Characters, Band, and World

Let's use this thread to talk about all that. Who is your character going to be??!

This space can also be used to talk characters mid game.

I thought of going with a list of Specialties, but let's just leave it open. Just try to reinforce the tone where we can :)

Here's our pitches:

Qralloq: picture the one serious musician (guitar player) in the band caught in the punk lifestyle he hadn't imagined and trying to keep the band on track while the others focus on demons and partying.

Rogertheshrubber: A young southern woman who grew up singing gospel and church choirs (ie Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton) but who never clicked with the gender roles/expectations of her community. Maybe, her faith was also shaken by a brush with some Cthulian horror? She left her rural community, chopped off her long hair, and went to the big city to find a new music scene. She can play guitar and piano but her voice rings loud as dinner bell calling the coal miners home from work.

Harrigan: Lee Butler plays bass. He's a tall, skinny drink of water with a drug problem and played in a punk band until things ended badly. Some of them boys want him back now that they've reformed, but Lee's got bigger and better fings to do now, trading his leather vest and leather pants for peacock hair, a pair of earrings, makeup and more ruffles than a party-size bag of chips. Butler stands ready to New Wave it up and fight the fuck out of demons if you'll have him.

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So reimagining mine a little, I think I'll swap the serious musician to keyboards; what new wave band doesn't rely heavily on synthesizers? Maybe he also works the drum machine while the stickman recovers in hospital? He's busy over there on his side of the stage -- music is serious business.

Cecil Banana is driven to succeed. A total pro, he won't let half-assing it keep the band from the airwaves, or let the demons shut down the show

I’m super excited to be part of the band, especially now that I know the Cecil Banana will playing keyboard (BTW a ex-guitarist who plays the keyboards seems like the type of person who might play the keytar.)

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Krystal Dee Leight was born in the small town of Turtletown, Tennessee and grew up singing in the Church choir. Her musical aspirations may have never extended beyond being the lead soprano during Sunday worship had it not been for a fateful trip to the 40 Watt club Athens, Georgia where she heard music that forever changed her life.

Krystal is a bit naive and slightly too earnest to be cool but she’s got talent and drive not to mention stratospheric hair, tall boots, and way too much make-up. The allure of being in a club packed with people dancing and singing together is undeniable to herl. It’s a high like nothing she’s felt before and something that fuels her as a musician.

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Two quick questions:
- Is this going to be set in Britain, the US, or somewhere else (Germany)?
- I haven’t figured out a which instrument Krystal should play. Would it be fun or too absurd to do something very non-punk like an autoharp, banjo, or double bass? The Cure featured the Double Bass on Love Cats so, there is a precedent. It might be funny to have her lugging around a huge Double Bass to fight demons from another dimension.

I've got Lee's pic at least!

Ah! These are great characters folks! Thanks for all the Gold!
The band is currently on a world tour; playing where they can. The pilot episode is going to take place in London.

And no instrument is too absurd. It could even give the band their unique sound!

Speaking of the band: any thoughts on the name?????

I'll also round out the cast with supporting NPCS--tour manager/law enforcement liason, some filler musicians, etc. But they're just supporting and only act in that capacity.

First episode is in London, how exciting. If this is a world tour does that mean the band has been together awhile or did they meet in London and are trying to hitchhike across Europe?
I’m curious how these characters met. Maybe they crossed paths in a youth hostel or busking on the Southbank?

June 1978, the home of Johnny Lydon...

A half dozen punk rockers sit around a room, drunk, stoned, languishing as their host has taken a broad into the laundry room. Most everyone has left, and they talk music.

"You hear that stuff Johnny was playing earlier? They turned it upside down. The whole scene, man, upside down. If that ponce Johnny Rotten can play that stuff, imagine what the rest of us could do."

Lol, so that's how it all started; a PiL listening party!!
I was definitely envisioning the band is new. In my head, they formed in the CBGB scene in New York, but they could be international and met through friends, at a show, however! It's absolutely something we can play and find out.

I think the one certainty is that they're newly formed at this point.

I honestly don't even know how this hairstyle is possible given the laws of physics but this is kinda how I envision Krystal-Dee.
"Yeah, Cecil I imagine y'all could do all he did but maybe even better. I mean...uh...different ya know, like your own sound." Krystal laughed nervously and quickly shoved a cigarette into her mouth to stop herself from saying any more stupid things. She fumbled around for a lighter, searching the pockets of her denim jacket to no avail.

She had just "joined" the band on a strictly part time basis. They had lost their Bassist to some unknown calamity (she still didn't know exactly what) and were in a tight spot when they passed her busking in Washington Square park. She was playing a mostly busted double bass and singing old time tunes but, she could play a walking bass line and they needed someone for a gig that night. So, she showed up at the venue with hair that was somehow even more... They gave her a mostly busted Fender Jazz bass clone and told her to keep up. Evidently she did okay because they asked her to stick around. Now she was sitting on a couch in a strange house trying to process what she had just heard, no that's not quite right, what she had just experienced.
If only she could just find her damn lighter...

Whoops! Sorry about double bass situation. I was just trying to avoid taking Cecil’s instrument and ended up taking Lee’s. Guitar is fine.

She also has a singing side doesn't she? A little Siouxsie Sioux-age?

Yeah, I sort of imagined of her more as a vocalist but then I thought the characters needed an instrument. But, maybe it would be cool to have some inter-band conflict with Felix? I could go either way:
Guitar like Viv Albertine
Vocals like Debbie Harry, Ari Up etc
Or whatever works best for everyone.

All bass, no guitar, no drums. Is it crazy? Yes. Is it post-punk workable? Whos to say.

I think I'm gonna flip Felix to drums (:P), as noted we need a drummer! But he def wants the world to know how great a singer/song writer he is and likely gets into conflict with Krystal-Dee all the time!

We could use keyboards, too! And the idea of two basses, at least in some songs, is pretty great... =]

Good point!

Also keep in mind that when it comes to dice pools, unless the instrument in question, or your ability to play it, is key to the beat or scene then it's all just narrative!

No worries with that here. I love narrative-first games!