to play better and most people just listen to the solo anyways.

Further reading gave some thoughts:

Having classes based on part won't work across genres, too reliant on instrument, which can change based on what sound the player and their party wants to achieve.

Instead, I really like the idea of having roles, which makes the class choices short and simple. As suggested earlier:

Lead - Rhythm - Harmony - Bass - Back Beat

Just to name a few, for their section in the musical composition. You don't need to have all of the above to make a successful composition, in fact you can work with any one of those by itself besides harmony.

But each of those does have it's own defined set of sounds and instruments. For example a Lead could be a Vocalist or a Guitarist, or both, even going so far as to be the central sound of the composition. Back Beat could be Drums, or say, the Cello in a Classical composition, because it is a lower sound that most often fills in the background of a composition.

Instruments, again, are what define what classes/roles you fulfill, and the combination thereof defines your genre and your unique abilities that come from mixing different things together. Much of this though process can be likened to the ideas of the Mosaic campaign setting that's been discussed here, where different combination's of runes are used to define spells and their effects, wherein runes are divided into groups and subgroups.

>>4853074
Fuck, this made me facepalm hard. Did you not read my post at all? Do you even know what the fuck a "back beat" is? >>4852883

The colossus monster emerged from the sea and faced the townsfolk. They turned to their village elder.

"What do we do?" they cried. "How will we stop it?"

And the old man stood up and started to speak.

"There is only one song that can stop the incoming apocalypse. Only one song with the pure power to halt the monster.

"It lives in us all. A tiny echo of it can be heard in every song ever written, some more than others.

"It will only be sung once; it will be remembered forever."

>>4853190
The little girl walked up to the old man and tugged at his jacket. She asked not but a single question.

"But elder, what kind of music is able to stop a monster so large and terrible?"

>>4853190
Au Au, Hauu~...

>>4853197
The old man looked at the little girl and turned to the monster.

With a voice that ached with a hundred years of waiting for this moment, and a stare that penetrated the dawn, he whispered, "Disco."

>>4853149

I don't know what post was yours. And I'm not a music theorist.

In my quick research into trying to define broad and highly customizable roles, that's the only thing I could think of to name the idea I had in my head. Not something to be set in stone, and in fact, you could do away with Back Beat altogether and just classify that under a different category. You're so smart, go and rename my classes to something you find more fitting and perhaps I'll agree with you.

Point is, each class has their own place in the musical composition, whether it be the front, the back, or the in between, and they all have instruments common to their place in the composition, and mastery of those instruments allows you to move in and out of those areas, thus allowing you to change roles.

There needs to be a class or talent/perk/feat/thing that lets you play airguitar. Soulknives, for ROCK.

This is the greatest and best song in the world... Tribute.

Long time ago me and my brother Kyle here,
we was hitchhikin' down a long and lonesome road.
All of a sudden, there shined a shiny demon...
in the middle... of the road.
And he said:
[sung]
"Play the best song in the world, or I'll eat your souls." (soul)
[spoken]
Well me and Kyle, we looked at each other,
and we each said... "Okay."
[sung]
And we played the first thing that came to our heads,
Just so happened to be,
The Best Song in the World, it was The Best Song in the World.

Ohhhhyea ohhhawwwohhhh
And is saved our butts,
Beacause the demon want to kill us ohhh
But he was forced to set us free
By the honer codes that demons... have to live by
Cause its satans surprize and its magic
And its a mystical disquise
The devils strong and its tragic
You are the mystical eyed virgin and your rocking

[spoken]
Needless to say, the beast was stunned.
Whip-crack went his rumped tail,
And the beast was done.

He asked us: "(snort) Be you angels?"
And we said, "Nay. We are but men."
Rock!
[sung]
Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh-ah-ah,
Ohhh, whoah, ah-whoah-oh!

This is not The Greatest Song in the World, no.
This is just a tribute.
Couldn't remember The Greatest Song in the World, no, no.
This is a tribute, oh, to The Greatest Song in the World,
All right! It was The Greatest Song in the World,
All right! It was the best muthafuckin' song the
greatest song in the world.
[2-part skat]
[spoken]
And the peculiar thing is this my friends:
the song we sang on that fateful night it didn't actually sound
anything like this song.
[sung]
This is just a tribute! You gotta believe me!
And I wish you were there! Just a matter of opinion.
Ah, fuck! Good God, God lovin',
So surprised to find you can't stop it.
[skat]
All right! All right!

So we are talking a way more metal, western version of "The World Ends With You".

COUNT. ME. THE FUCK. IN.

Rhis reminds me of an early /tg/ project which posited rockers fighting against THE MAN with the power of AWESOME they can channel. I recall it also presenting David Bowie as a mysterious, powerful NPC with three personalities (one being the Goblin King). There was a wiki for this project, but when I asked about it earlier this year in another thread I was told it has been lost to the digital heaven.

>>4853284

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcJwz7wu8_s
Superior version

>>4853209
Bring in the funk. Bring in the noise. Bring on THE PAIN.

>>4853308
you know, i recall this as well

Lets see about finding a good, useful definition for the six aspects of music, kay?

Melody, Harmony, Rhythm, Timbre, Tempo, Dynamics is the list.

Melody would seem like a good finesse stat, based around fine manipulation and such.

Harmony is working with others, making music which complements and is complemented together with others, and important stat for playing as a team.

Rhythm is a tough one, but for lack of a better option an endurance like stat would work. If you're well into the rhythm of the song, you can just keep going, and perpetuate the music.

Timbre is, as far as I recall, the quality of your sound, so it'd be important if distinction is needed. It'd also, possibly, reflect your musical ear, letting you recognize other bands easily.

Tempo is easy, its the speed-type stat, although less "How fast can you go" and more "How much can you Control your speed?"

Dynamics is the power stat, although again, like Tempo, its less "How loud" and more "How can you control your volume".

More thoughts shortly, but that seems a good basic framework.

>>4853308

That was The Guitar Hero RPG, mentioned in >>4852729

We lost most of the fluff to a series of unfortunate events, but its spirit lives on. I remember the many personalities of David Bowie (The others being Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke), and the Doldrums, home of the man, and the wastelands where the musicians roamed...

>>4853339
Ah yes, Guitar Hero RPG, the title of the project had eluded me for the longest time.

And what about singing? In some genres it is very important, and i can imagine, an opera singer would be pretty awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pxEH-v7E5U&feature=related

Video related?

>>4853356

Vocals should be a perfectly valid instrument, although it can be used in tandem with any other non-wind instruments. Many bands have a time honoured tradition of guitarist/vocalists, or less commonly bassist/vocalists, or on occasion drummer/vocalists.

In the beginning
Back in nineteen fifty five
Man didn't know 'bout a rock 'n' roll show
'N all that jive
The white man had the schmaltz
The black man had the blues
No one knew what they was gonna do
But Tschaikovsky had the news, he said

Let there be light, and there was light
Let there be sound, and there was sound
Let there be drums, there was drums
Let there be guitar, there was guitar, ah
Let there be rock

And it came to pass
That rock 'n' roll was born
All across the land every rockin' band
Was blowin' up a storm
And the guitar man got famous
The business man got rich
And in every bar there was a superstar
With a seven year itch
There was fifteen million fingers
Learnin' how to play
And you could hear the fingers pickin'
And this is what they had to say

Let there be light, sound, drums, 'n guitar, ah
Let there be rock

One night in a club called the Shakin' Hand
There was a 42 decibel rockin' band
And the music was good
And the music was loud
And the singer turned and he said to the crowd

Let there be rock

Bandxalted!

Now featuring INFERNAL SPEED METAL! ABYSSAL BLACK METAL! SIDEREAL TECHNO! AND SOLAR RAAAAWK!

>>4853369

...Holy fucking gods, that is a game I have been wanting for years, but never thought they'd make. And... its real? its really, really real? That's my leisure fund draining away rather rapidly...

>>4853330

Defining stats for this is difficult, because you can't base the character's stats solely on what define music, you have to also define stats based on the abilities of the musician. Now if you can categorize those under other stats, for example:

Dexterity - Melody and Tempo

Constitution - Rhythm and Dynamics

Spirit - Timbre and Harmony

or something of the sort. I'll return to this in a bit.

>>4853420

You're thinking too literally. This is the indiefag speaking, by the way. I'm big on abstract statistics. You don't need to represent everything. The musicians physical abilities are immaterial- if you're using my previous suggestion, you can just turn anything really significant into an Aspect. However, the core of the system is the music, and thus having the stats describe the music, in my opinion, fits best.

Dear OP: This sounds wonderful! Could you create a page on 1d4 chan that we can routinely look up and see how much progress you (And your fans) have made? Thanks.

You have my Axe.

>>4853420
Only physical stat should be Endurance, which is just there to keep from passing out after a HEAVY solo.

Everything else should be mental. Creativity (ability to write your own), Intellect (ability to memorise), Spontaneity (ability to improvise), Lateral thought (ability to interweave unexpected aspects into your performance).

The music makes you powerful, but it's the mind that makes the music.

>>4853478

Why bother with that kind of stat? I like the stats defining the music, rather than the musician. It lets the player have more creative freedom, which is important in a music based game.

>>4853472
And you have my bow

You need Str for moshpit ordeals.

So, how about a dicepool system? Your stats give you a certain amount of dice, which you roll for successes(or some other system with pools)

Extra dice attainable via:
more followers
better gear
epic deeds(velociraptor moshing)
drugs and alcohol and sex wif wimmin

>>4853530

see

>>4852849

combine the two. could be awesome

>>4853530

Also, with the dicepool, it's possible to put together the rolls of multiple people(band) to attempt a truly enormous feat of musical skill.

Instruments could be specialised in, every point in a skill adding a die to the pool, when rolling for a skill that uses that instrument.

>>4853555
*Every point in an instrument
I suck

bumping

bumping

Six String Samurai > this shit.

There was a comic called Grimjack that had "Battlerock", a form of warfare that functioned in a plane where sound was power. The spirits of great musicians ended up there when they died. The 'Heart of Rock and Roll' was a lump of coalesced musical energy that was defended by Jimi, Elvis, Janis Joplin, Buddy Holley, and others from the hordes of Discozombies, and other posers.

There was a clone of Elric with a demonic black guitar and everything. Lots of coolness and plot threads.

>>4852108
So, Macross 7?