My Chemical Romance D&D Pinball Machine Plus 2024 Albums with TTRPG Pairings

Amigo the Devil, The Armoires, Castle, Ghost Funk Orchestra, High Fade, Mr. Bison, Opeth, Robot Monster Army, The Spyrals, Richard Thompson

This NME article describes how “My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way is among the voice cast for a new Dungeons & Dragons pinball machine.” Here are some details from the article:

The singer-songwriter, comic book writer and The Umbrella Academy creator – who is a longtime D&D fan – joined the likes of Dethklok’s Brendon Small, and filmmakers Kevin Smith and Chris Prynoski in contributing to the arcade game.

Composer Chris Velasco (Bloodborne, Mass Effect 2) created the music for the new machine, which is officially called Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant’s Eye.

Per a description, the game will see players become “chosen members of the Dragonshield Guild, trying to defeat the dragon queen Tiamat, who is hatching a plan to rise again, triggering the War of Dragons, with Xanathar, Balinor and Sammaster all fighting for power”.

Gerard Way is often cited in lists of celebrities who play D&D. He discussed how he developed his storytelling skills from TTRPGs when he was a guest on Dustin Kensrue's Carry the Fire Podcast in October 2019:

"Even just from playing and Dungeon Mastering," Way explained, "I learned how to tell stories and was really into that. you learn things even about leadership if you become the party leader. If you're the DM, you learn how to keep people engaged, to keep momentum and keep things moving."

If you want to see what the pinball machine looks like, check out this trailer:

More Recommended 2024 Albums with TTRPG Pairings

In last week’s newsletter, I summarized albums that came out in 2024 that were good sources for TTRPG inspiration. They were all records that I recommended and covered in the newsletter during the year. When reviewing all the great music that came out in 2024, however, I realized there were an additional 10 albums I enjoyed a ton that I had not yet covered in the newsletter. I encourage you to check out the albums below. The connections to TTRPGs for most of these are less obvious, so I’ve suggested some RPG-album pairings.

Amigo the Devil - Yours Until the War Is Over

Amigo the Devil is the performing name of singer/songwriter Danny Kiranos. Rolling Stone provides an accurate description of his outstanding latest album:

Yours Until the War Is Over, a mix of rock, folk, and Americana music that’s dubbed “murderfolk” for its notable subject matter of death, destruction, and despair. Think Tom Waits meets Nick Cave, with a healthy dose of Rob Zombie ambiance.

The lyrics for “Once Upon a Time at Texaco (pt. 1)” sound like they came from a modern Elmore Leonard novel or a session of playing Fiasco:

The Armoires - Octoberland

I learned about this Burbank, CA indie pop band from

S.W. Lauden

’s Remember the Lightning newsletter. I became curious because of the following quote from their producer, Mike Simmons, describing the band’s sound:

Well, it's very intellectual, very literate. And I've come to find that it's a little witchy, too. It's actually a lot of fun.

Their label describes their sound as “somewhere between the sunshine pop of the '60s, the college rock jangle of the '80s and the Sarah Records/C86 chamber pop aesthetic of the '90s.” As a bonus, I really like the interior and back cover art by Ridley Broone:

Consider pairing their “Ouroboros Blues (Crow Whisperer)” with the Be Like a Crow RPG.

Castle - Evil Remains

The occult doom band Castle released an album of eight bangers that are more compact and up-tempo than you might expect from a doom band. Vocalist Elizabeth Blackwell delivers the perfect performances to get the lyrical subjects over.

Check out their song “Nosferatu Nights” before your next game of Vampire: The Masquerade:

Ghost Funk Orchestra - A Trip to the Moon

This is an amazing, high concept album that has a unique blend of vintage sounds in a modern package. I struggle to describe their music, so here is the description from their Bandcamp page:

A Trip To The Moon sees GFO diving even deeper in the worlds of film music, exotica, and psychedelic surf rock. The aim is to create a layered and collaged listening experience with more elements than you could possibly pick out in a single listen. The guitars are fuzzy and flooded with spring reverb, and the horns are arranged in a studio big band fashion. It's full of big compositions with garage rock attitude. Influences range everywhere from Eddie Palmieri and Esquivel to The Lively Ones, Dusty Springfield, and War. The tracks are tied together by real recorded transmissions from the Apollo moon missions. The concept for the album is a story about a woman stranded on earth by her cosmonaut partner, left to ponder his whereabouts and whether or not he'll make it back from the cosmos alive.

Here is the official video for the song “Eyes of Love”:

I can’t come up with a recommended RPG pairing, but I bet there is an indie RPG designer out there who could make a great journaling game based on the album’s concept.

High Fade - Life’s Too Fast

I first heard this Scottish trio from a YouTube video of them busking on the street in Edinburgh. I was blown away by their musicianship, groove, and funkiness. Jack Black, Cypress Hill, Glenn Hughes, and Rage Against the Machine’s Brad Wilk have all declared their fan-hood. I like this description of the band from a St. Albans Times review of one of their live shows:

They draw inspiration from the holy trinity of funk, disco and hair metal, all brought together with the sole purpose of everyone having as much fun as possible.

Their debut album is all killer. You can watch a full set of them busking here:

High Fade bassist Oliver Sentance has a strong moustache game, so for RPG inspiration I recommend employing the moustaches rules from Goodman Games.

Mr. Bison - Echoes from the Universe

This album by the Italian heavy psychedelic band Mr. Bison is a concept album based on the Norse Norn myths. The music is progressive and trippy with melodic vocals and interesting harmonies. Here is a longer description from the band of the album concept:

The theme of the Album, titled “Echoes from the Universe”,is the attempt, as human and temporal beings, to escape the idea of an alleged destiny predetermination by managing to build one's own individual life path trough will power.
The “Concept Album” is based on the of the Norse Norns myth, who weave the threads of universal destiny on a tapestry, in which all existence, in a continuous mix of past, present and future, intersect and influence each other, thereby generating a kaleidoscopic vortex of infinite and unpredictable possibilities. For this reason, we have used them as a symbol of freedom of choice, which never excludes but indeed implies, the element of chance.

The album artwork is by Django Nokes and perfectly fits the album’s theme and mood:

Because of the album’s Norns inspiration, consider pairing this album with the Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok RPG.

Opeth - The Last Will and Testament

Per the band’s PR materials, Opeth’s The Last Will and Testament is a “concept album recounting the reading of one recently deceased man’s will to an audience of his surviving family members, it brims with haunting melodrama, shocking revelations and some of the wildest and most unpredictable music that songwriter/frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt has ever written.”

This album is a masterpiece. It is relentlessly progressive and features a return of some growling vocals from Mikael along with flute and narration from Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson. It is complex, dark, beautiful and haunting. You can listen to the whole album along with commentary from Mikael here:

Each song is a section of the actual will and are named by their paragraph numbers. This approach creates a lyric sheet that acts as an in-world artifact, which remind me of the handouts for certain classic Call of Cthulhu RPG adventures or The Armitage Files for Trail of Cthulhu.

Robot Monster Army - Assembly Required

Robot Monster Army is the brain child of Bob Mayo and is presented as a band with a fictitious history. Check out this description:

Some claim that Robot Monster Army was one of the most overlooked rock bands of the late 70's, releasing 4 albums & touring with the era's biggest bands, even cracking the UK Top 40 with their 1980 single 'No Big Deal'. Working in the shadow of giants like Aerosmith, BOC and Kiss, RMA never broke big and are now barely a footnote in the hard rock history books. Almost as if they never existed...

Bob was in the legendary Boston metal band Wargasm (note, he is not the Bob Mayo you can hear on Framptom Comes Alive). He is a classic rock musicologist and has cool pop culture interests: “I’m a silver age Marvel Comics nerd; I’m a huge fan of the Toho Godzilla flicks; I like the James Bond novels better than the movies.” He brings these influences together on Assembly Required.

The songs are rockin’ and catchy with strong guitar throughout. Check out this amazing video for Day of the Robot:

Mayo demonstrates his James Bond appreciation with the song “Pussy Galore,” so pair this record with the James Bond 007 RPG from Victory Games.

The Spyrals - Retrograde

I guess I would describe the 5th album from this San Francisco trio as fuzz-toned, psychedelic blues rock. Somehow the songs seem to come from a place of both thoughtful composition and free-form jamming. I especially love the guitar tones from Jeff Lewis. As an introduction, check out the video for the song “Dream Believin'“:

Given the band’s psychedelic proclivities, let’s pair this album with Ultra Violet Grasslands.

Thompson, Richard - Ship to Shore

Richard Thompson (of Fairport Convention, Richard and Linda Thompson, and solo fame) released an album in 2024 that showcases the guitar playing, songwriting, and singing strengths that have won him accolades throughout his career. He is a master of both electric and acoustic guitar, and the album offers plenty of six-string highlights. It is stylistically varied, as Thompson describes on his website:

“I liked the idea of having a strong base to work from and reaching out from there,” he says. “And I think of my base as being British traditional music, but there’s also Scottish music, there’s Irish music. There’s jazz and country and classical. As far as I’m concerned, once you establish your base you can reach out anywhere. It’ll still be you ringing through, wherever you decide to go musically.”

I think the album opener “Freeze” is a great introduction to the album:

Let’s wrap up this newsletter by pairing Ship to Shore with Ships & Shores of Southern Genertela for Runequest.