Tron, Techno, & Hüsker Dü Inspired RPGs from Netcrawl's James Pozenel

Plus "To Be a Dwarf" by Wind Rose and Synths & TTRPGs

Horse Shark Games just launched a crowdfunding campaign for Netcrawl, “a TTRPG about adventuring inside a computer system.” The game is written by James A Pozenel, Jr., who is a co-host of the Spellburn podcast and a freelance writer for Goodman Games.

Here are some additional details about the game from the press materials:

“Instead of reducing computer system hacking/raiding into a series of specialist character class skill rolls, the entire party adventures forth into the computer to find whatever ICE lies inside protecting the party's objective. The system is inspired by Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG by Goodman Games, but can be used as a stand alone game or as a cyber-sidecar to your current game.”

Julian Bernick introduced me to James as a fellow “music nut,” and my mind was blown when I learned he had created a Hüsker Dü inspired adventure for Dungeon Crawl Classics called Cats of Rahtlü.

Below is an interview I conducted with James via email, in which he talks more about Netcrawl and the importance of music in his RPG life:

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Matt: You have been playing TTRPGs since the early 80s starting with Moldvay D&D. When and how did you get turned on to music?

James: My parents didn't have a ton of records, and fewer that I liked. However, I did adore The Beatles. They had 3-4 of their early albums: Meet the Beatles, Help!, Hard Days Night, and Rubber Soul. I played Rubber Soul the most (if they only had Revolver!). John Williams' Star Wars soundtrack was as foundational as the 1977 film in my psyche. In middle school I listened to popular metal & popular rock typically recorded from the radio or dubbed cassettes. High school it was 60s classic rock like Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd and of course tons of alternative music: Pixies, XTC, Peter Gabriel, Robyn HItchcock, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Sex Pistols, Camper Van Beethoven, Devo, Eurythmics, They Might Be Giants, The Dead Milkmen, The Dead Kennedys, etc. After highschool I started collecting records (from jazz to big band to country to rock, motown, rap, and techno). I even DJ'ed when I got into Techno (I wasn't very good at it).

Matt: In what ways has music influenced your TTRPG playing and design?

James: Music is often there in the background making the fingers dance in time on the keyboard. However there are times when the narrative of the song is so good or just plain breaks through to become part of a design.  After continually kidding around and bringing up Hüsker Dü's “How to Skin a Cat” as a business model (that and South Park's Underpants Gnomes), my daughter said I should write an adventure about it. In 2023, I published Cats of Rahtlü for DCC. The adventure fuses the song with Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith and then turns it all upside down. There's also a partially finished manuscript that is inspired by the Pixies' "I Bleed" from Doolittle. Artists that are great storytellers inspire more storytelling, right?

Matt: Did music play a particular role in your development of Netcrawl?

James: I can't say that any particular music explicitly played a role in developing Netcrawl, but Kraftwerk, Conrad Schnitzler, Manuel Göttsching (Ashra), Wendy Carlos, Cybotron, Hideki Matsutake (Logic System), Afrika Bambaataa, Herbie Hancock (Thrust & Futureshock LPs) form the group of 70s & 80s pioneers I hold close to my heart. Detroit is my adopted hometown (I lived there for 10 years) and I could go on forever about Detroit Techno. To this day I still listen to a lot of Electronica and Detroit Techno so it is a heartbeat, a constant, that is bound to leak in at a subconscious level. Tron is of course a primary influence on Netcrawl RPG and the Tron: Legacy soundtrack is by Daft Punk. Their Homework is one of my favorite records and I love Thomas Bangalter's mid-90s house EPs.

I also commissioned a Netcrawl Theme song from Loot the Body (Levi Nunez). So yeah music I guess music is a big deal to me and Netcrawl after all! It will be featured as the crowdfunding campaign's musical accompaniment. Maybe we'll press a 7" if the campaign goes well.

Matt: If you were to create a playlist to set the mood for a session of Netcrawl, what songs would you put on it?

James: No need for any hypotheticals; you've inspired me to make one: Netcrawl Playlist.

Trigger warning: If you don't like techno, you're going to have a bad time.

Matt: With Critical Hit Parader, we have the concept of an Appendix LP, i.e., a list of inspirational music that has influenced tabletop roleplaying. What bands/artists would be on your own personal Appendix LP list?

James: I love/respect the classical 70s/80s metal influences on RPGs but I'm cut almost wholly from the alternative/college radio wing of nerdom.

My Appendix LP:

• Pixies

• Talking Heads (Tom Tom Club, Byrne + Eno)

• Hüsker Dü

• The Clash

• The Fall

• Big Black (Shellac)

• The Stooges (Iggy Pop)

• MC5

• Kraftwerk

• Devo

• Drexciya (Elektroids, Dopplereffekt)

• Carl Craig (BFC, Psyche, Paperclip People, 69, etc.)

• Daft Punk

• The B-52s

• They Might Be Giants

• Bauhaus

• XTC

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Thanks to James for the virtual conversation! A cool aspect of the Netcrawl crowdfunding campaign is that it is a “Cross Collab Project” with a supplement for Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland by Brian Shutter. I covered music connections with Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland in a previous Critical Hit Parader newsletter. If both of the projects are successfully funded, Brian and James Pozenel will produce a new adventure called "Token Collect."

You can learn more about these projects and pledge your support at the following links:

• Netcrawl

• Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland Deities and Demi-Bros Supplement

Wind Rose - “To Be a Dwarf”

Italian power metal band Wind Rose dropped another video from their upcoming album Trollslayer, which is scheduled to be released on the 4th of October. The song is called "To Be a Dwarf" and the band describes it as “an anthem that makes you feel like you belong to this great folk of fierce warriors, skilled blacksmiths and heavy drinkers.” Watch the video here:

Pre-order Trollslayer from the Wind Rose official web store.

Synths & TTRPGs

Alfred Valley published a thoughtful video that explains “What do synthesisers and tabletop roleplaying games have in common?”

Alfred Valley is a tabletop game designer in London, UK and publishes the Haus of Valley Substack newsletter.