The music in my games

Music is an important inspirational tool in my gaming. I listen to music when i write stuff, i listen to music when i play games and when i listen to music my drifts into those imaginary realms that are such a big part of my life.

Following is a selection of music that connects me to the realms of my imagination. Feel free to supplement with your own in the comments section.

Steeleye Span - Seven Hundred Elves

Play D&D for a long time and you are bound to become ambivalent towards the tolkienesque elves of the vanilla settings. British folk rock band Steeleye Span hearkens back the elves of mythology, "(...) foul and grim they were", in this song lending them some much needed authenticity. 

Blood Ceremony - The Great God Pan

I can never get enough of heavy brooding metal, mythological references and stunning female vocals.

Blood Ceremony was actually recommended to me by Jefferey Talanian of North Wind Adventures who has created Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea the retro-clone that really opened my eyes to the OSR. Encounters with dark satyrs are bound to crop up in my games.

(This live video contains a bit of "concert atmosphere" before the song starts)

Ozzy Osbourne - Old LA tonight

This song was sort of special to me back in my teens when we played Kult and swedish cyberpunk/euro tech-thriller game Neotech (the 1st edition, 2nd was crap).

It was a great time. Our characters were typically based on Predator comics character Detective Schafer and some of them looked like Lorenzo Lamas on Renegade.

The combination of melancholy and action-movie aesthetics was very moving to my angsty teenage self and it still gets me every time.

Frederick Curzon - Robin Hood Suite

Not everything needs to be rock and roll. Curzon's Robin Hood Suite feels like that Robin Hood movie with Errol Flynn, a movie that took my mind to other places long before i even knew what fantasy was. (I've always wanted a PC that looks like Errol Flynn, why haven't done that?). Enjoy!

Hawkwind - Chronicle of the Black Sword

I don't think i need to explain this. Hawkwind and Moorcock's collaboration on giving the saga of Elric the Melniboné a musical expression is just awesome. It is the audio expression of so much of the inner landscape I've been playing in since childhood.

My personal favorite on the album is probably "Needle Gun" though which always makes me think of fletchette-gun toting original razor girl Molly Millions from William Gibson's Neuromancer. (Although I'm aware that it is supposed to reference Moorcock's character Jerry Cornelius).

There is a live concert movie with the songs from Chronicle of the Black Sword available on YouTube. Including, if I'm not mistaken, Michael Moorcock himself.

p.s I usually use Spotify for listening to music so i added the albums where these songs can be found and few other treats of Norwegian fantasy inspired prog to a public spotify playlist.