The Ace of Spades D&D Casino & RPG Podcasts

Plus Guitarist Tom Morello Playing D&D in Lake Geneva

Greedy Gorgon Press has launched a crowdfunding campaign for a music-inspired tabletop roleplaying game product called “The Ace of Spades: A D&D drop in casino.”

Here is a description from the Kickstarter page:

The Ace of Spades is a 40+ page drop in casino including the following features:

• 10 dice games of luck and chance to play against the house or each other!

• 10 unique NPCs - including members of some of the house bands!

• 10 drinks - gain an edge at the gambling tables with some of our arcane concoctions!

• A heist adventure - there's more than one way to break the bank at the Ace of Spades!

As with their previous projects in their Monsters of Rock series, Greedy Gorgon Press has a strong rock band pun game as you can see in this description of the casino:

The Ace of Spades is known from King's Whim to New Orc as the market leader in quality entertainment! Gorgonias from across the country visit to bask in the light of the stars on stage! Who will you be telling your friends and coworkers back home that you saw strut and fret their hour on the stage?
This season, The Ace of Spades, in conjunction with Metalland Iron PLC are proud to present the following premium performers - all live and in person!

• Elfish Presley

• Mage against the Machine

• K.I.S.S. (Kobolds in sexy situations)

• Sir O'zee of Os-bornee

• The Rolling Stone Giants

• Guns N' Rougeses

The crowdfunding campaign ends the 18th of January so there is plenty of time to pledge your support at The Ace of Spades campaign web page.

RPG Podcasts

I’ve seen lots of people sharing their Spotify Wrapped and other end-of-year music listening stats. This year I primarily listened to music via physical media and Bandcamp, so my Spotify data was limited and not representative of my 2024 listening trends (I listened to my top Spotify song only five times).

I’m trying to get off of Spotify completely, but out of habit I still have been using it to listen to podcasts. So my podcast data was probably legit, and I feel the three podcasts Spotify listed as my favorites were ones I listened to faithfully and strongly recommend:

I’ve mentioned each of these RPG podcasts in previous newsletters, and the hosts of all three often make music references within their RPG-focused content. I encourage you to check them out if you have not already:

• Weird Games and Weirder People - hosted by Diogo Nogueira¹

• RPG Ramblings - hosted by Jeff Jones

• The Vintage RPG Podcast - hosted by Stu Horvath & John “Hambone” McGuire

In full disclosure, I was very honored to be interviewed by Jeff Jones on RPG Ramblings earlier this year. Please check it out if you want to learn a bit more about Critical Hit Parader and my music and RPG background:

Guitarist Tom Morello and Other Celebrities Playing D&D in Lake Geneva

This recent WTMJ-TV Milwaukee article on the 50th anniversary of D&D describes how Gary Gygax and “a room in Lake Geneva changed the fantasy world.” Here is an excerpt:

Gygax moved to Lake Geneva in 1946, 28 years before publishing Dungeons & Dragons. He moved into the home on 330 Center Street in 1966. In that house, D&D was created. The first-ever game was played in a small office. The second game was in the dining room.

Of particular interest to music fans, the article discusses celebrities who have “travelled to Lake Geneva to play the game where it all started” and includes a picture of Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello playing D&D there:

Tom Morello in the purple hat in the far right picture

The other celebrities shown are wrestler Paul Wight (Big Show) and actor Vince Vaughn. I had the opportunity to meet Paul Wight six years ago at a hotel in New Orleans. He was very nice, but it was before I was aware that he was a D&D player. I wish I had known so we could have chatted about RPGs!

1. One of my goals is to someday have a conversation with Diogo Nogueira so we can talk about the Ramones!