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Would asking about specific (say Brazilian) music that has a cyberpunk feel to it be on topic? I can argue both sides but would say that it is on. Just checking here first...

There seems to be some confusion so here is the text of the question I wanted to ask:

I am writing a cyberpunk game (with heavy overtones of film noir and transhumanism) set in Brazil (specifically São Paulo). I want to play during the game session music that is appropriate to the setting. I have a lot of appropriate music already but utterly lack knowledge of what would be appropriate cyber punk (or film noir) themed music originating from Brazil and/or Portugal. Does anybody know of something suitable? Creative Commons or buy direct from artist get bonus points...

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    \$\begingroup\$ Re: Edit -- That example question seems to be focused more on the authenticity of the music than on any of the potential implications on role playing. It's got some specificity, but none of the specifics have much to do with RPGs. I would certainly be dubious of it. \$\endgroup\$
    – AceCalhoon
    Aug 31, 2012 at 14:06

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Reposting from earlier comments at Edgerunner's request.

The way I look at it is this:

If you posed this question to an expert on music who knew nothing about RPGs, the answer would be great (background music is background music). If you pose this question to an RPG expert who knows nothing about music, the answer they give will be terrible.

You can make a case for the existence of good questions that satisfy either one of those two conditions. But when you have both at once, it's tough to call it an RPG question.

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That is a question that's RPG on topic instead of on topic for some music site why? I'm pretty liberal about RPG just needing to be in the scope somewhere not the end all be all of the scope, but it's not really in this scope at all (cyberpunk + Brazil).

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Yeah, there's nothing about the genre of cyberpunk that's specific to RPGs by itself (it's a literary genre), so without anything else RPG-related, it's off-topic. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Aug 28, 2012 at 18:30
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If the question is specifically asking for something like background or mood music to be played during a game, I see no reason that it should be off topic. Otherwise it should be off topic as mxyzplk said

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Clearly, that is what I want. However, I read mxyzplk answer as that it would be off topic... \$\endgroup\$
    – Sardathrion - against SE abuse
    Aug 31, 2012 at 8:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ Your question specifically mentions "game session music" which would IMO make it on-topic \$\endgroup\$
    – edgerunner
    Aug 31, 2012 at 8:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ You see that's why I thought it could be on topic but mxyzplk answer seems to indicate that it would not be. Maybe I read it wrong, hence the updated question. To be honest, I can see this being an edge case thus my asking on meta first. \$\endgroup\$
    – Sardathrion - against SE abuse
    Aug 31, 2012 at 8:39
  • \$\begingroup\$ There is nothing specific to RPG about picking the music though. If you were asking about how to use it in a game that would be different. \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Aug 31, 2012 at 13:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ @waxeagle: I do know how to use music in a game, the problem I have is getting appropriate cyber punk (or film noir) themed music originating from Brazil and/or Portugal. ^_~ Looks like it's off topic. Meh, will look elsewhere. \$\endgroup\$
    – Sardathrion - against SE abuse
    Aug 31, 2012 at 15:58
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    \$\begingroup\$ The problem is that the two requirements – being Portugese and being cyberpunk-themed – aren't RPG-related or things that RPG-players have any special expertise about. There's nothing else about the question that could be RPG-related. We already have a general question about selecting music to play during a game; anything more specific is going to have a hard time avoiding closure as either discussion-y (NARQ) or not specific to RPGs enough (OT). \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Aug 31, 2012 at 18:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ So as I understand it, this is about related parameters versus unrelated parameters, right? We have three parameters in our example; Cyberpunk genre, Brazil and in-game background music. The first two are not related and the last one is, so 2 vs 1 we call it off-topic. Is that how we should decide about the grey area? \$\endgroup\$
    – edgerunner
    Aug 31, 2012 at 18:25
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    \$\begingroup\$ @edgerunner I think a better way of looking at it is this: If you asked an expert on music who knew nothing about RPGs this question, the answer would be great (background music is background music). If you ask an RPG expert who knows nothing about music the question, the answer they give will be terrible. \$\endgroup\$
    – AceCalhoon
    Aug 31, 2012 at 19:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ You can make a case for the existence of good questions that satisfy either one of those two conditions. But when you have both at once, it's tough to call it an RPG question. \$\endgroup\$
    – AceCalhoon
    Aug 31, 2012 at 19:28
  • \$\begingroup\$ @AceCalhoon I'd upvote that as an answer. We need a clear definition like that one to be agreed on here. \$\endgroup\$
    – edgerunner
    Aug 31, 2012 at 20:42

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