Asia and the Giants

Whenever I hear one of the classic Asia songs, “Heat of the Moment”, “Sole Survivor”, or “Only Time Will Tell”, I think of Dungeons & Dragons, and in particular I think of giants and Drow elves.

Don’t worry, I’ll explain.

Anyone who has played the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) role playing game will know that there is a Dungeon Master (DM) and one or more players. The players each assume the role of a character in the fantasy world and play its role.

The DM is basically the owner of the fantasy world / universe and sets up scenarios / adventures and narrates the activity, adding challenges for the characters and role playing all of the other characters in the world. It’s a big job.

TSR, the original makers of D&D, issued a number of modules that are basically prepackaged adventures. These are for the DM only and allow her/him to run the players through the scenarios in the module. Not everything is covered in the modules, so there is some flexibility for the DM and a good DM will adapt on the fly as the players do their thing.

Some modules were standalone adventures, and some were part of a series. One very famous* series was the “Against the Giants” series, numbered G1 to G3, which had the characters investigate why giants were terrorizing nearby villages.

* famous for Dungeons & Dragons players only

As the adventures progressed, the real adversaries became known and the series led into a new series, “Scourge of the Slave Lords” (A1 to A4), and again into a final series D1-D3.

All of these modules were written by Gary Gygax, co-creator of D&D with Dave Arneson.

So where does Asia come into all of this?

The supergroup Asia was formed in 1981 by former members of progressive rock groups King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Yes. Their debut album “Asia” was released in 1982 and was very popular, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide.

Asia (the group) managed to adapt their progressive rock chops with radio. As co-founder John Wetton said, “We took our 12 minute songs and removed the 10 minutes of noodling around.” They kept the prog feel but not the length. It worked tremendously.

The Tie-In

The four modules of the “Scourge of the Slave Lords” series, A1-A4, were released in 1981… just before “Asia” came out.

In 1982, I bought the four modules and the “Asia” album, pretty much simultaneously.

I read the modules in series while listening to “Asia” on my record player. As one side of the record finished, I flipped the record over and dropped the needle, over and over, until I finished reading.

I probably listened to “Asia” about four times in a row, and all of the songs are imprinted in my head and inextricably linked to the giants, the slavers, and the Drow elves.

Maybe I need to read those modules again…