A soundtrack for every project
A musical tour through my creations on this Small Business Saturday
Any time I start working on something, I have the same little ritual: I pick a soundtrack that puts me in the headspace of the thing I want to make, then I go for a long walk with that soundtrack playing and just let my mind wander. Ideally, inspired by the sounds, I’ll hit on a good idea or two for the project while I’m taking my stroll. At the very least, though, I’ll have enjoyed some nice tunes.
I’m about to do that today for my next TTRPG creation, which will be launching in February for Kickstarter’s Zine Quest VI. And since, I realize, today is Small Business Saturday, making it an appropriate time to talk about my work, I thought it would be fun to share some of the music that has soundtracked my prior creative projects. I’ll also be supplying links to those projects because hey, tis the season for gifts and stuff, right?
Saved by the Morph, my Zine Quest 2023 entry that mashes up Saved by the Bell plots with Power Rangers-inspired action, takes place in perma-1993. Appropriately, I found the most inspiration by listening to this collection of #1 songs from that year, which are most likely the tracks our heroes of Angel Bay High were vibing on while battling monsters every week. To supplement, I have my own playlist of personal favorite 1993 tracks. I also dug into the Spin Doctors’ debut Pocket Full of Kryptonite, which, while released in 1991, completely blew up in ‘93. And finally, I frequently played my own favorite record of 1993, the Counting Crows’ August and Everything After. Saved by the Morph is available as an $8 PDF on my website now, and there are also TWO physical editions left for $15. This will probably never be reprinted so if this sounds fun to you, now’s a good time to buy!
Blackmore, my Zine Quest 2022 project, intersects the earliest power metal with the earliest D&D modules, turning the first three albums by Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow into a three-part fantasy adventure for 5e and OSE. The soundtrack for this is obvious, though throughout the creative process I spun Rising the most; this record hits unbelievably hard for something from 1976! Blackmore is also available on my site as an $8 PDF; there are a handful of $15 physical zines from a second printing as well!
Speaking of projects under my Rock & Roll banner, I gotta mention my unsuccessful (but returning!) hardcover Rock & Roll: Greatest Hits collection of 5e adventures inspired by classic albums. My soundtrack for this project started out as Led Zeppelin IV, since I’m contributing an adventure to the book based on that record. However, once I saw Tim Seeley’s cover art, I switched to Judas Priest’s Screaming for Vengeance; how could I not? There’s nothing to buy with this project yet, but if you want to follow my pre-launch page on Kickstarter for it, that would be swell. :)
Something else that costs no money: last year I shared out a module for Renegade’s Transformers RPG I called “The Curse of Mindwipe” (a pretty obvious tribute to a classic D&D adventure). My friend Änna help me put together a playlist for that one; I gave her the prompt “electronic gothic music” (what else for fighting a robot vampire?) and she came back with some sick suggestions that produced my favorite module-specific playlist I’ve ever made. If you play Renegade’s Essence20 system and want a fun, spooky Transformers module, you can download a free PDF on this very Substack!
And finally, not an RPG publication at all — Mortified! I don’t talk about it as much on here but I coproduce the Chicago chapter of this long-running live lit series where participants share artifacts they created as teenagers. My typical Mortified listening is the Replacements’ Tim (which got a killer upgrade this year courtesy of an Ed Stasium remix); “Bastards of Young” is the song that kicks off every Mortified show, so this makes sense. But my Mortified playlist has diversified lately: we’re about to celebrate 20 years of the show at the Vic Theater this upcoming Thursday, and we invited a couple iconic Chicago musicians to join us who are looking at 20th anniversaries of their own. And so it is that the last couple months I’ve been spinning a lot of the Lawrence Arms’ The Greatest Story Ever Told and Spitalfield’s Remember Right Now; Brendan and Mark from those two bands will be joining us on stage! The early aughts emo is strong in me. This 20th anniversary show is going to be killer, and if you’re in Chicago I think you’ll love it! Tickets are available now!
At the top of this I mentioned I’m about to kick off a new project with one of my soundtracked walks; I’ll give you a little tease of what I’ll be putting in my ears today.
This is Bruce Springsteen’s first show with his Seeger Sessions Band, a tour which saw him playing Americana classics originally popularized by Pete Seeger with a strong folk/zydeco sound1. With as much as I love Bruce Springsteen, it’s a little surprising that I haven’t yet really published anything that channels his spirit. Come February 1, that changes! Stay “tuned” for more announcements on that. ;)
What do you all listen to when you need to get in a creative headspace?
This also, incidentally, is one of the shows that Springsteen considers the most impactful in his whole career. It took place at the first New Orleans Jazz Fest following Hurricane Katrina and ended up creating an incredibly moving moment for both the performer and his audience. I dare you to look up his performance of “My City in Ruins” from this show and not feel some tears.
Looking forward to your new project, Eric!