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criticalhitparader.com
Critical Hit Parader
@criticalhitparader.com
580 followers 270 following 220 posts
Covering the intersection of music and tabletop roleplaying games.

criticalhitparader.com
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criticalhitparader.com
Michael Moorcock & Pink Fairies "Motorhead" Cover and Puscifer Comic Plus “Gaming is Rock n’ Roll” - The Spahn Doctrine open.substack.com/pub/critical...
Black and white artwork for the Pink Fairies cover of the song "Motorheard" featuring Michael Moorcock and Nik Turner. The artwork features a tusk-toothed, winged pig looking out of a bucket. The cover of the first issue of the Tales from the Pusciverse comic series. The art depcits Bellendia Black holding a skull. Bellendia has spiked blond and black hair and wears black and crimson makeup that forms a super hero-like mask. Black makeup (or tatoos) look like black tears rolling down the cheeks. The cover of the Wizard Zine by James Spahn. It features art by the amazing Diogo Nogueira depicting a van with the side painted showing a white bearded wizard and green flames. The background color is purple. At the bottom of the zine it says "Are You Ready to Rock?" in green letters.
January 14, 2026 at 2:41 PM
criticalhitparader.com
Bardcore, Froglord, & Forgotten Metal of the 80s
open.substack.com/pub/critical...
Album cover for Metamorphosis by Froglord. It features art from Dylan J. Davis picturing three menacing frogs peering out of a cauldron in front of a spirited female figure with outstretched arms. Primary colors are green and black. The albums First Visit and Animal Man by Rogue Male. Between the records is a Kerrang magazine featuring Rogue Male's Jim Lyttle on the cover. The First Visit cover is an illustration of red haired, mulleted cyborg with skin peeling away to reveal a mechanical eye. The Animal Man cover has a photo of the band members dressed up like characters from the movie The Road Warrior.
January 9, 2026 at 7:39 PM
criticalhitparader.com
KPop Demon Hunters for D&D & Spinal Tap's New Year's Eve plus Winter Wine from Caravan open.substack.com/pub/critical...
Artwork for the game Idols of the Neon Dark tabletop role playing game. At the bottom is the tagline "Pop idols fighting monsters in a neon city.) The illustration shows three female presenting adventures brandishing weapons and casting magic. They are in front of building with a neon "K-Pop" sign, behind which is a giant spider like creature and a one eyed, bat-winged creature.
December 31, 2025 at 2:55 PM
criticalhitparader.com
D&D Inspired Metal: Slayer’s Kerry King, Venger, & Greyhawk @saxonofficial747.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/critical...
A still from the Dungeons & Dragons animated series from the 1980s. It shows a bat winged, one-horned sorceror riding a demonic black horse. The album cover for "Warriors of Greyhawk" by Greyhawk featuring artwork by Daniel Porta. It features a dungeon party with their backs to a cliff drop brandishing their weapons as two large grean humanoids are about to attack. Floating in the sky is a hooded wizard with glowing hands and eyes along with two hawks flying.
December 24, 2025 at 6:01 PM
criticalhitparader.com
Dungeons & Dragons Music from Tool and Stephen Wilson Jr. Plus Sunshine Blogger Q&A - Part 2 @stephenwilsonjr01.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/critical...
Album cover art for Ænima by Tool, featuring artist Cam de Leon's painting "Smoke Box", with animated smoke and encompassing eyes.
December 18, 2025 at 5:39 PM
criticalhitparader.com
Connecting the D&D Threads of Dr. Demento, Community, & Rick and Morty plus The Dead Alewives, Dan Harmon, & Massconfusion open.substack.com/pub/critical...
A photo of a bearded Dr. Demento wearing a tux and holding a top hat against a yellow background.
December 17, 2025 at 2:36 PM
criticalhitparader.com
MAD Magazine takes on D&D & music featuring The Beatles, KISS, Smashing Pumpkins, Jagger, Hendrix & more! open.substack.com/pub/critical...
A two-page spread from MAD Magazine showing the dopiest demons from Dungeons & Dragons, including Tchotchke, Demacorgan, Orcriss, and Heckfella. The Demacorgan is a 2-headed demon. One head is a blond haired female bassist. The other is a crying Billy Corgan. The Heckfella looks like Hellboy. The Orcriss is a bat winged demon with the face of KISS drummer Peter Criss. He can't come home right now.
December 5, 2025 at 3:47 PM
criticalhitparader.com
Dream Warriors: D&D-Inspired Hip Hop plus Brute Fort game & soundtrack and "Sunshine Blogger" Q&A @alfredvalley.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/critical...
A picture of a page from Sounds magazine with a feature about Dream Warriors. The two members of the Canadian hip hop group appear in an accompanying photo. One holds a bamboo staff. The headline reads "who dares wins". A picture of the Brute Fort card game. It is packaged as a double tape cassette case with a tuck box of cards on one side and a tape cassette soundtrack on the other side. The artwork depicts a ruined castle against a red sky with yellow skulls piled in front.
November 26, 2025 at 8:45 PM
criticalhitparader.com
Kirk Hammett & Frank Frazetta auction plus Castle Rat: Conan & Frazetta references open.substack.com/pub/critical...
The album cover for Molly Hatchet's Beatin' the Odds. It features a Frank Frazetta painting of a horse-riding warrior wielding a sword and shield battling a horde of enemies. Two broad strangely flattened Critical Hit Parader guitar picks heave in the upper corners.
November 21, 2025 at 6:23 PM
criticalhitparader.com
Robert Plant & Stephen Colbert on J.R.R. Tolkien Plus Geekerati appearance & Blackfoot conversation @christianlindke.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/critical...
Robert Plant & Stephen Colbert on J.R.R. Tolkien
Plus Geekerati appearance & Blackfoot conversation
open.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by Critical Hit Parader
spellbookgaming.itch.io
Appreciate the shoutout @criticalhitparader.com!!!

Give this a read folks, there's some other great projects mentioned here. Music is a huge part of TTRPGs, both for inspiration and at the table. NIN's The Hand That Feeds gave me the title and some vibes for BTH.

www.backerkit.com/c/projects/s...
November 7, 2025 at 6:46 PM
criticalhitparader.com
Clark Ashton Smith TTRPG & Music and Nine Inch Nails-Inspired Bite the Hand plus Plus Olga Kahn's "Echoes from the Barrow-Downs" @spellbookgaming.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/critical...
A still image from the Slayer video for "Seasons in the Abyss" showing silhouettes of two riders on camels in front of a setting red orange sun.
November 7, 2025 at 6:38 PM
criticalhitparader.com
New releases from DnD fans Howling Giant & Tolkien-inspired Joy Shannon plus Hüsker Dü Halloween song rec open.substack.com/pub/critical...
Album cover for "Crucible & Ruin" by Howling Giant. It features a painting by Susan M. Davies depicting forest home of some sort with a door and two windows built into a tree. Stone steps lead up to the door. Through a clearing between trees, two wolves are silhouetted in front of a full moon. A white Critical Hit Parader guitar pick sits mysteriously on the bottom right corner of the album.
October 29, 2025 at 1:39 PM
criticalhitparader.com
AVTT/PTTN & the Faith No More RPG by @accidentalcyclops.bsky.social plus Grailknights superhero music open.substack.com/pub/critical...
Album artwork for the AVTT/PTTN album. The artwork is by Martin Kvamme, who has lots of album cover credits, including works by The Avett Brothers and Mike Patton. The colors of the artworks are primarily black, and shades of orange. It shows a fiery ring in the sky with lots of clouds. A horizon appears in the ring. Three paperback books that make up the Faith No More Role-Playing Game. They all have black backgrounds. "The Real Thing" has gold text and a gold fish and crown symbol. "Angel Dust" has blue lettering and a bull symbol. "King for a Day" has red lettering.
October 22, 2025 at 2:57 PM
criticalhitparader.com
What Music Is Inspiring TTRPGs These Days? I collected the music references from the personal Appendix N blog bandwagon. @prismaticwasteland.com open.substack.com/pub/critical...
Four vinyl records: 1) Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath featuring smoking angels. 2) Fire of Unknown Origin by Blue Oyster Cult showing members of the Blue Oyster Cult (the Imaginos ones, not the band itself). 3) Tarkus by Emerson, Lake and Palmer depicting an armadillo tank creature. 4) Hall of the Mountain Grill by Hawkwind with an illustration of a derelict spaceship in the mists of an alien lagoon.
October 15, 2025 at 1:47 PM
criticalhitparader.com
I just backed Clark Ashton Smith Zothique RPG + Deluxe Illustrated Omnibus on @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/mar...
Clark Ashton Smith Zothique RPG + Deluxe Illustrated Omnibus
Licensed by the Clark Ashton Smith estate, Zothique RPG for 5E/DCC/Shadowdark + Illustrated Omnibus. Adventure beneath the dying sun.
www.kickstarter.com
October 14, 2025 at 3:04 PM
criticalhitparader.com
Leonard Cohen, OSR Guru - genius post from @thiccmomswag.bsky.social Plus Glitter Wizard and Castle Rat #ttrpg #dccrpg open.substack.com/pub/critical...
A photo of several old school roleplaying game books, two Leonard Cohen books, and a Leonard Cohen album. A white Critical Hit Parader guitar pick lays handsomely (depending on your politics) on top of a Songs of Leonard Cohen vinyl album.
October 8, 2025 at 1:19 PM
criticalhitparader.com
D&D in the New Musical Express plus three "Vital Records" open.substack.com/pub/critical...
A picture of part of a page from New Musical Express 17th January, 1981. It shows an article with a headline of "In Every Fantasy Home A Gnome." It has a bolded excerpt that reads "It's the new thing! It's the game you can play between consenting adults without losing your pants! It's sweeping Middle America and Middle Earth too! It's Dungeon and Dragons!" There is also an illustration that shows two six sided dice and a couple of dragon/phoenix looking creatures and a bunch of floating eyes.
October 1, 2025 at 1:22 PM
criticalhitparader.com
D&D-Inspired Music from Hannah Fae & Fairy Doom from Faetooth plus New Loot the Body TTRPG Soundtrack #dnd @lootthebody.bsky.social @sincerelyhannahfae.bsky.social @faetooth.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/critical...
The album cover to "You Feel Completely Peculiar" by Loot the Body. It features a colorful drawing of a mushroom in front of a rainbow and psychedelic lettering.
September 25, 2025 at 1:39 PM
criticalhitparader.com
Latest newsletter: Led Zeppelin RPG? Plus Crypt from Trollish Delver Games @voxparlour.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/critical...
The contents of the totally real Led Zeppelin role playing game. The photo shows a white box with the 4 band member logos from the band's fourth album. It's totally real. The photo also shows the Austin Osmon Spare tarot deck and the Aleister Crowley Thoth tarot deck that came in this real box for this real game. Last, the soundtrack for the game is shown in a jewel case with the same black and white letters and runes as the white box that this real game really came in.
September 18, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by Critical Hit Parader
cirithungolband.bsky.social
We are extremely honored and thrilled to have our legendary song “King of the Dead” featured on the opening sequence of this incredible new series on heavy metal, “Into the Void “ on Hulu!
@metalbladerecords.bsky.social , @paistecymbals.bsky.social , #heavymetal

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRHr...
Into The Void | Official Trailer | Hulu
YouTube video by Hulu
www.youtube.com
September 12, 2025 at 11:56 PM
criticalhitparader.com
Obscure Frazetta Album Covers @bradkyle.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/critical...
The soundtrack album to the movie The Night They Raided Minsky's. It features a Frank Frazetta illustration showing a bunch of female burlesque dancers on top of a movie marquee and being dragged into a police wagon along with an assortment of other characters.
September 10, 2025 at 1:38 PM
criticalhitparader.com
Ursula K. Le Guin & music plus Moorcock on Bowie, Bruce & Bob (Dylan) in this week's newsletter... open.substack.com/pub/critical...
Two album covers. The first album cover is for "Music and Poetry of the Kesh" by Ursula K. LeGuin and Todd Barton. It is a gray cover with a short quote and a set of symbols. The second album cover is the album "Reptilian" by Keep of Kalessin with artwork by Marco Vasco featuring a closeup of a dragon's face with gold colored eyes.
September 3, 2025 at 2:56 PM
criticalhitparader.com
Dio-Inspired Megadungeon / Joy Division & Michael Moorcock plus AC/DC concept album ‪@terryherc.bsky.social‬ @rocketboot.bsky.social ‪‬https://open.substack.com/pub/criticalhitparader/p/dio-inspired-megadungeon-joy-division?r=29u7y&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Dio-Inspired Megadungeon / Joy Division & Michael Moorcock
Plus AC/DC concept album
open.substack.com
August 28, 2025 at 2:34 PM
criticalhitparader.com
Sci-Fi Rock from Kal-El & “Sam the Brave” by Feuerschwanz plus other Tolkien follow-ups incl. Paul Corfield Godfrey & Comus @riseupcomus.bsky.social @onthetrail.tolkienguide.com open.substack.com/pub/critical...
Sci-Fi Rock from Kal-El & “Sam the Brave” by Feuerschwanz
Plus Other Tolkien Follow-ups
open.substack.com
August 20, 2025 at 3:18 PM