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05-05-2016, 03:56 PM | #1 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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[Basic] Skill of the week: Musical Composition and Musical Instrument
Musical Composition is the IQ/H artistic skill of composing music. The defaults are Musical Instrument-2, or Poetry-2 for composing songs. Success means that the music is pleasant to listen to, presumably improved by a greater margin of success. The sill includes the ability to read, write and transcribe music in your culture’s notation (if any). The prerequisites are quite unusual:
Musical Instrument is the IQ/H artistic skill of playing an instrument. The only defaults are to other instrument skills, at variable penalties from -3 for similar ones to none at all for utterly different ones, such as (Drums) to (Harp). It includes the ability to read music in your culture’s notation, if any. That seems to make "no default" a bit harsh, since when faced with a completely unfamiliar instrument, you can at least attempt to operate it at the right time. A minimum default penalty of -3 also seems harsh, given how similar "different" instruments can be, so assuming there’s a -2 unfamiliarity penalty as part of that -3 would be plausible. Musical Instrument dates from GURPS 1e. Both these skills are boosted by Musical Ability talent, and Connoisseur (Music) defaults to either at -3. They are more common on character sheets than templates in published GURPS books, simply because quite a few people learn music as a hobby or for entertainment, especially at TLs before music recording. DF makes both skills important for Bards, and provides uses, treasure and henchmen for them. Fantasy provides several templates for musicians, and Fantasy-Tech has levitation via music. Horror has a couple of templates that don’t seem to allow for Musical Instrument if they have Musical Composition, which seems odd. Infinite Worlds has time viewing via the Music of the Spheres, and Worlds of Horror has the Glass Armonica, part of the Mesmeric technology of Gothic-2. Low-Tech and LTC1 have lots on musical instruments, including a list of classes (missing Valved Horn (TL5) and Theremin (TL6)) and an excellent revised list of defaults. Power-Ups 3, 6 and 7 have examples for one or both of these skills. Social Engineering’s Team Efforts rules are important for musical groups. Thaumatology: Magical Styles suggests Musical Instrument for Air and Sound magicians, and Urban Magics has Ratpiping. Ultra-Tech has extraordinary instruments, some with enhanced emotional effects. Musical Composition clearly incorporates the activity of “arranging” music, setting up the parts to be played by different instruments. This seems to be why it demands a wide range of Musical Instrument skills to write for a group or orchestra, but that isn’t the only way composition is done. A composer will start by creating music for a single instrument: piano is common, because of its wide range and flexibility. Arranging for multiple instruments is a separate step, which isn’t necessarily done by a single person. A small group of collaborative musicians will normally do the arrangement together, each providing the expertise for their own instrument and rolling against that skill; if one person was to do it, then they would plausibly need the prerequisite skills RAW demands, and a roll against Musical Composition. Arranging for an orchestra with a conductor would demand the Group Performance (Conducting) prerequisite and a roll against Musical Composition. While composers may do this themselves, it’s common for it to be done by a specialist in arranging, sometimes guided by the original composer. It’s also routine for orchestral music directors, who are experienced conductors, to tweak arrangements for the strengths of their players, or even the acoustics of a venue. "Transcribing" music doesn’t just mean copying sheet music. It’s the ability to write down music as it is played, equivalent to taking dictation in writing. Quite a bit of historical music is known to us because composers who later became famous (and whose papers thereby survived) transcribed it, and the transcriptions survived when the original didn’t. However, like dictation, a transcription isn’t necessarily identical to the original, and it may well be arranged differently. Something that might be useful for artistic skills in general would be a rules mechanic for taking penalties to the skill in exchange for better reactions on a success. Bill Stoddard recently suggested using Performance as a complementary skill to Musical Instrument or Singing for "serious" performances, or vice-versa when showmanship is the main criterion. I have no musical talent whatsoever, but I like using it as an element in games, more as a social art than as fantasy-musical mind control. What have you done with these skills? |
05-05-2016, 04:02 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Kenai, Alaska
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Musical Composition and Musical Instrument
Am I the only one who includes a few musical skills in each of my PCs just to dilute the inherent Murderhoboness of most RPG characters?
My go to is violin+piano+Musical Composition+Connoisseur (music) |
05-05-2016, 04:39 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: On the road again...
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Musical Composition and Musical Instrument
Not at all. One of my characters currently has Musical Composition, Singing, and Musical Instrument (Keyboard), plus a Talent that will give her a bonus to her Musical Influence skill once I get around to giving it to her with earned XP. o/`
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"Life ... is an Oreo cookie." - J'onn J'onzz, 1991 "But mom, I don't wanna go back in the dungeon!" The GURPS Marvel Universe Reboot Project A-G, H-R, and S-Z, and its not-a-wiki-really web adaptation. Ranoc, a Muskets-and-Magery Renaissance Fantasy Setting |
05-05-2016, 08:26 PM | #4 |
formerly known as 'Kenneth Latrans'
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Wyoming, Michigan
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Musical Composition and Musical Instrument
Bards are already one of my favorite types of murderhobo so the question doesn't make sense to me.
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Ba-weep granah wheep minibon. Wubba lubba dub dub. |
05-05-2016, 08:43 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Musical Composition and Musical Instrument
In one of my early GURPS campaigns, the PCs were present-day British teenagers who strayed into the realm of the fair folk, aka the lands of eternal twilight. I asked the players to come up with a reason that their characters were all together on Midsummer Eve; four of them decided to be musically talented attendees at a summer music program. (The fifth decided to play the soccer hooligan son of the janitor at the facility.)
This was in the days of GURPS 3/e, when Musical Talent was 1 point/level; they took from two to five levels, and the woman playing the group's vocalist also naturally took Voice, so she had something like +7 to her Singing skill, I think. They travelled from Glastonbury to the Highlands to Ulster, or their twilight lands analogs, singing and playing and being treated as honored guests. There were more music rolls than combat rolls. In fact a typical song performance tended to call for a Singing or Musical Instrument roll for each of them, a Performance roll for each of them, and a Sex Appeal roll for the vocalist (the player had also taken a really high appearance rating). There were also rolls to compose new songs. At one point a member of the human group got into a dispute with the local queen's bard, and challenged her to a duel, which ended with a singing contest. As to murder hobos, I haven't run a campaign with that focus in decades, and my players don't seem to want one. The most sociopathic of my campaigns was either the In Nomine campaign about a reality TV series made in Hell, or the campaign about a group of very talented consulting criminals.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
05-06-2016, 07:44 PM | #6 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Musical Composition and Musical Instrument
Quote:
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
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05-08-2016, 02:24 PM | #7 |
Join Date: May 2007
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Musical Composition and Musical Instrument
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05-08-2016, 03:21 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Dec 2013
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Musical Composition and Musical Instrument
In a Lovecraftian Mythos campaign, Musical Instrument (Viol) and Musical Instrument (Pipes) should be usable for occult purposes like keeping otherworldly creatures at bay or keeping them docile. Using inspiration from the world of Charlie Stross would also allow Musical Instrument (Violin) to be used as a dangerous weapon.
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05-05-2016, 08:46 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Kenai, Alaska
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Musical Composition and Musical Instrument
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05-05-2016, 08:52 PM | #10 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Musical Composition and Musical Instrument
In one of the several solo campaigns in which PC's end up in a bunch of random worlds (naked), one player made a point of seeing how much exotic music he could seek out and learn. It was actually a really fun component of that character, and it was always a rewarding moment when he found and selected his instrument for that world.
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Be helpful, not pedantic Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one! |
Tags |
basic, musical composition, musical instrument, skill of the week |
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