Characters from Songs

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them…

First, We Take Manhattan - Leonard Cohen

(and then we take Beeeeeerliiiiiiiiin)

Noting also that the specific song about Johnny Ace I was thinking of was "The Late Great Johnny Ace" - Paul Simon

[Pursuivant]

Landmeister Ritter Bold Von Raeuber
Age 60, Apparent Age: 35.

Attributes: ST: 12*; DX: 13*; IQ: 13*; HT: 12*
Secondary Traits: HP: 13; Basic Speed: 6.25; Move: 6; Will: 14; Per: 12; FP: 13.
Advantages: Appearance (Attractive); Allies (Numerous, both mundane and supernatural)*; Charisma*; Combat Reflexes; Extraordinary Luck*, High Pain Threshold*; Higher Purpose (Cause Misery and Terror)*, Higher Purpose (Corrupt the Innocent & make a mockery of all that is holy)*; Magery 2 (Limitation: Black Magic)*; Legal Enforcement Powers; Legal Immunity; Longevity*; Rank (Military) 6; Rank (Religious) 3; Reputation (+3, Defender of the Faith, Large Group (Catholic Christians), All the Time); Resistant (Disease, Poison)*; Status 5; Talent (Born War Leader*, Smooth Operator*); Unusual Background (Demonic Patron); Very Fit*; Wealth (Filthy Rich)*.

Perk: Honest Face*; Missing Prerequisites for Air & Water College Spells*; Penetrating Voice*.

* Has the Pact limitation.

Disadvantages: Duty (Teutonic Knights, 9-); Duty (Satan, Extremely Hazardous, 6-); Enemies (Various - human and supernatural); Greed; Intolerance; Megalomania; OPH (Too many to name); Reputation (-4, The Devil Himself, Large Group (Lithuanians, Poles, and surviving Prussian and Livonian pagans), All the Time); Sadism; Secret (Doesn't Actually Have a Code of Honor or follow Vows of his order); Secret (In league with the Devil); Secret (Occultism & Magery).

Quirk: Careful; Damned Soul; Delusion ("I am doing God's work").

Skills: Administration; Area Knowledge (East Prussia/Southern Baltic Coast); Axe/Mace; Brawling; Broadsword; Expert Skill (Natural Philosophy); Fast Talk; Hidden Lore (Demonology) Intimidation; Knife; Lance; Leadership; Merchant; Occultism; Politics; Public Speaking; Research; Riding (Horse); Religious Ritual (Black Mass); Savoir-Faire (High Society & Military); Singing; Strategy; Swimming; Tactics; Teaching; Theology; Wrestling.

Languages: Old High German (Native); Helltongue (Accented); Medieval Latin (Accented); Lithuanian (Broken, Spoken Only).

Grimoire

Air: Earth to Air; Lightning; Predict Weather; Purify Air; Stench.
Body Control: Itch; Pain; Spasm.
Communication & Empathy: Sense Foes; Sense Emotion; Truthsayer
Earth Spells: Seek Earth; Shape Earth.
Fire: Cold; Create Fire; Extinguish Fire; Heat; Ignite Fire; Shape Fire; Resist Cold; Resist Fire; 
Healing: Recover Energy (Can't learn other spells of this college)
Light & Darkness: Darkness (Can only learn Darkness spells)
Mind Control: Foolishness; Forgetfulness; Command
Necromantic: Death Vision; Summon Demon; Summon Spirit; 
Protection & Warning: Armor; Shield. 
Water: Fog; Icy Weapon; Purify Water; Seek Water.

Bold wasn't a bad man, at least to start. As a younger son of a Prussian knightly family with a pious bent, he joined the Livonian Brothers of the Sword early in the Livonian Crusade.

While he was a competent knight, there were others more skilled. While he was a decent leader, more aristocratic members of the order were promoted to leadership positions. As he got older, his relatively good education, at least as compared to the other knights, meant that he was placed in charge the boys pledged to the order by their parents.

Rankling at being sidelined as a glorified schoolmaster and drill sergeant, Bold began dabbling in occultism as a method of reviving his career. Unfortunately, he succeeded beyond his wildest expectations. After early successes casting simple spells, he summoned a powerful demon. Rather than killing him outright, the demon realized it inflict far more misery on the world by using a well-placed human agent. Initially posing as an angel, the demon quickly corrupted Bold. In exchange for his soul, he gained powers and spells, with the promise of ever greater powers for each subsequent "great act of faith" he performed.

For every 13 souls he corrupts or destroys, or every act of great evil that he does, Bold gains another magic spell or another power, but at the cost of eventually acquiring disadvantages of equal value. He quickly amplified his power by corrupting the young men in his training and turning them into his private army. His subsequent genocide of nominally pagan Livonian and Polish peasants along the Southeastern Baltic coast, and the conveniently-timed deaths of his political rivals, have made him the de facto ruler of the newly pacified state of Livonia (eventually to become part of the Prussian Empire).

As written, he's a decent big bad for a historical fantasy campaign. With souped up magic powers, he'd be a really good villain for a GURPS Banestorm or Ars Magica-style campaign. In the former case, he'd fit right in as the Megalan emperor's hatchet man. With nothing more than a name change and some slight skill alterations, he'd be perfect as a Renaissance-era Turkish or Romanian warlord well on his way to earning his fangs. With more extensive changes, he could be the leader of a Post-Reconstruction or modern Southern KKK empire, using oppression and murder to restart the Civil War.

This one is from an obscure song called Bold Marauder, originally written as a folk song by Mimi & Richard Fariña. The SF Con filk singer, Moonwulf, does a faster, darker version that I like better.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by RGTraynor

April


Attractive
Unluckiness
Wealth/Poor
Cooking-6 (default)
Quirk: Reflexively snarky

The back of my head was telling me that I knew an "April" song and it eventually brought forth "Pieces of April" by Three Dog Night.

The lyrics don't look particularly close to me but once having been told that "A Hard Rain's Going to Fall" was about nuclear war, I asked if "Shelter From the Storm" was about civil defense.

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/thre...esofapril.html

Pieces Of April"

April gave us springtime and the promise of the flowers
And the feeling that we both shared and the love that we called ours
We knew no time for sadness, that's a road we each had crossed
We were living a time meant for us, and even when it would rain
we would laugh it off.

I've got pieces of April, I keep them in a memory bouquet
I've got pieces of April, it's a morning in May

We stood on the crest of summer, beneath an oak that blossomed green
Feeling as I did in April, not really knowing what it means
But it must be then that you stand beside me now to make me feel this way
Just as I did in April, but it's a morning in May.

I've got pieces of April, I keep them in a memory bouquet
I've got pieces of April, but it's a morning in May

I've got pieces of April, I keep them in a memory bouquet
I've got pieces of April, but it's a morning in May

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by RGTraynor

[B]Attributes:

I hoped somebody would do Pettimore.

If you hadn't, I would have. 😀

[RGTraynor]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Divine Curse.

Especially -- speaking as a Bostonian who rode them -- since those dinged up old PCCs were rattletraps.

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The back of my head was telling me that I knew an "April" song and it eventually brought forth "Pieces of April" by Three Dog Night. The lyrics don't look particularly close to me but ...

Yeah, that's because I threw a bit of a curveball there. The song inspired an eponymous coming-of-age movie twenty years back starring Katie Holmes, and the character's based on her portrayal.

[TGLS]

Joe
Guns (Pistol?)
Enemy (Law Enforcement)
Jealousy

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Joe
Guns (Pistol?)
Enemy (Law Enforcement)
Jealousy

Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun of your hand?
Hey Joe, I said, where you goin' with that gun in your hand? Oh
I'm goin' down to shoot my old lady
You know I caught her messin' 'round with another man

[jason taylor]

Tom Dooley:

Reputation: Murderer
Enemy: Law Enforcement
Enemy: Love Rival
Delusion: It's all Greyson's fault
Delusion: I'd be safe in Tennesee
Destiny: Hanging from an old oak tree.
Quirk: Hangs down head

Skill: Knife

[Dalillama]

A few more from Steeleye Span's discography

Robert Smith
ST 15
DX 12
IQ 12
HT 13
Will 15
TL:3-5
CF: Western
Languages: English (Native/?), Possibly Latin
Status: 0
Advantages: Magery, Morph (Unlimited +50%)
Disadvantages: Lecherous (6-), Unattractive Appearance

Blacksmith - 15
Thaumatology-15
Running-12
Flight-15
Fishing- 12
Robert may also know any spells appropriate to the campaign, especially those related to shape changing, fire, making and mending.


Robert is a blacksmith who is deeply in tune with the ancient mysteries of his craft and has great magical abilities, which he principally uses to try to get laid. If he could think further that the length of his genitals he'd be a force to be reckoned with, but as it stands he's mostly a pest to local women.

"True" Thomas Rhymer
ST 11
DX 12
IQ 14
HT 11
TL:3
CF: Western
Languages: English (Native/Native), Scottish (Native/Native), Latin (Native/Native)
Status: 2
Advantages: Musical Ability, Voice, Precognition, Wealth (Comfortable)
Disadvantages: Truthfulness
Musical Instrument (Harp) - 18
Singing-18
Poetry-18
Bard-18
Hidden Lore (Faerie)- 14
Area Knowledge (Scotland)-15
History-15
Broadsword-11
Spear-11
Riding (Horse)-12


Laird Thomas was always a good scholar and musically inclined even before he went away. As a young man he vanished while riding to see a neighbor, and wasn't seen again for seven years. His claim that he was abducted by the Faerie Queen and spent those years in her realm would strike most as the tale of a liar or a madman if it weren't for Thomas' newfound gift of seeing future events great and small, and the fact that no-one has ever known him to speak so much as the smallest untruth. PCs may wish to consult him about the realms Under the Hill or about things yet to come.

Sir Thomas Lynn
ST:13
DX 12
IQ 10
HT 12
TL:3-5
CF: Western
Languages: English (Native/Native), Scottish (Native/Native), Latin (Broken/Accented)
Status: 2
Advantages: Handsome Appearance )
Disadvantages: Involuntary Duty (Queen of Faerie), Lecherous (12-)
Quirks: Claims Carterhaugh as his territory

Hidden Lore (Faerie)- 12
Broadsword-14
Spear-12
Riding (Horse)-13
Bow -12
Heraldry-12

[jason taylor]

The Reuben James

Reputation: Patriotic Martyr

Extremely Hazardous Duty: US Navy

Sense of Duty: United States

Destiny: First US ship sunk in war

Enemy: U-boat

Quirk: Flies the Stars and Stripes for the land of the free.