This little gem in koboldstyle's post really got me to thinking about why I love OD&D (or BX D&D, if you will) after all these years:
I love this idea where you're playing in a D&D world that's a heavy metal album cover of oversexed barbarians fighting sinister wizards...The part that sums it up nicely is his "heavy metal album cover" sentiment. I don't know about others, but for me, it wasn't the works of Tolkien, Vance, Howard, or Morcock that fueled my imagination as a young DM, it was classic metal acts like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Angel Witch, Demon, Savatage, Witchfinder General, et al. NWOBHM cover art and song lyrics were just ripe with setting and scenario inspiration. I even mined those albums for good names for a cult or two, a few evil wizards, and a mercenary company. And I'll never forget about one particular character I created for a year-long AD&D campaign I played in during the mid-80s — Grim Quakeslayer
So, koboldstyle, that hoary old bastard thanks you for the trip down nostalgia lane. Your guttural roar has awoken the dwarf fighter from his battle-induced slumber so that he may one day heft his dual-bladed battle axes and cut a bloody swath across the Forgotten Demense of Necromantic Blasphemy!
I'll leave you with this video from The Sword, a contemporary heavy metal band from Austin, Texas. If this doesn't scream OD&D then I don't know what does.
That is pretty awesome, and I love how non-metal the drummer looks!
ReplyDeleteOur D&D album of choice was always Moving Pictures. I still kind of hear it whenever I play. :-D
Back in the day, my D&D theme music was provided by Manowar. The testosterone off those albums would put Klingons to shame.
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