Mordante
Topic Author
Posts: 183
Joined: Thu 21 May 2020, 23:14

Barrow Wright dreadful spells

Fri 05 Nov 2021, 13:34

It says that it can send a pc into unconsciousness from which they can be roused using the song skill.

I can't get my head around the fact that pcs have to burst into song!

My question is this do the characters automatically know they must use sing? Or have they got to make a lore or another skill check to know this also how would it present in play?
 
baldrick0712
Posts: 672
Joined: Fri 28 May 2021, 12:29

Re: Barrow Wright dreadful spells

Fri 05 Nov 2021, 15:05

I think in the source material it was Tom Bombadil who sang, to perform a sort of exorcism. Perhaps this is the intent of the use of SONG here. So, maybe the character knows a rhyme that wakes people from a sleep enchantment?

Here's the song...

Wake now my merry lads! Wake and hear me calling!
Warm now be heart and limb! The cold stone is fallen;
Dark door is standing wide; dead hand is broken.
Night under Night is flown, and the Gate is open!
 
Dunheved
Posts: 494
Joined: Wed 11 Mar 2020, 02:07
Location: UK

Re: Barrow Wright dreadful spells

Thu 25 Nov 2021, 10:06

Maybe it is like a frequently reported news story where a person in a coma is brought round by the playing of a familiar or popular tune or song?

One PC is trying to wake the victim. Repetitive calling of their name might be tedious to narrate, and sound desperate. Singing or chanting something culturally familiar would be quite likely imho. In the same way, you might readily sing to an upset child (yesterday my grand-daughter bumped her head and I found myself singing one of those nursery tunes - which is so NOT me in normal life as I have a poor singing voice! )

Even a battle cry might count and it would be worth asking the LM if she agrees to permit ENHEARTEN (old Inspire) to get the same effect.

The LM might (should?) decide to offer this anyway. Any PC with Shadow Lore, or Folklore can be told they remember fables of similar actions to rescue those under a dark sleep, or similar words.
 
Niallism
Posts: 116
Joined: Tue 29 Jun 2021, 13:56

Re: Barrow Wright dreadful spells

Fri 26 Nov 2021, 16:58

Don't think of it as singing. It can be reciting a poem, chanting, telling a story. The line between song and poetry is very marginal in LOTR and the epics that influenced it.

For example the inspiring speech that Theoden gives before charging:

'Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden!
Fell deeds awake, fire and slaughter!
spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,
a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!'

That could be Song, or Enhearten. Something like that could rouse an ensorcelled ally from this spell.
 
Mordante
Topic Author
Posts: 183
Joined: Thu 21 May 2020, 23:14

Re: Barrow Wright dreadful spells

Sat 27 Nov 2021, 08:34

Thanks for replies...I'm not sure I'll ever feel comfortable with using sing but maybe I'll feel differently when running it.
 
Niallism
Posts: 116
Joined: Tue 29 Jun 2021, 13:56

Re: Barrow Wright dreadful spells

Sat 27 Nov 2021, 09:07

Thanks for replies...I'm not sure I'll ever feel comfortable with using sing but maybe I'll feel differently when running it.
Why do you feel uncomfortable with it? Is all your RP in the 1st person, so you feel the player has to sing?

You can just go third person, and the player says 'I sing an old song about heroes waking from sleep' and roll the dice.
 
Mordante
Topic Author
Posts: 183
Joined: Thu 21 May 2020, 23:14

Re: Barrow Wright dreadful spells

Sat 27 Nov 2021, 11:00

Thanks for replies...I'm not sure I'll ever feel comfortable with using sing but maybe I'll feel differently when running it.
Why do you feel uncomfortable with it? Is all your RP in the 1st person, so you feel the player has to sing?

You can just go third person, and the player says 'I sing an old song about heroes waking from sleep' and roll the dice.
There isn't any chance of any player having to burst into song!
It's just so strange having to wake someone this way
 
Niallism
Posts: 116
Joined: Tue 29 Jun 2021, 13:56

Re: Barrow Wright dreadful spells

Sat 27 Nov 2021, 11:13

Thanks for replies...I'm not sure I'll ever feel comfortable with using sing but maybe I'll feel differently when running it.
Why do you feel uncomfortable with it? Is all your RP in the 1st person, so you feel the player has to sing?

You can just go third person, and the player says 'I sing an old song about heroes waking from sleep' and roll the dice.
There isn't any chance of any player having to burst into song!
It's just so strange having to wake someone this way
But in literally the only example we have of this in Tolkien, it's what happens. Tom Bombadil sings a magical rhyme to help them.

People sing a lot. All over the world. And in pre-literate cultures, which are the basis of Tolkien, they have to sing or chant to remember stuff.

You keep saying 'burst into song' like it's a musical and they're going to jump and spin.

In my world, there are often songs. People sing while drinking. Young people and families go to karaoke boxes together. My daughter and partner both often sing. I sing in the shower, or just while walking. Quietly, if other people are around, but I do sing.

It's not strange to sing.
 
baldrick0712
Posts: 672
Joined: Fri 28 May 2021, 12:29

Re: Barrow Wright dreadful spells

Sat 27 Nov 2021, 14:52

I can't get my head around the fact that pcs have to burst into song!
The player-heroes inhabit a world that literally came into being when their god sang, so even if it sounds strange to us, it would not be strange to them to invoke song to rouse someone from a magically induced slumber. In their world, singing has the power to create entire universes.
My question is this do the characters automatically know they must use sing? Or have they got to make a lore or another skill check to know this also how would it present in play?
The rules require only a test of Song so if they pass the roll they both recall and recite a suitable song.
 
Sebastian
Posts: 246
Joined: Thu 01 Oct 2020, 04:58

Re: Barrow Wright dreadful spells

Mon 29 Nov 2021, 08:54

Elven Heroes or Characters with the Shadow Lore Trait or Rhymes of Lore traits certainly known about the power of Songs and when to use them. In LotR the Heroes sing quite often or recite some rhymes, so I find the use of Song here extremely appropriate.

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