What is this, a song cue?
The Game: Jukebox
The Publisher: Jar of Eyes
Degree of Familiarity: Haven't played the game, but I pretty conversant with both karaoke and musicals
Books Required: Just the one
Jukebox is a game that I'm keen to play, but if I had a time machine and I could cherry-pick a few players from across my life, holy shit, this would be amazing. (I say that not because I don't have players now who would be into it and be great at it, but because playing this game with my friend Jacob would be really incredible.)
So! What is Jukebox? Jukebox is a GMless game not dissimilar to games like A Tragedy in Five Acts, Dialect, or even Fiasco, in which you have a set structure of scenes in which narrative focus passes from player to player, but every scene ends with or includes one of the players singing a song, karaoke-style, within the fiction of the musical. Yes, it requires a way to sing karaoke, but generally you can search "[song title] karaoke" on Yubtub and get one (or, failing that, just sing along with the song, it's not like this is American Idol or some shit).
You know, much is made in modern RPGs, in the indie sphere especially, of comfort and consent and just generally having a good experience, but I think there's something to be said for a game that requires a player to step out of their comfort zone a little and take some risk whether that be that a character might die or come to some tragic end or that the player act in a way they're not used to. Singing in front of people isn't something a lot of people do, outside of something like karaoke, and I think this framework would be interesting. I think that singing a song and acting at the same time is harder than most people think, and I think that spending 3+ minutes at the table singing while other people stare at you has the potential to get weird, but on the other hand, I love jukebox musicals and I love reinterpreting lyrics to fit situations other than the songwriter's intent, so 10/10 no notes, let's fucking play this game.
(Not today, however, today we are just making a character.)
This is one of those games that I wasn't sure should be on the project, since character creation is so very baked in to the process of play, but as with Dialect I think we can make it work. We do, however, need a playset. The way this would work in play is that (if we were using a playset playbill) we'd each come up with a setlist of six songs, which would then get shuffled and performed during play. But that does mean I need to figure out the playbill (since that'll decide the tone and musical genres we're shooting for). Handily, there are a whole bunch, so let's pick one! (If we were playing this, I'd probably want to make up a playbill, but I ain't doing all that by myself today.)
Oh, man, there are so many good ones, but I know I want to pick at least one Amigo the Devil song for my setlist, so I'm gonna go with:
Well, I said I want at least one Amigo the Devil song, so I'm gonna pick two that are pretty different in tone: "I Hope Your Husband Dies" and "Cocaine and Abel."
OK, what else. I don't want to do all murderfolk songs, but I do want a Devil Makes Three song in there. The question is which one, because there are a bunch that are fuckin' bangers and would be amazing in this musical. I think I want something a little more uptempo so I'm not gonna pick "Graveyard," but how about "Help Yourself?" Yeah, sounds good.
The inspirational songs in this playbill go in kind of a different direction than I am; there's some quasi-country (if you count "Picture" by fucking Kid Rock), but there's also "Jackson" by Johnny Cash. I love the Man in Black; I don't want to use that song specifically, but I think "I Still Miss Someone" would be pretty awesome.
Oh, man. "Curbside Prophet" by Jason Mraz? Maybe. I'll keep that in my back pocket, I've only got two more (I mean, I could pick more than six, but if we were playing I'd only wind up doing three, so picking more just dilutes the pool, as it were). "If the World Was Ending" by JP Saxe is also a possibility and has the benefit of being a duet, but is it really in tone with this playbill? I think it's not, actually, alas.
Ooh, no, I got one: "You Make Me Feel Like a Whore," Everclear. Yeah, my setlist leans into some issues with self-loathing, so call that method acting, I guess, but I love Everclear and I think the vibe actually works here.
One more song! OH WAIT SHIT how could I possibly be in a musical about bog people and not include a Hozier song? I love Hozier so much, though I find him a little hard to sing, but I don't think I'd let that stop me.
OK, I am not going to pick "Abstract" or actually anything else off Unreal Unearthed because pretty much that whole album hits me right in the feels, and besides I want something with a little more edge to it. Oh, how about "Too Sweet?" If I'm warmed up I can sing that pretty well.
Right, that's six! What's next? That'd be the end of the Tech Rehearsal stage, meaning we'd go into Opening Number, which would involve picking...an opening number, singing it, and then using that as the basic to answer a bunch of questions about the setting. Since we're using a preset playbill, the questions are already there and it'd just be a matter of narrowing it down. The themes of the musical revolve around human encroachment and warring monster families, so if it were me playing in this game, I think I'd push for an opening number that's big, loud, and contentious...oh, wait, I know. "Glitter & Gold," Barns Courtney. I think that'd be goddamn perfect for the opening number for this show.
OK, that's it for the Opening Number for my purposes (the rest would be fleshing out the setting, which I'm not gonna do, because I don't think I need to in order to finish my character). Next bit would be Character Songs, which is really where chargen proper happens. First thing we do is Draw a Character Song, picking one of my setlist to be the basis for the character. Let's just roll a d6 and go down the order I picked them in, yeah? A roll of 1 gives me "I Hope Your Husband Dies." Well, that sets up a character arc, dunnit?
From the lyrics and vibe of that song, I'm meant to determine:
All of the characters here are swamp monsters, so I picture my guy as this kind of humanoid-newt sort of thing. His people are called "Hellbenders," and they live in the black, brackish shallows of the swamp. My guy's name is Ax (he/him), and his concept is...hmm. The lyrics to the song talk about traveling great distances, so I think Ax actually left the swamp to try and find the perfect ring with which to propose to his ladylove, but when he got back, she was already married because he never told her how he felt. His role in the group is kinda "prodigal, embittered, son." His notable personality trait is that he's lovesick, and his motive for accomplishing the group goal (which, for my purposes, isn't firmly established, but that's fine) is to prove himself to his intended.
And that's actually it, kids. I picture Ax as mostly humanoid, skinny, with little floppy nubs on his head that kinda look like hair if he wears a hat and you squint and are also very drunk. His skin is mostly black but with mottled yellow spots in place.
Ax
Concept: Prodigal/embittered swamp dweller, Hellbender, in love with [someone] and left to procure a gift but never told her how he felt
Trait: Lovesick
Motive: Prove himself to his intended
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