Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” and various covers. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/00AAKXCqazmFLZXpbQ6XNw?si=uz-c5az8TiSdeP8O2Tx4EA&dl_branch=1

Playlists for Role-Playing Games

The climate is wrecked. The environment is crashing. We’re in an extinction level event. We’re still – still in a pandemic. We can discuss these horrors of the 21st century. Or we can talk about playlists for role-playing games.

Playlists for role playing games? Yes. Because of course we live in a world where there’s a playlist for everything. Going for a spin on your Peloton? Got a playlist for that. Trouble sleeping? Got a playlist for that. Need to make thing sexy? Definitely got a playlist for that.

It makes total sense that there are playlists for everything. And isn’t that kind of amazing? A playlist? Dedicated to something I like? I’m all ears. Sorry. I know that was a groaner. But why am I talking about playlists for role playing games in the first place?

Because yours truly received a copy of Ultra Violet Grasslands & the Black City I ordered last week. What is UVG? It’s a game inspired by psychedelic heavy metal, the Dying Earth genre & classic Oregon Trail games. Did that conjure fantastic imagery? The whole book is like that.

I’ve known about UVG the last couple of years and I’ve always wanted to have a copy. All the reviews raved about the game. I’ve watched people play UVG on YouTube and everyone is having a great time. But it didn’t seem practical, and I didn’t want to be one of those guys.

Impractical, because as an adult it’s difficult to carve out leisure time, let alone for a role playing game. And I didn’t want to be that guy who has a bookshelf of unplayed games. I don’t have the room and I don’t want to waste money. But I couldn’t get UVG out of my head.

Last week I broke down and ordered UVG. Today it was delivered to my hot little hands. I’m only 6 pages in and the book is sparking story ideas. Even the table of contents has my synapses firing. Lime nomads? Grass Colossus? The Forest of Meat? I want need to know more!

Luka Rejec is UVG’s creator. He also illustrated the book and the artwork is equally delightful and evocative. I especially appreciate Luka’s appreciation for Jean Giraud, AKA Moebius. And, I’m guessing, anything that came out of Heavy Metal magazine during the 80s.

So I was walking my dog earlier this evening and UVG was on my mind, I pulled up some UVG inspired playlists on Spotify. It was a mix of Blue Öyster Cult, Ennio Morricone, Kyuss, Hawkwind, Killing Joke, Yes, King Crimson, Danzig, Wolfmother, Ben Frost, Sleep, Metallica, etc

I love all that stuff and it made tonight’s walk with Blossom very metal indeed. Another game I want to play is Mörk Borg. I decided to switch gears and listen to playlists dedicated to this doom metal inspired book. You’re gonna love the names of the bands in the playlists.

<guitar feedback>Bongripper! Dopelord! Weedeater! Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard! Purple Hill Witch! Lo! Thou! Paradise Lost! Crypt Sermon! With The Dead! Black Tremor! Beaten To Death! Shape Of Despair!</guitar feedback>

The playlists for the Mothership survival horror RPG are super dark. Lots of ambient and instrumental stuff that’s my cup of tea. The Call of Cthulhu RPG has equally delightfully dreadful music. I’m disappointed no one has made a playlist for Xas Irkalla. Maybe I’ll make one.

Oh, yeah, I’m in on the racket. I’ve built a playlist for Würm, a role playing game set in the Ice Age, featuring tracks from Paleowolf.

Until a few years ago I didn’t know these kinds of playlists existed. My wife and I joined a Vampire: The Masquerade RPG. One evening the Storyteller (the person who runs the game) streamed a playlist dedicated to VTM from YouTube. The playlist lasted our entire 6 hour session.

If you’re looking for something new to listen to, just do a reach on RPG and reams of playlists will come up. There are playlists for combat, taverns, cyberpunk, boss fights, and dungeons, of course. Like I said, it’s amazing this stuff exists. What a world.

Ever wanted a psychedelic metal role playing game? Your prayers have been answered. #uvg

Wearing a mask isn’t mandatory at my local supermarket, but its encouraging to see how many more people are wearing masks during the last month.

Top 10 Soundwave Episodes

If you’re new to Soundwave and are looking for something to listen to, below are the top 10 most played episodes.

  1. Mike Cadoo
  2. DJ Food
  3. Jonathan Ammons
  4. Hannah Peel
  5. Sean Horton
  6. Axel Arturo Barceló
  7. Joseph Aleo
  8. protoU
  9. Joseph Aleo
  10. Frank Riggio

At the end of every day I retreat to my lab and work on Project X, which will launch January 1, 2022. I can’t wait to tell you all about it. It’s the most ambitious thing I’ve ever undertaken. Everyone should have a Project X.

I don’t want to be that guy has a library of role playing games that go unplayed. But… I broke down and purchased Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City. Running a game that’s basically a Moebius comic book is irresistible.

The Economics of the Future Is Somewhat Different

I’m noticing a trend in my fascination with economic.

This was the character I played in Quake 3: Arena. My handle was Fidget.

I’ve made Kool-Aid pickles so I was thrilled to see it on the menu at Fixins Soul Kitchen. They were pretty tasty. Mine were better, though. 🙂

Surfing USA.

Charles McPherson celebrates his 84th birthday at Queen Bee’s in San Diego.

This morning’s uneasy listening.

I’ve built a vault using the iOS Obsidian app but it’s not syncing with the stuff I added from my laptop.

I’ve shed my COVID-19 (lbs). My next goal is lose another 6lbs to get back to last summer’s fighting weight.

I’m old fashioned. Iuse bookmarks. I don’t understand how people don’t use bookmarks. I used to use delicious but Yahoo botched it like they did so many services. I’ve been using Pinboard for years and the Pins app has made its way on to my home screen.

App.net showed great promise but failed to deliver. Most of the community migrated to PiNut when App.net closed down, but I drifted away and found a new home on Micro.blog.

Few weeks ago, I deleted the Tumblr app from my phone. Glad the service exists, but found the functionality frustrating. Micro.blog is a more effortless and streamlined experience. The minimal subscription fee usually means better content. Tumblr could learn from Micro.blog.

Speaking of RSS apps, I haven’t tried them all, but I’ve tried the more popular ones. Reeder and NetNewsWire are great, but I still prefer Feedly. I like the UI, and I like the functionality of the app and the browser version.

Apple News is a beautiful app. But I’m annoyed at how many articles I have to scroll last because they require an News+ subscription. I also don’t like that I can’t add RSS feeds from sources I want to follow. I’ve been using Feedly for years and it’s a far better experience.