Cruise Ship Terror - Swashbuckle

So, it's another post about music. It's something that Mr. Mud and I intend to do from now on. Every week, we'll post a quick paragraph or two about a song that we've recently come to like. We'll probably switch off every week. So, this week I have song duty. I'm gonna write about the song in the title, Cruise Ship Terror. So then....

The Song:
Arrr, this be a pleasin song. It's by Swashbuckle, who I mentioned in the most recent blog post. If you didn't read that post, then I'll quickly summarize them. Pirate theme thrash metal. It's quite fun stuff. In terms of rifffs and such, Swashbuckle isn't very original, but they are unbelievably fun, and their pirate theme is rather fun. Now for the song itself, this is a song about pirates attacking a cruise ship, stealing all the money and women, and in general doing what pirates always do. The song is fast, thrashy, and really fun. A high point is when the band starts chanting YO! HO! YO! HO! It has some solos at the end, but they aren't really anything special to talk about. It's got a fun, catchy chorus (party boat! parrrty boat!). In the end, it's a rockin song about pirates doing what pirates do best. And that's why it's the song of the week.

Concert Review #1

So yeah, we haven't posted in a while. As Mr. Mud said, I've had technical difficulties. A lot of them. As you can see, they've lasted since August. I wish I could hurry the adventure up, but I can't. However, in the meantime I'm going to post something that I don't think we've had here yet. A concert review. Last night, I saw the Monsters of Death tour. For those of you that don't know, it's a tour through North America headlined by a Polish Death Metal band called Vader, with about 5 bands opening. So, onto the actual review.

So last night I saw Vader, and the five bands that opened for them. I shall now type up a rather un-brief description of it, describing how cool it was. For a short summary, scroll to the bottom.

Swashbuckle
So I walked into the venue after these guys had played about a third of their set. I looked at them, and was in awe. They were all dressed like pirates, and had a palm tree on the stage. In the pit there was a guy (presumably with Swashbuckle) dressed as a shark, moshing. After quickly buying some merchandise, I went down and enjoyed the show. These guys are very entertaining live. Instead of getting the crowd to go "Hey! Hey! Hey!" they had us chanting "YO! HO! YO! HO!". I've known of pirate themed metal bands for a while now, but this is the first time I've ever seen one live, and I must say that they made quite an impression. There's just something incredibly entertaining about a bunch of guys singing about bottles of rum and sailing on the high seas. In the end, this band was simply really fun.

Augury
This band started being fun before they even started playing. During their sound check, the venue was playing Nightwish songs from Dark Passion Play over the speakers so loudly, that they couldn't hear their instruments well enough to judge the sound quality. They kept yelling desperately that the music should be turned down. Eventually, when the sound either ignored them, or just didn't hear them, they started dancing around like it was pop music. Much of the crowd joined in, which led to good fun. Eventually, they got going. They played some very good progressive death metal, and as a reward for being a good crowd, they graced us with a beautiful bass solo. Their performance was good, although the vocalist had a shirt praising deathcore that some people in the crowd did not approve of.

The Amenta
This band certainly was weird. I didn't catch the beginning of their set, because I had seen Peter Wywczarek, and gone over to talk to him (in Polish!). But I quickly got back, and I was very entertained by them. They all looked fairly strange, with their faces lightly blackened by facepaint, the singer with his rather awesome leather boots and silver wolf-head belt buckle. The singer acted very....black metal, for someone who plays in a band that is industrial death metal. I had a hard time catching this band's name, since the vocalist always messed it up somehow when he said it, but I looked them up later. They were quite good.

Warbringer
Now this was probably the most entertaining part of the show during the night. Earlier, while Swashbuckle was playing, I had met and talked with their vocalist. Now, I had managed to get a spot right up in front against the stage (no barrier), so I had an excellent view. They started off with 3 songs on their new album, and kept kicking ass from their. They all were really into the music. One of their guitarists, John Laux, was so close to me I could have probably plucked his strings for him if I had wanted to. John Kevil (the vocalist) was a maniac, headbanging and jumping around. At some point the drummer from Swashbuckle ran on stage, and stage dived. John Kevil responded by saying "Yes, stage diving pirates are awesome! Arrrrr!" Later, Kevil stage dived himself, and was placed back on stage headfirst in a position that looked painful. Still, he got back up and managed to awe the whole crowd with how metal he was for the rest of the set.

Decrepit Birth
There's not too much I can really say about these guys. While these guys played, I rested up a bit because I had worn out my neck and voice during the last 4 bands, and I still needed all my headbanging power for when Vader came on. So I just stood and watched. They seemed to be fairly good death metal. They had live presence, and to a fan they probably would have very fun. I managed to catch a pick from the bassist, so I put it in my wallet so I wouldn't lose it. Then....I lost it. I feel kind of stupid about that.

Vader
And now for the headlining band. Really, they were simply fantastic. They played great songs, had lots of energy, nailed all the solos, Hyped up the crowd really well. A near perfect performance. Except for 2 issues. The first was that for some reason Peter's vocals were really low into the mix, so you could barely hear his growls. This was rather annoying. The other issue was that since there were a total of 6 bands playing that night, Vader's set was rather short, and they didn't get to play as many songs as I wish they would. This is especially a problem since they have a lot of short songs, so this really made it seem like their set wend by realy quickly. Still, they played some of my favorites such as Sothis, Silent Empire, and This Is The War, so I was overall happy with it. Things such as sound problems or short sets can't hold back a great band like Vader.

So overall, I would rate the show an 8/10. If you're a fan of any of these bands, then go ahead and check out this tour. It's well worth it.

More of the same, really.

So, sorry for the delay, but you may have come to expect it from us - which isn't uncalled for in the least bit. Anyway, the reason the Adventure isn't up yet, is because my awesome counterpart, is running into some rather unawesome technical issues. But the adventure will be up by Thursday. To make up for this... Another sneak peak!

Uhm...

...

There'll be a part two!

Mafia Dragons - You said "Impossible"... We said "Nay".

So, to kick off our Homebrewing, I thought that I'd start by giving you all a...
Preview?
That's right, we're refining the first adventure - again- so it reaches it maximum potential, for you, the valued reader. Anyways, just on the adventure::

It's going to be aimed at a 4 player party, but will be easily adjustable for more... less that 3 will take some expert Game Mastering, though it will surely be possible. Players should be around levels 2 or 3. For veteran gamers, this adventure should only be about 1 session of gaming, but if you're rolling up characters just for it, prepare hot pockets before hand; it will be a good - probably even a GREAT - 5 hours. Lastly, the adventure ends, and shouldn't lead into a campaign. Yet. Eventually we'll get around to writing some of the earth shattering ideas we had for tying it off.

Hopefully you'll all enough us being serious for a change of direction. If not, well, then the adventure should be a good laugh.

Children, it's time for a history lesson

Alright, I promised a campaign setting, so here it is. Well, the beginning of it. This is simply the basic history of the world, and includes the majority of the significant historical events of this world for what is almost the last 4000 years. Now then, let's begin.

Evalt was a flourishing world. Civilization had been established almost everywhere. A great war had ended. Evalt seemed to be at peace. Gratyi, the comet that was considered to be an omen of good luck, appeared. Many thought a great new era was going to soon begin. Everything just seemed right for it. But then something that no one could have foreseen happened.

Gratyi collided a very surprised world. Immediately it nearly completely wiped out an nation of people. Earthquakes shook the world, bringing cities to the ground. Fires broke out for hundreds of miles almost instantly from the heat of the impact. Entire nations burned in the inferno. The impact also sent massive tsunamis out in every direction. Coastal towns around the world were destroyed by massive waves. The whole world was in chaos. Most of the survivors lived on the other side of the planet. They were spared from the worst effects of the impact, although they too would soon suffer. The impact had shaken a lot of dust into the atmosphere, which blocked out the sun. The whole world was in darkness. With the sun blocked out, the remaining crops died. The whole world was beginning to starve. Many resorted to cannibalism to survive. Not only was there starvation, but the lack of sunlight made the world colder. Many of those that didn’t starve, froze.

However, not everyone was hurt by the lack of sunlight. Vampires loved this change in the world. The vampires that had survived the impact loved not having the ever fear the sun. Many began to hunt those who still lived. Vampires became as big a threat as starvation and the cold. One opportunistic vampire named Roltes saw an opportunity to gain power. Many of the vampires heedlessly hunted down the living, not realizing that if they continued like this their food would soon be completely extinct, and then the vampires would be the next ones to starve. Roltes began capturing the living, and keeping them like livestock. Soon, vampires began coming to him to obtain their food, and Roltes obliged. He began to establish a small kingdom, over which he ruled. Many vampires joined him. After all, he was the man with the food. Other vampires soon saw what Roltes was doing, and they too began to use the living like livestock. These vampires also created their own nations, and proclaimed themselves to be kings and lords.

These many vampire lords began to fight for power. War broke out between the vampire nations. What was most fought over, was food. Vampires raided each other’s cities and stole their “livestock.” For a century the Vampiric Wars continued. Many of the weaker nations collapsed under the control of the more powerful vampiric nations. Roltes did very well in these wars. He was a brilliant tactician, and a clever politician. He also amassed the largest supply of food in the vampiric world, which made many vampires willing to join him. By the end of the wars, Roltes emerged victorious, with all resistance crushed. He declared himself the Emperor of all of Evalt.

For the next several millennia, Roltes ruled over his empire. He continued to keep a tight control over the food supply for the vampires. He made sure to breed his “livestock” and be careful to not have too much of it eaten. Vampires were the only ones that had any real civilization during this time. Almost all the living people on the surface of the world were slaves to the vampires, used for food and work. After about a millennium of rule, Roltes proclaimed himself to be a god, and demanded that everyone in his Empire worship him. Temples dedicated to him, and Roltes became the most “popular” god in the world. During this time, he experimented with creating human-vampire hybrids, and ended up creating the bloodlings. Bloodlings had a slightly higher status than the rest of the living. They were rarely used for food, and could have some minor political power within the empire. The other slaves resented this, but could not do much. Some slave revolts occurred during the history of the empire, but they never had much success. The vampires were simply too strong.

Then, after several millennia, the dust began to settle. The vampires were extremely worried, as sunlight was beginning to reach the surface in some parts of the world. Over the course of several centuries, more and more light began to shine through. One thing however, became obvious. It only shined through on one side of the world. On the other side, it never shined through. Astronomers were perplexed. From the knowledge that was left over from before the impact, they knew that the world turned, so that the sun eventually shined on all parts of the planet. Yet it constantly shined on only one part. Clearly, something was very wrong. However, the vampires did not concern themselves with this too much, because they were far more worried about keeping their empire. Roltes was especially worried, as light was beginning to shine down on his capital, making life very difficult for the rulers. Successful slave revolts had happened in several parts of his empire, where the sunlight was too strong for the vampires to do anything. Roltes began to move himself and much of the vampire ruling class to the part of the world still in darkness. The slaves in the capital city took this opportunity, and began to revolt. The sunlight made fighting difficult for the vampires, and the slaves succeeded in their revolt. Roltes was in the city at the time, and he was never found after the revolt. No evidence has been found of him dying, but he has never been seen by anyone since the revolt, so no one knows if he’s really dead, or simply hiding somewhere.

With the fall of Roltes, the rest of the empire quickly fell apart. Vampires fled to the dark part of the world, while the slaves rebelled. The vampires in the dark side of the world had lost their unity, and were in chaos. Historians mark the fall of the final vampiric city at the year 3567 AI (After Impact). After this point, the slaves were free, and the world began to return to normality.

Except that not all was normal. The slaves realized that Evalt no longer turned like it used to. The impact had stopped it in space. Life soon adapted to this new strange world. Nations established themselves along the edges of the illuminated part of the world, for the majority of it had become an extremely hot desert due to the constant sunlight. Civilization began to re-establish itself.

It has now the year 3901 AI. The world is now divided into three zones. Pozahr where the sun always shines creating an incredibly deadly desert, Zgobisch where the sun never shines over an icy cold land, and the Central Belt, where civilization has established itself, and is thriving. The vampires have never regained the unity that they had under Roltes, and now stay within the Icelands most of the time. The world still has many problems, but it is healing.

Now, I think I'll be specific

Alright, so Mr. Mud hinted at some of the things we will be doing in the future. Now then, I'd like to give definite details about this stuff. We've discussed some of this, and planned it out. This is by no means a totally definite list. We're likely to add some stuff to it, and I don't think that we'll be taking much away. Also, most of this is stuff that I'll be involved in, either together with Mr. Mud or alone. Mr. Mud might have some stuff planned for himself that I don't know about.

Firstly, we will be doing quite a bit of D&D material. Together with Mr. Mud I've been writing an adventure. It started off as his idea, and the adventure itself is somewhat standard (don't worry, it's still good), but it leads to other things that can be...quite exciting. I won't say any more. I think we should have this adventure up by the end of the week if all goes well. It should be in 4th edition D&D, as Mr. Mud is the one who intends to use it, not me. Although I myself prefer 3.5. There will be a few more adventures, but they'll come along later

Next, is a campaign setting. This will be somewhat of a longer project, and it will be mostly done by me, with some contributions from Mr. Mud. He's already given me an idea for a race. This will be using 3.5 edition D&D. However, I am considering making a 4th edition version. We'll see. The basic premise of this world, is that in the past it was hit by a large comet. It now no longer moves through space, and no longer turns, due to the impact. One side of the planet always faces the sun, while one side always faces away. Civilization thrives in the middle between these two sides. That's all I'll say for now.

Our next idea is a bit more...silly. At some point I actually wrote up how you would have to modify a fighter jet so that a T-rex could fly it. As someone with actual experience in a plane, I have a fairly good idea of how the plane would have to be modified so that it could fly a T-rex. Now then, you might ask me why I did something so ridiculous? Well obviously I did it because it's so damn cool. Come on, it's a fighter plane flown by a friggin dinosaur. And this won't be the end. Both me and Muddie will be making more machines modified to accept animals.

Next, I'll be reviewing some music. I'll be doing an album called De Profundis by Vader. It's not exactly new (it came out in the 90s), but I've been listening to it a lot, so I'll review it. This should interest anyone that likes metal, especially if the metal that they like is DEATH METAL.

Another musical thing that we'll be doing is a "weekly song suggestion." Basically, each week Muddie and I will pick a song that we like (probably one that's recently been released), and then one of us will write a brief paragraph about it. Most of these songs will probably be metal, since we're both complete metalheads, but that might not always be the case.

Also, when Mr. Mud said that we'd have art, that was total crap. We both suck at making anything remotely artistic.

That's all for now!

.... God, I wish we had these ideas sooner.

Come one, come all, to the Mud Puddle Magic Emporium... This week, to kick off the new open season of blogging, we shall be covering a few, NEW topics (not like we really covered anything before.... but I digress). In to what we usual rant about, we will be trying to write about one of the follow, maybe two times a week... Here's a complete list of what we were thinking of:

Movies
Video Games
Politics
Music
Random Internet Goodness.
[insert all other avenues of creativity]
New Game Mastering (table top games)
New Our crazy Ideas of world domination.*
New and finally... Art? More on that at a later date.


* Yes, we've finally put together a plan, in which you all are the pawns, in our nefarious scheme of total power... But anyway, be sure to look for a post of something extremely awesome... And half baked. But we've half baked it twice, my friends.