Many of you asked, since I began working on this project, where the name of the game comes from. Well, I have an answer for you today! The Rock of Ages is a shiny, black monolith with veins of gold that appeared in the mid '50s in Weiland Park, in the Silver Plaza district. Here's an excerpt taken directly from the book:

At midnight on December 19, 1955, partygoers were knocked off their feet in the clubs and bars when an earthquake measuring over 5 on the Richter scale echoed across Silver Plaza. Partiers and revelers, upon exiting the buildings, watched in amazement and horror as a massive chunk of lustrous black stone ripped up from the ground, the golden veins that streaked the surface pulsing with mystical energy. The ground continued to buck, as the massive pillar of stone continued to rise, for nearly 20 minutes, until it loomed over the city, a gleaming black and gold monolith of epic proportions. 

Finally, the earthquake began to subside, leaving an eerie silence as the people stood on the ground surrounded by stone debris and shattered glass to stare up at the nearly thousand feet spire. A pulse of light shimmered through the gold veins.  

Then silence ended as abruptly as it started.

A black boulder the size of a Volkswagen Beetle crashed into a demolished club, sending up a plume of dust and debris. It was followed by more black rocks ranging from the size of a golf ball to a small automobile.

In the end, with paramedics treating dozens of people for injuries from the strange events, the city began to clean up nearly 16 tons of coal that had mysteriously fallen up the city.

Since 1955, Paradise City has seen nearly every terror imaginable. Dragons have soared through the skies, and werewolves and demons have been let loose in the city. A portal to hell ripped open across the Central Highway. 

While the monolith, now dubbed the Rock of Ages, has brought all manner of danger and destruction to Paradise city, it has also brought with it a source of salvation - The Rockstars.

Rockstars have mastered the Power of the Rock, and been granted the strength and power to combat the terrors released by the megalith of black stone that stands like an omphalos to everything supernatural in the heart of the city. These rockstars, over the decades since the emergence of the stone, have harnessed its power in their performances against the threats unleashed upon the city to help make Paradise City a center of cultural tourism and the greatest vacation and music destination on the planet.

Not everything manifested by the Rock of Ages is a threat. For example, every night, an illuminated rainbow now appears over the bay of Crescent Island, thanks to this monolith of unknown origin. The way the Rock interprets the song lyrics and titles is purely arbitrary: Sometimes, it turns out good, sometimes not.

Here, as an example, a Prompt List that might appear in the final version of the TTRPG: It's a Top 10 Songs of the Week. These are used in Paradise City by self-proclaimed "oracles" to determine what the next manifestation of the Rock of Ages will be.

* Fictional Bands and Songs by the way.

As a general rule, the more fans an artist has and the more popular a song is, the more chances it has to manifest itself into reality one day. Stone Temple cult members believe it is because of all the energy a specific song gathers when it reaches more people. The energy of love, hatred, sorrow and emotions gathered from fans. This information has yet to be proven.

The same energy that allows the Rock of Age to summon into reality the song lyrics and titles  is also the one that gives the Rockstar the Power of Rock. This allows them to be able to go head to head, the supernatural threats that the city has to face.

With the power of the Voice, the Riff, the Groove, and the Beat, Rockstars summons into existence all matters of energies and powers to save the day all of that while trying to manage a successful career!

Next DevLog will be devoted to the powers of the Rockstars!