This is in connection with Music Wars Beta. Some are talking about adding Techno music to the list of warring factions. I don't have any thoughts for or against it. However, I was just thinking about it, and certain Techno music has been proven (at least to me) to slow down and stop a psychotic state. I have not had a psychotic episode in just over 2 years after I started listening to it. My doctor doesn't think it's worth researching, but I figure if God wants it to happen, it will happen. I just felt like sharing that.
Techno Music
(19 posts) (5 voices)-
We could certainly throw in some skills for Techno that reduce or reverse other Faction's mental or emotional attacks. O'Sevens would probably throw on a name like "Mind of Machine" and list of flavorful effects and requirements . . .
Mon Dec 10 2007 7:49 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberThat's not exactly why I posted this, but oh well, I'll go along with it. It's the repeating melody. The first Techno song I ever heard was Nikkfurie De La Caution - The Ala Menthe. It's a French Techno song. It has a very fast repeating melody. It also stopped psychotic episodes quickly. I've been experimenting with other Techno music, and I've found that a fast, repeating melody does in fact slow down a psychotic state. I don't know what kind of powers you can make out of that, but I thought I would share it.
Mon Dec 10 2007 9:12 am # -
johnosevens
MemberA1Nut - certainly sounds interesting, and gives me somewhere to go when I start writing their powers.
In fact, just to prove Wodium right (and by so doing, give him more to do, translating my flavorful gibberish into useful game mechanics):
1: Mensa Aparati - The Technician turns on his machines, and carefully regulates the synthetic pulsing they produce. This throbbing, repetitive sound fills the mind, clouding out other influences and inducing an Alpha-wave state.
-The Technician can do nothing else but maintain his machines while this is active.
-Cannot be played except on a synthesizer or other Techno-appropriate device.
-Cannot be played acoustically by any means.
-Where this song's area overlaps any other, the two casters test against each other for each Listener. Each Listener for whom the Technician wins negates the effects of all others songs - baleful or beneficial - in effect.Mon Dec 10 2007 7:03 pm # -
johnosevens
Member2: The Body Electric - This song cannot be played live, but must be recorded. As the sound buzzes in his ears, the Listener begins to operate a technological device. As long as the song plays, he operates the device as easily as if it were part of his own body, bypassing malfunctions and security protocols alike. This song induces a trance-like state after thirty seconds, which persists until thirty seconds after the track ends. While this trance persists, the Listener is unaware of his surroundings and is treated for all intents and purposes as if he were asleep. Once the trance ends, so does the Listener's effortless control of the machine.
It is rumored that a true master of this technique, Listening to his own recording while interfaced with a suitably complex machine, can transcend even death itself; if he dies while connected to the machine, his conciousness will live on within the device. Whether or not this is true has never been proven, but rumor has developed it to a near-mythic status.Tue Dec 11 2007 1:48 am # -
Harry wrote,
-Where this song's area overlaps any other, the two casters test against each other for each Listener.
The usual mechanic for this (which applies to any spells in which two casters are working toward opposite goals, such as light and darkness cast against each other) is comparitive relative success: whoever rolls the higher successful roll gets a greater level of success, to the degree that his roll is higher.I'd stick with the ordinary systems as much as possible, although you can if you like use the difference as the percentage advantage of the winning side, e.g., you can say that if the techno roll is (successful at) 55 and the opposing skill is (successful at) 25, 55-25=30% more people present are affected by the techno than the other skill, which would mean 65% to 35% in the breakdown.
--M. J. Young
Tue Dec 11 2007 4:37 am # -
Before I can handle (1), I need to know what effects, if any, you intend for targets not under the influence of any other magic. That is, does the skill do anything measurable besides oppose other effects?
With (2), am I to understand that the Technician actually possesses the device?
Tue Dec 11 2007 5:04 am # -
johnosevens
MemberMJ - I mostly want that song to work as a sort of countersong. For each Listener who is more effected by the Techno song than any other, the other song becomes that much less effective. It's basically a white noise generator.
Wodium - On 1: The spell has no effect at all on people who are not otherwise under any effects. It's sole purpose is to be a sort of musical wet blanket over any other songs. Compare to the bard's "Countersong" ability in D&D.
On 2: Basically, only his soul is still in his body. He more or less wields the device as though it were a cybernetic limb until the song ends, which is always a fixed length of time - the length of the recording.Edit: Do also remember that I don't know mechanics very well. Whenever you're putting mechanics to my flavor text, please try to do so in such a way as matches the flavor in the simplest possible mechanics, with the easiest possible biases, even if that produces somewhat roundabout methods. If I start seeing my spells turned into 10@ skills that curve out in any world that doesn't have a Merlin, I'll be very sad.
Tue Dec 11 2007 4:53 pm # -
It sounds like #1 is a specialized dispel magic, designed to prevent the effects of any other spells (perhaps any other musical spells); it would still be a relative success challenge, although a low roll on the dispel would still reduce the effectiveness of the opposing spell (which is what relative success would do anyway).
--M. J. Young
Tue Dec 11 2007 11:40 pm # -
If I used smiley icons, there would be one here.
In three of my as yet unpublished novels, Merlin appears. At one point one of the character notes, internally, that Merlin only speaks when he actually has something to say, which might be a significant contributor to his ability to appear wise at all times--if he doesn't have something wise to say, he just doesn't say anything at all.
I'd like to think that I'm better than that, but I do note that I made no comments on what the other spell was....
--M. J. Young
Wed Dec 12 2007 9:45 pm # -
. . . whereas I'll only make comments about what that other spell could be. I think we've got some fascinating possibilities.
First, consider that it may be not a spell at all. It's not unheard of for particularly potent psionic skills to require an aid to concentration - a crystal ball to stare into, perhaps, or the thrum and shuffle of tarot cards in one's hands. This track could function in the same way, particularly since a pre-recording is vastly preferable to performing it during skill use. If it's psionic, we're probably looking at a level one telepathy variant (albeit a high-intensity one, along the lines of possession) or a P5@10 Non-Physicality (with elements of P5@8 Non-Animate Linking).
Even if it is magic, it still may not be a spell. What if the music is special kind of intangible magical device, something along the lines of a reusable digital scroll? This would make the original recording process a 15@ Item Creation (exactly which skill would depend on how the "item" is activated and the nature of its effect's duration), but the actual execution of "Table Apparatus" would be a M1@ Use Magic Device. This is an attractive option because it allows a powerful effect to be contained in a more user-friendly package. It also fills out some of the flavor of the Techno faction: already we can picture highly skilled Technicians sequestered in basements that thrum with electric equipment, tirelessly crafting new mixes for use by their Listeners in the field . . .
Then again, it could be a spell after all, with the pre-composed and canned performance as a mere material component. In this way, it's no different from a Web spell that requires the magician to have a bit of netting already prepared to toss at his targets. It seems a potent effect for such a quick casting, however, even given the time and resources involved in composing the piece and the equipment required for playing it.
Of course, knowing exactly what benefits you expect the user to derive from the skill may facilitate a decision. Do you expect operation of the tech device to be easier? Could a Listener operate a device of which he previously had no knowledge? Do you perceive any other benefits resulting from the altered relationship between skilled user and tech device?
Thu Dec 13 2007 4:53 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberYa know, I hate to rain on the parade, but why are we even using techno in this version of it? The Alpha version doesn't have techno, so why should the Beta world? Who's idea was it anyway? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad for all the creativity that has gone into it, but it just makes me wonder why we are doing that. Thoughts?
Thu Dec 13 2007 5:40 am # -
Not my call, of course, but there's something very different and distinct about techno--it is in some ways more different from the other styles than they are from each other (seriously, as one who has attended worship service led by Resurrection Band, I find very little difference between Heavy Metal and Praise & Worship; and my wife has been an Eagles fan, which I keep telling her is country and she hates country and insists it's rock). It makes for a unique approach to magic within the total package. Having something that different helps make it seem more like each is distinct.
It's a good call, I think.
--M. J. Young
Thu Dec 13 2007 7:13 pm # -
johnosevens
MemberA1Nut - I like the idea of including Techno as a sort of mythic faction. everybody sort of knows they're out there, but nobody really cares - some people may not believe they're even real, and they don't factor into global politics much.
Wodium -
Do you expect operation of the tech device to be easier?
Yes, significantly.Could a Listener operate a device of which he previously had no knowledge?
Not one with which he had no knowledge at all, no.Do you perceive any other benefits resulting from the altered relationship between skilled user and tech device?
No - just a massive boost to his skills for the purpose of using that device. It reacts to him as though it were part of him, or, taken another way, it adds a level to the user's skill.Thu Dec 13 2007 10:35 pm # -
You do raise a good point, John. We ought to consider back-writing Techno into the Alpha scenario for consistency.
To answer your earlier question, I think it was my idea. Originally I wanted to add them in to involve them so that the alien element of The Day would be reflected in the skill sets - just like the Horror from Beyond would be represented in Death Metal, or mutation from nuclear energies would be represented in Extreme. I didn't want the present to be all about the past, but I wanted the mark of the past to be there if you looked for it.
That's why we started on it, anyway. Now I think we're working on it for the reasons MJ and O'Sevens said.
Thu Dec 13 2007 11:23 pm # -
Tadeusz
MemberIf we're talking about a mythic faction, it could be that Techno is underground like the DMers are. However, the DMers are out to cause trouble, and the Techno's are merely small and weak, and not interested in changing the world so much as defending themselves. You could have small communities that claim to be country or rap, but are actually Techno, and smugglers who sneak out their mix tapes....
Wed Jun 24 2009 6:35 pm #
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