Led Zeppelin RPG?
Plus Crypt from Trollish Delver Games
I was a panelist on a recent episode of The Contrarians in which we were tasked with curating the ultimate concept album for Led Zeppelin. This followed the same format as my recent appearance on the AC/DC concept album episode. Except this time, my co-panelists were…er…nobody else. So, it’s a stretch to say it was a panel. Just me and the moderator, Grant from Grant’s Rock Warehaus.
I shared my notion for the Led Zeppelin role playing game:
You can hear my whole spiel about the origins and contents of the game at the following:
This episode was lot nerdier than the usual Contrarians fare, and they may have had enough of my shenanigans. Please throw a like and/or comment on the Youtube page if you’re a fan of alternate RPG histories and music conspiracy theories. And if you are, then be sure to check out Crypt from Trollish Delver Games.
Here is a description:
Crypt is a medieval fantasy game, originally created in 1970 by a nameless author and unearthed many decades later by Thomas Culottes. The find was controversial, altering the history of roleplaying games forever, at least to those who believed Culottes. After all, few people did and Crypt was denounced as a mere copycat of Arneson and Gygax’s game. Even more blasphemous is Crypt was a British game rather than American.
Nothing was known about Crypt’s author. The pile of hastily written notes that formed the original game was found in 1970 at a wargame group in West Yorkshire and as hard as he might Culottes couldn’t track down the progenitor, nor their associates.
This is the near complete manuscript compiled by Culottes who sadly passed away in 2021, passing on the game to myself through a family friend. I’ve taken time to annotate the rules with my own thoughts after spending the last couple of years with it. I’ve also taken the liberty at including illustrations to aid the palette of the modern gamer.
Whether you believe that Crypt was actually the first game hardly matters. What you’re reading is a piece of roleplaying history, an artefact from a different era. Take it, play it and bring to life a game that existed in the mind of the mystery author.
This is right up my alley. Scott Malthouse, the mastermind behind Trollish Delver Games, is a music fan and a prior guest on my Appendix LP Podcast.
And if you want more info on Led Zeppelin’s fantasy literature influences, Collider recently published an article on the band’s song “Ramble On.” Here is an excerpt:
The opening line from Led Zeppelin’s folksy tune, “Leaves are fallin all around,” is adapted from Tolkien’s Elvish poem "Namárië" (Ah! Like gold fall the leaves in the wind). Written in the constructed language of Quenya, “Namárië” (“Farewell”) is conceived as a lament sung by Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s poem expresses Galadriel’s sadness and grief for Valinor, the home of the Elves she is no longer able to return to.
In verse three of “Ramble On”, the lyrics reference Mordor, Gollum, and the Evil One: “Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor, I / met a girl so fair / But Gollum and the Evil One crept up and / slipped away with her.” In The Lord of the Rings, Mordor is the desolate volcanic land in the southwest of Middle-earth, ruled by the story’s main antagonist, Sauron. While his name isn’t explicitly mentioned in the song, the “Evil One” is almost certainly referring to him. Gollum, meanwhile, is remembered as the twisted, tormented creature obsessed with the Ring he calls “my precious.”
The article also claims that “Misty Mountain Hop” is a J.R.R. Tolkien reference, but I think Robert Plant was more directly referring to the Misty Mountains in Wales, for which he has expressed affection in interviews. Not that it matters, as the song itself has nothing to do with either, which is coherent with Led Zep’s approach to song titles. At least they gave their new live EP the title of “Live EP” - so let’s play out this newsletter with a groovy version of “Trampled Under Foot” from the new release: