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So, Pitax's whole shtick is that Irrovetti has horrible taste, and most of the "artists" there are talentless hacks, over-running a small free-spirited city of criminals lying low. But, the problem is, what's the best way to present this to the PCs?
Problem is, how should a GM make this clear to the players? Sure, we could just use a "take my word for it, it sucks" attitude, but wouldnt it be nice to find a few really crappy songs, paintings, sculpture, maybe a bad old movie or play to put on in the background? I've always firmly supported the "show, dont tell" method of storytelling.
Does anyone have any ideas for this sequence?
Does anyone have any ideas for this sequence?
Well, it would depend on how you want to portray it. A review of local productions in the papers that the PCs could read would work (internet search for critics bashing anything and everything should give you plenty of juicy sentences). You could also search for scripts to old-time vaudville melodramas, which are highly cheesy.
You could also have some "real" NPC artists struggling or giving up in disgust and leaving.
When in doubt, cliche everything. I can't think of anything worse than cliche after cliche in a script.
You could also send them to see a local play, maybe give them a few snippets, and describe how people are leaving in droves half-way through the first act.
Oh, or if you REALLY want to torture them, have The Esteemed Lord Drem, Author Extraordinaire personally invite the PCs to his latest epic, "The Life and Times of Fosslewaite and Spandernos and Their Travels Around the Inner Sea". Lord Drem's latest masterpiece is only 34 Acts staged over a period of four days (his shortest yet!) and he insists that the PCs simply MUST come and see it, and tell him what they think (as long as it's praise!). At the end of each day, make 'em roll a Will save to avoid taking temporary Int damage from the vapid prose, poor acting, deplorable sets, and the jerk sitting next to them coughing throughout the show (though he might instead be thanked). Perception checks to notice the talented half-elf fiddle player in the orchestra!
Okay, perhaps I've gone a bit too far...;)
Does anyone have any ideas for this sequence?
Crank up the volume and play "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred any time the PCs are in Pitax!!!
"Ode to a Lump of Green Putty I Found in My Arm Pit One Mid-Summer Morning"
I like the classics. If you'd like more than the title, and I can't imagine why you would, try: http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32140
You could use the Vogon Poetry Generator.
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As I recall, there were several dungeon magazine tables of useless junk, which could easily be used as "modern art" installations.
Similar tables could be mixed and matched as play titles or the lyrics of epic ballads.
Find the score for "Its a small world after all" and play it in the background when describing the awful art of the city.
Geeky- you gave me a terrible idea.
Here's my Pitax Playlist, demonstrating lack of taste and several distinct schools of Pitax musical genius. The residents generally prefer one of the three 'schools' of music, and several pitched battles have been fought on the street regarding whether or not Rock Lobster exceeds Bird Bath in artistic quality, and whether or not Gunther or the Premiers has the best insight into the human condition:
(I actually enjoy many of these songs, but I do acknowledge that they are quite... 'special', for one reason or another.)
THE CUTTING EDGE
1. I'm Too Sexy... Right Said Fred.
2. Ding Dong Song... Gunther
3. God is a Girl
4. Rock Me Amadeus... Falco (!)
5. I Eat Cannibals (Neo-Post-Punk-Frontier Folk)...Toto Coelo
6. The Time Warp
7. Rock Lobster
8. Late to the Party ...Aerodrone.
9. Pwnage Like Us... PVP Gurl
10. Kurabe... Quaff
11. Arnold Workout Tape... Phantom of the Cineplex (Really.)
POPULAR MUSIC
2. The Bird's The Word
3. Tennessee Birdwalk
4. Itsy Bitsy Teeney Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
5. Smells Like Funk... Black Eyed Peas
6. Purple People Eater (Imported from Numeria)
7. Such a Pity... Foot Patrol (...Check this 'very special' song out)
8. Brave Bulging Bouyant Clairvoyant... Wild Beasts
TRADITIONAL FRONTIER MUSIC FOR PITAX
6. My Bucket's Got a Hole in it... Sunny Burgess
6. No Good Annie...1910 Fruitgum Co.
6. Indian Giver...1910 Fruitgum Co.
7. The Little Blue Man... Betty Johnson
8. Bird Bath... The Trashmen
9. Farmer John... The Premiers
Two Words: Bulwer-Lytton.
Also, go to a yard sale or resale shop. A lot of the time, you will find some sort of dubious art that you can pick up for very cheap.
It also depends somewhat on how you exactly understand Irrovetti. I think it's perfectly reasonable to take a cue from other dictators with bad taste, like Turkmenbashi, and say that the art's not bad, and is frequently technically perfect, just very self-aggrandizing, garish, and always with gold lame.
Have them run past an advertising flyer for the Latest, Greatest, Best Ever Illusionary Drama: The Highlander, Part the Second
And you can throw in something that will have some laughable ties to modern bad poets and artists...
Situation 1:
Have the PC's come to a tavern called The Starred Buck where they only serve high priced beverages that require a specific ordering sub-dialect (and the employees will make snide remarks if one syllable is out of place) and in the end they just give everyone overly priced immitation dwarven stout regardless of what is actually ordered(sure to enrage any dwarf).
Cut away to the clientelle that fills the tiny tables dotting the place near to bursting as they sip their drinks and comment on the subtle flavor notes in the afformentioned terrible beer (and groan in line as the PC's innevitably mess up their drink order). Each one has a brand new journal/pad of paper/etc and high priced satchel full of masterwork quills and other assorted instruments.
To a person, they all seem to be furiously writing/sketching as long as they are being observed. Otherwise they gaze listlessly around the room and polish their quills and visually compare quality of their crafting gear with those nearby. Net production of fine art and literature? Zero...
Situation 2:
The PC's walk passed a grassy park known by locals as "the Quad" full of:
- People in fancy dress engaging in studying lines from plays (much more loudly around handsome/pretty passersby).
- Lazy looking people "debating" points of general philosophy in circular arguments (asking for affirming backup to their argument from a knowledgable looking PC)
-A bevy of lute-carrying lay-abouts that seem to perpetually tune their instrument and then play a single chord that sounds like something akin to Golarion's version of Do-re-mi (of course there will be entire flocks of doe-eyed members of the opposite sex hanging on every poorly plucked note).
-Yet more of the same clientelle from the Starred Buck frantically working on their next great painting or poem as long as they are observed as doing so (of course sipping their beverage from the previously mentioned tavern in a travel leather cup bearing the tavern's sigil).
