Using Songs To Inspire An Adventure: Eli The Barrow Boy
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I’ve had this idea running through my head for a while now of using songs to inspire adventures. There are some fantastic stories told in songs, and they should be fully used to benefit your game. I’ll be running this as a semi-regular series as I hear songs that would work best for this article series.
We’ll begin with “Eli The Barrow Boy” by The Decemberists. This is a phenomenal song by a phenomenal band. Here’s the lyrics:
Eli, the barrow boy of the old town,
Sells coal and marigolds
And he cries out all down the day
Below the tamaracks he is crying:
“Corn cobs and candle wax for the buying”
All down the day
“Would I could afford to buy my love a fine robe
Made of gold and silk Arabian thread
But she is dead and gone and lying in a pine grove
And I must push my barrow all the day
And I must push my barrow all the day”
Eli, the barrow boy, when they found him
Dressed all in corduroy, he had drowned in
The river down the way
They laid his body down in a church yard
But still when the moon is out with his push cart
He calls down the day
“Would I could afford to buy my love a fine gown
Made of gold and silk Arabian thread
But I am dead and gone and lying in a church ground
And still I push my barrow all the day
Still I push my barrow all the day”
So there it is. Now, how can you implement this into your game?
Eli was a villager in a nearby town who used to sell trinkets from the pushcart he drug through the town. He told anyone who would listen that he was trying to save his money to buy a beautiful dress for his love who had been dead for years. Most villagers just brush him off as an innocent crazy, until the day they find him drowned the river. Still, on some nights, the villagers hear him wandering the town, pushing his barrow, calling out his wares, still searching for his lost love.
How do the heroes become involved? Perhaps the village asks them to help put Eli to rest, by either finding a marvelous dress to give to his love, or perhaps assuring Eli that his love is waiting for him on the other side. Maybe Eli becomes angry with the heroes, unsure of their motives or lashing out at the heroes. Their only recourse is to lead him to where his love is buried and help assure him it’s time to move on.
If any of you use this for an adventure hook, let me know! I would love to see how it turned out!
Nice, we’re on the same wavelength!
I did the same thing, using a song called “Lullabye” from The Cure.
Check it out: http://newbiedm.com/2009/03/24/song-lyrics-and-your-campaign/
It’s hard to think of a Decemberists song that ISN’T a plot hook, it’s great stuff for this purpose.
The ongoing plot of their Hazards of Love album was definitely a small influence on a fantasy setting I messed with. Not sure how the plot itself would transfer into a game, though.
One of the best campaigns I ever played in was based on Led Zeplin songs… Good stuff.
You could also do this with a more metaphysical approach. Take a track from a soundtrack, like my favorite, the movie Hero. Take a song that is attractive to you and listen to it a few times, and try to tell what story the music is telling, and see where it goes from there.
[...] a year now since I wrote the last “Using Sons to Inspire an Adventure” post, covering Eli the Barrow Boy by the Decemberists. There’s another Decemberists song I used in a campaign more than a year [...]