A-one, a-two, a-one, two, three, four...

[Uncle Servo]

I started thinking about some of the various skills that seem to... well, be neglected by certain types of gamers in Rifts (inspired by a thread in the GM's forum), and I realized that I have almost never had any characters in my campaigns who could play a musical instrument.

I guess my question to the group here is two-fold: one, have any of you played or GMed musically inclined characters? two, if you have was it something that was put to good use either by the player(s) in question or the GM?

I could see this as something a character could do when in town to get a little bit of 'beer money' -- regardless of OCC. If you really wanted to take it further, you could have the entire group be a travelling band that has all these grand adventures in between gigs (kinda like "Josie & The Pussycats" only not as cornball)...

And yes, before you mention it, I have heard of Lancer's Rockers in Robotech... but that was the one Robotech book I wish I had never heard of.

[Adam of the Old Kingdom]

playes and GMs take a bit of a lead from each other. inexperienced GMs may not make use of the more Flavourly skills and with time players stop selecting them. this leaves the GM with just the background to draw from but little in the way of quirky skills to ad depth adn twists to campaigns.

I fall victom to this also and often do not select music or other domestic skills. I'd rather be at the gym doing weights, boxing and wrestling than learning to cook, sew or do the lambada.

[Shin Kenshiro]

I had run a worldly martial artist in Mexico as a vampire hunter who made extensive use out of his single WP and made a secondary living as a traveling blues saxophone player.

His WP?
whip...
Name?
Belmont, Simon

[Nekira Sudacne]

I had run a worldly martial artist in Mexico as a vampire hunter who made extensive use out of his single WP and made a secondary living as a traveling blues saxophone player.

His WP?
whip...
Name?
Belmont, Simon

I feel that you deserve to ge thwacked, but I shall resit the urge

[Tinker Dragoon]

What, nobody ever played a Mystic?

[Esckey]

I've got a character that makes songs to insult his enemies while fighting, but that's the only time I've picked any domestic skill other then cooking

[Adam of the Old Kingdom]

in a game sort of running at the moment, my character has a weekness for beer. so the GM made it a plet point in the last 2 sessions of play.

1st the beer ran out at the only tavern for a hundred miles because the wagon was 2 weeks late. I put on my Merc for Hire hat and off we went.
2nd we where in a larger town where beer for the local regeon is made. the factory had shut down as 6 workers had dissapeared. this time we had a guy who liked mead with us and the investigation of the beer factory was on. damn pesky vampires.

Can't wait to see what beer (or mead) shortage will get us going next time. maybe a shortage of nuts and pretzils.

A GM needs more than just background to give depth to games, the players should be encoraged to round out the character with skills, not just insanities and flavour text.

[Uncle Servo]

Nice examples, everyone -- I'm glad to see that skill-taking for flavor is still alive and well despite the rampant munchkinism epidemic of late.

Deacon spent most of his time in combat running things over with his silver spike covered hover-truck and video-taping our exploits.

Even though I thoroughly enjoyed your entire post, it was this single sentence that stuck out the most. It seems that folks just don't use vehicles as weapons the way they used to.

Adam, I think you've hit onto something with your first post. If the GM doesn't seem to be too keen on making use of less combat-oriented skills they're often viewed as useless. To me, that's a shame as I consider great characters not just on the basis of how 'kick-@$$' they are but how interesting they are in a variety of a variety of situations (including but not limited to combat).

As for the option of creating a specialized OCC for it... there's nothing wrong with that, but I really don't see the need for it as there are hundreds of OCCs out there that could allow a good singer/dancer/musician/etc. For instance, since you can get professional quality by taking certain skills twice grab a Rogue Scholar or Rogue Scientist as they have a hefty number of secondary skill slots available. Or heck, grab a Whale Singer OCC from Rifts: Underseas.

Nekira, just go ahead and thwack -- you'll feel better about it in the morning.

And Misfit -- I really just don't want to know any more about a band called "Odin's Vaseline."

[RoadWarriorFWaNK]

i've got a rogue scientist character who is also a club DJ. he built a weapon system that converts turntable scratching into destructive beams of force. every time i want to use the weapon i have to roll my "Play Musical Intrument: Turntables" skill. I have yet to actually play this guy, since all my other characters are so good at surviving .

[taalismn]

Second thing I did after making my full-conversion combat cyborg, after loading him up with the usual munchkin load of heavy hardware was to give him Cooking at Professional grade...He didn't have to eat much, thanks to reduced biological matter, so he figured it should be a quality experience...
Combined with his high M.A., he made a lot of friends through a combination of good nature and good cooking...including the attention of more than a few women...to the continuing frustration of the self-appointed team Lotharios, the Juicer and the Crazy!

[taalismn]

As for the option of creating a specialized OCC for it... there's nothing wrong with that, but I really don't see the need for it as there are hundreds of OCCs out there that could allow a good singer/dancer/musician/etc. For instance, since you can get professional quality by taking certain skills twice grab a Rogue Scholar or Rogue Scientist as they have a hefty number of secondary skill slots available. Or heck, grab a Whale Singer OCC from Rifts: Underseas.
:

The Rifter has a few good examples such as the Psiren and the Songmage, and there's the Emulator from Macross II(but these are Music as Power, as opposed to character development device), though they can still be useful as PCs;

"R'Za, do ya think you can tone down the 'Zentran National Martial Anthem' to something a bit more hip that you can dance to? And that doesn't induce a bloodthirsty riot in the listeners?"

"Hmmmm....look into re-scoring the '1812 Overture' to replace 'cannonade' with 'boomgun'"(that raises the question...can one build non-lethal 'squib' rounds for boom guns and other rail guns to create a sonic boom, but don't actually do any damage, as an accoustic accompaniment? Like an expanding plastic 'badmitten bird' that falls short after creating a massive roar?)

"Really, I didn't realize that Brodkil had such a ...cultural...side!"
"Ah, yes, Brodkil Bluegrass is an underappreciated contribution of our often misunderstood people to the culture of the Southwest...especially the songs we sing after battle, when the day is dying down, and we get to play those old sentimental favorites..."There Ain't Enough Fresh Human for All of Us", "I Teeth Ain't Stopped Hurtin' Since I Ate My Dentist", "I Really Wish I Could Tell You I Love Yah(If Only I Knew Which One of Yah was Female)", "Sippin' Brains on a Sunday", ...hey, where'd he go?"

[Uncle Servo]

Uncle Servo, I now feel I must defend Odin's Vaseline. The band was all hetero and quite firmly believed in "Sex, Booze, and Rock & Roll" in no particular order. The naming of said band went something like:
GM "so what's the band name?"
me "Lords of Acid"
GM "ODIN'S VASELINE!?"
all of us "YEAH!"

Now THAT'S cool (and downright funny). When you originally mentioned the band's name, my mind started racing with images depicting why Odin the All-Father of Norse mythology would need Vaseline -- as if there was a "special" part of Ragnarok that folks didn't like talking about much.

"Ah, yes, Brodkil Bluegrass is an underappreciated contribution of our often misunderstood people to the culture of the Southwest...especially the songs we sing after battle, when the day is dying down, and we get to play those old sentimental favorites..."There Ain't Enough Fresh Human for All of Us", "I Teeth Ain't Stopped Hurtin' Since I Ate My Dentist", "I Really Wish I Could Tell You I Love Yah(If Only I Knew Which One of Yah was Female)", "Sippin' Brains on a Sunday", ...hey, where'd he go?"

ROFLMAO!!!! This sounds like the soundtrack to O Monster, Where Art Thou?

Of course, the downside of this is that I now have this mental image of a Brodkil kicked back against a boulder strummin' a giant-sized banjo (though the claws might get in the way of the proper finger roll action). Next he'll probably start singing "It's Not Easy Being Green."

My mental images are going to get me in serious trouble someday... but until then, I'm enjoying the ride.

[Uncle Servo]

I guess you're somewhat safe from the Odin's Vaseline images, but I remind you they quite firmly believed in sex, booze, and rock & roll. And in the X-Brats incarnation of Chucky, he was able to have at least one recording session with Allison Blair. Od course if that material is released, it is after Chucky died. Another X-Brat musician of mine had Dan Marino as a hero growing up.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with sex, booze, and rock & roll -- unless you happen to be in a bluegrass gospel band.

[Borast]

And yes, before you mention it, I have heard of Lancer's Rockers in Robotech... but that was the one Robotech book I wish I had never heard of.

The only RT book I will NEVER buy...instruments that do MD energy (sonic) attacks, but can safely be used in a concert...

I'd be willing to pay to watch that idea drawn and quartered (and the authour suitably chastised)...

Oh, Unkie Servo...your Brodkil will probably use a pick, or file down his nails... OR...if that's too much of a problem...give him a fiddle!

As for playing non-munchie sorts (ie: taking non-combat realted skills) I'm currently running a Priest of Light who sings like and angel (kinda), and plays a mean flute in his downtime (in fact it is one of the things he does when he "volunteers" at a hospice...)

[Scyber]

I once played an El Mariachi/Desperado character that traveled Mexico killing vamps. It was a while ago, so I don't remember his true OCC, but his guitar had a crossbow hidden within it.

[grandmaster z0b]

In an old campaign I GMed I had a guy playing a Juicer named Sid who was in a Juicer Death Metal band called "Jewssa Uprizngs", yes none of them had literacy.
Sid was the drummer, he had an IQ of 8 and liked to use dead boy helmets of different sizes as drums. He would jack up his bio-comp to allow him to play over 300 beats per minute.

I've know drummers in real life that weren't that much different, it was pretty bloody funny.

[Uncle Servo]

A rouge scholor with the writing skill. Not original, to be sure. Hell, the basic premise for Louis Clark to go adventuring was to write a better guide to the world. He's hoping for a big book deal when he gets back to Tolkeen(he's been gone a while). Add to that art and photography, and you have a writer/illustrator.

Or a funny one. A dragon that likes to cook professionally. favors flambe and charbroil. He also has a mean barbeque ribs recipie. Just don't eat the chili(Fire dragons have no sense of hot ). He also has a great source for coffee.

Those two are definitely good ideas...

On my own front, I'm currently working on a Rifts character that's a Norse godling. However, most of the rest of the pantheon doesn't take him too seriously as he's more fond of music and storytelling than bashing giants.

I think though my next Rifts character will be a Dog Boy named Ralph, whose main claims to fame are his skills at playing the piano and harmonica. I admit it, I watched The Muppet Movie with my son last night and got inspired...

[Stormseed]

My current Special Forces character has Play Guitar and Sing as Secondary Skills. He had his stolen CS SAMAS modified so the guitar plugs into it like an amp. Also, his voice normally sounds like chunks of duracrete are grinding together in his throat, but his singing voice is the smoothest, sweetest baritone anyone's ever heard. The reason I picked those skills is that he's a rather ugly guy (P.B. 7) and was trying to meet women; he's since decided that those aren't the kind of women he's interested in.