John Spiegel

You just gave me an awesome idea. It involves singing and smashing faces. Or singing so bad that they smash their own faces. Whatever. Semantics! Anyways, having battle-bards would be interesting in how their songs work and whatnot.

Just keep playing. I don't play with aspirations of making money. As long as you enjoy it, that's the real reward in my opinion! ^^

I don't plan on main-ing bard, but may dabble with it OOCly. While I have no intentions of RPing a bard, I've considered granting my character a musical instrument that he's picked up over the years as a travel companion of sorts. Originally I considered a harmonica, but upon some digging, I'm not sure how valid one would be. So if he does have an instrument, it'd be a tin whistle or some other simple instrument. I'm curious if a song can be played that doesn't cause an enchantment of some sorts! *JJ plays tin whistle, a moogle-chocobo appears out of nowhere* "WHAT HAVE I DONE?!"

Rad! I'm no drummer but I've been meaning to get myself some bongos if I ever see 'em out. Simple percussion to go with my harmonica playing.

I got a bunch of other favorites, but here's the only one I'ma post! This is JJ, Izzy and Emily (Hayden)

If you dig into 30 seconds of the FFVII theme vid I posted, you can hear octave harmonicas. The sound in this is also a harmonica, it is a specially tuned tremolo harmonica to play bagpipe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5J-wGpK6sw

I'll be sure to dedicate my first performance in Carnegie Hall to you. Related: BjFwcZQila8

Major props! I want your superpower. /grovel "I'm not worthy!" The only other instrument (aside from guitar) I've played to any extent was an alto sax. I am totally not a serious musician, but I want to be, not professionally, but just able to jam either side of the spectrum (rock --- folk/ballads/whatnot). I got me a couple books of sheet music of various genres, as well as printed out more. Don't worry. The key to being a serious musician isn't in how many instruments you play or even your current level. Being serious on an instrument is the willingness to practice and willingness to seek the knowledge on playing correctly. The key to success on instruments is having a good teacher so that bad technique does not hinder your future success on an instrument. Without a good foundation, advancing in music is impossible and causes later frustration. And if anyone about has interests in composing their own music or developing the ability to play what you hear/write down on sheet music what you hear : Music Theory is the key to all of that. Perhaps surprising to some, music theory is what helps you play advanced music as well. ---- Keep up the practice you all. I'll definitely want to arrange ffxiv music for different instruments. In today's world, people from different locations can record their part and then it can be put together. I find that fascinating. Thanks for the encouragement! Starting out, I watched a legendary blues harmonica player, Adam Gussow, on Youtube. He's made hundreds of videos "giving everything he's learned". So I did kinda have a teacher. I ain't too shabby, but it's always an uphill battle! I've "mastered" one jig so far. What I need to work on is reading notes and tempo stuff, unless I can find a recording of it!

Old band joke: What's the five letter "f" word you should never say? Though I totally want to pick up a tin whistle.

Major props! I want your superpower. /grovel "I'm not worthy!" The only other instrument (aside from guitar) I've played to any extent was an alto sax. I am totally not a serious musician, but I want to be, not professionally, but just able to jam either side of the spectrum (rock --- folk/ballads/whatnot). I got me a couple books of sheet music of various genres, as well as printed out more.

Most of the stuff I'm trying to learn now is FF-related too. Usually from someone talking about a particular song and I'm all like "I WANT TO PLAY IT".

Go make some noise! That's awesome. I've wanted to pick up a piano (because if I could pickup a grand piano I'd be buff). As for violin, the 10-hole diatonic harmonica pretty much plays the range of the violin, so I've been looking into violin stuff (Selbina theme from FFXI quickly comes to mind!)

Nothing says you can't pick it back up! I used to be in marching band wayyyy back in jr high, so that means nothing to my musical abilities now! I'm just now transitioning from "play/learn by ear" to reteaching myself how to read music. It's funnnnn! I'm actually probably in the range of flute music right now (Irish/Scottish stuff), not sure why that's directly important, but I said it.

So there's a buncha people here that draw, snore! (jk, don't hurt me E> art) I ain't seen a musical thread with my whole twenty seconds of looking, so I made my own. MY INSTRUMENT(s) OF CHOICE: Harmonicas! You can access the channel I made with the surname of my character if you want to listen to whatever garbage I throw on there. Here's a crappy (pretty typical) go at some stuff, in particular the FFVII theme: l-kK4FyBFow

Hello and welcome. You're not alone in being a "n00b". I've been out of the RP scene since '08.

Pretty sure the Level Sync system will meet any possible needs of us that are starting out. I ain't in it for having max everything, though. :D:D

We all seem to somewhat agree on this middle-ground of "If they were close family or friends, you might be harder pressed to forget". I like what Aysun wrote of reforging bonds. This obviously would happen even if not for this memory loss thing. Five years of being gone does that to any kind of group. But I don't think just downright complete amnesia of relationships is called for. The NPCs do say that they can remember everything but like the faces and names. So, insert the face+name and they should remember, right? I tried to find an NPC that had a family member in the battle but I never found one that spoke of it. That'd shed some light on everything. I'm not in as much of a pickle as some of you guys are since JJ/Alex does not have any recent ties to any characters. As for Alex, who did not jump time, I'm trying to figure out how he'd respond to all this... you know, his dad and sister disappeared for five years, but he'd not forget their names and faces, would he?

Perhaps people that had a stronger bond (friends, family, etc) would remember the time jumpers. Like, JJ's son, Alex, clearly ain't gonna forget about JJ. He just doesn't know what the heck happened to him.

If there's even a hint that something you might do might make someone angry OOC or upset, it's always good to shoot a tell. There's bound to be big things that happen IC that could hurt some feelings OOC, but all in all everything IC shouldn't be taken as OOC hate. As Eva says: Communicate!

TL;DR -- Go poke around and take the temperature, listen and THEN join in! I'm going to echo a lot of stuff Izzy has said. Ordinary vs. Extraordinary JJ's three greatest skills are: Not dying, adapting and fighting (close third is being bald, eating, pinwheels and pumpkin-wearing). While even back in the day (FFXI) that incarnation of JJ was considered a great fighter, he's no means invincible. Creating very unique (Sephiroth, King Arthur, etc) character, where you are already in a league of your own by creating is a major pitfall. That being said, you can have a powerful character from the get-go, but to be an answer to all wrongs and expert in all combat is boring. A character that overcomes adversity, or doesn't, is more interesting than someone that blitzes through a whole legion of enemies. To mirror Izzy's creation of Izzy: I've modeled JJ to be in his 50s and be pretty powerful. That being said, he has as many shortcomings as he does strengths (and has the boo-boos to prove it). He was born from average parents, no pre-destined crap.. just clawed his way into not-dying a whole bunch and punched a buffalo or demigoddemonthing in the face in the process. Good vs. Evil Pretty much what Izzy said. Though, some "good" characters can be perceived as "evil" due to an outsider viewing something in the wrong context. Example: JJ is seen slaughtering a group of unarmed young people. Reality: The unarmed young people are pugilists that were trying to kill JJ. Sure, JJ's going to kill the crap out of them. An onlooker might see a big bastard in black armor slicing unarmed people to pieces. Ruh-roh! (Goooood rp conflict and stuff~) Serious vs. Comedic This was the topic that made me want to post. In the past, I have been a source of comedic relief to the point that some of the "gags" are now staples of my character. In the face of certain degrees of adversity, my character could be cracking jokes and being an all-around idiot. Though, when stuff got reals-ies, my character could get reals-ies too. JJ would -never- crack a joke at a funeral... unless it was of a close friend and knew the friend would be disappointed if he didn't take up the opportunity. Actually, come to think of it, JJ was usually the butt of jokes rather than the start of them....

JJ is able to read, write and speak. But his level of reading/writing is not above, say, a 9th grade level. He ain't winning any spelling bees, but he's not a potato.

John Spiegel = Just JJ

JJ is JJ by profession, and as a hobby. Anyways. JJ's "unemployed". Adventurer, sword for hire, soldier of fortune, JJ, farmer, hunter, whatever. He's just fine supporting himself via nature.

JJ's 54, he's a time-jumper, so he's 59 by the numbers.

JJ 1518 = born 1531 = JJ leaves Ala Mihgo and does adventure stuff and JJ stuff 1531-1537 = JJ gets in a big accident-thing and burns his scalp pretty bad. Ends up bald (he shaves the parts that ain't bald, otherwise it looks icky) Also becomes somewhat renowned for being just a crazy good or crazy bad mofo. Whatever. 1537-1544 = JJ makes badass friends, gets a wife and has children 1557 = Fall of Ala Mihgo; JJ's wife dies 1572 = JJ is at the battle and timejumps. Yeah, covers a lot of time. Also broad because I ain't worked out the nitty-gritty.