Favourite Albums - C

Honourable Mentions

• Celebrity Skin by Hole
• Century Child by Nightwish
• Coral Fang by The Distillers
• Countdown to Extinction by Megadeth
• Cruelty and the Beast by Cradle of Filth

Come What(ever) May - Stone Sour (2006)

The more of these I write, or more accurately construct as long monologues in my head, the more I'm aware that they represent as much favourite times in my life as favourite albums. That's certainly the case here.

The time in question is Download Festival 2007, my first "proper" festival. I'd been to these as day events, but this was the first weekender and "Through Glass" was all over the festival radio and on the big screen.

I'd got the album a coulpe of months or so before hand so to speak to "swot" up on bands that had passed me by to make the most of the weekend. It went on, and then on repeat and didn't come for a long time.

Every so often you hear a song and a lyric really speaks to you. This album is chock full of them...
They called us a dead generation, / They told us that we wouldn't survive / They left us alone in the maelstrom / As you can see we're all clearly alive / We know where you are and were coming / Let's see you say that shit to our face - 30/30-150
I don't want to have it all, I just want to have enough! - 30/30-150
You want the world to be free / What the hell is free about it?! - Come What(ever) May
I'm not a victim, Till I let you take me down. - Hell & Consequences
Why can't anybody see what's good for you is bad for me / I can't take your sillyworld / I can't take your sillyworld no more - Sillyworld
I'm over existing in limbo / I'm over the myths and placebos / I don't really mind if I just fade away / I'm ready to live with my family / I'm ready to die in obscurity / 'Cause I'm so tired that I gotta go - Zzyxz Rd

I'll stop there before this becomes a lyrics page and not an album one. But the one that reached me most was "Made of Scars", a reminder of who we are today is the sum of everything we've gone through to this point. The good and the bad.

#	Title	Length
1	30/30-150	4.18
2	Come What(ever) May	3.39
3	Hell & Consequences	3.33
4	Sillyworld	4.08
5	Made of Scars	3.23
6	Reborn	3.13
7	Your God	4.43
8	Through Glass	4.43
9	Socio	3.20
10	1st Person	4.01
11	Cardiff	4.42
12	Zzyzx Rd	5.16
		48:54

Singles
The singles were "30/30-150", "Through Glass", "Sillyworld", "Made of Scars", "Zzyzx Rd". With every song being so amthemic, it's frankly quite hard to go wrong.

Favourite Tracks"Made of Scars", "Your God", "Zzyzx Rd", and pretty much every thing else...

Under The Influence(s)

Prelude

Sea of Skulls
This actually came from an embedded rock pavement on my daily drive to work. Although, the mist lack of memory and fog came from the very first d&d adventure I played at gobbo's game night. Laying down came from the opening to Lost.

The Afterlife Bar
Inspired by the last episode of Quantum Leap.

Bar Fight
Lifted from Rescue at Rivenroar adveture.

Shadow Creatures.
Nazgul in Lord of the Rings

The Lighthouses
The lodges in Twin Peaks

Limbo
It was a chaotic neutral plane, and as such the wierdness was inspired by this t-shirt.

Lighthouse Bay
A visit to Dover museum showed Roman dover with this twin lighthouse layout

Climatic Lighthouse Battle
The climax to the classic film "The Vikings"

Choosing a Champion
The gods manipulation of the mortals in "Clash of the Titans"

Choosing an aspect
The character in Robin of Sherwood: Sword of the Templar can get a similar mark that bestows additional ability. Also the aforementioned game at Gobbo's had the pcs marked in someway. Never did find out why.

Real World

Pointon
A coastal town, found on an old map from back in the day that the pcs had never been to. Also a desire to start them off somewhere small, local and familiar. Or a generic fantasy town. One of the two.

Elder Harmon
The title comes from the naming of Loial's elders in the Wheel of Time series. Also that character was called Haman, whereas mine took his name from the actor who plays Agent Gibbs in NCIS.

Vandor
A van door passing by when I needed a name. :o)

Pointon Hall
The design of this came from somewhere I visited as a child, the main door opened up into a grand hall, with no windows as it was flanked on either side by corridoors with small antichambers. Upstairs there was a gallery to look over the main events.

Pointon Harbour
Lyme Regis

Jarek's entrance
Kyle Reese, in the Terminator, from conversation the night before.

Princes of the Dawn
The Astarte song "Princess of the Dawn". A cover of an old Accept song.

The shipwreck island
Lost again. Originally, the idea was to have them awake with no memory and shipwrecked, tho this was scrapped to provide the starting urban setting. This was reincorporated into the prelude. The temples and dungeons were akin to the Dharma stations on Lost.

Zombies
I always wanted to do a zombie style d&d campaign, I would've got away with it too if it hadn't been for that pesky cleric!