Lyrics set to modern tunes

[Tulana]

Is this allowed?

I was pondering this possibility with GorillaAM - using Britney Spears music with Zalanthan lyrics. If you were a bard, would it be okay to sing:

"...Oops, I did it again
I messed with a scrab..."

?

[Marauder Moe]

For something as popular as Britney Spears I, personally, would not be amused.

[tortall]

Hehe, that depends on the person.

Some people will love it, some people would want to kill your PC for singing it.

[Gimfalisette]

As the player of a few successful bard/performer characters, I implore you not to do this. You will only make IC life harder for those who are really making the effort.

[brytta.leofa]

I don't recommend trying to adapt Gilbert & Sullivan lyrics.

If I were doing song adaptations, I would take it as a requirement that the result not be recognizable as an adaptation.

[brytta.leofa]

Howsomever:

My loneliness is killin' me!
Where have my clannies gone? I do believe (do believe!)
when they aren't with me I lose my mind; give me a sign--
BASH ME, DUMMY, ONE MORE TIME!



A sand-filled sparring dummy swings back and forth on its rope.

[tortall]

Howsomever:

My loneliness is killin' me!
Where have my clannies gone? I do believe (do believe!)
when they aren't with me I lose my mind; give me a sign--
BASH ME, DUMMY, ONE MORE TIME!



A sand-filled sparring dummy swings back and forth on its rope.

That's the greatest Arm song EVER!

Edit: Though some songs that might be more suited for Arm: something like celtic/english/scottish traditional music(danny boy, lass from the low country, ect)

I don't think traditional is the right word... What IS the right word?

[Mood]

This is gypsy music.

[Malifaxis]

Some people will love it, some people would want to kill your PC for singing it.

I'm one of these.

I would kill you instantly, without mercy, without remorse.  When questioned by the templarate, I would plainly state my case, offer them tons of money, and then walk free, knowing I had improved the game.

Sorry, but that's my honest opinion, and I know I'm not alone.

[Mood]

Some people will love it, some people would want to kill your PC for singing it.

I'm one of these.

I would kill you instantly, without mercy, without remorse.  When questioned by the templarate, I would plainly state my case, offer them tons of money, and then walk free, knowing I had improved the game.

Sorry, but that's my honest opinion, and I know I'm not alone.

I'd help.

[manonfire]

I had a character who sang Zalanthanized Marshal Tucker Band songs.

Cause really.. who listens to Marshal Tucker anymore?

[Reiloth]

If it isn't a song that I readily recognize, is obscure, and the lyrics are actually better than anything you could fathom writing, by all means, go for it.

I think its worse to see bards who think they are hot shit, write awful prose, and expect everyone to shit nuggets of gold. And then give them their shit nuggets of gold. Fuckin' bards.

[Delstro]

If it is creative, and not completely wild, I would enjoy someone putting new songs into a Zalanthas setting.

If it is really out there, I'll leave and not go around your character anymore. Fucking heru got ran over by a carru. I hate that song.

[jhunter]

Some people will love it, some people would want to kill your PC for singing it.

I'm one of these.

I would kill you instantly, without mercy, without remorse.  When questioned by the templarate, I would plainly state my case, offer them tons of money, and then walk free, knowing I had improved the game.

Sorry, but that's my honest opinion, and I know I'm not alone.

I'd help.

You'd both have to race me to it.

The corpse of the blond-haired, fake-breasted woman lies here ripped to pieces, burned, riddled with arrows, daggers, knives, swords, and various other implements of war protruding from the parts. It appears to be in a puddle of vomit with urine and feces also adorning the remains.

The massive, wiry-bearded templar has arrived from the north.

Looking around, the massive, wiry-bearded templar says, in sirihish: "-What- happened here?"

Shrugging, the filthy, lean-muscled man says, in sirihish: "Dunno Lord Templar. The bitch was singin' some fuckin' weird ass shit and then *POOF* she was all over the place. Thinkin' it was foul magickers that did it."

Several other patrons nod firmly in agreement before turning back to their drinks.

[Qzzrbl]

Some people will love it, some people would want to kill your PC for singing it.

I'm one of these.

I would kill you instantly, without mercy, without remorse.  When questioned by the templarate, I would plainly state my case, offer them tons of money, and then walk free, knowing I had improved the game.

Sorry, but that's my honest opinion, and I know I'm not alone.

I'd help.

You'd both have to race me to it.

The corpse of the blond-haired, fake-breasted woman lies here ripped to pieces, burned, riddled with arrows, daggers, knives, swords, and various other implements of war protruding from the parts. It appears to be in a puddle of vomit with urine and feces also adorning the reamins.

The massive, wiry-bearded templar has arrived from the north.

Looking around, the massive, wiry-bearded templar says, in sirihish: "-What- happened here?"

Shrugging, the filthy, lean-muscled man says, in sirihish: "Dunno Lord Templar. The bitch was singin' some fuckin' weird ass shit and then *POOF* she was all over the place. Thinkin' it was foul magickers that did it."

Several other patrons nod firmly in agreement before turning back to their drinks.

LOL!

[Archbaron]

I know someone who got an e-mail from staff and a bad account note for this. Don't do it.

[FantasyWriter]

Howsomever:

My loneliness is killin' me!
Where have my clannies gone? I do believe (do believe!)
when they aren't with me I lose my mind; give me a sign--
BASH ME, DUMMY, ONE MORE TIME!


F***in awesome!!!


A sand-filled sparring dummy swings back and forth on its rope.

[Lizzie]

You sing, in a slightly nasal high baritone, while bouncing your body left to right on one bent knee after the other in pure rock fashion:

"My-aye-aye-aye-aye WOO! M-m-m-m-MY TULUKI"

...and summarily get torn to shreds by the angry mob.

[Belgoikiss]

I know a certain someone who likes to sing horrible real world- zalanthafied clips of a shittastic song while hunting. 

[jhunter]

Adds a few names to the list of people's pcs to kill.

[FantasyWriter]

I had a dwarf once, that every time he got drunk he would start singing this:

I've got a lov-el-ly bunch of elven skull (dil da de)
All of them sittin' on me shelf (dom dom dom)...

You get the idea.
He had words for the whole song.

He weren't no bard, though.

[Shiroi Tsuki]

I don't mind people setting songs to certain RL tunes... because frankly, no one is going to know what tune you had in your head when you were making it.

But I very much mind Zalanthanized versions of popular music.  The key word being popular, some you can get away with without people telling.  I feel that this really sets apart the people that actually put a lot of time, energy, and thought into their bards from those who just take a Britney Spears song and change some of the words.

[Marauder Moe]

Modern musical lyrics seldom make any sense anyway.  You rarely get a complete sentence and rhyming is losing popularity as well.

For text-based barding I suggest stick with accompanied poetry, ballads, and folk songs.

[Rairen]

I really, really can't write poetry so, after a few hard lessons learned, I steal anywhere I can, when playing musically inclined characters.    Using real life songs gives you a cadence and, for what it's worth, makes it more interesting for me to perform.  (It's expanded my shower-singing repetoire, by far.)  As said above, the better bet is to remove the lyrics as far as possible from the originals for the sake of immersion.

Looking over my song lists, the majority of my inspirations are folk pieces or new works inspired by folk pieces.  There's three from 'modern' music and of those, only one of them is vaguely "popular"... but it originates in Germany.  I'd dare anyone to pick it out of a line-up.

[fourTwenty]

Time Life is now proud to present...

"Songs of Zalanthas"

Including some of your favorites such as...

"Crazy Kank"
"Caught in the Krath Fire"
"Blinded by the Sand"
"Kalans"
"Jade on Black"
"Mekillot"
"Rock the Skimmer"
"Keep on Mining in the Dragons World"
"Ring of Fire (Shit 'gickers)"
"Zalanthian Rhapsody"
And Many More!!!

[Malifaxis]

Time Life is now proud to present...

"Songs of Zalanthas"

Including some of your favorites such as...

"Crazy Kank"
"Caught in the Krath Fire"
"Blinded by the Sand"
"Kalans"
"Jade on Black"
"Mekillot"
"Rock the Skimmer"
"Keep on Mining in the Dragons World"
"Ring of Fire (Shit 'gickers)"
"Zalanthian Rhapsody"
And Many More!!!

I just laughed Ruby Red Squirt out of my nose, you bastard.

That's awesome.

[NoteworthyFellow]

I find that there are a good amount of songs by the Decemberists whose lyrics would work absolutely perfectly in a Zalanthan atmosphere, sometimes allowing for only a few small changes (i.e. a word here or there).  See songs such as "The Shankill Butchers" (change it to "The Blackmoon Butchers" maybe?), "Culling of the Fold," "Odalisque," etc.

[Medena]

I've played a fair number of bard/performer characters and while I have written mainly original material, I have also on three occasions adapted real songs. One was an Irish drinking song, one an obscure Jethro Tull song and one a well known C & W song.  Real songs have a nice rhythm to them which feel like... well, you know, songs!  I can't say whether the resulting adaptations were good, bad or indifferent but I do know that just as with anything I do in game I took seriously my responsibility as a player to keep true to the feel of the wonderful world of Zalanthas.

So I find it pretty disturbing that people would state unequivocally, without any regard to the actual adaptation or its appropriateness or flavour, that they would PK a PC singing such a song.

[Ourla]

Edit: Though some songs that might be more suited for Arm: something like celtic/english/scottish traditional music(danny boy, lass from the low country, ect)

I don't think traditional is the right word... What IS the right word?

I call it folk, and that's what I did for my single Circle bard (who I like to think was fairly popular in her time).  I only got a player backlash from one of her songs, but it was fierce. 

It's a thin line.  Choose obscure songs and rewrite them well, and I wouldn't have a problem with it.

[Malifaxis]

I've played a fair number of bard/performer characters and while I have written mainly original material, I have also on three occasions adapted real songs. One was an Irish drinking song, one an obscure Jethro Tull song and one a well known C & W song.  Real songs have a nice rhythm to them which feel like... well, you know, songs!  I can't say whether the resulting adaptations were good, bad or indifferent but I do know that just as with anything I do in game I took seriously my responsibility as a player to keep true to the feel of the wonderful world of Zalanthas.

So I find it pretty disturbing that people would state unequivocally, without any regard to the actual adaptation or its appropriateness or flavour, that they would PK a PC singing such a song.

There's a fundamental difference between obscure Jethro Tull (good music, I mean it's not like you were rewriting some of his stuff into a new song called "SiltLung" were you? ) and Britney Spears (it causes me physical pain to type that name.)  The more variation that is in the lyrics of the original song, the more likely you are able to adapt it to a new setting and not have it be instantly recognizable.  Sure, I'm a hypocrite, and proud, but I must say that if I was kicking it to some bards singing Zalanthan Pie (a re-write I did a while back) and wasn't able to spot the fact that it was a rewrite for a good 3 mins into the song, I'd -still- be happy... because the scene would not have been destroyed to me.  The lyrics of American Pie are varied and complex, and can be rewritten in a myriad of ways.  The lyrics of "Hit me baby one more time" (I'm sorry, I must now take a break and weep at the fact that I just typed that, even as an example) are neither varied nor complex.  The act of human procreation is, in fact, less repetitive than the lyrics of that "song".

Style and substance have a lot of impact on Armageddon, and trying to play a bard that lacks both is impossible, and a quick way to certain doom.  There are a bajillion songs out there to choose from for lyrical modification, many of which you can make much better than they are.  To avoid rabid PK, however, I highly suggest you don't use any thing too popular or repetitive.

[Delstro]

I have been known to adapt some bible hymns and sons into Armageddon songs about the elements, or the kings.

[brytta.leofa]

I have been known to adapt some bible hymns and sons into Armageddon songs about the elements, or the kings.

The kank and his rider He hath thrown into the sea!

[staggerlee]

I can't imagine why I'd care if you wanted to rewrite a real song, as long as it thematically still suited the game.  It's a game, I don't expect every single person that wants to play a bard (or just belt something out now and then) to be a god damn poet.

I also don't send player complaints when I'm receiving combat training from someone that's obviously never been physically active.  I mean... again, it's a game, I don't expect every player to know everything their character should know or to exhaustively research.

Just keep your rp appropriate to the genre and content of the world as best you can.  Who cares if the song was originally Britney Spears or anything else, as long as it suits the atmosphere and game content it's fine. 

[Ampere]

I can't imagine why I'd care if you wanted to rewrite a real song, as long as it thematically still suited the game.  It's a game, I don't expect every single person that wants to play a bard (or just belt something out now and then) to be a god damn poet.

I also don't send player complaints when I'm receiving combat training from someone that's obviously never been physically active.  I mean... again, it's a game, I don't expect every player to know everything their character should know or to exhaustively research.

Just keep your rp appropriate to the genre and content of the world as best you can.  Who cares if the song was originally Britney Spears or anything else, as long as it suits the atmosphere and game content it's fine. 

To clarify:

Just keep your rp appropriate to the genre and content of the world as best you can.  Who cares if the song was originally Britney Spears or anything else, as long as it suits the atmosphere and game content it's fine. 

To emphasize:

It's a game

[Bushranger]

The three-breasted, mutated fire-elementalist sings, in sirihish: " Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me, Don't you wish your girlfriend was a freak like me, Doncha!"

[Lizzie]

Unfortunately, I've seen the same "idea" as Bushranger's joke in the game, performed by Bard PCs. Problem is, technically it conforms to Staggerlee's criteria of fitting in with the game world and being appropriate to the scene. A krathi -might- indeed sing something like that. It doesn't make it right. And in fact it's jarring enough that if that example actually happened in game, I'd send an e-mail to staff about it.

Just because it "fits" doesn't mean it's appropriate. If the words are changed to make the thing unrecognizeable as a real-world thing, then that's great! But if it's obvious that you just replaced a few words of a TV commercial jingle, or popular song, or even Jethro Tull, then even cleverness won't cut it. It's the obviousness that I think is the biggest concern. Obvious = not good. Not obvious = acceptable.

[staggerlee]

Meh. As long as it's okay to run around emoting like you're from 300 it's okay to remake songs.
It's a game.
Sometimes opinions on what is and isn't appropriate to the game are going to clash, but that's not the end of the world, because it's just a game.
I'd rather players be online playing and not out taking poetry classes because they're afraid that if their next ic song is too derivative they'll get a player complaint. 

[fourTwenty]

My next PC is gonna be a bard and I'm going to wright all the songs in my previous post.
Double bonus of cracking up Malifaxis and pissing off half the playerbase at the same time.

[Malifaxis]

My next PC is gonna be a bard and I'm going to wright all the songs in my previous post.
Double bonus of cracking up Malifaxis and pissing off half the playerbase at the same time.

That's, ahhh, 'write' brother.

(+50 pts for double pun)

[Lakota]

Meh. As long as it's okay to run around emoting like you're from 300 it's okay to remake songs.
It's a game.
Sometimes opinions on what is and isn't appropriate to the game are going to clash, but that's not the end of the world, because it's just a game.
I'd rather players be online playing and not out taking poetry classes because they're afraid that if their next ic song is too derivative they'll get a player complaint. 

[The Spoony Bard]

Ill personally hunt down and PK you if you sing a pop song in Arm.

[spicemustflow]

Ill personally hunt down and PK you if you sing a pop song in Arm.

You wouldn't fuck with a black-skinned, huge-headed mul that's rapping

"Touch a blade in the heavy shit
Shank a shiv with a critical hit"

A touch of genius. I mean it.

[fourTwenty]

Ill personally hunt down and PK you if you sing a pop song in Arm.

You wouldn't fuck with a black-skinned, huge-headed mul that's rapping

"Touch a blade in the heavy shit
Shank a shiv with a critical hit"

A touch of genius. I mean it.

I would PK myself.

[brytta.leofa]

But seriously, I'm going to adapt Lake of Fire, with many verses.

Where do 'gickers go when they die? ...
Where do heathens go when they die? ...
Where do baldies go when they die? ...
Where do skinnies go when they die? ...
Where do templars go when they die? ...

It will be surprisingly Zalanthan.

[fourTwenty]

But seriously, I'm going to adapt Lake of Fire, with many verses.

Where do 'gickers go when they die? ...
Where do heathens go when they die? ...
Where do baldies go when they die? ...
Where do skinnies go when they die? ...
Where do templars go when they die? ...

It will be surprisingly Zalanthan.

I would be interested to see this. I always thought Zalanthains didn't give much thought to any kind of afterlife.

Most of them anyway. There are a few clans with pretty kickass legends and stories on this kinda shit.