The Dragon’s Breath #13

7 May 2003

What Makes You Work?

By Scott Holden-Jones

Most of our “Dragon’s Breath” columns so far have been directly to do with the game, but Mike’s last column got me thinking of things that influence my games. So, instead of writing about what people do when they’re playing their games, I’m curious to find out what other people do when designing adventures. (Come and give us some input at our Dragon’s Breath forum. We’d love to hear about your approach.)

I don’t use music in my games (I know some DMs do, and I think it’s a cool idea that I’d like to experiment with sometime), but music definitely influences them in the early stages. I’m sitting here listening to some good music — at least I think it’s good music, even if my wife doesn’t — as I work this morning (as most mornings), and it occurs to me that certain songs really seem to spark my creativity. In fact, there are songs (and smells, and sights, etc., but let’s keep it simple) that just plain remind me of D&D for some strange reason.

I guess music’s impact on my adventure/rules writing has to do with all those hours “just wasting time on that game” in my youth, sitting at my desk, stereo blaring, and designing adventures for the next weekend when I should probably have been studying my calculus or something …. (Then again, even though I eventually got through university, I’m now making a living as a game designer/editor, so maybe I wasted the right kind of time after all.)

/me chuckles.

Most of the songs that set me off are the ones that I listened to a lot as a teenager during the early 80s, I think (hmm … Pavlov, eh?), but there are exceptions. For example, pretty much any Big Wreck tune from their debut album can get me going (especially “That Song” — I really love that tune!); I like The Pleasure and the Greed too, but not in the same way I love In Loving Memory. Just about any Police song works for me: if I hear so much as a bar of any song from Synchronicity I can’t keep my brain from churning.

I’ve also found that I can pique myself in the right direction by listening to certain types or genres of music. For instance, if I want to come up with a cool battle scenario, nothing beats listening to some good ol’ Metallica. (Ah, yes, that misspent youth raises its ugly, grizzled head again — “The Thing That Should Not Be,” anything from their first three albums, really.) On the other hand, if I want to work on a plot or design a cool story element, some Metallica songs work, but I find that stuff such as Zeppelin or, going the other way, Fleetwood Mac or even something such as Peter Gabriel or Sarah McLaughlin is a good choice. It’s about moods, I guess, as much as it’s about your taste in music; since music’s subjective, what prompts certain moods in me might not match what prompts them in you.

Yet I’d be interested to hear what prompts others to be in a “D&D mood,” or whether they in fact get such moods. I know all it takes is the smell of sausages on the BBQ and a couple of good tunes in the background, and I’m in the mood for a good gaming session.

Next Week: In The Dragon’s Breath #14, Claudio offers some tips on what DM’s can do if they play infrequently. How do you make the most of your gaming session once you finally find the time away from the kids? See what’s helped Claudio and his group in “How to Survive Real Life.”

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