Dio & Dragons

This week’s newsletter comes from the Shudder Mountains, where I am vacationing with the family. We were hoping to do some stargazing, but so far the weather has been uncooperative. It was perfect timing, therefore, when Temple of The Golden Grognard shared with me that Scott Malthouse had published a TTRPG called Stargazer, which is inspired by the music of Ronnie James Dio.

When I speak to gamers about music that influences their gaming, no musician comes up more frequently than Ronnie James Dio. For example, in a recent Appendix LP Podcast interview with Levi Nunez from the band Loot the Body, Levi discussed meeting Ronnie after a transformative concert. In an essay about music inspiration for TTRPGs in the first issue of the Critical Hit Parader zine, I included the following:

“You could fill pages writing about all the classic fantasy anthems Ronnie has recorded throughout his multi-band history, but simply put, D&D stands for Dio & Dragons.”

So now seems like a good time for a round-up of a few Dio-inspired RPGs products:

Stargazer by Scott Malthouse (Trollish Delver Games)

I purchased this immediately after reading the description: “Pulp Fantasy Roleplaying in a Dying World Inspired by the Music of Ronnie James Dio.” It’s a rules-light game that is “set in the far future of Earth during the last gasp of the Sun,” a la Jack Vance’s Dying Earth stories. The game is filled with appropriate references to Dio’s music. It includes spells with names like “Fever Dreams,” “Sacred Heart,” and “Master of the Moon.” Creatures include a Child of the Sea, a Holy Diver, and a Fallen Angel. I love the way that magicians in the game world “study ancient black sound discs found deep beneath the surface of the world, created in times of old.” You can purchase a PDF of the game as a name-your-own-price download from the Trollish Delver Games Itch store.

Neon Knights by Brendan LaSalle (Goodman Games)

Brendan LaSalle has created multiple Black Sabbath-inspired adventures for Dungeon Crawl Classics, including this one named for the Dio-era Sabbath tune from the band’s Heaven and Hell album. The amazing cover art for this module is by Doug Kovacs and is reminiscent of the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album cover. I recently interviewed Brendan LaSalle for an upcoming episode of the Appendix LP Podcast where we talk about his Sabbath adventures, his currently-running Xcrawl Classics Kickstarter, and much more. While waiting for this episode to drop within the next week, you can purchase Neon Knights from the Goodman Games online store.

Catch the Rainbow by Eric Garneau

This adventure was originally included in a 5E version in Eric Garneau’s Rock & Roll zine. You can download an OSE version for free from Eric’s Critical Lit Publishing Substack. It is a “high fantasy adventure inspired by Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow for a party of adventurers level 1-2.” It includes a Castle Blackmore and a Dio-inspired “Man on the Silver Mountain.” I’m looking forward to an interview I have scheduled with Eric for an upcoming Appendix LP podcast episode.