Matt Colville: Gygax/Arneson Synth History
Plus The Dead Robotz, Sound Check, & Michael Moorcock
I got a huge kick out of the following video from Matt Colville:
Starting at 10:24, Matt compares the differences in Gary Gygax’s and Dave Arneson’s individual visions for D&D to the history of music synthesizers. He connects Don Buchla’s “West Coast" style of synthesis to Dave Arneson’s approach to the game, and he connects the “East Coast” synthesis of Robert Moog to Gary Gygax’s pragmatic approach. The segment is brilliant, informative, and includes an Emerson, Lake and Palmer reference!
The Dead Robotz and Sound Check
I stumbled across a few roleplaying game products that intersect with music.
First, The Dead Robotz are a collective “from Portugal, Brazil and Venezuela designing RPG settings in the format of music LP vinyls.” They have three releases available from Games Omnivorous:
Death Robot Jungle is a system-agnostic, tropical sci-fi RPG setting It includes “a vinyl with 10 tracks, 4 interludes, a GM screen and a minimalist description of the setting.”
Electric Mangrove is a sequel to Death Robot Jungle. “Included is a vinyl with 10 tracks, a GM screen and an eight-page booklet with ready-to-play adventures.”
“Putrescence Regnant is a MÖRK BORG bog crawl in LP format. Included is a vinyl with 10 tracks, a GM screen, a booklet and a player-facing map of the setting.”
Next, Sound Check is a game created by Misha Grifka Wander and Envi Wiklund. Here is a description from the itch.io page:
“Sound Check is a game about being in a band. Rehearse, party, get interviewed and get intimate - but don't forget, it's all leading up to one thing: the Big Show. Each player will have their own musician with a unique playbook, but everyone works together to tell the story of an up-and-coming band, in any musical genre you like.”
Michael Moorcock Appearances
I just received my first issues of the New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine.
The Fall 2023 issue has a new Elric short story from Michael Moorcock called “The Folk of the Forest.” Here is a description of the story from the magazine:
“…we visit Elric during his adolescence, on a walk in the woods with his mentor Tanglebones. Merely wanting a break from his hateful father, Elric soon finds himself on a dangerous voyage of discovery.”
You can purchase digital, softcover, and hardcover issues of the magazine from the New Edge Sword & Sorcery website.
And if that’s not enough of the patron saint of Critical Hit Parader for you, on December 9th, Mr. Moorcock will be making a return appearance on the Sanctum Secorum livestream on the Goodman Games Twitch channel. If you cannot watch it live at 4 pm EST on the 9th, it will be rebroadcast via both the Sanctum Secorum podcast feed and the Goodman Games Youtube channel. More information can be found here.