A Continent of Banalities

Dennis was a punk, until he heard Possessed. Now he’s a metal punk. He dropped out of high school as many predicted, and works at the Snap-E-Mart, corralling shopping carts and stocking shelves.  Dennis is interested in the occult, but hasn’t moved far beyond Time-Life’s Mysteries of the Unknown series. He loves regaling Deidre with half-digested factoids about UFOs and Satanism, not least because it annoys her. Musically, they’re very good at playing off each other, and Dennis’ caveman riffs and Deirdre’s wild explosive experimentation provide a kind of counterpoint to each other. Dennis isn’t effusive with his praise, but he has a deep admiration for Deidre’s playing.  Dennis has a fondness for ‘getting up peoples’ noses’ (as his dad would say). He’s got an ongoing vendetta with the high school football team, even after he dropped out. This has earned him some bruises, as well as legend status for getting a sheep with a pentagram spraypainted on it into the locker room. His ...

This is a fun departure. Bonded by Youth is a game about teenagers in 1989. They're not meeting aliens or finding pirate treasure though. Just being teens. I have decided that I'll stat up a nascent death metal band. Lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist, bassist/vocalist, and drummer.   Deirdre Fleming (age 14), lead guitarist Deidre is perhaps the last person you’d imagine as the lead guitarist of a death metal band. That just shows how narrow your imagination is, doesn’t it? Deidre is a brilliant student, a nerd according to most of her peers, and her favorite musical album is Scream Bloody Gore by Death. Slayer’s Show No Mercy might be a close second.  When Deidre’s parents finally caved and bought her an electric guitar, they had maybe pictured her as a teenage Joan Armatrading or Suzanne Vega. She’s learned a few of those kinds of songs to appease them, but her heart’s very much elsewhere.  Literature is often her inspiration for lyrics, and her most successful song in h...