Archive for the ‘writing’ Category
March 18th, 2010
As far as the range of musical sounds goes, fantasy movies always seem to have the same vaguely medieval palette, mostly strings and wind instruments. If you ever look at how music is handled in the DnD books, it’s much the same – your character can buy harps, lyres, flutes, and things of that nature.
Not that I have anything against flutes and lyres.
In fantasy worlds, you have all manner of attack and defense spells. That’s obvious to any reader/viewer/player. Additionally, you start seeing some other crazy stuff, including:
- Magically-enhanced weapons and armor
- Animals that have been enchanted to communicate with humans
- Magic-powered airships
- Portals that instantly transport people great distances
- Pens that can transcribe what a person is saying
So, with all of this stuff, why is the entirety of bardic magic (if it even exists) focused around buffing the party or debuffing the enemy?
You know what a bard would want? Make me louder so more people can hear me.
Or self-playing instruments. Or a unique melody that is used as a password to get into a secret room. Or — and this is what I really want to see — ways to change the sound of his instrument.
Now, rad as it would be, I’m not saying that a traveling minstrel should be packing a Marshall half-stack with which to rock His Majesty. What I’m saying is that, when there is an advance in technology, it gets applied to just about everything (think about how many things have computers in them).
If magic is being used to create floating cities, you bet that some guy is going to want to start messing with the sound of his harp. It’s the nature artists — whatever tools exist will eventually be used to change the face of art.
So, I’m curious: What styles of music do you think could come to exist in a world filled with magic? What kinds of sounds would the bards be creating? What would their performances be like?
I’m thinking I should figure out how to make this relevant to a DnD session.
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February 14th, 2010
This story originally aired at SarahSki.com.
Aery sat on the kitchen table, watching the tiny plastic demon perched atop the microwave. It had encroached upon her territory, but had yet to make a move. She raised her head and sniffed the air. The demon carried the same scent of evil that the male giant, Daddycat, carried on him when he returned home each day, weary and worn down. This must be the creature that made Daddycat sad, so Aery was determined to catch it at an unguarded moment and strike it down.
But it was watching her. She stretched and hopped down. Her family was sitting on the couch, so she curled up on Daddycat’s lap and rested her head on his arm.
After half an hour, she rose and stalked off, taking the roundabout way to the kitchen. The tiny demon was still facing the table — perfect. Silently, she hopped up onto the kitchen counter and crept toward the microwave. The demon made no indication that it noticed her. Aery stepped onto the microwave, behind her target, inched forward, and swatted the demon off the microwave and into the trash can.
At that moment, the female giant, Mommacat, came around the corner and saw her. Aery’s heart pounded in her chest as she leaped to the floor and ran away. Mommacat didn’t chase her, so Aery turned around and watched as Mommacat pulled the tiny demon from the trash can, ran it under the water, and set it back on the microwave.
Aery waited until Mommacat rejoined Daddycat and White Devil on the couch before making her way back to the microwave. She crept up behind her target once more and as she was about to strike, she noticed something: It no longer smelled of evil. Like Daddycat, this creature was simply someone who had to spend a great amount of time around evil. Perhaps it had even assisted Daddycat in his journeys and he had brought it home to give it some rest.
She bowed her head in deference. Thank you for being a friend to my Daddycat, she said, nuzzling it.
Once more she joined her family on the couch.
December 1st, 2009
I won.
My region destroyed Chris Bay.
I met some awesome new people.
NOW I DO OTHER THINGS.
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