Throne of Iron's Adventure Two & Dungeon Con Report

Bloomington, Indiana metal band Throne of Iron have recently released a new full length album called Adventure Two.

If you’re not familiar with the band, they describe themselves as providing “sounds from a wood paneled basement, fueled by cheap beer, and driven to adventure.” The band first came to my attention when they released a split album with the band Dungeon Crawl. With this new album, tabletop roleplaying gamers and fantasy literature fans will appreciate song titles like “Divine Smite,” “Detect “Evil,” and “The City of Brass.”

Throne of Iron prove their old school gaming bonafides in the official video for their song “The Oath.” Keen-eyed viewers may spot Frank Frazetta posters, Old School Essentials character sheets, t-shirts for Manilla Road & Eternal Champion, a true d100, and Gary Gygax’s The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun:

The cover art for Adventure Two is by veteran metal artist David Paul Seymour, and you can preview and purchase the album from the Throne of Iron Bandcamp page:

Dungeon Con

I’m writing this week’s newsletter from a hotel room in West Virginia as we’re continuing our roadtrip home from Dungeon Con. I had a blast at this inaugural event, which took place in the Goodman Games warehouse. A highlight was playing Xcrawl Classics with creator Brendan LaSalle. Brendan was a guest on my Appendix LP podcast, and I appreciate his deep love of music and diverse taste. The adventure we played had references to Wu-Tang Clan, and a later game he was running at the con had references to Uriah Heep and Blue Öyster Cult. He was able to make good use out of my covered Xcrawl Classics rulebook:

I was also thrilled to get to talk in person with Michael Curtis (Director of Product Development for the Dungeon Crawl Classics line), another previous Appendix LP podcast guest. He was lead designer of the DCC Lankhmar boxed set and is also the creator behind the critically-acclaimed megadungeon Stonehell and The Dungeon Alphabet. It was no surprise that our conversation eventually turned to Blue Öyster Cult and Hawkwind.

Another favorite who I had previously met only online was Bob Brinkman. Bob is a prolific RPG writer and co-hosts the Sanctum Secorum podcast. I support his Patreon, in which he is translating the Dictionnaire Infernal and providing playable content for its entries. Bob was very generous with his time and allowed me to get a picture with the Sandal of Gygax:

Lastly, I was pleasantly surprised to find a coffee shop that had a Rush pinball machine!