Wednesday, February 28, 2018

MIDI Week Singles: "Town" - Torchlight (PC)


"Town" from Torchlight on the PC, OSX, Xbox 360, & Linux (2009)
Composer: Matt Uelmen
Album: Torchlight Original Soundtrack
Label: Humble Bundle
Developer: Runic Games



If you're listening to this and thinking that we have already covered "Town" from Torchlight by Matt Uelmen, that should not be too surprising.  What was kind of surprising though was that it was not until I put this article together than I realized that the theme heard at [0:00] is nearly identical to phrase heard in "Wilderness" from Diablo II, of which part is based off of the theme heard in the town of Tristram in the first Diablo.

I could see the argument that using this theme in Torchlight is a bit of a hack and just plagiarizing his own work.  And while it is true that this music probably would not be out of place in a Diablo game, there is something about it that would not quite fit as well in that world.  Maybe the song is lacking a sense of foreboding?  I can't quite put a finger on it, but it just seems lighter than either "Wilderness" or the theme from Tristram.

Anyway you look at it, I still really like this song, hence its inclusion as a MIDI Week Single.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
I Chalk It Up To Being Hopefull

Monday, February 26, 2018

A New Way to Craft a D&D Story: Part IV



Disclaimer:  This is Part IV in a now four part series (possibly six part series) that is looking at my thought and creation process for the last quest that our local D&D group played.  The short of it is that I bought a booster pack of pre-painted miniatures with the intent on writing a quest that included each of the miniatures.  Part I went into my initial thoughts with each of the miniatures, Part II looked at the developing story, and Part III dealt with Gauntlet Charles' inclusion in the story and how involving his sister and husband inadvertently allowed me to conceive of the rest of the story (more or less).


So now that we know that Horwan Greenpatch is injured and with the mining camp in the Trielta Hills, the PC's have an incentive to head there to find out what happened, which further continued the story.  Along the way, I decided to have the swamp nearing the edge of the road to the Trielta Hills, but did not have any kind of encounter.  I guess if the PC's had started to wander off the road, I would have had Gauntlet Charles suggest that they stick to the road and find out what happened to his sister's husband.

Once in the Trielta Hills, I had an encounter planned in order to draw out the story and the play time.  Our local group is only able to meet about once a month and those sessions last anywhere from five to eight hours, so I felt that I needed some padding.  However, while we were actually playing the story, I decided to cut out this encounter because I felt that it was no longer needed and the story was progressing along at a semi-slow, but consistent clip; meaning the following event could have drug out the session by another hour or two.
  • The idea was to have the Gnomes on guard and slightly worried when the PC's arrived; I did initially have them looking over their shoulders towards the mining camp.
    • The Gnome guards asked the PC's for help as they were obviously well armed and the mining camp did not have anything in the way of soldiers; the guards themselves were more lookouts/sentries than actual guards.  
    • The previous day, the miners had broken through into a chamber that contained a carrion crawler nest and two miners were taken, the foreman included.
      • I decided to have one of the taken Gnomes be the foreman as it made the decision to go after a carrion crawler nest more pressing than have it be just run-of-the-mill miners.
    • The battle would have included a carrion crawler matron (my own creation*) and a handful of carrion crawler grubs (again, my own creation*).  After the encounter, the PCs would have discovered that the foreman and other miner were already dead and mostly eaten by the carrion crawler grubs.
  • The PC's would have then been taken to see Horwan who was recovering very comfortably despite having one of his legs amputated, which again, was the reason why he had not returned; and being a Halfling, was enjoying the comforts of recuperating.
    • During the conversation, Horwan mentions that the stranger they met along the way was wearing an orange and purple sash, which seemed an odd color combination considering he was wearing an otherwise plan wool cloak.
      • It was my hope that the group would recognize the sash that Cruenthas was wearing, which is what he was wearing when he first met the PC's waaaaay back during their first meeting, which happened about a year ago in real time.  I was really hoping that at least one person in the group would actually remember because this created motivation for the group to further investigate the swamp and attacking Bullywugs.
Once the PC's had interacted with Horwan and found out about Cruenthas' involvement, it was my hope that they would be gung-ho to head after the guy, or at least his last known location.  I was still kind of worried about how this section would play out since from Horwan's story, the attack had happened a while ago (weeks I believe, but I cannot remember what I told the group when we actually played).  In my outline, all I had written was the option to take Horwan back to Triel and, at the very least, show them the general area where their caravan was attacked.  This then lead to next encounter.
  • The swamp had begun to overtake the road the PC's took north to the Trielta Hills, mainly so that the PCs would not have to go looking for it.
  • After a few minutes, they would be attacked by a small force of Bullywugs.
    • My original intention was for the battle to last for a couple of rounds despite the fact that Bullywugs only had about 25 HP each, but my plan was to try and overwhelm the PC's, but not to kill them.
    • After a number of Bullywugs were killed, Bara Gol'iza, who could be seen "floating" off in the distance, would send out some kind of psychic blast to subdue the Bullywugs knowing that this group was not directly related to the attack that Cruenthas had made against them.
      • I had even set up an event to have a Bullywug Captain kill one of the other Bullywug grunts to show that they were in fact standing down.
        • Had the PC's continued to attack with the intent of killing them all, which I wasn't too concerned about happening. . .I guess I did not really have a plan besides questioning the PC's alignment and their actions against a now non-aggressive foe.
      • Bara Gol'iza would then communicate through one of the Bullywugs about how she knows that they are not the foe that they had previously fought.  That the human wizard had fled off to the East, skipping magically (perhaps some variant of the spell misty step) across the swamp after collecting a satchel full of mud/clay.
You know what, let us make this series and rounded five part series (which may in fact turn into six, but I will do my best to not draw it out much longer) because I still have yet to introduce the Clay Golem encounter, of which I will only talk about the parts that the group discovered and not everything from the outline as it contains information that was never meant to be revealed.  So with any luck, Part V will appear on Monday March 5th as Friday will be my half of the Monthly Update; and now I am considering doing a Part VI that will involve more cut out content, which really is not as much as I might think.  Or maybe it is.

Hooboy.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

MIDI Week Singles: "Entranceway" - Shadowgate (NES)


"Entranceway" from Shadowgate on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1989)
Composer: Hiroyuki Masuno
Album: No Official Album Release
Developer: Kemko-Seika



While perusing online message boards, I came across a picture drawn of the layout of Castle Shadowgate.  As I read through the various rooms, specific memories came flooding back and while I know that this song, "Entranceway" is not played throughout the entire game, nor just in the entrance way itself, this song was playing through my head the whole time.  Additionally, although the game was originally released in 1987, when it was redesigned for the NES and released in 1989, music was written for the platform.

Something about this song screams Shadowgate, as if this one song could encapsulate the entire game; although the "Game Over" track comes in a very, very, close second.  And honestly, that is really all I have, or feel I need to say about "Entranceway."



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Monday, February 19, 2018

A New Way to Craft a D&D Story: Part III



Disclaimer:  This is now Part III of an I don't know how many part series that is looking at my thought and creation process for the last quest that our local D&D group played.  The short of it is that I bought a booster pack of pre-painted miniatures with the intent on writing a story that included each of the miniatures.  Part I went into my initial thoughts with each of the miniatures, Part II looked at the developing story, and Part III will cover a somewhat major reworking of various story elements and the near finalizing of the whole story, which will (should) be covered in Part IV.


Part II left off with the development (but not yet the full story) of the female human wizard Bara Gol'iza who turned out was associated with the Red Wizards of Thay, the decision to include the groups previous employer Cruenthas Chorster, and there was a question as to Gauntlet Charles' role in the series of events., and finally, how everything ended up fitting together into a semi-cohesive story that was able to be played from beginning to end.  Oh, and the parts that I had to cut out while we were playing in order to finish the story in a single play session.

The inclusion of Gauntlet Charles was something that I was hoping would connect with the PCs.  He was my plot hook of sorts, although he himself would not play a direct role in the overall story.  Charles existed just to help get the PCs out of Baldur's Gate.  I knew why he was leaving Baldur's Gate, and I knew that wherever they were going would also be related to Charles.  That was when I made the decision that he would travel to a town to stay with his sister.  And her husband.  Knowing that, and coupled with the then still idea that the Clay Golem was going to wreck a small town, I started looking for a place that was far enough away from Baldur's Gate that the PCs could not just turn around after the quest and head back.  At first I settled on the town of Triel, which is east of Baldur's Gate, and north of Scornubel along the Trade Way Road.  At this point I did not know that I had misread the entry in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide on Triel and thought that it was a settlement of Gnomes and Halflings; I was actually reading the entry on the Trielta Hills to the north, but this even came much later in the editing process.

So Gauntlet Charles would lead the PC's east through Scornubel, then head north along the Trade Way Road towards Triel where they would meet up with his sister Carole, her husband Horwan Greenpatch, and their daughter Yarrow.  The family would be out in the front yard of their Halfling hole (still haven't figured out how to translate Hobbit-hole without it sounding dirty).  Yup, for whatever reason without any thought of trying to make a statement, Carole (a Human) had married a Halfling and they had a child together.  The group would be welcomed inside for second lunch and conversation would start up with Horwan talking about a group of Dwarven miners who were coming down out of a mining camp in the Trielta Hills and had had a run-in with some kind of a swamp witch (Bara Gol'iza and the Bullywugs).

This is where the story stopped for a while. I did not know what kind of a run in had happened.  Were the Dwarves attacked?  Did this swamp witch pose some kind of immanent threat to the Halflings and Gnomes in Triel?  If this was the case, then the story would end up with the PC's traveling north towards the Trielta Hills, coming across the swamp, finding the swamp witch and the Clay Golem. . . but no, because how would they then find out about other towns villages attacked by the Clay Golem if they came across them so quickly?  This is when I took a break, went to work and started to rework story elements.

After getting home from work, I had reworked a lot of what I had just written in the previous three paragraphs.


  • I created an encounter to happen for the group as they traveled towards Scornubel.  Since Beardsnboubon would be joining us for the first time, I wanted to have a fun way of introducing him without it being a stereotypical, "You see Guy in the tavern.  He looks friendly and well armed.  He joins your group."  So I decided that, after confirming with BnB that he would be okay with the idea, that I would have him being attacked by Gnolls while out harvesting rare ingredients for his culinary cuisine.
  • I decided to have Horwan not at Triel.  Having Horwan missing, but knowing the direction he was last headed would give the PCs an incentive and reason for continuing to be engaged in the story, which now had moved away from an escort mission with Gauntlet Charles into a rescue mission for Horwan Greenpatch.  But why would Horwan be missing?
  • That was when I decide that he would be part of a caravan that traded goods with the Dwarves in the Trielta Hills.  The caravan came upon Cruenthas Chorster who asked to tag along as he headed north towards Waterdeep.  Before reaching the Hills, he directed the group off the Trade Way Road to the east as he said there would be some kind of component that he needed to help brew healing potions (I had Horwan have a potion on him to legitimize this part of the story).  Then the group came upon a swamp that seemed to appear out of nowhere, they were attacked by Bullywugs, while seeing a Human woman off in the distance who seemed to be floating less than a foot above the swamp.  During the battle Cruenthas seemed to be gathering mud from around the human woman, but Horwan was shot in the leg by a poisoned arrow and he escaped north towards the mining camp.  Horwan made it to the camp, but had to have his leg amputated and was still recovering, hence his reason for not returning immediately to Triel.
    • But why was Cruenthas gathering mud?  Because he knew some information about Bara Gol'iza's past, that the mud was created by some kind of magical means that he did not know, and that through his own research, that the mud might be used to help repair (reseal) the cracks in Bellamon's phylactery; I do not know how this would actually work, but then again, I am not a magic user with decades of knowledge to draw upon.
For whatever reason, having Horwan no longer in Triel seemed to be the lynch pin for the rest of the story falling into place, which will be covered in what I believe with be the final part of this series that I naively thought could be covered in a single article.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Thursday, February 15, 2018

MIDI Week Singles: "Over the Seas and Far Away" - The Elder Scrolls Online (PC)


"Over the Seas and Far Away" from The Elder Scrolls Online on the PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 (2014)
Composer: Malukah
Album: No Official Album Release


For the last three days I have had this song bobbing around inside my head so I thought it appropriate to share with you all with the hope that you find it just as infectious.

I guess I could have used the male bard version of this song  since we have used Malukah's songs before on MIDI Week Singles, but I am not 100% sure if the singer is Liam O'Brian (whom some a person on the Internet feel did the male bard voice), or if it is Crispin Freeman who is also a voice actor prominent in video games and is credited on the Elder Scrolls Wikia as the source.  But I know for sure that Malukah is the singer here so whynot go with a sure thing?  And why not also feature (again) the one who wrote the music and the lyrics too?

One interesting thing I noticed about the lyrics while writing is the implied dichotomy that in the first stanza, the song chastises the serfs who work the land for their lord and the soldiers who are forced into military service.  Then in the very next stanza is the line ". . .the lord's command and we obey" which means that they too are forced to follow orders of those above them.  I also like that the title of the song could also have two meanings.  One, that the sailors of the Aldmeri Dominion cherish the freedom that being out in the open sea provides them, and two, that they are forever sailing further away from their homeland and the ones they love.  I do not know, maybe I am just reading too much into something that is not there.

Either way, hopefully this song sticks in your head for the next three days too.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Monday, February 12, 2018

A New Way to Craft a D&D Story: Part II



Disclaimer:  This is Part II of what is turning into a much longer series than I had originally anticipated, with the first part post on Friday February 9th can be found here.  There might be three or four parts, but who can know for sure with these things.  I had planned this only to be a single article and now we're talking about a three or four part series.  Bloody hell.

In short, Part I dealt with my idea to use the pre-painted D&D miniatures that come in random booster packs as a writing prompt for a quest.  In the Monster Menagerie II booster pack I received a Clay Golem, a Bullywug, a Human Wizard, and a Human Cleric.

I should also warn you that there are spoilers for quests that I have previously written, so when I become and big famous writer over at Wizards of the Coast and they publish these quests, just know that I warned you first.



So I left off last week with all of the parts in place for a story that ended up being quite different than what came to me after opening all of the miniatures from the Monster Menagerie II line of Dungeons & Dragons miniatures from WizKids.  

That initial story started out that a pod of Bullywugs, with the help of a human wizard, had unleashed a Clay Golem on an unsuspecting town and that the PC's had to stop the rampaging creature.  One problem with this idea was that  I wanted to get the PC's out of Baldur's Gate as they had been there for some time, and the nearest town was roughly 325 miles away to the east; at least on the 5th Edition maps it is, as apparently Beregost, Nashkel, are not present or included in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, so who knows for sure?  So how would they have heard about this attack in order to make the quest makes sense, if not by word of mouth.  Think about how fast information would take to get from San Francisco, CA down to Santa Barbara, CA with only foot and equine traffic.  So that means that the PC's would need to leave Baldur's Gate under one set of circumstances and then come upon the destruction of the Clay Golem.

[Side Bar here.  Something that Conklederp knows about me when I write quests for our D&D group, is that I like to steep my stories in and around locations in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.  In our The Taking of the Dawn quest I wrote, I made sure that the island I was using actually existed on all maps going back to 2nd Edition (as the backstory started sometime around 1367, or thereabouts partly because I needed knowledge of events to not be currently known, and I had a trap that required the use of a Continual Light spell, which hasn't existed since 2nd Edition).  So I could have created a village that was closer to Baldur's Gate than Scornubel, but because I was currently in the mindset that I wanted an established village/city, I was sticking to the "real" world.]

Once I had this idea of a rampaged town, I needed to have a reason how the PC's would even find out about the Clay Golem.  Perhaps there were chunks of clay around the village.  Dead citizens with clay residue perhaps.  Maybe they would have to track bits of clay across fields and trails, other attacked settlements until they finally came to a swamp where they found the Bullywugs and the Clay Golem and a large battle ensued?  While that idea technically works, I ultimately did not feel that there was much to do in that quest.  That was when I decided to include Cruenthas Chorster, a wizard whom I introduced the PC's to in The Taking of the Dawn, and who turned out to be the antagonist.  The group has had a beef with him after his betrayal, but had been caught up in other events.  I felt that now would be a good time to reintroduce him, especially since two new people (Stone, and Beardsnbourbon joined us), and I loved the idea of a number of the group members getting riled up about a nemesis of sorts with two people who did not know much about him.  It seemed semi-realistic and I liked that possibility.

So now Cruenthas was included in the story, but how?  I liked the idea of him being involved, but more like someone who influenced events as opposed to the one who is causing them.  Cruenthas is not the type of person who would create a Clay Golem to attack a small village.  Since the last time the group saw him, maybe he was trying to do something with the Phlyactery of Bellamon Anthander (he was a Lich long since killed when The First Order of the Ever Dawn attempted to destroy the phylactery which lead to their organizations ultimate destruction; events included in the backstory for The Taking of the Dawn) that had been the purpose of them working with and being betrayed by Cruenthas?  Maybe the Bullywugs had some kind of relic or artifact, not knowing of its true potential, that could help Cruenthas repair the phylactery?  

So at this point, the story was that Cruenthas befriended a pod of Bullywugs to direct him to another pod that for whatever reason he could not locate himself, convinced the Bullywugs to attack another pod (and since Bullywugs are aggressive towards rival pods, this line of reasoning made sense), and during that battle, he stole a relic that he felt/knew would help him to repair Bellamon's phylactery.  The attacked pod (by this point I started calling them Pod A, and Pod B, to keep things easier to remember which pod attacked whom; this in turn became Pod Agerloschoug, and Pod Blofferocktokkinalochinac since Bullywugs are all about having grand and complicated sounding names, especially in their own tongue) with the help of the female human wizard (what's her story by the way?) creates a Clay Golem (because the clay came from the swamp) to attack Cruenthas who was resting in a town, but ultimately escaped and eventually the Clay Golem had gotten out of control.

I was still running with the idea that the PC's would not have an actual run in with Cruenthas, mainly because a male human wizard was not included in the booster of miniatures, but I also like the idea of the antagonist working behind the scenes.  But the PC's would have to run into the female wizard Bara Gol'iza since her miniature was in the booster, so I needed to have a reason to have her with the Bullywugs; it almost would have been easier and far less challenging if she had been a druid.  So why had Bara Gol'iza taken in with Bullywugs?  Did she start referring to herself as Boarzigala, or was that how the Bullywugs pronounced her name and she accepted it as part of her new identity?  I do not actually recall how the pieces her backstory fell into place, but I decided that she had been a Red Wizard of Thay, or at least in training to join their ranks.  There had been some sort of magical accident 17 years past that teleported her across the continent and left her insane/mad/mentally wounded.  What exactly happens still remains a mystery, so I left it alone, but whatever happened gave her the ability to create a swamp or marshland wherever she went; the land would return to its normal state within a week.  Somehow she came across a pod of Bullywugs (or did they come across her?), quickly learned their language (or did she know it before?) and still exerting magical powers to some extent combined with her "ability" to create a swamp like environment, the Bullywugs began to deify her (think the Ewoks and C3PO) as an emissary of Ramenos.

So now that the main story, or what I thought was going to be the main points of the story, how and where does Gauntlet Charles and the PC's fit into this ever complicating story?  Why can't my brain just come up with an easier to follow story that doesn't rely so heavily on background information that the PC's can figure out?  Well, that section will be covered in Part III on Friday February.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Friday, February 9, 2018

A New Way to Craft a D&D Story: Part I



This last weekend, we had our local group over for the first D&D session of the year and after conducting the most scientific poll ever, it was determined that people wanted to do shorter one off quests rather than longer year long campaigns.  I was perfectly fine with this decision as I very much enjoy writing stories that, to date, people have enjoyed playing through.  

Short stories though, present somewhat of a challenge especially since we typically play from around 2pm until 8-9pm.  So creating a series of events that usually include one or two smaller encounters followed by a larger boss level encounter, coupled with an intriguing story that I would feel good about.  So a few weeks before our meeting, I decided to put into action a plan that I had thought about last year when we started to run shorter one-off stories.

Now, I feel that the pre-painted minis were (and possibly still are) looked down on in a lot of circles as an attempt by Wizards of the Coast to capitalize on the randomness and eagerness of gamers to "collect them all" as is seen with TCG like Magic: The Gathering.  Additionally, the painting of the miniatures has never been of the best quality, and when I looked at pictures way back in the days of 4th Edition, I knew that I could paint miniatures better than what was being sold at the local Borders Books.

So my plan was to buy a booster pack of the pre-painted Dungeons & Dragons miniatures and write a story that included each of the characters.  I really like the idea as a writing prompt since the booster packs are random in that they contain one large miniature, and three smaller or medium sized ones, but the key is that they are all random.  Now, you might be asking yourself why I did not just reach my hand into the box of unpainted miniatures I already have?  Well, I did consider that as it would save me $16, but I already know what miniatures are downstairs, and I really liked this idea as a writing exercise.  So when I decided to try out this theory, I ordered a single booster from the Monster Menagerie II line via Amazon (mainly out of convenience, but also because the large  FLGS only carried Pathfinder boosters and I really just wanted to stick with the D&D line) and eagerly awaited my writing prompt.

When the box arrived, this was the order I unwrapped each miniature, as well as the thought process I went through.

The large miniature was the Clay Golem, which I was a little disappointed with.  I cannot say why this figure was an initial disappointment, but I was hoping for something a little more grand like the Beholder, or the Young Black Dragon.  And this feeling, right as you are opening the package is what I think WotC and WizKids is banking on with their customer base.  Maybe this is like the rush that compulsive gamblers get each time their money is on the line.

I think the other reason why I was initially let down by the Clay Golem was because of how mundane the paint job on this creature was.  Granted it is a golem made from clay, so there probably would not be a whole of definition or highlighting for the same reason.  And I mean, golems are not particularly flashy creatures either and more than likely, they are just pawns in whatever plan their creator has in store for them.  I think that I felt that one of my biggest fears about poorly painted miniatures that I had paid money for was coming true.  With this in mind, I moved on to the second miniature.


The Human Wizard I was a little more impressed with, partly because it included the transparent accents in the staff and in the magical energy in her hand, but also because there were more than two colors of paint.  Perhaps my standards were so lowered by the Clay Golem that I would find this paint job more pleasing?  However, I was not as impressed with the paint job as the majority of the robes were all black with some purple trim.  I was somewhat surprised with the face though, which is not great, but the eyes and mouth were not as muddled as I was expecting them to be, considering my feelings about the Clay Golem.  The inclusion of the wizard immediately made me think that I now had a reason for the Clay Golem to be in existence.

However, that idea for a story seemed a little clichéd, and while I am not against writing a clichéd storyline, I like to have the stories I write to be a little bit more original than an evil wizard creating a golem that rampages a town.


Then I unwrapped the third little package and that was when I had developed what ended up not really being in the story at all, but it is what helped craft the story that I ended up developing.

I never previously would have considered using Bullywugs in a story, but I really love that this little fella happened to be included.  The idea that a Bullywug shaman created a Clay Golem seemed like a great idea that I probably would not have thought of otherwise.  I thought, "why would a Bullywug create a Clay Golem" and the most obvious explanation was that they created it to defend their swamp or their pod against invaders, and maybe as a result of wanting to create a defense, they lost control over the Clay Golem and it later started attacking towns.  I also did not know much of anything about Bullywugs so this was another learning experience.


At this point, I felt that I had the beginnings of the story, but I needed a way to get the PCs out of Baldur's Gate, which is where half of last year was spent, after they escaped a tower in the middle of the Sea of Swords.  I was hoping that I would end up with a miniature that I could use as an NPC as the hook.  

And that was when this guy showed up!

The bottom of the miniature is almost impossible to read, but it says "Human Cleric 9/44), but this guy is wielding a sword.  Now, I'm not one to be an exclusionary DM, but I can't really look at this guy wielding a sword and think cleric.  A mace or a warhammer sure, but not a pointed, bladed weapon (2nd Edition mindset).  But this did not stop me, and now Gauntlet Charles had his own miniature.  

Gauntlet Charles was a low ranking member of the Flaming Fist that the PCs met during our playing out of the events (most of them anyway) in A Murder in Baldur's Gate.  He cropped up I think only once or twice, but for some reason, the PCs really liked him as a character, and with this Human Cleric becoming Charles, I now had my hook for my story; although that changed a bit too by the end of the writing process.

Well, I am going to end the article for today, otherwise it might run the risk of doubling in length as I talk about the story that I first came up with and the story that I ended up creating in the end.  Hopefully you all will stick around and come back next Monday (02/12) to find out how this collection of characters ended up creating a story that turned out fairly well, considering that it was a first draft and half of everything was still in outline form.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

MIDI Week Singles: "SIVA Swarm" - Destiny: Rise of Iron (PS3/4, Xb360/One)



"SIVA Swarm" from Destiny: Rise of Iron on PlayStation 4, & Xbox One (2016)
Composer: Michael Salvatori
Developer: Bungie



What I personally find interesting about "SIVA Swarm" is that it works well as a cliche'd score for a blockbuster action movie.  As in, this song would not at all be out of place with Steve Jablonksy's score for the first Transformers film.  And while I was very much entertained while listening to this track, it was the choir that kicked in at about the 3:10 mark that made my ears and cockles perk up.  I am an acknowledged sucker for dramatic scores that include a choir in them and I am 43.47% more likely to better like a song if one is included.  That choir, which only lasts for the last 40ish seconds of the song, for me, elevates it from a run-of-the-mill action score, to dramatic piece of heroic ass kicking music.

Now, not having played any form of Destiny, I do not know what exactly the SIVA are but the associated "Swarm" implies that these are the bad guys?  Maybe it is the victory music as the swarm is finally defeated?  All I know is that, bad guys or not, because of this song, I know who I am rooting for.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental

Friday, February 2, 2018

Monthly Update: February 2018


Happy February everyone!

How about that Nintendo Labo announcement huh!?  Only 77 days until April 20th! 

But first, I guess I have only a few things to cover from last month and looking ahead for the remaining 27 days we have until the almighty month of Smarch.

I am very much looking forward to playing D&D with our Northwest contingent this weekend, which will be our first session this year, and I am pretty excited for what I have planned.  I kind of what what I have written (and why) to be a surprise, although Conklederp already knows what is going on, but it will be covered in a future article later this month.  A few weeks ago I also polled the group and we decided to do more short one-off quests rather than the year long campaigns that we have covered in the past.  I am also very happy that for three of our PC's, this is going into our third year playing D&D, which is the second longest stretch of time I have played D&D with one group; the first being my first group which consisted of Dr. Potts and Dellaños way back in 1992, and I think that group lasted at least until I was in high school, I do not recall exactly.

Just before Conklederp and I left for Christmas (yes, I know this was in December, but hang on), we finally joined the population of people who have all six of the original and prequel trilogies for Star Wars.  I had been holding off for a long time (way back in the mid 2000's) as I was waiting for a release of the original theatrical versions for the original trilogy (pre-special edition), plus I wanted editions that had George Lucas' commentary.  There were separate editions for the original trilogy that had two versions, but I was waiting for a boxed set.  Something may have gotten mixed up somewhere because last December, I found a 12 disc set that had been around for at least I don't know how many years, but it has pretty much everything that I wanted in a Star Wars boxed set, except that crisp crispiness of sound and image quality you get with Blu-ray.  And then there is the making of featurettes for the original trilogy that aren't there either, but hey, at least the commentaries are all present.  And as mentioned earlier on Instagram, I started listening to the audiobook version of Star Wars: Ahsoka, which is narrated/read by Ashley Eckstein, the actress who portrayed Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series.  I am on Chapter 7 and so far, I am very much enjoying both the story, and the production work that went into this book in particular.  I am now more excited to listen to Thrawn soonish after.

Sadly, as was reported earlier in the last week, my 3DS is not hip to working at 100% capacity, which I guess I do not need to get into again.  Except that I forgot to mention that I had also started up Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir as I thought it would be a great game to play in the house that Conklederp and I just moved into, partly because I love horror games, but also because this year our house turns 101.  Now, that too will have to wait for whatever ends up happening with my 3DS.

Lastly, I have been playing the Switch a lot.  As in much more than any PC games (have I been playing PC games this month?), mainly focusing on both DOOM, and Breath of the Wild.  I have reached, what I believe to be the end game (due to the number of Marine Dolls that are left) and because I have found myself back in Hell.  And let me tell you, I'm not really a fan of the Hell stages overall, and I am willing to guess that that might put me in the minority.  I also detest the challenge stages, mainly because I feel like they were not designed with a controller set up in mind, but since that is a me issue, I'll just work on getting gud when I'm not within a stage.  In BotW, bloody hell that is a fun game.  At times I forget what it is that my quest is and then I get blasted by a Guardian or end up drowning because I misjudged the distance and how far my stamina will allow me to swim.  And in a few weeks I am looking forward to my first foray into the Bayonetta series when it is released on the Switch.  There are just so many game, mainly indie games, coming out on the Switch that it is hard to keep up and is quickly replacing Steam as my system of choice.

So that is really it, or as much as I am able to think about while typing this out.  There is probably more, but it will just have to wait to be momentarily forgotten about in March's Monthly Update.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Written in Torment