Appendix N is the list of inspirational reading found in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide.

“Appendix LP” is what Matt Thompson of the Critical Hit Parader calls his personal list of albums that inspire your gaming. That’s a clever name and I am a bit envious that I didn’t come up with it.

I’m also incredulous that I haven’t thought of making a list of inspirational listening before now.

Here are some highlights of my Appendix LP

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath is one of the most obvious bands for dark, occult themes and those heavy Iommi riffs. My favorite collection of Sabbath is the We Sold our Soul for Rock and Roll compilation.

Led Zeppelin

For fantasy gaming inspiration, there’s probably not a single album that would hit the mark all the way through. There are some songs that belong on the play list. No Quarter, Kashmir, Immigrant Song and some of their folky stuff like Battle of Evermore and Gallows Pole are the first to come to mind.

Iron Maiden

I got into heavy metal, D&D, and Tolkien in less than six months time. The first band that got me into metal was Iron Maiden. Powerslave is a classic album that has plenty of creative fodder for gaming.

Bog Wizard

Bog Wizard is a doom band inspired by D&D as well as sword-and-sorcery. I like to listen them when I’m getting too uptight.

The Sword

I found out about The Sword from some OSR bloggers when they only had a few albums out. The first three albums are sword-and-sorcery inspired. All three are on my Appendix LP. Age of Winters Gods of the Earth and Warp Riders tend to be the albums most OSR gamers like the best. I also recommend Apocryphon. It has a science-fantasy theme that I dig. The album art is beautiful for that album . I have a poster from that one up in my office. I stole some ideas from several songs on that album for the Kompanions of Kalador campaign.

Conan the Barbarian Soundtrack

Crom!

RUSH

RUSH is one of those bands that most people either like a lot or don’t like at all. I am the former. There are so many great songs that will put me in a creative mindset. For full albums that inspire fantasy gaming it’s hard to beat Caress of Steel with its fantasy epics The Necromancer and The Fountain of Lamneth. A Farewell to Kings would be another go to album.

Wardruna

If you’ve watched the TV shows The Vikings or The Last Kingdom you’ve heard music performed by Wardruna. Einar’s music always gives me the chills. I used to think music videos were kind of a dead art form but damned if Wardruna doesn’t make the best videos. If you don’t get stirred up by this, you are dead inside friend.

So good, here’s another one.

Atrium Carceri

Atrium Carceri is a dark ambient music project by musician and artist Simon Heath. In recent years, his music and that of the artists on the label he started, Cryochamber, are the biggest musical influence on my writing without question.

I’m a little obsessed. The Cryochamber YouTube channel is one of the very few that I allow to send me notifications. It’s a rare day I don’t listen to a Cryochamber track. I have a play list with days worth of music on Media Player. I start it on shuffle when I sit down in the morning and it plays all day long in my office.

What’s your Appendix LP?

I had a lot of fun putting this post together. What music inspires you?