So Many Games... So Little Time (to blog)...

 

Some games I hope to run during 2021...

I keep meaning to update here more... I had a week off earlier in January but spent a lot of it away from my home office taking a much needed break from sitting at a desk staring at computer screens for 8-12 hours a day. (Though I did devour the excellent Raised By Wolves while laying on a couch staring at a TV screen...)

More than needing a break, though, I'm realizing that most of my RPG energy these days is spent on actually running games, something that I did a metric-fuck-ton of during 2020. With alternating 5th Edition D&D games running Saturday Afternoons, games most Thursday evenings, every other Wednesday, a couple of stints running games every other Sunday morning and at least one one-shot game each month plus the one to two games I play in... well, I average two to three games per week most weeks...

While the downside of all this gaming is less blogging, the upside was running a lot of games, including a bunch of games I hadn't run before. Here is a quick break down...

• Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition

• I'd run CoC back in high school, so that would have been back in the 5th edition was still relatively new.. Ending up running several one shots and a short campaign and definitely think it works best in the one shot format. Highlight was running The Lightless Beacon, a free one shot scenario which is where I'd recommend starting if you're interested in running (also conveniently free on Roll20).

• The Quiet Year

• Ran (or facilitated rather, as its GM-less) this post-apocalyptic map game using Roll20 and would definitely give it another whirl. It is on my list of backup games for when my groups are down a few players.

• The Sprawl

• Finally ran a one-shot of the Sprawl, the Powered by the Apocalypse Cyberpunk Game and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked, even in a one-shot. Many PbtA games really take more than one session to get cooking, but ran a one-shot using the Downtown Dataheist quickstart mission and had a blast.

• tremulus

• also ran the Cthulhu mythos themed PbtA game, tremulus, using the Ebon Eaves scenario and it was fine? Would try it again, but really, what I'm jonesin' to run is the frozen wasteland playset.

• Fiasco!

• Had played the original version, but the revised version that swaps in cards in place of dice was a marked improvement and quite enjoyed running through the Suburbia scenario and looking forward to being able to game in person again to take advantage of having the big boxed set and all the expansion packs.

• The Forest Hymn and Picnic

• I've now run the Last Winter Holiday quick-start adventure included in A Cursory Guidebook To The Forest Hymn & Picnic twice now and each time was a lot of fun, so I cannot wait until the full game is done and I can run a party through a campaign of the Forest Hymn and Picnic...

• Alien the Roleplaying Game

• This was the big one that I went into 2020 determined to run after getting it late in 2019... and run it I did... I ran six separate one shots of Alien, plus the Destroyer of World module as a three session mini-campaign. The system is pretty elegant and cinematic and I fully intend do a fuller review sometime soon.

Music to Game to: Moon Duo – Occult Architecture Vol.1 and Occult Architecture Vol. 2

I listen to a lot of music (over 41 days worth in 2018 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

Moon Duo – Occult Architecture Vol.1 and Occult Architecture Vol. 2

A psychedelic conceptual opus in two parts intended to be “an intricately woven hymn to the invisible structures found in the cycle of seasons and the journey of day into night, dark into light through the Chinese theory of Yin and Yang”, Moon Duo’s Occult Architecture albums are a great choice for background music for any RPG. With driving rhythms, psychedelic guitar work and understated vocals these two albums provide a wonderfully evocative and thematic backdrop for a game.

• Vocals?...Yes, but unobtrusive.
• Music Genre(s)… Psychedelic Rock
• Perfect for… Games where you want a psychedelic touch that isn’t over-whelming or distracting.
• If you only grab one track, make it... The shimmering and sinister “Cult of Moloch” from Vol. 1 and the propulsive “The Crystal World” from Vol. 2

Music to Game to: Narcosatanicos - Body Cults

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

NARCOSATANICOS – BODY CULTS

I’ve been re-reading Richard Kadrey’s “Sandman Slim” series, and listening to Body Cults to prep this review, all I could think is that this would fit right into the jukebox at the punk tiki bar, Bamboo House of Dolls. Intense, noisy, wonderfully sleazy and with enough swing to make it feel dangerously gleeful, like a serial killer winking at you as he wipes the blood off his blade. The album feels like an alternate soundtrack to a particularly unhinged 70s low budget splatter film, transporting you a realm of dangerous chases, desperate escapes and brutal combats.

• Vocals?...Yes, deeper in the mix or incoherent screams.
• Music Genre(s)… Noise Rock, Psychedelic Rock
• Perfect for…Horror games that need an intense and sleazy soundtrack with a 70s vibe.
• If you only grab one track, make it...”Television Dreams” which roars in on a whirlwind of guitar, sax and drums and then only gets more intense after it slows down to show you the full terrifying scope of its sonic vision.

Music to Game to: Kikagaku Moyo - Forest of Lost Children

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

KIKAGAKU MOYO – FOREST OF LOST CHILDREN

A Japanese psychedelic psych rock quintent featuring a sitar in addition to the more standard guitar, bass, drums linup; Kikagaku Moyo tends toward the dreamlike on Forest of Lost Children, very much evoking a sense of wandering through a slightly unreal place of wonder and danger. Dreamy, but never hazy, meandering but never descending into the merely noodly, Forest of Lost Children is a fantastic addition to the soundtrack library of any fantasy GM. Unlike many of the other albums I’ve recommended for this series heretofore, the album is light on moments of intense anger, dread or suspense, making it a great choice for lighter games.

• Vocals?...Yes, in Japanese
• Music Genre(s)… Psychedelic Rock
• Perfect for…Laid back, dreamy fantasy games.
• If you only grab one track, make it...”Smoke and Mirrors” which meanders between languid dreaminess and driving urgency.

Music to Game to: Motorpsycho and Ståle Storløkken - The Death Defying Unicorn

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

MOTORPSYCHO AND STÅLE STORLØKKEN – THE DEATH DEFYING UNICORN: “A FANCIFUL AND FAIRLY FAR-OUT MUSICAL FABLE”

A prog rock double length concept album about a criminal given a choice between hanging and joining the ship, the Death Defying Unicorn, as a cabin boy as they journey to the uncharted ‘Hollow Land’, The Death Defying Unicorn amply lives up to its subtitle as a “Fanciful and Fairly Far-Out Musical Fable”. The music surges and swells, recedes and swirls, oceanic in its psychedelic melodies. The nearly over-wrought prog grandeur makes this album perfect for any heroic high fantasy game, and the themes of doomed nautical exploration make it a fine fit pirate or other maritime games as well.

Vocals?...Yes
Music Genre(s)…Prog Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Perfect for…Epic High Fantasy Games, Games with a Pirate Flair
If you only grab one track, make it... “Through the Veil”, a 16 minute epic storm of cacophony and psychedelic chaos that makes incredible use of the many backing instruments provided by the string ensemble Trondheimsolistene and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra.

Music to Game to: Eight Trails, One Path

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

VARIOUS – EIGHT TRAILS, ONE PATH

A compilation album celebrating “the various styles, approaches, and concepts used by eight contemporary guitar masters.” The album is mostly solo acoustic guitar, lending itself naturally to an American Wild West feel, but there bits and pieces of other instruments as well. The album feels surprisingly unified for a compilation, with the focus on the guitar helping each song to sound as part of the whole.

• Vocals?...Distorted vocals low in the mix on “Stranded on Io”
• Music Genre(s)…Psychedelic Rock, Folk, Acoustic
• Perfect for…Wild West games or any game you want to add a Western flair to.
• If you only grab one track, make it... “Stranded On Io”, which adds a slight sci-fi ambience, for a melancholic explorer lost in space feel. Though if you were going to run a more straight-forward or authentic Wild West game, this might also be the track you skip.

Music to Game to: The Comet Is Coming - Channel the Spirits

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

THE COMET IS COMING – CHANNEL THE SPIRITS

With the band name, member pseudoynms (King Shabaka, Danalogue the Conquerer and Betamax Killer), and song titles (“Journey through the Asteroid Belt”, “Slam Dunk Through a Black Hole”) you can easily deduce that this is an album well suited for Sci-Fi games. With a skillful blend of Sun Ra inspired jazz, space funk and psychedelic rock, Channel the Spirits is a fantastic fit for any psychedelic science fiction RPG or a superheroes game with a more Cosmic Kirby feel.

• Vocals?...Yes, largely on one song, “Lightyears”
• Music Genre(s)…Jazz, psychedelic rock, electronic
• Perfect for…Psychedelic science-fiction games.
• If you only grab one track, make it... The propulsive and groovy “Star Furnace”.

Music to Game To: Seven That Spells - Cosmoerotic Dialogue with Luciver

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

SEVEN THAT SPELLS – COSMOEROTIC DIALOGUE WITH LUCIVER

A Croatian band that self-describes as “modern, aggressive psychedelic wall of sound incorporating polymetrics and occasional Viking funeral rites, hailing from the 23rd century where rock is dead,” Seven that Spells is not the music for an understated session of roleplaying delicate trade negotiations. They are very much the band whose albums you toss on when your high level D&D pcs finally make it to the bottom level of the dungeon to battle a dracolich or when you need the soundtrack to a fantastic space battle. When these songs blast full speed ahead, it feels as though they’ll never let you take a breath, but there are enough slower and softer moments as well, they just never arrive until you absolutely need to take a gaps for breath. This is an album to put on when you want to give your game a propulsive urgency.

• Vocals?...Yes, in Croatian, mostly wordless though.
• Music Genre(s)…Space Rock, Psychedelic Rock
• Perfect for…Epic fantasy battles where the PCs struggle to catch their breath, psychedelic tinged science fiction games.
• If you only grab one track, make it…the album closer and perhaps softest track on the album, ”Torture Vessel from the Triangle World”, which builds slowly, bit by bit with growing intensity, until it reaches a shimmering peak.

Music to Game to: The Budos Band - Burnt Offering

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

THE BUDOS BAND - BURNT OFFERING

Look at that album cover and tell me it’s not “Music to Game To”… This is a tight slab of afro-soul funk crossed with 70s metal with a dash of blues here and there. The album immediately evokes 70s B movies and psychedelic fantasy van panoramas without getting bogged down in cheesy homage. Foreboding and gritty, the songs are propulsive and perfect for keeping a game session moving briskly forward. While the throwback 70s stylings might not fit every D&D session, they’ll be appreciated by players and game masters who enjoy a good groove as they bash in troll heads.

• Vocals?...No
• Music Genre(s)…Funk, Soul, Psychedelic Rock, Afrobeat
• Perfect for…Any game where you want a pulsing, horn and bass heavy, epic 70s style B-movie soundtrack.
• If you only grab one track, make it…The title track, “Burnt Offering”, which opens with some ominous horror movie synths and pounding drums and then switches to a beautifully scuzzy guitar riff and blasting horns cut with organ riffs.