Inspiration in the Time of the Pandemic

Love in the Spotlight and Players High

Some of the first posts I made here on Medium were RPG-related songs I had written for the campaign My husband and I came up with to play during the height of the pandemic composed of interchangeable band members. We had lost all of our other players, and it had gotten a little dicey to go at a regular module alone, so we came up with this rotating cast of starter characters with big personalities, that were all band members, but not necessarily all “Bards.”

It is very much like a video RPG where you are meant to level them all up at essentially the same level if you want to continue using them, and if you don’t like them, send ‘em packing, and get new members along the way. It is tall on fun and musical adventure, and the seriousness of some of our previous campaigns took a backseat for a while. It was a desperately needed change while my husband had to troop on as an essential worker. It was a long pandemic, so there was a lot of time to fill.

Or more to the point, there was a lot of stress relief needed. I can only process one thing at a time, you would think the things I was writing, or doing during the pandemic would be morose, and depressed, but I had to dig into the light airy fantasy to get through that difficult time. Even now, I am only processing essentially one issue, I haven’t even touched on the loss of my sister-in-law or numerous other topics in my writing because the all-encompassing issue my brain is working through is not any of those other things.

These are some of the factors that got me back into writing. I had written some on and off over the years, but a huge confluence of events all started coming together. The act of writing regularly, both taking notes for the campaigns and making creative items like these songs, even if they aren’t especially good, helped rehabilitate my writing muscles. It took a while still to drag me over to Medium, but that is an entirely different story.

To be honest all of the writing I have been doing for my Medium posts has started taking up my bandwidth, and I have stopped taking notes for the most part in our ongoing campaign, which was initially distressing, I was practically writing a book over here, but I had to let go a little, it is for fun, so I just kept going… without writing down every detail of every encounter, it has been weird, but liberating too. I don’t remember nearly as much of what we did from each session, so I am hoping to get back to it soon, but it has been nice not feeling beholden, or held back by getting all of the notes down.

Here are two songs I got down when My band writer PC Francine was falling in love with the band’s frontman Rembrandt. He was officially the only reason she even joined the band, we all do crazy things for “love” when we are young, only to discover she was talented and loved it. If you have never played a TTRPG it can be a great way to decompress and a great source of inspiration for writing! I write mostly from an autobiographical perspective, It is good to get into another character and not write about one’s own life for a while. In fact, I need to do it more often.

Love in the Spotlight

From the first moment, our eyes met Souls forever joined in song and sweat You looked into my heart I took your spirit’s hand We jumped off stage meant to be, a two-piece band

Lights bursting with light Drums blasting us back Outlining our marks in flashing black We see a spot where ever we go. Once our feet hit the X The beat overtakes us and starts the show

Floating, tumbling, panting, grasping Hungry for you, still I feel like I’m fasting I won’t be full till I’ve tasted every inch Why do I keep getting lost in your kiss Fingers that grip and pluck me till I wail and quake I know we’re generating heat, bringing the masses to their feet

Players High

We walk into a room, all faces turn We find our cue at center stage We give the show that they’re all waiting fooooor!

Senses return, All eyes are burning holes in us That green hot stare, that covetous glare, it fuels our fevered escapades

And when we play, the crowds all sway at our command It’s like we hold the whole world in our two hands

The music flows, the beat takes hold Dance Dance Dance Hands up Eyes closed, Dance along all night long

When we go home, happy and buzzed You hold me close the way I love The music flows, the beat takes hold Dance Dance Dance Over and Over again!

I have only been engaging with TTRPGs since I met my husband, but it is a hobby we love to do together. He crunches the numbers, and I don’t want to sell him short, he has no shortage of great ideas that we work together to make happen. I am the records keeper of sorts. We have an unbelievable number of notebooks, I may need to audit those and pack away inactive campaigns, which I actually thought I did when we moved in here… which I am actually concerned about as I sit here typing this. (shudders) Anyhow, do you have any hobbies that you love, or that you and your significant other do together?

K.B. Silver