Noir RPGs and Rory Gallagher

Plus Sorcerer and Club Ninja

I just read The Lie Factory, a novella by Ian Rankin that was included in the Rory Gallagher concept/compilation album Kickback City.

Rory is at the top of my personal guitarist pantheon. Among the things that sets him apart from other blues rockers is his lyrics. He was a fan of crime novels, and he wrote many songs that were influenced by the noir literature he enjoyed. A selection of these songs were included in the Kickback City release, which was describes as follows on Rory’s website:

“Inspired by Rory Gallagher’s passion for crime novels, ‘Kickback City’ is a creative collaboration combining the words of Ian Rankin, the illustrations of Timothy Truman and of course the music of Rory Gallagher. The result is a brand new kind of concept album – a must have for fans of Rory Gallagher, Ian Rankin, graphic novels and newcomers alike.”

The songs are taken from various periods of Rory’s career and are all fantastic. Along with the illustrated novella, they set the mood for playing noir/crime-flavored tabletop roleplaying games.

My kids know how much I love Rory Gallagher, so they made me this cool custom Magic the Gathering card for last Father’s Day:

Sorcerer - Reign of the Reaper

There have been so many great metal releases lately. This week I have been digging the album Reign of the Reaper by Sorcerer. The album is heavy and melodic, and the album cover features wicked art by Joakim Ericsson that perfectly compliments the band’s music:

Bassist Justin Biggs says “Reign Of The Reaper, as an album, embodies quite a fair bit of folklore and tales wrapped up in an "epic doom" package.” The following is their video for the excellent song “Morning Star,” which should give you plenty of inspiration for horror/occult fantasy RPGs:

You can purchase the album from Sorcerer’s Bandcamp page.

Blue Öyster Cult - Club Ninja

I was a panelist on a recent episode of The Contrarians where we discussed the album Club Ninja by Blue Öyster Cult. I tried to provide some obscure tidbits about the record. You can watch it here: