Embark on a Musical Journey in VGM Quest - Legends of the Lounge!

VGM Quest is a simple and fun roleplaying style adventure that invites you to join the quest by composing your own video game music! Adopt an NPC encounter, help write their backstory, create a custom music theme and take on the role of that character in the imagined game to influence the outcome of the story of our party of heroes.

In this music-driven campaign, you'll meet fellow composers, forge new friendships, and experience an evolving story where your music and your choices influence the narrative. The journey begins when our band of heroes receive a call to action from the Kingdom of Melodia. Heed the call and bring your creative spirit!

VGM Quest offers a one-of-a-kind RPG style music making experience grounded in your musical imagination. Your compositions will sound the note of destiny for our heroes as the party braves dark forests, ancient ruins, sprawling cities, and realms beyond our imagination. Together, we will weave an unforgettable tapestry of music, myth, and adventure.

Don your adventuring boots, ready your instruments, and join us for the quest of a lifetime! VGM Quest awaits...your music could tip the scales between order and chaos.

Answer the call today - bring your creative spark to VGM Quest and be the bardic hero this world needs! Let your compositions guide the fate of realms.

How do I play? 🎲

The organisers will provide an overarching story arc that plots out the travels of our party of heroes as they move through the locations created in "Theme the World" on a quest to overcome a great threat. The journey will involve a number of encounters with game characters, and you take the role of one of those characters. While the focus is on making music for each of the approved encounters in the story, its not limited to just that! You get to help build the fantasy world and live within it!
You will be:

1. Creating a character to fit a particular encounter provided by the organisers, designing their background story and artwork (Self-made, commissioned or AI art are all acceptable. Make the artwork a full body, standalone character image with a transparent background that can be overlaid into a video.)

2. Writing a short story (~500 words) for the encounter telling how you imagine the encounter will unfold. This might be adjusted by the admin team to ensure consistency for the story, but we will retain as much of your input as we can.

3. Create an environment for the encounter. This can include creating background artwork (16:9 format) for the location. Use the location description and the Region descriptions below to guide your style. Each region is very different, so read before starting!

4. Most importantly, create a piece of music that tells the story of your character and this encounter. The music should be no more than 3 minutes long for the challenge.

Choose your encounter! ⚔️

Before creating your character you will need to choose one encounter from our provided list of encounters for the chapter. The encounter will outline the type of character, the location of the encounter, and the expected outcome from the encounter. We may provide an NPC name but you can change it to anything you like. There will be as many encounters as there are participants in the round, and many more options. Here are some example encounters to get you thinking.

•  The party meets a wise old sage in the forest who provides a critical piece of information for their quest. (Help)

•  The party is ambushed in the mountains by a henchmen sent by the enemy to block their path. (Hinder)

•  The party finds a traveling merchant in the city who happens to be selling an enchanted item they need for the journey. (Help or Hinder)

•  The party is challenged to a duel by a mysterious swordsman who wants to test their skills. (Neutral)

•  The party stumbles upon ancient ruins holding clues about the enemies origins and meets a strange character within. (Help or Hinder)

•  The party is attacked by a ferocious beast in the wilderness guarding its territory. (Neutral)

•  and lots, lots more

•  or.... come up with your own encounter scenario and run it past the organizing team.

To claim an encounter:

All encounters are numbered with a code, so to claim an encounter DM dGecko with the code of the encounter. Once approved you can start work. First in best dressed. Claimed encounters will be crossed off on the website. There are around 100 sample encounters to choose from, or suggest your own. Keep the scope of the encounter small for Chapter one, and get creative. (Read more on the Chapter page.)

Choose your side! ⚖️

Everyone will need to make a choice... do you help the heroes on their quest, or are you working for the bad guys and trying to stop them? Or, will you stay neutral?

1. Aiding the party of heroes on their quest: If so pick an encounter that has an outcome of "Help", and write the story so the outcome helps the party.

2. Hinder the party and support their foe instead: If so pick an encounter that has an outcome of "Hinder" and your story should match.

3. Don't take sides: This encounter won't affect the outcome of the story chapter. If so pick an encounter that has an outcome of "Neutral" and be creative.

If you wish your choice can be keep secret until the end of the round so its a surprise for all (recommended), though there will be plenty of speculation as the round unfolds as to who is supporting who!! ☠️

If an encounter is listed as "Help or Hinder", it means you can decided which way you want to go with your encounter. 

You may want to convert a Help encounter into a Hinder encounter, or vice versa to keep everyone guessing. If so, talk to dGecko about that idea.

If you have a great original idea for an encounter, run it past dGecko and we might be able to include it. Keep the scope small.

Your choices will have a direct impact on the outcome of this story chapter! And yes, this is just chapter one of many we hope, and future parties may have a different makeup or server members! (Party members participate in creating the story arc for their chapter.)

Story Summary: The Emperor establishes a dark pact with Cultists of the Wastelands, promising resources and power in exchange for access to a company of monstrous forces that would work for the Empire. It is said that the cultists are summoning up demons from the abyss which they can bind to their commandments. The party must discover all they can about this alliance to report back to the King. The quest takes the party from Homeland, through the Grasslands and into the Wastelands to learn what they can. Here they discover the leader of the cult. The party battles the cult leader and her small body guard before fleeing by ship and sailing back to Melodia. 

Story Summary: The story begins in the kingdom of Melodia, where King Okceg sends his daughter Princess Lithia as an envoy to the Desert Nation to negotiate an alliance between their kingdoms. Lithia is accompanied by her childhood friend and personal guard, Captain Filea, as well as a party of adventures including the engineer Mykl, scavenger Soda, and warrior Henrik.

Their journey faces many obstacles, including an attack by bandits in the grasslands outside Melodia. Several bandits betray the group, trying to steal supplies, but Lithia's guards drive them off. The party continues on to Feehil Village on the edge of the Great Forest, which has been plagued by demonic monsters attacking from the forest. With the help of the village warriors and Lithia's keen commands, they defeat a wave of monsters sent by the Empire's leader Sycorax. However, Feehil Village decides to abandon their home due to the continued monster attacks. A village medic named Laru joins the travellers as they venture into the Great Forest.

In the forest, the party is soundly defeated by a powerful swordswoman named Setsuna, the Crimson Princess. Despite their best efforts, she overwhelms them, criticizing Lithia's uselessness. This ignites Lithia's spirit and she manages to land a blow on Setsuna, earning her respect. Setsuna gifts Lithia a magical sword before departing.

After crossing the Great Forest, the party travels through the harsh Kla'Zad Desert towards the capital city of Aishwarya. They face scorching heat, lack of water, sandstorms and desert raider attacks. Finally they arrive at the grand city of Aishwarya and Lithia begins diplomatic talks with Princess Raekalin, daughter of the deceased lord. Raekalin agrees to an alliance if Lithia's party can successfully explore the Ancient Ruins located in the desert. Meanwhile, Soda gathers rumors that political tensions surround who should rule Aishwarya after the suspicious death of the previous lord.

Regions of the World

The following are the major regions of the world. Within each region are many diverse locations... your job is to populate these locales! Read about the regions to understand their background and write your story to fit within that background.

The regions are: Homeland, Empire, Grasslands, Industrial Heart, Wastelands, The Great Seas, Desert, Snowlands, Volcanic Rim, Deadlands, Rocky Mountains, The 10,000 Caves, The Underground and Sky City. Note: Only the first five regions are unlocked for Chapter 1.

Each region is populated by a different people, with they own customs and world view. Of course they don't all get along, but that doesn't stop our intrepid adventures.

Once you select an encounter to make your own you can create a location within the region (or expand upon an existing location) to play out that encounter. Some encounters are minor, others are more involved, the choice is yours. There is a Forum on the server to discuss creation of new locations to ensure they fit within the world, but let your creativity run wild.

If you would like to create a detailed map for a region (or an encounter location even), please do!! Just run your creation past dGecko to get it approved and included into the VGM Quest World below. Once the world is firmed up fully we will look to create a high quality map for VGM Quest.