Share Any Chants/Rhymes and Songs You've Included In Your Campaigns

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Just an idea I had after this thread had a small rhyme about the Bagman:

One, two, three, four; the Bagman's coming to your door,
Five, six, seven, eight; the Bagman's claws will be your fate,
Nine, ten, eleven and twelve; down the Bagman's throat you'll delve.

This reminded me of another rhyme/chant that I've included in my Eberron campaign when the party came across a part of the Cult of the Dragon Below that served the Lords of Dust. It's quite long, so it'll be in the spoiler below. (I was quite proud when I was able to get it to rhyme and each line to have 15 syllables.)

Spoiler: Lords of Dust Chant

Closer, closer, evil creeps - from soil dark and Kyber deep.
Light above and dark below - back to the dust we all must go.

Onward, onward, 'til their rise - through service we shall claim our prize.
Ages past to future's fall - our Lords of Dust shall vanquish all.

Deeper, deeper, 'til last breath - through Kyber we shall conquer death.
Khyber's desire we must feed - their souls shall sate our Masters' greed.

Darker, darker, hope is dire - our rivals face eternal ire.
Win we shall, for win we must - our Masters are the Lords of Dust!

So, what rhymes/chants and/or songs have you included in your campaigns? Or is it just me?

 

[Richards]

In my last campaign, I had a bard create a song about the PCs' exploits.

THE KORDOVIAN BAND​

The kingdom of Kordovia is but a speck of land​

But in that tiny country there are heroes well at hand​

They travel 'cross the countryside, fight monsters for their kicks​

Their power's near unlimited, though their number's merely six​

​

To start with there's Finoula with her wave of silv'ry locks​

She's tougher than a grizzly and she's crafty as a fox​

With her twin blades in hand she races into mortal danger​

But her heart holds no fear, for she's an undefeated ranger​

​

Finoula is a powerhouse, but she's not all at hand​

For there are five more heroes in the Kordovian band​

​

Castillan's a bounder, he can race right up a wall​

He'll leap right into battle, and you'll never see him fall​

You'll watch his mighty exploits and then wonder if you saw it​

He'll slash out with his short sword though you never saw him draw it​

​

Castillan's a powerhouse, but he's not all at hand​

For there are five more heroes in the Kordovian band​

​

Binkadink's a little gnome but he is fierce and brave​

He's slain a hundred monsters with his trusty gnomish glaive​

His foes might try to run away but they have little hope​

For Binkadink will chase them down on his fearsome jackalope​

​

Binkadink's a powerhouse, but he's not all at hand​

For there are five more heroes in the Kordovian band​

​

And when it comes to wizardry, the band's got Gilbert Fung​

His mastery of spellcraft's astounding for one so young​

His knowledge of the arcane arts is always at its peak​

And you know you're talking to him once Gilbert begins to speak​

​

Gilbert Fung's a powerhouse, but he's not all at hand​

For there are five more heroes in the Kordovian band​

​

Darrien's an archer and he has a magic bow​

That turns into a spider when he tells it to do so​

His accuracy's amazing and it never seems to ebb​

He'll shoot an arrow 'tween your eyes or wrap you in a web​

​

Darrien's a powerhouse, but he's not all at hand​

For there are five more heroes in the Kordovian band​

​

Ingebold's a cleric and she worships Moradin​

She steps right into battle with an eager dwarven grin​

Though she is short in stature her warhammer is a whopper​

And it's already proven that not even death can stop her​

​

Ingebold's a powerhouse, but she's not all at hand​

For there are five more heroes in the Kordovian band​

​

So put them all together and you've got a fighting force​

A band of strong adventurers forged in the Goblin Wars​

They've beaten orcish armies and they've slaughtered the undead​

You best not fight against them, or you'll likely lose your head!​

​

There are six adventurers in the Kordovian band​

And they're the fiercest combatants to ever cross this land!​

Johnathan

 

[Richards]

And I think I've only ever done this once before, in the campaign prior to the one referenced above. The PCs entered an extradimensional space which ended up being a soul prison called "The Maze of Fools" - the souls of those dying within it couldn't be released to their normal afterlife, but were stuck there in the extradimensional maze. As soon as the PCs entered the Maze of Fools (and the door not only slammed behind them but then promptly disappeared, trapping them within until they could find an alternate way out), the master of the maze - a ghostly jester called the Prime Fool - showed up and introduced himself in song. It went as follows:

Welcome, all you boys and ghouls​

Welcome to my Maze of Fools​

You might think you don't belong​

But you won't think that for too long​

​

Please accept my invitation​

Cause no pause or...hesitation​

Make yourselves all right at home​

Stay right here or try to roam​

​

You'll find it makes no difference​

Because despite your preference​

This is where you're here to stay​

Eternity begins today​

​

But please don't worry your sweet heads​

It's so much comfier when dead​

You're still alive? Well, shucks and drat!​

Let's see what we can do 'bout that!​

​

And sanity, it's overrated​

It's bothersome; I'm sure you hate it​

So while we're killing you pell-mell​

Let's whisk those frisky minds as well!​

​

I think you'll find undeath improved​

When you're insane, your mind removed​

It's much more fun without your cares​

So goodbye, you grey cells upstairs!​

​

And now my song is nearly done​

It's time to get on with the fun​

So look around and choose your deaths​

It's time to take your final breaths​

​

And I'll be with you when you do​

'Cause I want to be friends with you​

So pick a death, and make it clever​

And we'll all be best friends -- forever!​

​

Ah HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!​

​

And to make matters worse, I portrayed the Prime Fool by capering around the kitchen table where the players were all seated, singing the song to them by memory. (It must have sucked for them - I can't carry a tune in a bucket. Good thing I was portraying an insane ghost instead of an accomplished singer!)

Johnathan

 

[aco175]

Drink, Drank, Drunk. About the only line that gets out.

Last campaign had the bard making up a song about poor Agatha from Phandalin. "She is so ugly- you will need a bag-atha". Not the best, I agree.

 

[Asisreo]

I surprised myself with an inn name I wrote years ago in an adventure I had shelved.

Oh, okay, the NPC's name is Camon, cool. He owns the inn. He had obviously named the inn after himself, so it makes perfect sense why past Asisreo would call it the Camon Inn. I'll just say it out loud.

table-wide groans
...?
stares
...wait...
realizes
...Gosh Dammit!

 

[Eltab]

I will not re-post it here (5 pages of fragmented bad poetry) but I played a Bard through a 3e home-made module at a convention one year, enjoyed it immensely, made notes on the intended plot, and began trying to write lyrics. This was going to be my bard's personal Masterwork Epic and "Who I Am" song.
If your PCs ever enter an inn / tavern and the bard in the corner is singing The Wreck of the Emerald Princess ... yes it is all my fault.

 

[aramis erak]

Many of them I've used I won't include the text because they're under copyright.

My favorites for use in Tolkien's world include:
Feasting Day in Rivendell (minor changes from Feasting Day in Winter's Gate, Tara's excellent rendition is on YouTube)
March of Cambreadth (by Heather Alexander; don't recall their post-transition name. You can find it on Youtube)

I've used several filks of my own, but I never write them down, as they're spur of the moment things.

THis just popped to mind based upon Suicide is Painless:

Now, O'er engine humm I hear
A power failure drawing near
Our Alien passenger dear
hath grey goo engine set to veer
And Xenoforms are brainless
Their carelessness estranges
and we would rather leave them with you... please

And as the engine melts right down
The Engineer, he wears a frown
If we survive our fears will drown
When We crash near that little town
And Starship Crews are blameless
Despite the many changes
that brew and whiskey bring us
And you can't get off world without them, aye.

Not the greatest, but about 5 minutes effort...

 

[Voadam]

Haunting of Harrowstone module in Paizo's gothic horror Carrion Crown adventure path.

The Skipping Song for kids playing jump rope.

Put her body on the bed.
Take an axe and lop her head.

Watch the blood come out the pipe.
Feeds the stirge, so nice and ripe.

Drops of red so sparkly bright.
Splatters spell her name just right.

With a hammer killed his wife.
Now he wants to claim your life.

Tricksy Father tells a lie.
Listen close or you will die.

I changed one line from knife to axe for context.

 

[Lanefan]

In my last campaign, I had a bard create a song about the PCs' exploits.

THE KORDOVIAN BAND​

​

A rewording of Grand Funk's American Band seems fitting here...

We're a Kordovian Band
We're a Kordovian Band
We come into your town
We tear it down to the ground
We're a Kordovian Band..."

I'll leave it to you to come up with the verses.

 

[Lanefan]

As for songs and-or rewordings we've written about our games or characters or events in them, song lyrics are here:

Friends of Gravity Music: Original Songs Inspired by the Game

And rewordings of other people's songs are here:

Song Rewordings Inspired by the Game

Yes, some of these do require more explaining than others...