Theme Songs

[Carthrat]

Most of us- well, some of us- play tabletop-style RPGs. And that generally means we run individual characters for a long time. Attachments are made, and it's undeniable that people spend at least some of their time thinking about stuff that would be really, really cool for their character to do.

In 9/10 games, you won't do those cool things.

But in 10/10 games, you can do the things you DO do to music that you like! And for this reason, characters should have theme songs! Stolen Drawn from whatever source that you like the most fits your character the best, it would be the perfect tune to accompany your ignoble defeat crushing victory against the trolls, sith, or homeroom teachers that trouble you in this game!

For the sake of shameless egotism, post a character+theme here! Provide links if possible so all may bask. Rant about stuff. It's all good. We'll read it.

Knight: The Sword of Promised Victory/Excalibur - Fate: Y'know, Knight is very similar to Saber in appearance, and the theme just... fits. I really wanted this to be Brain Game, but she has yet to showcase any brilliant plans, so it doesn't really work. The song is, well, Knightly, as you'd kind of expect for a theme song shared by Arturia.

Kouzuki/Stadtfeld Kallen: Make Your Mind Up - Iji (Introspective), Forced Hand - Metal Gear Solid (Combat) She doesn't actually have a personal theme in Geass, image songs aside.

Make Your Mind Up is a rather blatant plug at the fact that Kallen has no precise morality guiding her actions. She has a vauge idea of her end goal, but even she doesn't know how far she's willing to go to achieve it. Her entire life feels like one big ethical dilemma she can't solve. The song is a bit melancholy and whimsical, with a sort of 'future-ish' feel to it.

Forced Hand reflects the kind of fights she's been getting into. In this game, they haven't really been brave assaults against superior forces or anything like that, but entirely underhanded sneak attacks. It's a bit subdued; covert operations, after all- and quickly picks up in tension and franticness. Things go wrong in these operations, hasty decisions are made, and then it's over.

[Brian]

D&D -- Kent the Bastard -- I'm an Asshole by Dennis Leary.  Kent the Bastard, Orphan of the World was raised by druids, and is a druid 4, warshaper 4, master of many forms 6.  He was born human, but at this point it's highly debatable.  He is so-so at combat, but has maxed spot/listen/disguise (+20 bonus thanks to shapeshifting)/bluff/etc.  Regularly pretends to be important people for the purposes of sending their armies away or destroying/stealing their artifacts.

HERO -- Waymer Lebowski -- Cosmic Castaway by Electracy.  In a Space Opera setting, in the human race's pioneering days associating for the first time with extra-terrestrial species, Waymer was a small-time hacker of unlikely skill working for the Mafia.  A rather unfortunate mistake on his part involved the Mafia deciding to use Waymer as an experiment to test some new wetware (cybernetic think-meat implants) that Waymer himself had hand-coded some shoddy drivers for.  This prototype wetware contains a PPC cartridge, giving Waymer unlimited read-only access to the terran military databases ... and his first attempt at using it to locate a Gate to escape interstellar authorities was such a spectacular failure that the ship ended up moving 75 light years away ... and 150 years forward in time.

[Anastasia]

I've never gotten into this habit. I prefer to listen to music appropriate to the scene rather than character-specific. On the other hand, I DM and don't play PCs, so maybe my perspective is skewed.

[Merc]

Nah, it's not. While not right now (no games for me to play in! ;_;), I tend to play PCs rather than DM. I don't decide on character songs, and if I tend to go to scene appropriate stuff myself.

Mind you, that's more accidental than anything. I just have playlist on random, and skip to next song if the song currently playing really doesn't fit my mood. So I often invariably end at something appropriate to scene. Or just a song I really like.

[Dracos]

I should pull some for Kamvakua.  And let merc guilt me back into DMing again. :(

anyhow, I know.

For Maya I have been using: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez-58hvzAOQ Mahabala Theater by Hyadain, original by Sugiyami Koichi

[Brian]

I've never gotten into this habit. I prefer to listen to music appropriate to the scene rather than character-specific. On the other hand, I DM and don't play PCs, so maybe my perspective is skewed.

...many of my major NPCs have image songs when I GM....  >.>

In one campaign, I even played them during the finale when those NPCs showed up.  The players loved it. <_<;

[Anastasia]

I've never gotten into this habit. I prefer to listen to music appropriate to the scene rather than character-specific. On the other hand, I DM and don't play PCs, so maybe my perspective is skewed.

...many of my major NPCs have image songs when I GM....  >.>

In one campaign, I even played them during the finale when those NPCs showed up.  The players loved it. <_<;

I may just be strange then!

>_>

[Brian]

I may just be strange then!

>_>

It could easily go either way; it's hardly a required tool of GMing.  My reason for doing it for my player characters is amusement; for NPCs it's because even if I have a firm grasp of that character, it may not be simple to convey that to the players.  It gives them something to anchor to the character so they can identify/identify more easily.

Some GMs like mood music; some do not.  Some use combat grids and maps; some do not.  At the risk of ressurecting an old argument (but firmly believing it's relevant to the issue at hand): Some use permanent character death as a campaign element; some do not.  Ultimately, there is absolutely nothing wrong with liking character songs (or not!). :p

It boils down to what you like as a player/GM, and that's just fine.

That being said, surely you can look at one or two of your old characters and think of a song that defines/encapsulates at least one thing they did...? ;)

And on that note, O Mighty Rat, might we expand the thread to include examples of fitting music to a given scene?  Because, in all honesty, almost every thread in that one game (TDAT) was even named after a song title, for example. ;p

[Bjorn]

Because, in all honesty, almost every thread in that one game (TDAT) was even named after a song title, for example. ;p

And the only ones that weren't were all my fault, as I recall.

To be on topic, I tend to be more on Dune's side: for me, theme songs are more for scenes than for characters.  There's one exception to this: "Stuck in the Middle With You," for Seiryo.  Brian can judge if that's appropriate...

[Carthrat]

THEME MUSIC

CHARACTERS ONLY

FINAL DESTIAAAAAAAAAAAAH go for it! I would contribute, but 7am.

[Iron Dragoon]

This is from a long time ago, but he's the only one I can remember that I could figure out a fitting song for...

Darius the Beast Rider: I Get Knocked Down - Chumbawumba