Music Catalog

Speakeasy

Elegantly dressed patrons sit around a smoke-filled room, drinking illegal cocktails and forgetting their financial worries. A flapper girl dances as a smooth jazz band plays. In the Prohibition era, with the Great Depression looming, the Speakeasy is a place where you can escape to and live a carefree life... at least for a little while. Cool jazz, daddy-o.

(Illustration by Rick Hershey, copyright (c) 2011 Mike Lafferty, Standard Stock Art: Issue 4 by Empty Room Studios Publishing. Used here with permission; unauthorized use prohibited.)

Ancient Archives

A dusty old library lined with endless shelves of ancient tomes. Old oak desks are peppered here and there, scrolls and quill pens carelessly strewn upon them. Someone is searching for ancient information... a map perhaps? Or searching for a rare text on a particularly nasty demon? Maybe researching the history of dragons? A door creaks down the hall. Pages rustle. Hushed voices whisper in awe at discoveries uncovered. Orchestral music, mysterious in tone.

(Illustration copyright (c) 2008 Pete Amachree. Used here with permission of the artist; unauthorized use prohibited.)

Arabian Bazaar

Canvas tent flaps flutter in the desert wind. Merchants entreat passers buy to sample their wares: silks from the East, Spices from the South, figs and dates from the North, and stranger wares from more foreign climes. Hawkers claim the virtues of their goods in Arabic, Greek, and Pahlavi. Ox-driven carts heavy with goods and gold trundle through the packed streets. Street performers, poets, fire-eaters, musicians and dancers, compete with the stall-keepers for the attention of the crowd. The *klink* of coin falling into an upturned hat or cup indicates their success. All the while the assembled shoppers haggle and swap gossip under the blazing arabian sun.

(Illustration copyright (c) 2010 Lars Lunde. Used here with permission of the artist; unauthorized use prohibited.)

The Big City

Day and night, the city sings its jazzy tune. The drumbeat of a million working class souls on the street sets the tempo while traffic thick as morning coffee sounds the melody. A chorus of construction, automobiles, and police sirens echo between towers of concrete, glass, and steel. This is the big city. This is the modern noise. This is the music of the living metropolis. Sax solo jazz.

(Illustration copyright (c) 2010 Heidi Frederic. Used here with permission of the artist; unauthorized use prohibited.)

City of Jade

The bustling streets of the far East, the grand municipalities of the Middle Kingdom, the exotic Imperial splendor of a land of rare silks and spices! The City of Jade is civilization at its height, a land rich in culture, that holds ancient tradition in the highest regard. Orchestral music with Asian instrumentation.

(Photograph copyright (c) 2010 Justin Thompson. Used here with permission of the artist; unauthorized use prohibited.)

City of the Dark Elves

Deep beneath the surface of the earth in a realm of absolute darkness, there is a city where the dark elves dwell. Clad in silver and spider silk, the dark elves go about their lives in a world of endless night. Spiders chitter from every alleyway and stable, while lithe dancers and musicians perform their hedonistic art to the delight of the crowd. Spies, messengers, and assassins dash through the streets. In the distant temple, tubular bells chime hauntingly through the network of caves, calling all to prayer in the altar of the spider goddess. There are no shouts, no calls, only whispers as a secretive people go about heir shadowed lives. Dark, ominous Elvish ambience.

(Illustration copyright (c) 2010 Phi McRee Design. Used here with permission of the artist; unauthorized use prohibited.)

Degenerate Seaside Town

Depraved locals shuffle through the street. Choppy waves assail the docks. Strangely absent are the sounds of boats and the passage of sailors, though an abandoned, decaying rowboat is bumping lazily against the dock it was tied to. Starving seagulls caw their mournful woes as they search the fishless waters. Shops shutter their windows and bar their doors when outsiders approach. Locals whisper gutteral comments to eachother, threatening outsiders with harsh glares and perhaps more sinister threats. A mad drunk weaves through the cobbled streets. The wind off the ocean is mournful, carrying a corrosive sea spray that speeds the town's decay. Every now and then, just on the edge of hearing, something can be heard shuffling about in the upper floors and basements of the dilapidated tenements.

Illustration copyright (c) 2009 John Silva. Used here with permission of the artist; unauthorized use prohibited.)

Dwarven City

Deep within the living rock of a mountain already ancient when then Elves were young, a gentle wind echoes through natural caves and hollowed tunnels. It is here that the Dwarves make their home. A heavy pick axe strikes stone, hollowing out new chambers with hammer and chisel finishing the work. Wooden wheels creak as cartloads of scree, coal, and precious stones make their way to where they are most needed. Dwarfs greet each other in their polite, if gruff, fashion as they pass each other in the stone halls. Every sound echoes. The Dwarves prefer it this way. Sonorous horns sound, signaling the passage of a day marked not in hours, but in shifts, for the mountain is mine, workshop, and home all in one to its thousand-strong inhabitants. Dwarvish drums and anvil percussion-heavy ambient music.

(Illustration copyright (c) 2010 Tristan Denecke. Used here with permission of the artist; unauthorized use prohibited.)

Fireside at the Inn

Tavern/Inn soundscape for the dead of winter. A large fire blazes away in the fireplace, all the patrons huddled around for warmth. Rustling furs, mugs of brandy and cider held in shivering hands, the chattering of teeth. The chill wind can be heard groaning outside, and the ceiling beams creak under the weight of winter snow. Every now and then the front door opens, welcoming a new patron and a blast of frozen air. Patrons grumble and sniffle, as a small group of bards try to lighten the mood with some jolly medieval/Celtic music.

Artwork used with permission, (c) Dmitry Burmak.

Old Western Town

Ride in off the trail, kick the dust from your boots, and step into town full of classy ladies, ornery hombres, and gunfighters faster than greased lightning. The local saloon is hopping with rowdy clientele. You can hear a cowboy's spurs rattle with every stomp of a texas-sized boot, and it's only a matter of time before some high step'n cowpoke gets called out to settle a score in the town square. Old-timey music with flavors of the Old West.

(Illustration copyright (c) 2010 Eduardo Ferigato. Used here with permission of the artist; unauthorized use prohibited.)

People of the River Valley

A Celtic tribal village hidden in a deep valley, its tribal inhabitants work hard to keep their self-sustaining village in order. The life-affirming river is the source of their survival, and they will do anything to protect it.

Village Inn

A small, merry Inn in the center of town. This is a place for weary adventurers to rest and enjoy a tankard of fine ale, a bowl of mutton stew, a hot bath, and perhaps a wench or two. Upbeat, Celtic-flavored music.

(Illustration copyright (c) 2009 Dmitry. Used here with permission of the artist; unauthorized use prohibited.)