Setlist: A Free Jukebox Minigame

The Jukebox Journal

I am writing this live from Big Bad Con, where, among other things, I’m excited to talk to folks about Jukebox: The Karaoke Musical TTRPG. I also wanted to be able to hand attendees something physical. I was inspired by an early chat with my editor Jacky about promotion where they suggested having something interactive instead of just a flyer. I’ve also seen creators make TTRPG business cards where they fit an entire minigame onto their card. I decided to make a minigame for Jukebox, I just needed an idea…

A Flashback: Monsters and Melodies

In the early days, before Jukebox was called Jukebox, my working title for the game was Monsters and Melodies (a suggestion from my friend Abbie!). As I was thinking about character creation for Monsters and Melodies, I was really taken with Fate’s aspects. Characters in Fate get aspects, which are a few evocative short descriptions associated with your character’s concept and flaws. Examples from the Fate SRD include “Monster-slaying Accountant” or “Black Sheep of the Thompson Family” (character concept aspects) and “Anger Management Issues” or “Debt to the Mob” (flaw aka “trouble” aspects).

Another game, Our Last Best Hope, which is about disaster and apocalypse scenarios, has you secretly write down your character’s “Fear” and “Secret” on index cards during character creation. During the game, you then dramatically reveal these cards at pivotal points to get mechanical benefits.

For Monsters and Melodies, I wondered if instead of phrases for a character’s concept, flaws, fears, or secrets, could you use a song? Could a character be expressed, not as a collection of stats or ability points, but as a collection of karaoke songs?

Character Playlists

I liked the idea of songs representing a character’s aspects and hiding those character aspects until you dramatically reveal them. Also, in musicals, there’s a bunch of song tropes, such as the “I Want” song: a song that very literally represents what a character wants. Monsters and Melodies character creation was a combination of all these ideas. Characters had secret songs that represented different parts of themselves (what they want, what they fear, etc.) and then, during play, those songs would be dramatically revealed and sung. Other players would not know what the songs were, instead, they would know specific triggers that would cause a karaoke solo or duet. Here’s a screenshot from one of the playtests of this early “character song list” version of the game:

At the same time, I was (and still am) in a long-running D&D campaign. I had a character, Torrin, who I’d played for more than a year and “knew” well. As an exercise to see if I could make a karaoke setlist for a character, I made a setlist for Torrin. This turned out to be a lot of fun. Torrin was my messy little warlock, who came from a long line of warlock lawyers. He was grappling with imposter syndrome and an extremely one-sided relationship, all of which ended up making great inspiration for a playlist.

Introducing Setlist

Flashback to a week ago: I was getting ready for Big Bad and knew I wanted to create a minigame. I noodled around with another game concept, and then decided that making a character playlist was just fun. Also, Jukebox asks you to pick a list of karaoke songs, so a game that generates a karaoke setlist is perfect. I drafted and laid out the game in a little under 48 hours and then had it printed with a local print shop (shout out to JASK Digital Printing Solutions).

I’ll be handing these out at Big Bad Con. If you’re at the Big Bad, please say hi and grab a copy! If you’re not at Big Bad but want to play, the pdf for Setlist is available below and is meant to be printed on a half-sheet of paper.

Character Creation in Jukebox?

Due to lots of playtesting, Jukebox has changed pretty drastically from the Monsters and Melodies days, but a few of the mechanics stuck around. Characters are introduced with “I Want” songs. Characters have “complications” which are similar to Fate’s “trouble” aspects. Writing down hidden songs on index cards and then flipping them over is a core part of the game.

As always, please consider supporting Jukebox via the Kickstarter. Signing up for the Kickstarter launch notifications helps me know there’s interest in having Jukebox exist!

Over and out,
🫙👁️ 👁️