What if Classic Magic User Spell Names Were Rock Song Titles?

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As you’ve hopefully seen, we’re launching our next Kickstarter soon for two books of monsters based on classic rock/pop/metal/etc song titles and band names.  One book will have stats for Shadowdark and the other book will have stats for Old School Essentials (a faithful B/X early D&D retro-clone). Each book will have the same creatures & art.  The linked page will let you click a “notify” button and give you a few example pages for each system.

And that project will also have appendices for things like: NPCs (Village People) such as Johnny B. Goode, Sarah, and more; Magic Items; and new names for the game’s spells based on song titles.  Below is our working list of new names of Old School Essentials Magic User spells based on classic rock/pop/metal/etc songs!

Don’t be surprised if we have posts for other class spell lists as well as for Shadowdark soon.

Level 1

  1. Charm Person: Magic Man – Heart or You Really Got Me – The Kinks or Wrapped Around Your Finger – Police
  2. Detect Magic: maybe X-Ray Vision – Clutch or Seeing Is Believing – Asia
  3. Floating Disc: maybe Learning to Fly – Pink Floyd or Weightless – Marconi Union
  4. Hold Portal: Locked Up Tight – Lenny Kravitz
  5. Light (Darkness): Black Hole Sun – Soundgarden
  6. Magic Missile: Shoot to Thrill – AC/DC
  7. Protection from Evil: (No) Sympathy for the Devil – The Rolling Stones (added the “No”) or Hallowed Be Thy Name – Iron Maiden
  8. Read Languages: The Word – The Beatles or Talk Talk – Talk Talk
  9. Read Magic: The Writing on the Wall – Iron Maiden
  10. Shield: Fortunate Son – Creedence Clearwater Revival or Invincible – Tool or Don’t Tread on Me – Metallica
  11. Sleep: Dream On – Aerosmith or Enter Sandman – Metallica
  12. Ventriloquism: Echoes – Pink Floyd or Voices Carry – ’Til Tuesday

Level 2

  1. Continual Light (Continual Darkness): we did Black Hole Sun for Light, so how about Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles? Or vice versa. Or Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd for Continual Darkness and Eternal Flame – The Bangles
  2. Detect Evil: Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival (“I see a Bad Moon Rising…” so the “I see” makes this a better choice than a couple others.)
  3. Detect Invisible: perhaps Invisible Touch – Genesis or Now You See Me – The Who (tweak) or Seeing Is Believing – Asia
  4. ESP: Psychic Radio – Elvis Costello or The Clairvoyant – Iron Maiden
  5. Invisibility: Invisible Touch – Genesis or Invisible Man – Queen or Disappear – INXS or Fade Into You – Mazzy Star
  6. Knock: Break On Through – The Doors or Let Me In – R.E.M.
  7. Levitate: Higher Ground – Stevie Wonder or High Life – Steve Winwood
  8. Locate Object: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – U2 or Searching – Lynyrd Skynyrd
  9. Mirror Image: Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson or Double Vision – Foreigner or Reflections – Diana Ross & the Supremes
  10. Phantasmal Force: Paranoid Android – Radiohead or White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane
  11. Web: Caught in a Web – Dream Theater
  12. Wizard Lock: Locked Out of Heaven – Bruno Mars

Level 3

  1. Clairvoyance: The Clairvoyant – Iron Maiden or I Can See Clearly Now – Johnny Nash or Third Eye – Tool
  2. Dispel Magic: Break the Spell – Lacuna Coil or Magic’s Gone – Slash (tweak from “World on Fire” era phrasing)
  3. Fire Ball: Burning Down the House – Talking Heads or Great Balls of Fire – Jerry Lee Lewis or Light My Fire – The Doors
  4. Fly: Learning to Fly – Pink Floyd or Fly Like an Eagle – Steve Miller Band or Rocket Man – Elton John
  5. Haste: Run Like Hell – Pink Floyd
  6. Hold Person: Freeze Frame – J. Geils Band
  7. Infravision: Hot Blooded – Foreigner or Heat of the Moment – Asia
  8. Invisibility 10’ Radius: Fade Away – The Rolling Stones or Invisible Touch – Genesis
  9. Lightning Bolt: Thunderstruck – AC/DC or Ride the Lightning – Metallica or Lightning Crashes – Live (yeah, you’re totally picking Thunderstruck)
  10. Protection from Evil 10’ Radius: Heaven and Hell – Black Sabbath or Shield Wall – Amon Amarth or Circle of Power – Arch Enemy
  11. Protection from Normal Missiles: Bulletproof – La Roux
  12. Water Breathing: Under the Sea – Samuel E. Wright or Down by the Water – PJ Harvey or Ocean Breathes Salty – Modest Mouse

Level 4

  1. Charm Monster: Animal Magnetism – Scorpions or Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran?
  2. Confusion: Dazed and Confused – Led Zeppelin or Lunatic Fringe – Red Rider
  3. Dimension Door: Walk This Way – Aerosmith or Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac
  4. Growth of Plants: Garden of Eden – Guns N’ Roses or Welcome to the Jungle – Guns N’ Roses
  5. Hallucinatory Terrain: Land of Confusion – Genesis
  6. Massmorph: People Are Strange – The Doors or Changes – David Bowie
  7. Polymorph Others: Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson
  8. Polymorph Self: Changes – David Bowie (if you didn’t use it above) or maybe I’m Still Standing – Elton John or Beast of Burden – The Rolling Stones
  9. Remove Curse: Don’t Fear the Reaper – Blue Öyster Cult or I’m Free – The Who; Curse: Devil Inside – INXS or Sympathy for the Devil – Rolling Stones
  10. Wall of Fire: Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash or Burning Down the House – Talking Heads or Heat of the Moment – Asia
  11. Wall of Ice: Ice Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice or Cold as Ice – Foreigner or Snowblind – Styx
  12. Wizard Eye: Private Eyes – Hall & Oates or I Always Feel Like Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell

Level 5

  1. Animate Dead: Thriller – Michael Jackson or Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo
  2. Cloudkill: Red Rain –Peter Gabriel
  3. Conjure Elemental: (these vary by type) Rock of Ages – Def Leppard, Wind of Change – Scorpions, Fire Woman – The Cult, Smoke on the Water – Deep Purple
  4. Contact Higher Plane: Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin or Spirit in the Sky – Norman Greenbaum
  5. Feeblemind: Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd or Dumb – Nirvana
  6. Hold Monster: Don’t Stand So Close to Me – The Police or
  7. Magic Jar: Possession – Sarah McLachlan or Owner of a Lonely Heart – Yes
  8. Passwall: Break on Through (To the Other Side) – The Doors or Another One Bites the Dust – Queen
  9. Telekinesis: Control – Janet Jackson or Push It – Salt-N-Pepa
  10. Teleport: Run to the Hills – Iron Maiden or Fly Away – Lenny Kravitz
  11. Transmute Rock to Mud (Mud to Rock): Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap – AC/DC or Another One Bites the Dust – Queen
  12. Wall of Stone: Rock Solid – Bad Company or We Will Rock You – Queen

Level 6

  1. Anti-Magic Shell: You Can’t Touch This – MC Hammer or We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) – Tina Turner
  2. Control Weather: Riders on the Storm – The Doors Thunderstruck – AC/DC
  3. Death Spell: For Whom the Bell Tolls – Metallica or Another One Bites the Dust – Queen or The Final Countdown – Europe
  4. Disintegrate: Dust in the Wind – Kansas or Ashes to Ashes – David Bowie
  5. Geas (Remove Geas): Every Breath You Take – The Police or Master of Puppets – Metallica
  6. Invisible Stalker: Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell or Invisible Touch – Genesis
  7. Lower Water: Under Pressure – Queen & David Bowie or Down Under – Men at Work
  8. Move Earth: Land of Confusion – Genesis or Big Country – Big Country
  9. Part Water: Take Me to the River – Talking Heads or Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel
  10. Projected Image: Double Vision – Foreigner
  11. Reincarnation: Back in the High Life Again – Steve Winwood or Alive and Kicking – Simple Minds or Born Again – Black Sabbath
  12. Stone to Flesh (Flesh to Stone): Heart of Stone – Rolling Stones; Flesh to Stone: I’m Still Standing – Elton John or Alive – Pearl Jam

 

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