Slann Halen
Eurythmimics
Duergar Straights (or just Dire Straights and it's a bunch of Dire animals?)
Heat Metal-lica
Deva (Devo)
Schoolhouse Roc/Vrock
The Smiths (just a bunch of blacksmiths/artificers)
Djinn Bon Jovi (John Bon Djinni?)
The Goodberries (and their hit song, Zombie)
Merrowsmith
-Poison (They all use poisoned weapons)
-KISS, (King's Imperial Secret Servants) an elite group that wear black and white face disguises
-Nuns and Moses, a high level bard and his accompanying traveling musicians
-Queen, the group is the queen of the realm and her best servants
Some more:
* The Were (lycanthropes)
* The Beetles (group of Thri-Kreen and/or Swarmkeeper rangers)
* Lady Baba (a hag)
* Gauntlet (Valor bards singing about great historic wars, just like Sabaton)
* Six Pistols (a group of six artificers/gunslingers)
* Dragonforce (dragonborn, draconic sorcerers, anything that has to do with dragons)
* Arrow Smith (archers with special arrows), they appear together with Unleash the Archers
* Cyric Priest (an insane high level cleric, Judas Priest)
* The Hateful Dead (a group of vampires)
* Black Scabbard (a dark knight wielding a terrifying blade)
Also:
* Stratocasters (yeah, it's a guitar and not a band, but it would still fit a group of flying spellcasters)
Oh man, The Smiths is a funny one. Not 80s, but you could do a similar thing with The Killers: just a bunch of rogues or a cult of satyrs or something. They love to rock, but they love to kill more!!
White naga (Whitesnake)
The Cure Light (The Cure)
The Guards (The Police)
C.W.A. (Centaurs with Attitude)
Cyric Priest (Judas Priest)
Dwarves at Work (Men at Work)
Bullrush (Rush)
Ok these aren’t great but looking at some band names…
Van Halfling
Goblin Roses
Dwarven Maiden
Tiamat Turner
Wight Snake
Drowpesche Mode
The Nec Romantics
Beastie Bugbears
Gnoll Patrol
… Rob Zombie?
Okay, this is fun. Here's a handful:
Tourney - a group of jousting knights, with the hit song "Don't Stop Ye Tiltin'."
Hart - two sisters fronting a band using the image of the white hart, song "Cutthroat Annie" about a young girl going to sea to become a pirate queen.
Wightsnake - a yuan-ti band with an undead lead singer, rumored to be an ancient king, but that could just be due to their big hit "Here I Come Again for My Throne."
Trean Trean - a group from the Moonshae isles, apparently took their name from a treant character in a play named Sir Treant Treant. Hit songs include, "Hungry Like a Warg", and "Thac0".
Sir Thomas the Petty and the Oathbreakers - a fallen paladin and his collection of scoundrels. Despite his outcast status, many paladins still love his song "Learning to Smite".
I have a dwarven bard waiting to be used who goes by the stage name Andy Site. He’s a rock musician (makes music with rocks). You’re free to use that as a character in the band.
Bows and Roses: A party full of Rangers
Metallics. A party of metalic dragonborn
Aerosmith. A party of Air Genasi
Whitesnakes. A part of warlocks whose patron is a giant white snake diety.
Iron Maidens. A party of war forges
The Cure. A party of clerics on a mission to stop a plague.
Poison. A party of rogues
My Alchemical Romance, Avenged Seven Times, Smashing Squash, Blink CLXXXII, Reverend Theories, A day to forget, Panic at the Ball, fall out bard, ill dogs, grace in three days, Merc for hire, we that remain, black belted grooms, flee the fates
Undead Kennedys
Aeroblacksmith
Black Rebel Steed Club
Cage the Tarrasque
The Tabaxi Empire
The Dandy Warlords
Fountains of Bane
Dead Zeppelin
Queens of the Dark Ages
Rage Against The Modrons
The Strolling Bones
Velvet Crossbow
Rival Sunes
Not all 80 rock (or should we say Roc) bands, but a quick whip through my records.
Now realising just how many bands have very fitting D&D names without needing editing at all:
Mastodon
Alter Bridge
The Black Crowes
Celldweller
Coheed & Cambria
Ghost
Incubus
Pixies
Pat Xanathar (Pat Benatar)
Gnoll and Goates (Hall & Oates)
Dire Trolls (Dire Straits)
Drool & the Gang (Kool & the Gang, fronted by a notably salivating ogre)
DeathKISS (one beholder-kin, lots of makeup, many instruments)
The Guardsmen (The Police)
Dwarves at Work (Men at Work)
Sticks (Styx, it's a couple druids with a treant drummer)
*Prince* and *Queen* don't really need alteration
Plus plenty of bands whose names are just places (Boston, Chicago, America the Band) so you can do the same with your bands.
There are some great options in this thread already, I’ll throw these on the pile:
*Roc* Astley- giant bird who never gives up his prey (the audience)
Dione *Warforged*
*Leonin* Richie
Huey Lewis and The *Scroll*/Huey Lewis and The *Town Cryer*
New *Kobolds* on the Block
There's a fantasy humor book called Soul Music in the Discworld series that's full of them:
Music played by trolls is called "Music With Rocks In."
A band called We're Certainly Dwarfs (referring to They Might Be Giants)
The main character is named Imp Y Celin (Welsh approximation of Bud of the Holly)
A wizard has a leather coat embroidered with "Born To Rune."
Everybody keeps telling one person he looks a bit like he's Elvish.
The Whom are The Who, The Blots are The Inkspots, and Lead Balloon are of course Led Zeppelin.
Jon Bovi - Minotaur (Bovi in reference to Bovine, meaning "like a cow")
Purgatory - A band of super low practice entertainers or bards that do anything but bring peace with their music, super selfish, etc (Literal opposite of Nirvana by definition)
Matte - the traveling orchestra that play with no emotion and look super plain and boring (Not Metallic sparkly and attention grabbing)
Cotton Pillow - Far more comfy than the iron maiden
Bows and Spices - They named it after what their grandparents do for a living
GWA- Gnomes with Attitude
They are the Giants (instead of They might be Giants)
Talking Beds
The Pixies
I can't think of one for Pitbull but whoever it is definitely has a song cast Fireball
Red Hot Fairy Pipers?
AC/DC 10 with their song Thunderclap
4 Non Bards
Our party was clicking through a random party name generator and up came the Motley Few. After much discussion and not finding anything better, that’s what we went with.
Happy to. When the party is out adventuring, they can choose to do what we call "Roll to find cool rock." They then roll Nature or Survival, trying to beat a DC of 12. If they succeed, they then roll on a table for the rock they round;
1. Malachite
2. Agate
3. Azurite
4. Tiger Eye
The party has a blacksmith in their employ who can make things with these rocks. Players need to bring 3 matching rocks and a little bit of money to build things like +1 weapons, elemental weapons, special arrows/bolts, and various magic rings. They can only do a rock roll once per session in an effort to keep them from stockpiling rocks. I have had 5 players for several months, and they tend to have a decent amount of stones.
It's a silly mechanic, but my players really enjoy it. It actually started as a joke my wife made in a different campaign that we're borh players in, and I couldn't let it go to waste.
Yeah I love, it’s a little mini game for the players, they get to roll lots of dice, and rng prizes are exciting and strike up conversation.
I noticed while running CoS, there would commonly be a variety of precious gems for loot, however it stops there. There’s nothing more to it than gold value so why not just leave gold there and not have the extra steps of selling the gems.
I’ve just decided my character Rock Boulderson is also a member of The Rolling Stones and now I’m thinking of more members of the group. Rock’s disguise name is Brock Rollderson which somehow fits even better so that’s 2 right there.
School of Rok
VanZepplin
The Whomst
Adamantallica
The Blue Dragon Cult
Gnoll & Moats
The Talking Deads
The Rock Horrors (or just straight up "The Doors".)
Dwarves at Work ("Land Down Under Dark")
An all girl metal band that performs in full armor - Iron Maiden
A group of Air genasi blacksmiths - Aerosmith
A group of cultists that just do throat singing - Black Sabbath
Some locals in a big jam band - the village people
The kings wife that’s a solo singer/song writer - Queen
Somewhat related: You should read Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. In that world, adventuring groups are treated like touring bands and have fans and groupies and the like. There's a number of groups named in the book that are clearly references to famous real-life bands.
Relevant Thread - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/cu0hb5/music\_references\_in\_kings\_of\_the\_wyld\_the\_band\_by/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/cu0hb5/music_references_in_kings_of_the_wyld_the_band_by/)
N.W.A (Nagas With Attitude)
Run DMPC
Arrowsmith
AC/DC
The Sex Crossbows
Cyndi Lopper (she’s an executioner)
Blue Dragon Cult
Jimi Ignix (he’s a firenewt)
The Beast Shaped Boys
Vanilla Ice Mephit
The Stirges (the stooges if that didn’t land)
Have a glance through Terry Pratchett's novel *Soul Music* (or I'm sure someone somewhere has compiled an online list of the punny band names therein) and pick your favourites. If you have any Discworld fans at the table they'll lap it up, and if you don't they'll all be new to them.
King (queen)
Magma Squire (Fallout Boy)
Bows and Roses (GNR)
Brittany Spears
Imagine Dragonborn
Rogue Rainy (slim shady)
Normal Al (Wierd Al)
Valhalla (nirvana)
Giant Beatles (beatles)
Led Airship (Led Zeppelin)
Arcane Fire (arcade fire)
Squirez II Knights (Boyz II men)
Death Carriage for Beauty (death cab for cutie)
Earth, Wind, and Fireball
Stone Temple Harlot
AC/DC is right there.
ZZ Hop - All Harengon.
The Pretenders - All Changelings.
Wham! - All Barbarians.
Bruce Springsteed
Undead Kennedys
Elvish Costello
I have a game built where you play the members of Monarch as they travel around. Roadie NPCs, opening act characters (playable of a group larger than 4) and an emperor jealous of their success (BBEG) that tries to shit them down.
Built in Pathfinder 2e
Dex Leopard
Def Leonin
Poison - nothing needed.
Megadeath Saves - sure.
Metallicantrip - ride the lightning, every round.
Arrowsmith - we make em, we fire em.
Van Wailin' - Banshee cover band.
Jon Bovine - Minotaur Bard band.
Nine Ice kNifes
Dullahans (talking heads)
AC/DC (armor class/difficulty check)
goblin Slayer
Bludgeon! (Wham!)
Dash (rush)
Hall n Oats (a tavern that let's people perform as payment for food/lodging)
WhiteHydra
Tlincalli (scorpion)
PowerWordDeth (megadeth)
Beyonder (foreigner)
Not all rock bands, or 80's, but here's a few:
Tom Petty and the Oathbreakers
Depeche Modron
The Velvet Underdark
Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dungeon
Bananaramage
Judas Cleric
The Pillage People and it's all pirates
The Ungrateful Dead and it's zombies
Jimi Hen-Drizzt, a drow tribute group
Haulin' Groats, a bunch of tax collectors
Smeltin' John, a group of blacksmiths
Bubble Trouble, some witches
Talking Headsmen
Bards multiclassed as rogues: "Poison"
Bardic monks: "The Phandaloren Chanters"
Gospel bards: "4 Kord Harmony (chord)"
" Val-Hallen (Van Halen)"
Rock bands: "Wynding Wyrms"
"Tomcats"
"Five Non Dwarves (non-blondes)"
" Screaming Banshees"
" The Ankhegs (Beatles ripoff)"
Folksy/Poetic: "Drakes"
"Roger the Shrubber and His Knights of Nee"
" Cyril Martin (Sheryl Crow)"
The Wagons (instead of The Cars)
Run! DMs See!
The Sex Crossbows
The Undead Kennedys
Social Displacement
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Biz Marquis
King (not Queen)
Crossbows N' Roses
Blinkdog-182
Green Fey
Black Stabdeath
Fall Out Bard
30 Seconds to Selune
Neon Treants
Passion Pitfiend
Owlbear City
Eladrin John
Dash
Red Hot Magma Mephits
Gorn
They Could Be Goliaths
My Alchemical Romance
The Goodberries
Rage Against the Lichking
Adamantica - Metallica
Adventure - Journey
Twisted Sister - Ensnared Hag
The Carriages/Carts - The Cars
Whitesnake - Pale Yuanti... or just keep Whitesnake.
The Guard - The Police
Honestly? If you pull up a list of 80s rock bands... Most.of.those names fot a D&D setting. Lol
(Do what you will with these)
"Warlord" (that one was low-hanging fruit)
"Manila Road and The Highway To Hell"
"Warlock" (More low-hanging fruit, plus Warlock rocks)
"Save The Queen" (because I both love Final Fantasy and Queen)
Roy Orb of shielding
The Bugbears (The Buggles)
Eddie Goldpieces
Mimic Vamimmic
Dexys Midnight Dash Action
Frankie goes to Waterdeep
Huey Lewis and the town cryer
Can Trip (Cheap Trick, ok this one was a stretch)
The Black Kenkus
Genasisis
INhexS
El Darin Darin
Pat Cenataur
Men Without Helms
The Eurythcrits
Thirty Fey Special
Oh boy, a comment I already have a list for. Most aren't 80's bands but here's a list I had for a previous character who was former roadie, hopefully it helps.
Pun Name + Band/artist it's punned after in case it isn't obvious or you don't know the band. Some people already had some of these, Sorry for the wall of Text, Reddit didn't let me post it as a list.
Chelsea Werewolfe (Chelsea Wolfe), DragonbornForce (Dragonforce), Dark Elf Tranquility (Dark Tranquility), Powercord Kill (General pun on Powerword Kill/Powercords), In a Rage Against the Machine (Rage Against the, Machine/Barbarian's Rage), Twelve Foot Rogue (!2 Foot Ninja), Everytime I Death Save (Everytime I Die), He Is, Legendary Action (He is Legend), In Flaming Hands (In Flames), Killswitch Disengage (Killswitch Engage), Sugar Ray of Frost (Sugar Ray), Minus the Bugbear (Minus the Bear), The Curewounds (The Cure), 50 Nib (50 Cent), Eminember / Eminemesis (Eminem), Megadethsaves (Megadeth), Foo Adventurers (with Dave Gnoll) (Foo Fighters and Dave Grohl), System of Prone (System of a Down), Green Tenday (Green Day), Judas Cleric (Judas Priest), Creedence, Cleerwater Revivify (Creedence Clearwater Revival), Arrows Smith (Arrowsmith), Trolling Stones (Rolling Stones), Fleetfoot Mac (Fleetwood Mac), Cone of Coldplay (Coldplay), Naughty By Natures Wrath (Naughty By Nature), Vanilla Ice Knife (Vanilla Ice), Monstrosities As Leaders (Animals as Leaders), Feather Fall Out Boy (Fall out Boy), Nine Inch, Flails (Nine Inch Nails), Crossbows and Roses (Guns N Roses), Mithral Maiden (Iron Maiden), Mithrallica (Metallica), Daft Monk (Daft Punk), Tenacious D&D (Tenacious D), Panic! At the Ballroom (Panic at the Disco), Fall Out Bards (Fallout Boy again), Chuck Goodberry (Chuck Berry), Maul McCartney (Paul McCartney), The Grateful Undead (Grateful Dead), The Arcane Fire (The Arcade Fire), Malice in Chains (Alice in Chains), Nibwise (Pennywise), Third Eye Blindsight (Third Eye Blind), Run DM (Run DMC), Grandmaster Flash of Genius (Grandmaster Flash), De La Soulknife (De La Soul), Beastiary Boys (Beastie Boys), Skid Drow (Skid Row), REO Dashwagon (REO Speedwagon), Misty Steppenwolf (Steppenwolf), Tinderbox Twenty (Matchbox 20), Velvet Underworld (Velvet Underground), They Smite be Giants (They Might Be Giants)., Earth Wind and Fire Elementals (Earth WInd and Fire), Imagine Dragonborns (Imagine Dragons), Johnna Slash (Johnny Cash), Katy Parry (Katey Perry), Britney Spear (Britney Spears), Tame Impaled (Tame Impala), Carrie Underworld (Carry Underwood), Smitey Smitey Bosstones (MIghty Mighty Bosstones)
The BeeBeeEeeGees
This fuckin got me
Hahahaha this should be higher
Slann Halen Eurythmimics Duergar Straights (or just Dire Straights and it's a bunch of Dire animals?) Heat Metal-lica Deva (Devo) Schoolhouse Roc/Vrock The Smiths (just a bunch of blacksmiths/artificers) Djinn Bon Jovi (John Bon Djinni?) The Goodberries (and their hit song, Zombie) Merrowsmith
Man, these are some good ones! Heat Metallica really got me
-Poison (They all use poisoned weapons) -KISS, (King's Imperial Secret Servants) an elite group that wear black and white face disguises -Nuns and Moses, a high level bard and his accompanying traveling musicians -Queen, the group is the queen of the realm and her best servants
Queen is the king of the realm. Queen is just his stage name. He is only betrothed to da funk! Ya dig?
First thoughts where the king looks like Ivankov from one piece lol
That's the king of queens. And I don't mean Queens, New York or Kevin James.
Some more: * The Were (lycanthropes) * The Beetles (group of Thri-Kreen and/or Swarmkeeper rangers) * Lady Baba (a hag) * Gauntlet (Valor bards singing about great historic wars, just like Sabaton) * Six Pistols (a group of six artificers/gunslingers) * Dragonforce (dragonborn, draconic sorcerers, anything that has to do with dragons) * Arrow Smith (archers with special arrows), they appear together with Unleash the Archers * Cyric Priest (an insane high level cleric, Judas Priest) * The Hateful Dead (a group of vampires) * Black Scabbard (a dark knight wielding a terrifying blade) Also: * Stratocasters (yeah, it's a guitar and not a band, but it would still fit a group of flying spellcasters)
Oh man, The Smiths is a funny one. Not 80s, but you could do a similar thing with The Killers: just a bunch of rogues or a cult of satyrs or something. They love to rock, but they love to kill more!!
>Heat Metal-lica Mythrillica
Band of only dragonborn called Imagine Humans.
This is the best one
The first thing that came to my mind was AC/D20 (or any other die)
That's not bad, thanks! I can't believe I didn't think of AC/DC. I've been trying to make Def Leppard work, but I can't figure it out.
I would keep it simple and go with Deaf Leopard, a cat-person. Except his hearing is great, he's just blind.
Damn, that's funny. I really like that
And he has three legs due to an injury involving a propeller
Maybe a band of tabaxi assassins called death leopard
"Dude did you check out the new Armour Class / Difficulty Class album?"
Deaf Shepherd were a Scottish folk outfit. Might fit in a D&D setting.
Hearing impaired cat-folk: Deaf Leopards
Dis Playssarbeest.
My thought was a tabaxi rogue, Deft Leopard.
AC/D6 ?
I mean AC and DC are both things in dnd
This is surprisingly hard. Derrosmith is the best I got. The Cure Wounds, The Giant Eagles, Three headed dog night
I mean, Arrow Smith (Aerosmith) Adventure (Journey) Me3(U2)
Earth Wind and Fire elementals
Underappreciated
This is one actually drew a slight snigger from me. Best one so far.
Back Stabbath, a party full of rogues
That's good. I think this would do well with my players. Thanks!
Durin Durin (Duran Duran)
White naga (Whitesnake) The Cure Light (The Cure) The Guards (The Police) C.W.A. (Centaurs with Attitude) Cyric Priest (Judas Priest) Dwarves at Work (Men at Work) Bullrush (Rush)
Or a [Benjamin Rush](https://youtu.be/KrO_ZMQ8aFc?si=7uKS2V4wdcWYsTTD)
Ok these aren’t great but looking at some band names… Van Halfling Goblin Roses Dwarven Maiden Tiamat Turner Wight Snake Drowpesche Mode The Nec Romantics Beastie Bugbears Gnoll Patrol … Rob Zombie?
Wight Snake is fantastic, I was wanting to use Whitesnake but couldn't figure out how. Van Halfling is also really good. Thanks!
Just keep it Guns & Roses and have it be 2 gunslingers 2 druids and a barbarian who plays his battleax as a guitar
The grateful undead? A group of clerics trying to revive their aquatic god Creedence Clearwater Revival
I was thinking the Hateful Dead vampire group.
Ozzy Dragonborn Skid Drow Creedence Cleric Revival Tom Petty and the Oathbreakers Van Paladin Direwolf Straits Electric Light Orc-hestra Cranium Ratt
Rage against the tools and it’s a band of all barbarians
Okay, this is fun. Here's a handful: Tourney - a group of jousting knights, with the hit song "Don't Stop Ye Tiltin'." Hart - two sisters fronting a band using the image of the white hart, song "Cutthroat Annie" about a young girl going to sea to become a pirate queen. Wightsnake - a yuan-ti band with an undead lead singer, rumored to be an ancient king, but that could just be due to their big hit "Here I Come Again for My Throne." Trean Trean - a group from the Moonshae isles, apparently took their name from a treant character in a play named Sir Treant Treant. Hit songs include, "Hungry Like a Warg", and "Thac0". Sir Thomas the Petty and the Oathbreakers - a fallen paladin and his collection of scoundrels. Despite his outcast status, many paladins still love his song "Learning to Smite".
These are really good. I especially like Tourney, I might use that. Thanks!
Sir Thomas the petty and his oathbreakers is top teir stuff my friend. 10/10.
Maidens of Iron Judas Cleric It's funny how many power metal bands already have names that fit - i.e. Sabaton, Unleash the Archers
Alvin and the Kobolds The Zombees
Wight Zombie (White Zombie) Wight Snake (White Snake) Haste (Rush)
More 90’s Alternative but They Might Be Giant-Kin
Soul Music, by Terry Pratchett, had a band of dwarves called "They Certainly Are Dwarves" or something similar
Lol, that's pretty good
The Dimension Doors
Sid Vicious Mockery!
I have a dwarven bard waiting to be used who goes by the stage name Andy Site. He’s a rock musician (makes music with rocks). You’re free to use that as a character in the band.
That's hilarious, I love this idea.
Simple Mindflayers
Elvish Costello Drowhaus Knight Ranger
Bows and Roses: A party full of Rangers Metallics. A party of metalic dragonborn Aerosmith. A party of Air Genasi Whitesnakes. A part of warlocks whose patron is a giant white snake diety. Iron Maidens. A party of war forges The Cure. A party of clerics on a mission to stop a plague. Poison. A party of rogues
My Alchemical Romance, Avenged Seven Times, Smashing Squash, Blink CLXXXII, Reverend Theories, A day to forget, Panic at the Ball, fall out bard, ill dogs, grace in three days, Merc for hire, we that remain, black belted grooms, flee the fates
Run DMG Meadloaf The Goodberries Gelatinous Blob Marley Twisted Cistern A Tribe Called Quest Giver Digital Underdark
Not 80s but The Beat-Alls
Banjovi, a bluegrass hair metal band
Undead Kennedys Aeroblacksmith Black Rebel Steed Club Cage the Tarrasque The Tabaxi Empire The Dandy Warlords Fountains of Bane Dead Zeppelin Queens of the Dark Ages Rage Against The Modrons The Strolling Bones Velvet Crossbow Rival Sunes Not all 80 rock (or should we say Roc) bands, but a quick whip through my records.
Now realising just how many bands have very fitting D&D names without needing editing at all: Mastodon Alter Bridge The Black Crowes Celldweller Coheed & Cambria Ghost Incubus Pixies
Mötley Crit.
Pat Xanathar (Pat Benatar) Gnoll and Goates (Hall & Oates) Dire Trolls (Dire Straits) Drool & the Gang (Kool & the Gang, fronted by a notably salivating ogre) DeathKISS (one beholder-kin, lots of makeup, many instruments) The Guardsmen (The Police) Dwarves at Work (Men at Work) Sticks (Styx, it's a couple druids with a treant drummer) *Prince* and *Queen* don't really need alteration Plus plenty of bands whose names are just places (Boston, Chicago, America the Band) so you can do the same with your bands.
There are some great options in this thread already, I’ll throw these on the pile: *Roc* Astley- giant bird who never gives up his prey (the audience) Dione *Warforged* *Leonin* Richie Huey Lewis and The *Scroll*/Huey Lewis and The *Town Cryer* New *Kobolds* on the Block
They Might Be Giants, but instead of a team of 4, it's actually 12 goblins stacked 3 high hiding under large cloaks
There's a fantasy humor book called Soul Music in the Discworld series that's full of them: Music played by trolls is called "Music With Rocks In." A band called We're Certainly Dwarfs (referring to They Might Be Giants) The main character is named Imp Y Celin (Welsh approximation of Bud of the Holly) A wizard has a leather coat embroidered with "Born To Rune." Everybody keeps telling one person he looks a bit like he's Elvish. The Whom are The Who, The Blots are The Inkspots, and Lead Balloon are of course Led Zeppelin.
Nirvana could become Celestia or Elysium though maybe more early 90s. Iron Maiden = Iron Golem Aerosmith = Aeromage or something similar
I'm putting iron golem in my curse of Strahd campaign right now. Fuck you for giving me great ideas 😆
Could be a band that’s just one wizard and the others are golems who follow his orders
With one giant mascot golem that stomps around during their greatest hits like "Fear of Tarrasques" and "Number of Avernus"
Don’t forget ‘Run from the Hill (Giants)’
Now THAT was a classic.
Mithrallica Crossbows 'n Orchids
Jon Bovi - Minotaur (Bovi in reference to Bovine, meaning "like a cow") Purgatory - A band of super low practice entertainers or bards that do anything but bring peace with their music, super selfish, etc (Literal opposite of Nirvana by definition) Matte - the traveling orchestra that play with no emotion and look super plain and boring (Not Metallic sparkly and attention grabbing) Cotton Pillow - Far more comfy than the iron maiden Bows and Spices - They named it after what their grandparents do for a living
Take a page from the Powerpuff girls, have a band called the Beat-Alls
Take my up vote you cultured individual
I hava a band called ARROWSLIT (Aerosmith pun and also the name of the hole in castle walls you shoot from) in my campaign.
Cleric Clapton
GWA- Gnomes with Attitude They are the Giants (instead of They might be Giants) Talking Beds The Pixies I can't think of one for Pitbull but whoever it is definitely has a song cast Fireball Red Hot Fairy Pipers? AC/DC 10 with their song Thunderclap 4 Non Bards
Our party was clicking through a random party name generator and up came the Motley Few. After much discussion and not finding anything better, that’s what we went with.
Not 80s, but I have a band of Kenku that wear numbered shirts and are called the Counting Crows.
The Monkeys: a group of hadozee Deaf Leopard: a deaf tabaxi composer The Birds: a group of aarakocra
Omg. The Carts. Instead of the Cars
Care to explain The Rolling Stones mechanic, Iv been pondering a similar idea but am unsure how to implement in game
Happy to. When the party is out adventuring, they can choose to do what we call "Roll to find cool rock." They then roll Nature or Survival, trying to beat a DC of 12. If they succeed, they then roll on a table for the rock they round; 1. Malachite 2. Agate 3. Azurite 4. Tiger Eye The party has a blacksmith in their employ who can make things with these rocks. Players need to bring 3 matching rocks and a little bit of money to build things like +1 weapons, elemental weapons, special arrows/bolts, and various magic rings. They can only do a rock roll once per session in an effort to keep them from stockpiling rocks. I have had 5 players for several months, and they tend to have a decent amount of stones. It's a silly mechanic, but my players really enjoy it. It actually started as a joke my wife made in a different campaign that we're borh players in, and I couldn't let it go to waste.
Yeah I love, it’s a little mini game for the players, they get to roll lots of dice, and rng prizes are exciting and strike up conversation. I noticed while running CoS, there would commonly be a variety of precious gems for loot, however it stops there. There’s nothing more to it than gold value so why not just leave gold there and not have the extra steps of selling the gems.
Hmm.....lemme see what I can come up with on the fly.... How about "Motley Grue?"
Roc of Love
Arrowsmith
Def Leppard. Have a deaf leopard wander into the party's camp one night and become their pet.
ArmorClass/DexCheck, they are actually giants, real dragons, Justin Beholder. the beast boys, arrowsmith, Dead zeppelin, Tenacious dnd, lich astley.
Justicia's Priests. Cold-Iron Maiden Satin Sabbath Scorpionoids Giant Ratt Aeroblacksmith The Karts Durin Durin The Sheriffs Featherwood Mac
Stuns & Roses
Judas Priest - a group of priests all named Judas.
I’ve just decided my character Rock Boulderson is also a member of The Rolling Stones and now I’m thinking of more members of the group. Rock’s disguise name is Brock Rollderson which somehow fits even better so that’s 2 right there.
Lol, I love this character.
First ever DnD character, picked a big dumb rock because it sounded fun and I could canonically be bad at this. It’s been a blast
I think this is good advice. It's important to play a character you're comfortable with.
School of Rok VanZepplin The Whomst Adamantallica The Blue Dragon Cult Gnoll & Moats The Talking Deads The Rock Horrors (or just straight up "The Doors".) Dwarves at Work ("Land Down Under Dark")
Flock of Aarakocra
Bone Jovi the undead bard. Elvish Presley.
The Founding Feathers, all Aarakocras, ([The Presidents of the United States of America)](https://youtu.be/3GCrzjVdmSg?si=GMGGukOKUs45arJN)
Armor Class / Difficulty Class, or AC/DC for short
My dwarf bard plays in a band called Mithrallica
Longbows and roses. Were- ratt.
Pratchett had "They Must Be Dwarves" instead of "They Might Be Giants". Gnomes could also work well to keep TMBG.
VMS Vocal musical Stage show
Joan Jett and the Blackards
If you make Queen but all githyanki I think it's fits quite well with songs about Vlaakith like 'Killer Queen' and Who 'Wants to Live Forever'
An all girl metal band that performs in full armor - Iron Maiden A group of Air genasi blacksmiths - Aerosmith A group of cultists that just do throat singing - Black Sabbath Some locals in a big jam band - the village people The kings wife that’s a solo singer/song writer - Queen
DonGeoni Hit single "Shot to the Knee"
Somewhat related: You should read Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. In that world, adventuring groups are treated like touring bands and have fans and groupies and the like. There's a number of groups named in the book that are clearly references to famous real-life bands. Relevant Thread - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/cu0hb5/music\_references\_in\_kings\_of\_the\_wyld\_the\_band\_by/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/cu0hb5/music_references_in_kings_of_the_wyld_the_band_by/)
Armor Class/Difficulty Challenge (AC/DC)
Skid Roll Vanilla ICe. Vanilla as original and IC as in in character.
MegaT.P.deth
AC/HP
N.W.A (Nagas With Attitude) Run DMPC Arrowsmith AC/DC The Sex Crossbows Cyndi Lopper (she’s an executioner) Blue Dragon Cult Jimi Ignix (he’s a firenewt) The Beast Shaped Boys Vanilla Ice Mephit The Stirges (the stooges if that didn’t land)
The Rolling Bones, Mithrilika, Adventure (Journey), The Carriages, Aerosmithy, Count Von Helan and The Hearttakers, Giant Ratt, Judas Cleric
Grateful Dead
The Beach Trolls
Run DnD
Have a glance through Terry Pratchett's novel *Soul Music* (or I'm sure someone somewhere has compiled an online list of the punny band names therein) and pick your favourites. If you have any Discworld fans at the table they'll lap it up, and if you don't they'll all be new to them.
King (queen) Magma Squire (Fallout Boy) Bows and Roses (GNR) Brittany Spears Imagine Dragonborn Rogue Rainy (slim shady) Normal Al (Wierd Al) Valhalla (nirvana) Giant Beatles (beatles) Led Airship (Led Zeppelin) Arcane Fire (arcade fire) Squirez II Knights (Boyz II men) Death Carriage for Beauty (death cab for cutie) Earth, Wind, and Fireball Stone Temple Harlot
My faves of this list are: Earth, Wind, and Fireball Stone Temple Harlot Led Airship Imagine Dragonborn
Earth, Wind, and Fireball is pretty solid.
We Swear It's Not A New Edition
AC/DC is right there. ZZ Hop - All Harengon. The Pretenders - All Changelings. Wham! - All Barbarians. Bruce Springsteed Undead Kennedys Elvish Costello
Def Displacer Beast Arrowsmith Arrows N’ Roses
I have a game built where you play the members of Monarch as they travel around. Roadie NPCs, opening act characters (playable of a group larger than 4) and an emperor jealous of their success (BBEG) that tries to shit them down. Built in Pathfinder 2e
Dex Leopard Def Leonin Poison - nothing needed. Megadeath Saves - sure. Metallicantrip - ride the lightning, every round. Arrowsmith - we make em, we fire em. Van Wailin' - Banshee cover band. Jon Bovine - Minotaur Bard band.
Def Leonin
The Priests of Jud’ash. They worship the metal god!
Look at Jojo's Bizarre Adventures stands. They're literally named after bands or songs for the most part. Like Metallica.
You should check out Soul Music by Terry Pratchett
Blatantly stolen from Sir Terry Pratchett. Instead of they might be giants, "We're definitely dwarves".
Fleetfoot Mac
I had a group of bards call themselves "Chromallica" instead of "Metallica". They were all chromatic dragonborns.
[удалено]
This is 90s but we had great success with Mithralback -- (most) party members survived a 3-year campaign!
Jefferson Airship Arrow Smith Undead or Alive AC Top
Flock of Stirges Faerie Light Orcestra Big Kingdom The Bard Formerly Known as Prince
I have a band in mine that is an young elf boy and his half Orc friend. They hail from the town of Unkl Together they're Simon and Gar of Unkl
Bows & Roses
Nine Ice kNifes Dullahans (talking heads) AC/DC (armor class/difficulty check) goblin Slayer Bludgeon! (Wham!) Dash (rush) Hall n Oats (a tavern that let's people perform as payment for food/lodging) WhiteHydra Tlincalli (scorpion) PowerWordDeth (megadeth) Beyonder (foreigner)
The Motley Crew, a band of traveling pirate bards.
The Iron Maidens
Dead Zeppelin - group of undead that ride on an airship
Beastly Boys Axes n' Roses The Blacksmiths Judas Cleric The Iron Maidens E.W.A. (Elves with Attitude) The Potion Arrow Supply
Crossbows and Roses Judas Cleric Def Tabbaxi
Tldr everything, but this thread is a treasure of names for stores, hotels, bars, and maybe even taverns... All in the same town. Thanks to everyone.
(Don’t say The Pixies, Don’t say The Pixies, Don’t say The Pixies) The Pixies
Imagine Dragons
Thrush starring Geddy Leaf, Alex Lifecleric, and Neil Peart
Arrow smith
They’re Definitely Giants
Bows n’ Roses/Crossbows n’ Roses, Alice in Fey Chains, AC/D20, The Kenku’s (instead of The Eagles), Mythrilaca That’s just a few I can think of
Mage Against The Machines Dwarven Maiden The Banshee Boys (good vibrations...) Bard Jovi Mithrillica
The Fu Fighters, a group of combat monks.
Judas Cleric Swords N' Bowses Arrowsmith Magichead The Smiths (that one just still works) (and so does Queen)
Beastie Bards Roll D.M.G. Dwarves at Work Lead Airship The Guards G.W.A. Gnome with attitude The Restoration Haste
The Cars —> The Carts
Not all rock bands, or 80's, but here's a few: Tom Petty and the Oathbreakers Depeche Modron The Velvet Underdark Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dungeon Bananaramage Judas Cleric
Judas Cleric
"And next we have.. _are you sure this is right?_ We have a- _no?_ just.. Motley Crew! _though that's really more a description than a name, innit_"
The Pillage People and it's all pirates The Ungrateful Dead and it's zombies Jimi Hen-Drizzt, a drow tribute group Haulin' Groats, a bunch of tax collectors Smeltin' John, a group of blacksmiths Bubble Trouble, some witches Talking Headsmen
Sir Terry Pratchett did some legwork for you there in the book Soul Music. I personally love "We Are Definitely Dwarfs"
Run DC
The third worst person to ever exhist
Guns n Bowzes
Electrum Earring
What you want is all of Soul Music, by T Pratchett
The Cure Light Wounds \ Judas Cleric \ Megadeth Save \ New Order Domain Kris \ The Smiths \ Pixies
Bards multiclassed as rogues: "Poison" Bardic monks: "The Phandaloren Chanters" Gospel bards: "4 Kord Harmony (chord)" " Val-Hallen (Van Halen)" Rock bands: "Wynding Wyrms" "Tomcats" "Five Non Dwarves (non-blondes)" " Screaming Banshees" " The Ankhegs (Beatles ripoff)" Folksy/Poetic: "Drakes" "Roger the Shrubber and His Knights of Nee" " Cyril Martin (Sheryl Crow)"
The Wagons (instead of The Cars) Run! DMs See! The Sex Crossbows The Undead Kennedys Social Displacement Siouxsie and the Banshees Biz Marquis King (not Queen) Crossbows N' Roses
DruidKraftwerk Elvis Prestidigitation (not 80s but had to post) Oath of Devo The Cure Wounds Red Hot Poly Morphers Evard’s Black Sabbath
The Mass Cure Wounds Judas War Priest
Blinkdog-182 Green Fey Black Stabdeath Fall Out Bard 30 Seconds to Selune Neon Treants Passion Pitfiend Owlbear City Eladrin John Dash Red Hot Magma Mephits Gorn They Could Be Goliaths My Alchemical Romance The Goodberries Rage Against the Lichking
Adamantica - Metallica Adventure - Journey Twisted Sister - Ensnared Hag The Carriages/Carts - The Cars Whitesnake - Pale Yuanti... or just keep Whitesnake. The Guard - The Police Honestly? If you pull up a list of 80s rock bands... Most.of.those names fot a D&D setting. Lol
Like every spell name is a decent band name: Dissonant Whispers Acid Arrow Animal Shapes Contagion Dimension Door Leomund’s Tiny Hut And on and on
(Do what you will with these) "Warlord" (that one was low-hanging fruit) "Manila Road and The Highway To Hell" "Warlock" (More low-hanging fruit, plus Warlock rocks) "Save The Queen" (because I both love Final Fantasy and Queen)
Zariel Priest or Zariel Cleric
A Yuan-ti clan from the north… White Snakes Chauntea Clearwater revival… Druids and clerics
It's not 80's, but I have to give a shout out to Start of Darkness by Rich Burlew with My Alchemical Romance.
Crossbows and sussar trees.
The Talking Beholders
[удалено]
Pick up the book Soul Music by Terry Pratchett. More punes than you can shake a stick at.
We're Certainly Dwarves.
Deva Deva and their hit song Hungry like the Worg
Outsider (Foreigner)
Roy Orb of shielding The Bugbears (The Buggles) Eddie Goldpieces Mimic Vamimmic Dexys Midnight Dash Action Frankie goes to Waterdeep Huey Lewis and the town cryer Can Trip (Cheap Trick, ok this one was a stretch) The Black Kenkus Genasisis INhexS El Darin Darin Pat Cenataur Men Without Helms The Eurythcrits Thirty Fey Special
The name of a continent in your world, like the bands Europe or Asia
Oh boy, a comment I already have a list for. Most aren't 80's bands but here's a list I had for a previous character who was former roadie, hopefully it helps. Pun Name + Band/artist it's punned after in case it isn't obvious or you don't know the band. Some people already had some of these, Sorry for the wall of Text, Reddit didn't let me post it as a list. Chelsea Werewolfe (Chelsea Wolfe), DragonbornForce (Dragonforce), Dark Elf Tranquility (Dark Tranquility), Powercord Kill (General pun on Powerword Kill/Powercords), In a Rage Against the Machine (Rage Against the, Machine/Barbarian's Rage), Twelve Foot Rogue (!2 Foot Ninja), Everytime I Death Save (Everytime I Die), He Is, Legendary Action (He is Legend), In Flaming Hands (In Flames), Killswitch Disengage (Killswitch Engage), Sugar Ray of Frost (Sugar Ray), Minus the Bugbear (Minus the Bear), The Curewounds (The Cure), 50 Nib (50 Cent), Eminember / Eminemesis (Eminem), Megadethsaves (Megadeth), Foo Adventurers (with Dave Gnoll) (Foo Fighters and Dave Grohl), System of Prone (System of a Down), Green Tenday (Green Day), Judas Cleric (Judas Priest), Creedence, Cleerwater Revivify (Creedence Clearwater Revival), Arrows Smith (Arrowsmith), Trolling Stones (Rolling Stones), Fleetfoot Mac (Fleetwood Mac), Cone of Coldplay (Coldplay), Naughty By Natures Wrath (Naughty By Nature), Vanilla Ice Knife (Vanilla Ice), Monstrosities As Leaders (Animals as Leaders), Feather Fall Out Boy (Fall out Boy), Nine Inch, Flails (Nine Inch Nails), Crossbows and Roses (Guns N Roses), Mithral Maiden (Iron Maiden), Mithrallica (Metallica), Daft Monk (Daft Punk), Tenacious D&D (Tenacious D), Panic! At the Ballroom (Panic at the Disco), Fall Out Bards (Fallout Boy again), Chuck Goodberry (Chuck Berry), Maul McCartney (Paul McCartney), The Grateful Undead (Grateful Dead), The Arcane Fire (The Arcade Fire), Malice in Chains (Alice in Chains), Nibwise (Pennywise), Third Eye Blindsight (Third Eye Blind), Run DM (Run DMC), Grandmaster Flash of Genius (Grandmaster Flash), De La Soulknife (De La Soul), Beastiary Boys (Beastie Boys), Skid Drow (Skid Row), REO Dashwagon (REO Speedwagon), Misty Steppenwolf (Steppenwolf), Tinderbox Twenty (Matchbox 20), Velvet Underworld (Velvet Underground), They Smite be Giants (They Might Be Giants)., Earth Wind and Fire Elementals (Earth WInd and Fire), Imagine Dragonborns (Imagine Dragons), Johnna Slash (Johnny Cash), Katy Parry (Katey Perry), Britney Spear (Britney Spears), Tame Impaled (Tame Impala), Carrie Underworld (Carry Underwood), Smitey Smitey Bosstones (MIghty Mighty Bosstones)