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Solar Powered Laser Beam Guitar
Apr. 1st, 2008 11:34 amSo, I've been thinking of an RPG in which the players portray a rock and roll band in space! This idea has been expressed before, but I think it would work especially well in “The ‘Verse,” the setting of Firefly and Serenity.
The characters wander from gig to gig in a beat up tramp freighter/tour bus, one step ahead of Consortium cool hunters. These slick customers want to ensnare the players, in an effort to commodify their sound or hook them up with a major label. All they have to do is clean up their image and lyrics, and maybe sound a little more like Kenny G, and they’ll be assured of huge contracts in the Core Worlds. Except the cool hunters are also government agents, social engineers looking to subvert the counter culture by encouraging the underground to sell out.
And of course there are rival bands to deal with, and crooked bar owners, drug dealers, gun runners, and religious fanatics. While ostensibly acting as entertainers, the players will naturally also be drawn into local revolutions, kidnapping plots, and the like. And no doubt some of them have a “secret past.” Naturally, there is room for supporting characters, like the rockumentary maker who is following the band, the sleazy agent/face man who makes their bookings, and the roadie who doubles as the ship’s engineer. If you want maximum coverage, try and find your way to Mr. Universe and his broadcast tower, and send your video out across the 'Verse!
Then there is the challenge of odd gigs. For some reason, I’m imagining a guy with a guitar holding off a thousand Reavers by playing the opening chords of Metallica’s “One,” with the blood-thirsty lunatics temporarily transfixed by music.
This concept could cover anything from treasonous balladeers and folk-rockers, bringing the message of revolution to the people, to over-the-top glam rockers in a rocket-powered tour bus, wielding Solar-Powered Laserbeam Guitars!
( Cheesy music video references below! )
The characters wander from gig to gig in a beat up tramp freighter/tour bus, one step ahead of Consortium cool hunters. These slick customers want to ensnare the players, in an effort to commodify their sound or hook them up with a major label. All they have to do is clean up their image and lyrics, and maybe sound a little more like Kenny G, and they’ll be assured of huge contracts in the Core Worlds. Except the cool hunters are also government agents, social engineers looking to subvert the counter culture by encouraging the underground to sell out.
And of course there are rival bands to deal with, and crooked bar owners, drug dealers, gun runners, and religious fanatics. While ostensibly acting as entertainers, the players will naturally also be drawn into local revolutions, kidnapping plots, and the like. And no doubt some of them have a “secret past.” Naturally, there is room for supporting characters, like the rockumentary maker who is following the band, the sleazy agent/face man who makes their bookings, and the roadie who doubles as the ship’s engineer. If you want maximum coverage, try and find your way to Mr. Universe and his broadcast tower, and send your video out across the 'Verse!
Then there is the challenge of odd gigs. For some reason, I’m imagining a guy with a guitar holding off a thousand Reavers by playing the opening chords of Metallica’s “One,” with the blood-thirsty lunatics temporarily transfixed by music.
This concept could cover anything from treasonous balladeers and folk-rockers, bringing the message of revolution to the people, to over-the-top glam rockers in a rocket-powered tour bus, wielding Solar-Powered Laserbeam Guitars!
( Cheesy music video references below! )
