Burlesque House Siege Pre-Release

Dungeons & Donuts blogger Kiel Chenier is looking to recoup his Gen Con 2016 expenses. Chenier is selling a pre-release version of the adventure Burlesque House Siege (the adventure that he ran at the con) to make up the money that he spent on badge and housing.

On the outskirts of town is the Maison Derriere, a bawdy burlesque house that's been providing entertainment and thrills to people for decades. You spent the night and had an amazing time...

...only to wake up in the morning to find the building is about to be attacked by a bandit army.

Join a group of dancers and performers in defending their home from waves of bandits and thugs in this LGBT-friendly adventure for tabletop roleplaying games. Compatible with D&D (all editions), Pathfinder, Dungeon World, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and more.

Kiel's details about the adventure:

This is a "Buystarter Release"

The adventure text and design is complete, but the layout and final art have not been completed. Buying the adventure now gets you the current version of the adventure, and the updated final version when it's released in September, 2016.

The final version will cost $8.99, meaning you save $3.00 by purchasing Burlesque House Siege! early.

Help out a fellow designer and GM.

Fantasy Gaming On The British Side: Pelinore

I meant to go live with this a week ago, and got wrapped up in some other things. Better late than never.

I've always been interested in the "British Arm" of the early days of British role-playing. Much like with the "US West Coast" style, they brought a different energy and style to that particularly Midwestern mode of fantasy role-playing and Dungeons & Dragons. The British, after all, are the ones who brought us The Fiend Folio and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying. Of course, they also brought us the Monstermark, so I guess that you take the bad with the good.

What has recently surfaced on the web is a netbook compiling the Pelinore campaign and adventures that were published in Imagine magazine. Imagine was started by Don Turnbull, who had written for White Dwarf (including creating the Monstermark system) and Games Workshop before working for TSR UK.

What makes this document so interesting is that it is a snapshot of an approach to fantasy RPGs that really doesn't exist any more. Some of it still exists in some forms in places like Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying, but what you get in its current form is different from what you got as a game back then.

If I were starting a new game right now, I would probably dig into The Collected Pelinore as my setting. It is a realized world with interesting NPCs, maps, and some interesting rules variants for your old school D&D-ish fantasy games. One of the things that I found interesting was the section on capturing monsters (instead of killing them) for use in an arena, and how to calculate XP rewards for that. "The Arena doesn't want unfettered aerial monsters - who is going to pay to watch a harpie fly away?" That's just a great quote.

Ultimately the reason that I am spreading this around is because I think that we could use more diversity in our old school conversations. What people like Gygax and Arneson did to give us our hobby was a great thing, but getting to see the weird and wild directions that people take this hobby into is a great thing, too.

Update: Thanks to +Tim Huntley (in the comments), here is a link to a site that has scanned and compiled the original Pelinore into a PDF. I haven't read through this PDF yet, so I don't know how complete it is. The truth may lay somewhere in between this PDF and The Collected Pelinore. This is useful as much as an historical document, much like the Fiend Factory file below.

Update 2: +B. Scot Hoover, the architect of The Collected Pelinore is also archiving the Pelinore modules. Right now you can find two of them (In Search of the New Gods and The Awakening) on his Google drive. In Search of the New Gods is for characters 4-7th level, and The Awakening is for characters of 7-8th level. I'll leave this here for right now, but I will probably break these modules out into their own blog post once a few more of them come out.

A big thanks to +B. Scot Hoover for all of this hard work in preserving a piece of gaming history.

As an added bonus, I give you a compilation of the old Fiend Factory monster articles from the old days of White Dwarf. You may recognize many of these from when they ended up in the Fiend Folio, but these are the original versions of these monsters, as they were first published. Some are for D&D and some are for AD&D (the emphasis changed in the magazine when the new edition of the rules came out). This PDF is old and shop worn, and has been circulating the internet for a long, long time. I'm sure that most of you have seen it by now, but it is still a good artifact and for those few of you who haven't seen it...here it is.

D&D Tyranny of Dragons Press Release

Dungeons & Dragons Fans Must Rise Up or Bow Down

as the Tyranny of Dragons Begins!

August 14, 2014 – Renton, WA – The biggest and most exciting year for Dungeons & Dragons hits a
pivotal moment today as the Tyranny of Dragons storyline kicks-off. This rich new narrative challenges players around the world to rise up against hoards of evil dragons, including Tiamat, the most fearsome dragon in D&D’s history! With a full suite of entertainment offerings already starting to roll-out, and many more exciting launches slated for later this year, Tyranny of Dragons offers action-packed play experiences for digital and tabletop RPG players alike.

The new Tyranny of Dragons module for the highly-acclaimed free-to-play Dungeons & Dragons MMORPG, Neverwinter, is available today.  Developed by Cryptic Studios and published by Perfect World Entrainment, the new module will showcase a new character class, the Scourge Warlock, and a new race, Dragonborn.

For players eager to sink their teeth into the Tyranny of Dragons storyline around the gaming table, two new tabletop adventures will also release this year, Hoard of the Dragon Queen on August 19 and The Rise of Tiamat on October 21.  In addition, a new line of D&D miniatures from Wiz Kids will be available soon for fans to enhance their Tyranny of Dragons adventures.

With these releases, comes the highly-anticipated new rules for the tabletop roleplaying game, following a two year public playtest that help set the foundation for the future of the franchise. Currently available at select hobby game stores and releasing in wide distribution on August 19, the Player’s Handbook is the first of three “core” rulebooks to be released alongside the Tyranny of Dragons storyline and contains everything players need to create heroic characters. The Player’s Handbook release will be followed by the Monster Manual (September 30) and the Dungeon Master’s Guide (November 18). 

 

To start your adventures in the Tyranny of Dragons story, visit DungeonsandDragons.com. Also, be sure to follow D&D on Facebook and Twitter.

About Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS), is the leader in entertaining the lifestyle gamer. Wizards' players and fans are members of a global community bound together by their love of both digital gaming and in-person play. The company brings to market a range of gaming experiences under powerful brand names such as MAGIC: THE GATHERING, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and KAIJUDO. Wizards is also a publisher of fantasy series fiction with numerous New York Times best-sellers. For more information about our world renowned brands, visit the Wizards of the Coast Web site at www.wizards.com.

Revised - Being Inclusive Doesn't Mean Including Hate

The other day I wrote a post called "Inclusive Means Everyone" where I talked about some people having trouble with the new and inclusive language included in the Basic Rules PDF that Wizards of the Coast has put out for the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

I went on to say that those people who are bashing gays using this text don't have a place in this hobby. I was told (and you can see some of the comments that I quoted and the responses that my post received in the above link) that I was being a bigot for saying that, or that I was only saying it to "score brownie points."

I stand by what I said. This is the 21st century, if you're going to hate people because of who they love, or want to have sex with, or because they are a trans* person, or because of the color of their skin that makes you a bad person in my book and I don't want to game with you. I'm not saying this to impress anyone, or because I'm pressured to by some "agenda." I am saying this because this is what good people think.

If you are going to try to troll me for this, well...I'm not going to engage you. You aren't worth the time, and in fact I'll just say in advance that it is more than a little sad. Let me give you my response in advance to any potential trolls out there:

I wouldn't think that I would have to keep repeating myself on this subject, but some people can't seem to get it through their heads that the rest of the world has moved on about these things, and have embraced the differences in people. I don't want a hobby that is just full of all of the same people, because that wouldn't even reflect the gaming groups that I am lucky to have been a part of over my last 30+ years of being a gamer.

Yes, I do think that there is a group that should be excluded: those who spew hate. I'm not going to apologize for that.

Update: Since I know that not everyone will be able to see G+ comments generated by this post, I wanted to add a comment by +David Rollins (with his permission) to the post:

It's strange that people seem to think they have a right to hate. Like it's OK to hate some people and if we refuse to tolerate the presence of these haters they say we are just hating on them.

But hate is the exception to the rules we hold most dear. Freedom of speech or expression do not protect hate speech. Hate speech is still a crime.

RPGs cover a large area of ideas and concepts. There is room for nearly everyone here, but if you think it's OK to hate on people for who they are then there's no place for you at my table.

GMing Survey Over On Reddit

One of the industry mailing lists that I am on spawns interesting topics for conversation from time to time. I don't follow Reddit, so I can't comment directly on any of this, but I found the post interesting enough to talk about over here. You can find a link to the post here. The poster put up a survey for GMs that received 900 responses, and I thought that some of the responses were interesting enough to talk about. I'm not going to look at the whole survey's results. You can do that on your own.

The majority of you GM more frequently than you play. No big surprise, given the fact that this survey was aimed squarely at GMs. 39% of you reported that you GM "most of the time," while 25% said you're always the GM. Another 25% of you said that your player/GM time is about 50-50, 9% responded "rarely," and both "only when I have to" and "I want to but don't know how" each netted a measly 1% apiece.

As a full-time GM, I can see this. Obviously as the survey was directed to people who GM, there will be some bias in answers. It also shows that games need to probably be better explained and have better examples of play written up for them. Yes, that 1% of people who don't know how is only 9 people, however other people who would have answered this way might not have taken a survey like this because they have not GMed.

"World building" and "Reacting to unexpected choices from players" were your two favorite things about being a GM, with some interesting trends. These two answers made up 66% of the total responses to this question, with basically an even split (34%/32%). An interesting fact is that the fun of world-building seemed to follow a bell-curve: <22 year-old respondents favored world-building much more strongly (42% of responses), while 22-39 year-old respondents liked reactionary play more (34%) and instead spent more of their away-from-table time planning adventures than the younger crowd (15% to 10%). However, among the 40+ groups, world-building once again took the top spot (33%). My theory here is that 22-39 year-olds probably lead the busiest lives - starting families, building careers, and so on - and would rather spend their energy at the table than behind the scenes. Alternate interpretations are, as always, welcome.

I would definitely say that my favorite thing about being a GM would be world building. I like the idea of filling in the little bits and pieces, even if the players don't get to see them, and making a world that we will all have fun playing in. Of course, I also don't take the traditional approach of "THE GM CREATES EVERYTHING AND THE PLAYERS WALK AROUND IN THE WORLD" either. I like to let the players, and their paranoid imaginings, fill in some of the blanks as we play as well. It is worth it to see that look when they realize that the things they have been worrying about are true.

Of course the fact that I'm not really a module kind of guy probably is a big part of what makes me want to build worlds. Even if those worlds are just subterranean dungeons for the characters to explore.

Among Fantasy gamers, Pathfinder and D&D 3.5e are king. 46% of you chose one of those two options (Pathfinder - 31%, 3.5e - 15%). This was true among every single income and age group except for players <18 years old, where Pathfinder still reigned supreme but 4e edged out 3.5e by a narrow margin (19% to 13%).

This is a shock to no one, I'm sure.

Outside of Fantasy, Cyberpunk and Sci-Fi were your favorite genres. Cyberpunk commanded 17% of votes, while Pulp and Hard Sci-Fi boasted 16% and 15% respectively. Modern (Magical) and Horror followed close behind with 13% each. Post-Apocalypse netted 11%, with the other pre-defined categories hanging out around 2-3% each. Most of the write-in responses here were variations on "I LIKE MORE THAN ONE OF THOSE THINGS." Superheroes was the only significant new category to arise from write-ins, with <2% of total votes.

Again, probably not a huge shock. To be completely honest, there's not a lot here that comes as a big surprised to anyone who has been gaming for a while. It is nice to see someone doing surveys and trying to collect data, however. I wish that it was one of the bigger publishers who has the time and money to do this sort of thing on the right scale, and it the right ways. The marketing data from the old D&D market surveys are creaky enough at this point to be largely irrelevant, since they are a snapshot of the gaming scene before the OGL, before indie design and even before the massive increase in the PDF market for gaming.

Looking At & Magazine

Every now and then I'll nose around what the people in my Google+ circles are doing outside of that site. A kind of recent follower of the last few months has been the +& Publishing Group. They do a zine (electronic only, it seems) about AD&D. Not OSRIC, or any of the many retroclones. They talk about AD&D and their AD&D games.

I downloaded the first issue (they're up to seven issues at the time of this writing) and gave it a look. You can see the cover to it in this post. This zine is geared towards the OSR fan, and those who might want to become fans of the OSR.

The layout of this issue of & Magazine is simple and utilitarian. I don't consider this a negative, on the whole, but in this case it does make the reading a bit monotonous on the screen. I will have to look at some other issues another time in see if this has improved. The issue about the Inner Planes does look like it would be right up my alley.

The focus of this issue is low level and starting characters. This is something that I would like to see tackled more often because the fragility of old school D&D/AD&D characters at low levels can be a hurdle for some, particularly those who have never played old school games. Advice from those experiences with play of the game is even more handy.

The article "Tactical Studies Reviews For Novices" has some practical advice for creating low level parties. Combined with the "Keeping 1st Level Parties Alive" article, you get some great advice on how to put together a group of adventurers that will survive (at least their first level) and at least survive to another day. The advice ranges from weapon to spell selection that will optimize your party's chances of survival. Since not every group may have that special player who can do this for the group (as +Josh Thompson does in our weekly group), having someone explain these procedures will really help a lot of starting old school players. Obviously, some may not like some of the advice (like "pull your punches against the characters") but, honestly, this is an activity where everyone is gathered to have fun. I doubt that "fun" for a lot of players entails the wholesale slaughter of their characters over and over. When we were playing Swords & Wizardry I kept things from getting fatal on a number of occasions. or I would at least provide the tools for recovery (if the players saw fit to use them). Of course I have also been gaming for almost 35 so I know when to fold up, and when to hold up, in a game.

Death happens in role-playing games, but I am of the opinion that when it does it should be because of heroic sacrifice or something similar, and not because of stupidity or randomness. I am, however, weird in this regard.

However, as I said, I really liked giving this advice to players and GMs. I would like to see more "primers" on old school play that address survivability in this manner.

One flaw, particularly in the "That Savage Kobold" article, is something that is much too prevalent among elements of old school gamers. That is the whole "grognard" (a word that I don't use in a positive way) idea that "these new kids don't know what they are doing." Combined with a fundamental lack of understanding of how businesses work (which is at least missing from this article) can create a toxic environment. Change is good, my friends. While this article is well enough written, it seems to take its entire basis from a number of misconceptions that could otherwise be done away with.

The article on point buy character creation was also a good one, and fit well into the theme of making survivable first level characters. I like the handling of purchasing high ability scores, it seems like it would help fight min/maxing at that level of the character creation. Balanced? Well, we know my feelings on "balance" in role-playing games. Balance is really just a myth, and a lot of what gets bandied around as being a discussion of balanced character creation has a lot more to do with spotlight time than anything else. There are always going to be occasions when a character is better at something, this is part of the nature of niche protection in games of the D&D stream. Despite this, the article is a good one, and has some interesting ideas that can be integrated into people's games. For people who do not like random ability score generation, point buy can be a good alternative to that, when handled properly.

The rest of this issue is rounded out with the usual fun things: equipment. new magic items and monsters. In this regard, the magazine does not disappoint. I enjoyed the ecology (even though I rarely use these sorts of things in my dungeons) and writeup for the carrion crab. From a GM's view, it seems like a fun little monster to bedevil characters with. I loved the idea of the equipment packs. This is something else that more old school games should embrace. There is nothing as tedious as combing through the equipment lists trying to find the right pieces of equipment and balance out the encumbrance. Bam! Buy a pack...you know what is in it and get a pre-figured weight. Your character is ready for spelunking.

Over all, this was a solid issue and a good start. I look forward to browsing through the site's archives and seeing what else & Magazine has to offer. With solid writing, backed by the experience of play, this magazine has a good foundation to start from, and the few shaky philosophical misconceptions can be worked around. You definitely need to check & Magazine out and download some issues.

Author Erin M. Evans And Wizards of the Coast's The Sundering

You have probably heard of The Sundering from Wizards of the Coast, a series of novels and events that will have dramatic changes to the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons! We talked with author Erin Evans about her Sundering novels, her involvement with the event and her background as a writer.

Dorkland: First off, let's talk a little bit about your background. How did your degree in anthropology get you started down the path of a career in writing?

Evans: It was a little more of a side quest, really. I wanted to be a writer, but I knew very early on that one doesn’t usually make a living just by writing. (One also doesn’t tend to make a living as an anthropologist, but I guess I figured two not-quite-suitable careers made one okay one). I loved it. I loved learning how to learn through it. And as odd as it may sound, I get a decent amount of mileage out of it: I might not be studying other cultures, but I do sometimes get to make them up, and having that background makes it all the more fun and interesting.

Dorkland: I know that you used to be an editor at Wizards of the Coast, how did that lead to your work on D&D novels?

Evans: While I was an editor, one of my colleagues, Susan J. Morris, asked if I wanted to audition for a book in the Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep series. She was short an author, if I recall correctly, for a limited call, and she had read some of my work and liked it. I submitted a story idea about a woman who insists she’s a dragon trapped in a human body. Susan and Ed loved it, and that became my first book, The God Catcher.

Dorkland: What is it about the D&D universe that appeals to you as an author?

Evans: The interesting thing about writing in the Forgotten Realms setting is how many elements you have to draw from—and how many little suggestions and discrepancies and hints just beg to be a story. On the flipside, you also have the fun of weaving in little hooks and ideas for other people to pick up, whether they’re designers or other authors or DMs or players.

Dorkland: With The Sundering event, how closely do you work with the other authors and the designers at Wizards of the Coast?

Evans: From the start, the authors have all been in fairly close contact. We all had access to each other’s outlines and some of the first drafts. I sent scenes to Paul Kemp, Richard Lee Byers, and Troy Denning in particular, because we had found places where our stories overlapped and I wanted to be sure I was presenting things in the right way. Our editors have been very good at coordinating us as well. (And I like to pester Ed on the regular. Mostly because he’s such fun to talk to.)

Dorkland: How does it feel to be an architect on such an iconic setting?

Evans: It’s absolutely an honor, but the actual work of it is just that: it’s work. It’s what I love to do, and it’s kind of a thrill to sit in a room with other authors and riff on each other’s ideas, to dig through sourcebooks and find these little gems. But I don’t think too much about the enormity of it—I think that would just get in the way.

Dorkland: What can you tell us about The Sundering, and its impact on the D&D universe?

Evans: The Sundering is a world-shaking event that will affect all of the Forgotten Realms setting. Things are changing, the world is reshaping, and not even the gods know what they’re in for (although they’ll soon find out!) The meta-goal is to bring the world back to a place where it feels like the Realms to readers and gamers again, without disrupting the continuity. The novel series is nice because it’s a sextet of stories set during this enormous event, but featuring people in various parts of the world and told on that personal scale.

Dorkland: What advice do you have for people who want to become novelists? What sort of advice do you have for people interested in doing licensed fiction like the D&D novels?

Evans: Write—a little of everything. Read—a little of everything. Learn how to read with a critical eye, and then learn to manage that critical eye before you start to hate everything (It can be a phase, I promise). Write what you’re passionate about, and make sure there’s something true in everything you write.

I think licensed fiction is a strange beast—people who write very well in general can be wholly unsuited to it, because the restrictions throw them off. But it’s a skill like anything, and adapting to those restrictions is a big part of it. I would also say you should love the IP—but not too much. The best tie-in authors I’ve read have just enough distance to bring something new to the table, and enough respect to do it in a way that makes the setting shine.

Dorkland: If you could go back in time and give yourself one bit of advice, what would it be?

Evans: Honestly? Get an agent.

Dorkland: What is the next book that we can expect to see from you?

Evans: My next Farideh novel will be out in September 2014. Fire in the Blood will take my characters to the Forest Kingdom of Cormyr, which is embroiled in a multi-front war as the Sundering rages on.

Arena of War is Live for iOS.

 Have an iOS device and an itch to slay kobolds and other baddies in the Forgotten Realms? Well, lucky for you Arena of War is now out in the wilds. (It will be on Android soon!)


We've got a press release right here:

First Ever Dungeons & Dragons Free-to-Play Mobile Game, Arena of War, Now Available Exclusively for iPhone, iPad & iPod touch

SAN FRANCISCO – October 17, 2013 – DeNA and Wizards of the Coast announced today that Arena of War, the first ever free-to-play Dungeons & Dragons mobile game, is now available exclusively for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Arena of War is a thrilling, turn-based, 3D, battle-RPG mobile game that sends players on perilous quests through the Forgotten Realms. As a proven fearless champion, the player is called upon to fight for the gods of good during the Sundering, a historic event in the Realms that will reshape both heaven and earth and shift the balance of good and evil. 

“Arena of War is an epic and imaginative experience and we could not be more honored to be partnering with Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro to launch the first ever free-to-play mobile Dungeons & Dragons game,” said Tiburcio De la Carcova, Head of DeNA's Vancouver and Santiago studios. “Our development team worked side-by-side with Wizards of the Coast to build a game both long-time fans of the leading RPG franchise and action-adventure game players new to the brand will enjoy playing.”

Players build an adventuring party to enlist on their quests in Arena of War. By inviting friends to join a questing party, players can vanquish enemies and take on tougher challenges and bosses together. Each quest provides heroes with a variety of challenges for which some players, depending on character class, will have an advantage. The arena itself is also dynamic, filled with deadly traps that can be used against a player’s enemy or result in their own demise.

“Wizards is committed to working with the best partners to bring great digital D&D experiences to our fans,” said Nathan Stewart, brand director for Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast. “Arena of War creates a great mobile experience in the Forgotten Realms and pits players against our legendary monsters to fight for the Realms in the current Sundering storyline.”

The Arena of War App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch or at www.AppStore.com

Arena of War is coming to Android mobile devices soon. Players can pre-register and receive an email alert when the game is available for Android as well as upgrade their character by obtaining the free Ultra Rare Power CAUSE FEAR if they enter their email address on the game’s website: http://www.dndarenaofwar.com

Screenshots for Arena of War are available for download via the following link: http://moba.ge/DDassets

A video trailer for the game is available for you to view and imbed on your site via this link: http://youtu.be/WoVs_AgNwX8

About DeNA

DeNA (pronounced “D-N-A”) is a global leader of developing and operating mobile services including free-to-play games, the Mobage social games platform, e-commerce and other online offerings. Founded in 1999, DeNA is headquartered in Tokyo with offices and game development studios across the globe. DeNA Co., Ltd. is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (2432). For more information, visit: dena.com

About Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS), is the leader in entertaining the lifestyle gamer. Wizards' players and fans are members of a global community bound together by their love of both digital gaming and in-person play. The company brings to market a range of gaming experiences under powerful brand names such as MAGIC: THE GATHERING, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and KAIJUDO. Wizards is also a publisher of fantasy series fiction with numerous New York Times best-sellers. For more information about our world renowned brands, visit the Wizards of the Coast Web site at www.wizards.com.

About Hasbro

Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) is a branded play company dedicated to fulfilling the fundamental need for play for children and families through the creative expression of the Company’s world class brand portfolio, including TRANSFORMERS, MONOPOLY, PLAY-DOH, MY LITTLE PONY, MAGIC: THE GATHERING, NERF and LITTLEST PET SHOP.  From toys and games, to television programming, motion pictures, digital gaming and a comprehensive licensing program, Hasbro strives to delight its global customers with innovative play and entertainment experiences, in a variety of forms and formats, anytime and anywhere. The Company's Hasbro Studios develops and produces television programming for more than 170 markets around the world, and for the U.S. on Hub Network, part of a multi-platform joint venture between Hasbro and Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK). Through the company's deep commitment to corporate social responsibility, including philanthropy, Hasbro is helping to build a safe and sustainable world for future generations and to positively impact the lives of millions of children and families every year. It has been recognized for its efforts by being named one of the "World's Most Ethical Companies" and is ranked as one of Corporate Responsibility Magazine's "100 Best Corporate Citizens." Learn more at www.hasbro.com.

Dungeons & Dragons, Arena of War, D&D, Magic: The Gathering, and Forgotten Realms are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. Kaijudo is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast/Shogakukan/Mitsui-Kids. HASBRO is a registered trademark of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chamber Band: The Soundtrack To Your Next D&D Game

I know that you've heard of nerdcore music before, and while that can be cool I am really only going to listen to so much hip-hop music. I was then surprised to discover that there was a nerdy band (doing music inspired by gaming and D&D stuff) that had more of an "indie" rock sort of vibe to them. Think of The Lumineers or Of Monsters and Men (maybe with a harder edge at times) singing about their D&D game, and you have an idea of what the band Chamber Band sounds like.

Photo by Jay Hoffman

You should check the band out at their Bandcamp page and pick up their digital record Deities in your favorite digital music format. I really got into the songs Lawful Neutral and Shapeshifter. Asmodeus is well worth a listen as well. The production values on this record are slick and hold up to comparison with any mainstream or big label release you might be listening to. I am a fan of bands with boy/girl harmonies with their vocals, and Chamber Band delivers on that with crisp singing of well-written lyrics that you don't just have to be a nerd to want to listen to.

Photo by Lauren Bilanko

Seriously, if you haven't already clicked on the link to their Bandcamp page and bought this, you need to do that right now. Gaming is about the DIY approach to things, and now bands can do the same thing (with sites like Bandcamp and many others). Just like how gamers can put together a game book that they want and need and put it up on sites like Lulu.com or RPGNow/DriveThruRPG and get it out to the people that it will connect to, musicians can do the same thing. This is something that we should all support, because that cool virtual garage band of today could very well be the next big thing, and Chamber Band definitely has the talent to be that thing. All that is needed is that missing piece...you.

Tell me what you think of this record once you have it. I'm curious to hear your takes on it as well. This record should be the soundtrack to your next D&D game.