Hey there, everyone! I'm working hard on The Cartomancer: A Deckbuilding Diviner and have finally broken through ethermancer-level conceptualization issues. The rest is smooth sailing.
The point is this: when working on something difficult, I frequently get frustrated and work on something easier. As it turns out, a $1.00 product worth of new opuses for the maestro base class sort of... happened.
As opuses are the big nukes for the maestro, the huge, characterful powers that do things that would make the standard custom composition system break with tier 0 ridiculousness, their use is the maestro's chance to be the big man on campus for six seconds. To help this drama, each opus is linked to one of the best classical music pieces mankind has ever produced.
I'd like to only make one opus expansion, so I'm shooting for a larger count before releasing the contents to the public. Do you have a favorite piece whose emotional content would lend itself to an opus? If so, please let me know. I'll look into it! After all, everyone deserves an excuse to blare their favorite classical piece over the game table once in awhile.
Pieces currently being used in the expansion follow. Enjoy the tunes!
Night on Bald Mountain -Mussorgsky
Dance of the Knights -Prokofiev
Figaro's Aria (from The Barber of Seville) -Rossini
Mars, the Bringer of War -Holst
Neptune, the Mystic -Holst
Waltz of the Flowers -Tchaikovsky
Ooh, the mood changes a lot. Difficult to pin the composition down with mere language, fugue shenanigans galore... I'm feeling some sort of maze-like effect. :)
This might not be what you're looking for but...this is probably one of my favourite pieces and I'd love to see what you match it to. Actually from an older game...
It's the final boss battle theme from Final Fantasy 6. Also very long to warn you but I'd kick myself if I didn't at least mention it.
If there is gunpowder this is required - the 1812 Overture
And for Death knocking Beethoven's 5th
Ive always loved the moonlight sonata.
I believe the 1812 Overture already has one actually. :)
If there is gunpowder this is required - the 1812 Overture
Both of these had opuses themed around them in the original Maestro doc. (1812 lets you shoot cannonballs at your enemies. Not joking, it's just that awesome.)
Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze would make for a lovely 'peaceful' themed opus.
Ravel's Bolero screams for opus-ization. Something that becomes stronger in power the longer it's conducted would be thematically appropriate.
Danse Macabre would make for an excellent spooky-themed opus.
Since you're not limiting yourself to classical composers, some John Williams would be a fun nod to the geek fanbase. (Personally I'm partial to the Jurrasic Park theme music, but really almost anything could see a use.)
For fun & snark: John Cage's 4'33" would be an entertaining way to work some kind of mega-silence effect into the class. :-)
The base product contains
Also Sprach Zarathustra -Strauss (2001's opener)
Theme from a Summer Place -Steiner (Relax-O-Vision)
Moonlight Sonata -Beethoven
Requiem in D Minor -Mozart
Can Can Music -Offenbach
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor -Ostensibly Bach, but people say it isn't because it's so unlike his work
Sabre Dance -Khachaturian
The Ride of the Valkyries -Wagner
1812 Overture -Tchaikovsky
Ranz des Vaches -Rossini
Ode to Joy -Beethoven
In the Hall of the Mountain King -Grieg (The Dorf Fortress Anthem)
Though I have pulled myself out of the great pool of dead guys with Steiner, I do need to be a bit careful. What I am doing here is certainly fair use, but Square Enix, for one, has a long track record of throwing themselves around in an attempt to push away anything that uses their work. Though I'd most likely win, is it really worth fighting off the suited serpents in order to refer to one of Uematsu's pieces? Nah. Besides, if I were to go for it, I'd go for Gizamaluke's Grotto, anyway. Love me some harpsichord.
@DankeSean
Thank you! I was looking for that one, though its odd title and lack of content beyond the "artist's gesture" made it hard to track down. To call it silence is to cheapen the effect, however. The key of 4'33" was how it called attention to the ambiance of the room. It'll take some thinking, but the ability needs to break the 4th wall. Hard.
Bolero does merit use, if only because it would lend itself to an expansion of opus functionality. Your opus would play out more like a super intro than anything else.
Sheep May Safely Graze is a nice piece, though I've got most of the "easy" peaceful design space filled in. My first instinct was to be snarky and let the maestro spontaneously generate immobile sheep for use as low cover, using the 1812 Overture double performance rule, of course. My second instinct is to make a creature have a % chance to make no action if it attempts aggression, no save. Gives a round or two for a savvy party to pop healing while the dragon is bobbing its head.
John Williams, eh? How about this as a one-round delayed glibness called "That's Impossible!"
As for Jurassic Park, when it is used in the movie, it's triumphant, gives a feel of anything being possible. ...I could make the opus allow for rerolls of d% dice, as well as one d20 reroll per round to keep the power level in synch with some of the other opuses. Very niche, but it could turn the right fight right around.
@Mhoram
Oh, geez. The first movement of the 5th. I missed a low-hanging fruit there. Thanks!
This might not be what you're looking for but...this is probably one of my favourite pieces and I'd love to see what you match it to. Actually from an older game...
** spoiler omitted **
Wise of you not to go with the Sydney Opera House version. The organist dropped the ball. Hard.
If there is gunpowder this is required - the 1812 Overture
Both of these had opuses themed around them in the original Maestro doc. (1812 lets you shoot cannonballs at your enemies. Not joking, it's just that awesome.)
Ah. Thanks.
I hadn't got around to getting this yet.. I plan to though. Interjection's work is good. The Ethermancer is one of my top 3PP classes (RGG's Magister and Kobold's Theurge are the other two).
The fact that I seem to think like the writer pushes this one up on my list to get.
Well, I'd appreciate whatever purchases you make. I'm still $100 away from paying the bills for the month :)
There is also this piece, not as familiar as others.
Hovanhness Mt St Helens:
Third Movement Symphony 50 - Eruption
Lends itself well to an evocation. Maybe something that threatens to knock creatures prone in an area for a couple rounds before going volcano. Difficult terrain afterward?
O mio babbino caro (from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi). The most beautiful soprano aria in the world.
Lends itself well to an evocation. Maybe something that threatens to knock creatures prone in an area for a couple rounds before going volcano. Difficult terrain afterward?
Sounds about right to me.