Desert rock pioneers Kyuss took their name from a Dungeons & Dragons monster; one-man black metal band Isengard’s logo was swiped directly from the Middle-earth Role Playing game; and, decades before Stranger Things, there were a host of groups named after the ultimate D&D baddie, the Demogorgon. Metal and table-top role-playing games have shared influences since their beginnings. To this day there remain a handful of bands who proudly proclaim their love of RPGs, and plenty more who have been inspired by them, one way or another. The Quest Begins In the mid 1960s, J. R. R. Tolkien’s bucolic Middle-earth became an unlikely part of the hippy counter-culture, and his influence trickled down through numerous bands formed in its wake. Robert Plant’s lyrics for Led Zeppelin’s ...
