Musical Inspiration Challenge Part 3: Inspiration

Our inspiration is listed down as A Sound of Thunder by well, A Sound of Thunder.

A Sound of Thunder, is a band. Specifically a metal band from the Washington DC area.

I discovered them initially through their music video for their song “Udoroth” on Youtube, but I’ve grown to really enjoy them over the years. I kickstarted their last album, and I’d do it again. If I was a rich guy I’d even have shelled out for the higher rewards to make them do some weird covers. I think they’d make them pretty good.

Now, we’ve ended up with this song randomly as the inspiration for our adventure.  Let’s take a look at the lyrics.

…

When the legacy began
We went forth swords in hand
To command the exultation
Of hell's greatest creation

We fought the battles
With the fury of the damned

Fighting demons and wizards
Through deserts oceans and blizzards
Dragon's blood burned the mountainside
The beasts had nowhere to hide

The battles won
We would dance upon their graves

We bow before the fury of the gods
Unbelievers torn asunder
Legendary tales, from hell's heart we hail
Bringing a sound of thunder

Upon the Sabbath men of war
To save the Maiden, this we swore
An endless violent endeavor
Blessed by the Priest we'll fight forever

We bow before the fury of the gods
Unbelievers torn asunder
Legendary tales, from hell's heart we hail
Bringing a sound of thunder

….

Pretty good stuff.  Also a fun reference to Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest in there. Now a lot of this ties into the rest of the A Sound of Thunder discography, but for our purposes, we’ve got a lot of useful inspiration. Warriors charging forth on a noble mission, although perhaps not of a noble quality themselves and perhaps not a good mission. The kind of tough hard asses you don’t want to mess with lightly. People who are driven, dedicated, and willing to go to any extent what-so-ever to accomplish their objective.

Noble. Dangerous. Possibly aligned with the powers of perdition.

Since we’re working with Pathfinder this gives us an ample starting point: Hellknights.

In the Pathfinder core, Hellknights are LE and LN fellows (and occasionally we’re told LG) who take the idea of the discipline of Hell as a guide point for their knightly order in service of their devil-worshipping country. Paizo apparently wants to make these guys as iconic as Runelords, and given that I have to explain it, I’m not really sure they’ve succeeded.  They tend to be the ones selected when the adventure calls for a ‘Noble Demon’ style of baddie, or for those players who want to act like the bad guy from a heavy metal album cover without disrupting the party with rampant jackbaggery.

Our adventure inspiration has led me to believe that we should focus on a group of Hellknights. Specifically dedicated ones, focused almost entirely on a specific goal. One they’ll pursue, come hell or high water. Whether they’ll be our opponents, allies, viewpoint PCs, our environment, or what, remains to be seen.

Let’s see how this will develop as we look at the other stuff, or if we’ll keep this or abandon it.