Music TTRPGs & Black Sabbath's Gollum
Plus Cassette Case Game Jam & Story Behind BÖC Song
Bell of Lost Souls posted an article called We’re All Bards With These Music Tabletop RPGs. All but one of the six games were new to me.
The article did not include links or publisher/author information, so I’ve included some more info on each game below:
Umläut: Game of Metal from Lord of the Pies is “a storytelling game which gives each player the chance to create and control their own Heavy Metal band.” Available from DriveThruRPG.
Ribbon Drive by Avery Alder is a “game about road trips, music, and self-discovery.” I covered this in a previous newsletter. Learn more and purchase from the Buried Without Ceremony website.
Fiasco: Touring Rock Band by Bully Pulpit Game is an accessory for the Fiasco role-playing game and “is an over-the-top collection of iconic rock and roll glories and unwholesome lunacy.” You can purchase it from DriveThruRPG.
Rock Opera ’79 is a game by Doug Anderson. Learn all about it from this Lace and Steel video review, which described it as “a game set in a post apocalyptic dystopia - where player characters must take down THE MAN through the power of rock!” Purchase from DriveThruRPG.
Musical Memories by Julius Hennig “lets you tell and play the story of two or more people looking back at memories of their lives all the way back to the first time they met, all based on music that they listened to together.” Available from the birb_nerb Itch.io site.
High Strung from Better Mousetrap Games lets you belong to a band. “Play clubs and festivals. Suffer critics and create demo tapes. Gain hope to get a multi-album contract. Lose hope and join a cover band.” You can purchase from DriveThruRPG.
Cassette Case Game Jam
Axiom Delver is hosting a “Cassette Case Game Jam” on Itch.io. The jam “is about making TTRPG stuff that fits in a cassette case box.” You can create a “a full game, an adventure, a tool, a box for a solo-rpg, a mini DM kit, some cool art, or just a session playlist.”
The end date for the jam is the 30th of September. Learn more at the Cassette Case Game Jam page.
The Story Behind BÖC’s Veteran of the Psychic Wars
If you enjoyed my dive into the lost collaboration between Michael Moorcock and Blue Öyster Cult from a few weeks ago, then you might be interested that Far Out magazine recently published The Story Behind The Song: Blue Öyster Cult’s ‘Veteran of the Psychic Wars.’ This song was, of course, the third and final recorded BÖC song that featured a lyric from Moorcock. Consider reading the article with caution. Many readers of Critical Hit Parader are deeply learned aficionados of Appendix N authors and sci-fi/fantasy-influenced rock music. If you link over to the Far Out article, be on your guard for the Gell-Mann amnesia effect.
For a deeper and more accurate understanding of Moorcock as a writer and how his character Corum is reflected in the lyrics to “Veteran of the Psychic Wars,” I suggest you turn to Christian Lindke and a recent issue of his always excellent Geekerati Newsletter.
As for the BÖC and Heavy Metal movie content of the Far Out article, let me humbly augment rather than correct: the band’s song “Don’t Turn Your Back” from the Fire of Unknown Origin album was also written for the Heavy Metal soundtrack.
Black Sabbath Gollum
Lastly, I got a chuckle out of this quote from Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi concerning a shirtless Sabbath drummer Bill Ward rehearsing for the recent "Back To The Beginning" concert:
“When we had a break on one of the rehearsals, we went in to eat at the studio, and Bill got his shirt off, and Geezer was just about to have a sandwich. He went, ‘Oh, Bill put your shirt on. You’re putting me off the sandwich.’ But it’s typical Bill. He is always taking his shirt off every time. I mean, in the old days, he’d always take his shirt off. I said to Bill, ‘Blimey, Bill, you look like Gollum.’ And I don't think he knew who Gollum was. He's always always been the same, Bill.”
-Tony Iommi on Eddie Trunk’s Sirius XM radio show
This was not the heavy metal / J.R.R. Tolkien intersection I was expecting!
We saw Iggy Pop a couple years ago, and he came onstage wearing a skimpy black leather vest that came off after his first song, and he remained shirtless throughout his set. Gollum with better hair was my lasting impression of him.