Regency HERO playlist

[ShelleyCM]

I was privately asked about music recommendations for a Regency-flavored game. I thought others might be interested, so I'm posing here.

There are lots of great sources of mood music -- period music, film soundtracks, and inspired-by types of music. I mix my classical music collection up to Beethoven (chronologically) in with soundtracks and country dance music. Naturally enough, I have a Regency Mood Music playlist for my iPod, and as a courtesy am attaching a text file with this message.

-Shelley

[ShelleyCM]

And now with the file! (Drum roll, please...)

[Curufea]

The Cello suite looks good - I've a few albums of work by the Bachs - I should see if I have that somewhere.

What of Pagannini's Caprices? A favourite of mine. Although not baroque, of course :(

[ShelleyCM]

I love the cello suites -- Bach is really too early for the period, but I started taking cello lessons about a year ago, so it's so inspiring. Really, I don't mind using "older" music because then, as now, older classical music was played along contemporary music.

A composer I'm very excited about -- because I've just read his biography (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312309279/qid=1136867136/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-4174836-0484752?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) -- is the Chevalier de Saint-George. I've got two of his CDs on the way via Amazon, and can't wait to listen to them. He was the mulatto son of a French plantation owner (and later prominent minister) who was, for a time, the best swordsman in Europe, and became a prominent musician composer, as well.

-Shelley

[yamamura]

Thanks from the person who asked for it:D

[ShelleyCM]

You're very welcome! I just wish it was more readable!

-Shelley

[Steve Long]

Hey, you forgot "Jump Around" by House Of Pain and the collected works of Sir Mixalot. ;)

[ShelleyCM]

Hey, you forgot "Jump Around" by House Of Pain and the collected works of Sir Mixalot. ;)

It would definitely make for a very interesting ballroom scene! ;)

-Shelley

[Steve Long]

It would definitely make for a very interesting ballroom scene!

"Baby's Got Bustle" ;)

[ShelleyCM]

"Baby's Got Bustle" ;)

Oh, dear. Now I've got this horrible mental image of Prinny (the very large prince regent, rather fond of large women) singing:

I like large rumps I cannot lie
You other lords can't deny
When an heiress walks in with a rather tiny waist
You get sprung, what, what...

I'd better stop...I have a contract to draft and I'd hate for there to be any bleed through! :)

-Shelley

[Mentor]

Very cool, Shelley. Muchos thanks.

[ghost-angel]

Since iTunes exports into a relatively unfriendly .txt file, I created a PDF. It doesn't include all the info on the .txt file but the really important parts: Song/Artist/Composer/Album/Genre.

It's not pretty but hopefully a little easier to read than the text file for anyone who had trouble with it.

Shelley - it's your list so the PDF is yours to if you want to use it to share the list with others elsewhere.

[ShelleyCM]

Since iTunes exports into a relatively unfriendly .txt file, I created a PDF. It doesn't include all the info on the .txt file but the really important parts: Song/Artist/Composer/Album/Genre.

It's not pretty but hopefully a little easier to read than the text file for anyone who had trouble with it.

Shelley - it's your list so the PDF is yours to if you want to use it to share the list with others elsewhere.

Cool -- thanks!

-Shelley

[Thia Halmades]

...Baby's Got Bustle.

I'll have to use that at my next Ravenloft campaign.

[gojira]

This is really cool, and I hope Regency Hero sells very well.

However, as a "typical" male gamer, I have to admit I know almost nothing about the regency period. Heck I don't even know if you are refering to the English, American or French regency period. (And you can thank Wikipedia for even that much knowledge.)

I think to get many gamers interested you are going to have to provide almost a step-by-step guide to the Regency period, and a fair about (at least!) of plots, backstory, and character guidelines. Otherwise, I'll just be totally lost and consequently not want to play.

Could you recomend a couple of good (not bodice rippers ;)) books that take place in the regency period? Does Master and Commander count?

[ShelleyCM]

This is really cool, and I hope Regency Hero sells very well.

However, as a "typical" male gamer, I have to admit I know almost nothing about the regency period. Heck I don't even know if you are refering to the English, American or French regency period. (And you can thank Wikipedia for even that much knowledge.)

I think to get many gamers interested you are going to have to provide almost a step-by-step guide to the Regency period, and a fair about (at least!) of plots, backstory, and character guidelines. Otherwise, I'll just be totally lost and consequently not want to play.

Could you recomend a couple of good (not bodice rippers ;)) books that take place in the regency period? Does Master and Commander count?

There's quite a bit that's more male-oriented. There's the Master & Commander stuff (the Jack Aubrey books), Horatio Hornblower, and the Sharpe novels, too. And you may be surprised by what you enjoy -- I loaned a pretty tame Regency romance to a male player and he later surprised me by asking for more -- to (ahem) help his "Regency dialog skills." :)

And there's much more background than you ordinarily see in a RP book -- detailed history, social and cultural guidelines, and so forth, along with a very complete bibliography if you want to do some of your own research, too.

-Shelley

PS: Yay for Wikipedia!

[yamamura]

There's quite a bit that's more male-oriented. There's the Master & Commander stuff (the Jack Aubrey books), Horatio Hornblower, and the Sharpe novels, too. And you may be surprised by what you enjoy -- I loaned a pretty tame Regency romance to a male player and he later surprised me by asking for more -- to (ahem) help his "Regency dialog skills." :)

And there's much more background than you ordinarily see in a RP book -- detailed history, social and cultural guidelines, and so forth, along with a very complete bibliography if you want to do some of your own research, too.

-Shelley

PS: Yay for Wikipedia!

So what book did you recommend? Currently I am reading Pride and Prejudice. But my Regency inpsired fantasy campaign was a hit and I am looking for more info.

[ShelleyCM]

So what book did you recommend? Currently I am reading Pride and Prejudice. But my Regency inpsired fantasy campaign was a hit and I am looking for more info.

I just dug through my secret stash of Regencies and can't find it, which means it's probably somewhere in the garage. Mea culpa! It was a rare Regency in that it was set entirely in Ireland, featuring an Irish highwayman hero-politician and a bluestocking artist heroine.

A traditional Regency romance (that's actually a term of art, as compared to a historical Regency romance) is a tame book. Usually it's a short (250ish pages) Jane Austen like comedy of manners that will end with a happily-ever-after without any sex. (There are exceptions, but that's the general rule.) They're pretty PG-13 rated. To stay safe, look for Signet/Zebra/Jove Regency titles, and go to paperback book exchanges to pick them up on the cheap. Georgette Heyer is the queen of the genre, but I also like books by Elizabeth Mansfield and Barbara Metzger. (Most of the pen names of the authors are really contrived.)

A historical Regency is a long novel that usually has half-naked people on the covers. It usually features some pretty gory sex scenes (that make ME blush, and I've written sex scenes). I don't find them as entertaining as the traditional Regencies, and usually the historicals feature too much internal relationship conflict to keep my interest.

[gojira]

I had a friend that read romance novels. This was roughly right after college. She used "bodice ripper" to refer to a romance that was cliche and campy, if not outright bad. I'm not adverse to reading romance, but I'd like to try to start with the better stuff. That traditional style you mentioned might be a good place to start. I'm not into heavy sex prose either.