Scenes, Music, and Bonuses

[Lelldorianx]

I thought I'd share this very simple campaign / session flow and layout since I like it.

My group absolutely loves music. There are two music buffs, a musician, and then me, who happens to enjoy listening to the stuff while I game. I decided to integrate that.

Recently I decided to run a 10 session mini-campaign, which we plan to end on the 10th session (either in 'victorious escape' or character death). That said, I have divided the game into scenes, each with designated 'theme music'. It looks like the following:

Scene I (Otis Taylor - Ten Million Slaves)
Session 1 - Ignorant Bliss
Session 2 - Realization & Retaliation

Scene II (Rise Against - Injection)
Session 3 - On the Run
Session 4 - Underworld
Session 5 - Rise to Power
Session 6 - Betrayal
Session 7 - Public Enemies
Session 8 - On the Run

Scene III (300 Soundtrack - Message for the Queen)
Session 9 - Grand Heist
Session 10 - Final Stand / Escape (player decision for effect)

Whenever the theme song plays, it indicates a turning point in the entire scene. The song will only play once per scene. For example, when the players make their final stand in Session 10, there is likely to be death of either allies, definitely enemies, and possibly PCs. As soon as one of those happens, the 'theme song' will trigger, giving the PCs and their allies a +2 bonus on all rolls.

When I tested it the other night for the first time, I told them "This song will be the theme song for tonight. When it plays, you get a +2 bonus and have reached a major turning point in the plot." As soon as I hit play a few hours later, their eyes lit up and one stated, "I would definitely call this a major turning point." Everyone was fuelled by the understanding that this moment is important to the plot.

Giving each session an 'episode' name (kudos to GnomeStew) has helped me understand what I want major to happen in that episode. What should the emphasis be? I will be posting more on this particular campaign later in another thread, it's a huge hit with the players, so once I've got things all sorted I might share

Thought you guys might enjoy

 

[Allenchan]

Very interesting idea! But I'm just curious, do you loop the music? If not, a song would rarely be more than a few people's turns. At higher levels, just a single player's. If so, doesn't it get INCREDIBLY annoying after listening to the same song for over an hour?

 

[weem]

Music is great during a game, though I tend to stick to stuff without vocals for the most part (and I use a lot of "nature" sounds, etc).

And as mentioned above, yes, it would seem the repeating would get old pretty quickly.

I read a while back (here on ENW) about a group whose PC's had theme songs. These theme songs were mixed in with other songs and played during combat - then, if your character's theme song came up during the fight, you got X bonuses, etc. That was an interesting idea as well.

 

[Lelldorianx]

I definitely like the individual themes, might have to lift it.

We are playing a Savage Worlds game in a setting with guns, often the rounds do not last very long to begin with. However, you are correct. The combat normally ends after the song. For this reason I often play the song only right when something big happens (they work their way through the minions and take on the boss, or they hop in a car and start a high-speed chase), or play longer songs (think Movie Soundtracks).

Thanks for the input, guys