Hello. I'm fairly new here in Lusternia and I came here primarily because I hope there's more role playing and creativity here than in Achaea. Those of you who frequent Achaean forums know who I am.

This thread is about music I compose and arrange, which is inspired by the motives from the game. Lusternia seems to be, just as Achaea (minus most players), brimming with themes that can inspire creativity.

However, based on my experience in Achaea, I feel it's rather dull to keep creating something like that, since in several months I've found absolutely no one who would be even interested in sharing ideas, even less collaborate. (There was one exception, but I'll not mention it for a good reason, because those few messages we exchanged lead nowhere).

My questions for you, somewhat simplified, would be:

- do you think there's a point in creating real music, based on a text game, beside just 'doing what I love',
- and if you think there is, would you be willing to share ideas, lyrics, or record your instrumental or vocal performance? (If you don't answer, I'll assume it's a "no")

The one piece I've completed so far and put online can be heard here:

http://saadya.dmusic.com/music/

The Lo-Fi version really kills it, so if you'd listen to hi-fi, I'd be obliged. That one is about Achaean Black Forest nearing a mansion.

Welcome to Lusternia! It's nice to see you over here.

That was a very lovely song, by the way! It reminded me of various Final Fantasy tracks, and I think music of that nature definitely lends itself well to the overall MUD experience. (I often listen to my classical/instrumental playlist in Lusty, because I find that nearly anything else disrupts immersion.) Unfortunately, I'm not a musician myself, or I'd happily offer to collaborate with you. If there's any other way we unskilled plebes can help, though, just say the word!

Thank you

The reason I brought this here is because I don't want to compose something and say "Here's my masterpiece, now admire it". I'd prefer to have someone present me an:

- idea, a theme. If you'd like to hear music about your city or commune, order, god or goddess, whatever exists in Lusternia. If you can imagine how it would sound like, what kind of mood it could project, etc. we can work on it. That's an example,
- you can write a poem/hymn/anthem/ode that can be turned into song. You can sing into a mic, I'll do the music and sound engineering,
- you can write a story and I can write music that can accompany it,
- you can read a little story as an interlude in a musical piece. For example, narrating it while the theme leads to climax. That's one example.

There's more to think of, actually. You don't necessarily need musical skills.

And it doesn't -have- to be like that one about Black forest. It can be a tune for fiddle, peaceful accordion arrangement, guitar and voice, piano sonata, organ fugue (have to practice counterpoint a bit for that though)... too much to mention.

Edit:Just no hip hop, please, at least not in Lusternian context.

I know that Lysandus did real music based on Lusternian stuff, if that helps.

This music makes me think of the mansion in Paavik. It's creepy. I like it.

The question is really, what do you want to accomplish by writing music related to the game?

We who play bard characters in-game only compose lyrics, and possibly emoted text descriptions of the playing, because that's what is in the game to do. Just like how a painting is just prose in-game, a song is just poetry. But I often have actual music in my head as I write my character's songs, because even if it'll never actually get heard anywhere else it helps me write the song and depict it properly.

Once I wrote it out, transcribed it in ASCII, and submitted it to the bardics (complete with a glaring transcription error). It was a bit disappointing to hear back from the administration that none of the judges can read sheet music and they couldn't accept a MIDI, WAV, MP3, etc. file of the music. But really, it didn't matter much, because the music was extremely simplistic (intentionally; the song in question was the Lusternian equivalent of a Greek chorus or medieval chant).

The point of the work was that there'd been this poem in-game that everyone knew forever, but no one had actually written out the words (you just used a command which described you reciting it, but you never saw what it said). Since everyone already knew it, I couldn't make a fuss about publishing its words (even if OOC I was the one to write them), so I used "and I set it to music!" as a pretext for publishing (and then added some academic analysis of the poetic structure in a historical context). So writing the actual music helped make that happen, even if it was only listened to by a few people here on the forums.

So for me, writing the music is helpful because it helps me make my character who he is, even if no one else ever hears any of it. But is that what you want? Or do you want an audience? If so, you might feel a need to post it here, and I'm sure you'll find people interested. Or put it into the artisanals in a Shockwave Flash file if you want to earn credits and honors with it. Or just use it to inform your depiction of your bard character's performances. Any of these things, I think Lusternia will satisfy you.

Well me, it's old fain.

Hrm, I've come across pretty much the dilemma(?) noted by Lendren. I'm a composer as well, and I write a lot of music based on my interpretations of certain places or people. The problem is always how to share it with the general player-base because, like our judges, most of the player base can't read or play well enough to do justice to the music in our heads or on paper, and as Lendren mentioned they don't accept most musical file formats. However, if presented here, I'm sure some people will hear them, but it is hard if you want to gain recognition for it basin-wide or include composition or instrumental performance to your in-game character.

Obstacles aside though, I'd love to help if you need another brain. I can compose pretty well, but I'm not at a position currently to be able to record much. I can definitely help with ideas or interpretations of themes that are there in the basin. I'm currently working on a Carai Caroo piece right now as part of a larger Lusternian Piano Suite, as well as a ritual-inspired drum + vocals song. I'm familiar with classical, bluegrass, new-age and a little jazz, as far as western music is concerned. I can help with other things, just not as well. All my fugues end up into rock/fugue fusions, so we could fight together against the counterpoint beast if you wanted. You can poke me about it at any time here, but I probably won't be able to fully invest in any collaboration for a month or three (non-lusternian).

I dont know what to say of your delemma, beyond good luck.

however, that piece you posted was superb! I enjoyed it greatly.

it's nice, probably I can relate this when wandering around Serenwilde, the Mountains, or probably in some village like Estelbar watching the farmers gather their harvest.

@Silenus - what program did you use to create this music?

Garritan Personal Orchestra sound library, Sonar 6 sequencer, Audacity wave editor.

Hmm, doubt the cakewalk program can do that... right now it's having conflict with my midi driver so can't make anything currently.