Best Fantasy Movie soundtracks


Off-Topic Discussions

Scarab Sages

I am in the process of aquiring and compiling my own fantasy game background music collection. I have the following CDs to draw from. Please let me know what Movie soundtracks absolutely must be present for my collection to near completion.

I have
All three LoTR
Braveheart
Dragon Heart
Gladiator
Some of the Harry Potter Stuff

I am also bidding right now on LadyHawke, a soundtrack that it appears will be surprisingly expensive to aquire. Thanks in advance.

Tam

Scarab Sages

I also just aquired the Willow and Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks. Can anyone tell me, wasn't there a Treasure Island movie made with Gina Davis or some other hottie in it. Within the last decade and not the muppets. Thanks again.

Dark Archive

The Gina Davis movie was Cutthroat Island.

As for great soundtracks for playing, I really like using anything by Wagner or Orff's Carmina Burana. Also, the Hellraiser 2 soundtrack does wonders for mood setting. Don't miss the Conan soundtracks--they are amazing. Needful Things, The Last Samurai, and From Hell also have great soundtracks for D&D. I have recently discovered Nox Arcana and Midnight Syndicate, both being groups that make primarily horror-related background music.

I'm not entirely sure that the Ladyhawke soundtrack will be what you are looking for. If I recall correctly, it consisted primarily of cheesy 80's keyboard stuff from someone like the Alan Parsons Project.

If you want something that has more than just a classical feel, check into Godspeed You Black Emperor. This wouldn't fit some campaigns, but I have used their music to get some pretty good mood effects going. They have a great song featured in the movie 28 Days Later, but that song is not on the soundtrack.


Tambryn wrote:
Can anyone tell me, wasn't there a Treasure Island movie made with Gina Davis or some other hottie in it. Within the last decade...

You're right about the Gina Davis movie, except that it's called Cuthroat Island. I've never heard the soundtrack though.

I also use movie soundtracks in all my games. I find it helps provoke the imagination and gives every moment a sense of epicness. You might try these soundtracks also...

The Conan Soundtrack,
Last of the Mohicans,
Gladiator,
Alexander,
1492,
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.
The Indiana Jones soundtrack is pretty good in some instances (it just promotes action and adventure).
The Mortal Kombat disc ain't so bad either.

I don't know if there's a MUMMY soundtrack out there, but if there is one, I imagine it might be good also.

Ultradan


Not Ladyhawke!! AAAAAAAHHHHH!! My mom's abfab favorite movie (it's because of Rutger Hauer) but what a HORRIBLE soundtrack.

Other good'uns:

Brom Stoker's Dracula
Van Helsing
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Battlestar Galactica (the new series, pleaseandthankyou, especially the drum sequences)
The Princess Bride

Not really soundtracks, but good for setting mood:

Any chants by Tibetan monks (The Gyuto Monks, for example) - AWESOME for any sort of arcane or religous setting. Used for great effect when I used it to describe an epic spell that was being cast. The sort of wordless chanting gives me chills - loves it, I do!
Taiko drums (can you tell I've ran an Oriental campaign?)
The Yoshida Brothers - a new group I've found that takes traditional shamisen and "kicks it up a notch" - they're on iTunes, in case anyone's interested.

Uhmmm...if I can think of anymore I will share.

Sovereign Court

Have you considered the DnD soundtrack from Midnight Syndicate?


soundtracks to add on the list:

"Kingdom of Heaven" is excellent!

"King Arthur" is excellent!

The Mist of Avalon
The Man in the Iron Mask

also:
check out Blackmore's Night "Shadow of the Moon"
alot of Jethro Tull and Ian Anderson solo work are great too!

Scarab Sages

Thanks everyone for your responses so far, I will begin looking for these soundtracks imediately. As far as LadyHawk goes, I am purchasing it mainly because my uncle used it as the theme music for some of the first games I ever played. I was about nine years old and I can still remember it playing in the background. Can't beat those memories. Gotta hold onto them.

Tam


Lilith wrote:


Any chants by Tibetan monks (The Gyuto Monks, for example) - AWESOME for any sort of arcane or religous setting. Used for great effect when I used it to describe an epic spell that was being cast. The sort of wordless chanting gives me chills -

Yeah Lady Hawke is quite horrid, but if it is for memories then so be it. But as for tibetan monks, you should hear them in person! Talk about the very room changing and mingling, with the universe. I, just thinking about it again raises the hairs on my neck. I swear i could feel the spirits of everything when I heard them at the monastery. Not quite as many as on a cd but very i found it much more powerful.

good cds,
last of the Mohicans
Gladiator
Conan
Enigma
Enya (very moodish hearing somebody sing in Gaelic)

Scarab Sages

Needfull Things: check
Last Samurai: check
Battlestar Galactica: check
From Hell: ?
Cutthroat Island: ?
Prince of Thieves: check
Indiana Jones Triligy: check
Bram Stokers Dracula: check
Alexander: check
1492: check
Last of the Mohicans: check
Conan the Barbarian: check
Conan the Destroyer: ?
Red Sonya: ?
Princess Bride: check
Brotherhood of the Wolf: check
King Arthur: check
Kingdom of Heaven: check

Scarab Sages

Oh, and Midnight Syndicate 6 cd set including D&D soundtrack.

Muuuaaahahahahahaha

tam


If you have not already got it check out Pirates of the Carribean. Sounds fairly similar to Gladiator in places (and also Mask of Zorro) but it is great for D&D. Also might I suggest music from Babylon 5 (they did quite a few CDs with different music from the series). Dont forget The Matrix soundtrack, very good if you are running an urban based game (for any genre) and I think would make excellent music for Ebberon games.

Sovereign Court

The soundtrack for the following:
1. The 13th Warrior
2. The brothers grimm movie(starring matt damon,heath ledger) that came out this week on video/dvd, the soundtrack is out already.


It's not a soundtrack by any means, but I found a band who produces medieval music.

Corvus Corax - Best of Corvus Corax

It's available on Amazon or Tower Records. 3 percussionists, up to 5 bagpipers!

If you get an opportunity to view the Asleep By Dawn 'Sleepwatching' DVD, there is a video of a live Corvus Corax performance. Outstanding show.

Also, for horror settings: the 'Alien 3' soundtrack is excellent.

Scarab Sages

M. Balmer wrote:

It's not a soundtrack by any means, but I found a band who produces medieval music.

Corvus Corax - Best of Corvus Corax

It's available on Amazon or Tower Records. 3 percussionists, up to 5 bagpipers!

If you get an opportunity to view the Asleep By Dawn 'Sleepwatching' DVD, there is a video of a live Corvus Corax performance. Outstanding show.

Also, for horror settings: the 'Alien 3' soundtrack is excellent.

You are only the second person I know who knows who Corvus Corvax is. The other person is the guy who turned me on to them. I have Seikilos - great Conan feel to the music, perfect for adventure writing.


Currently using these soundtracks:

Barry Trotter and the Goblet of Fire
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Deep Impact
Willow
Pirates of the Carribean
Final Fantasy 8 soundtrack
King Kong
Baldurs Gate
Icewind Dale
The CD from the back of the Sharn sourcebook
Hunt for Red October mixed and Constantine soundtracks into a longplaying Age of Worms soundtrack
Interveiw with the Vampire, just edit the Guns and Roses crap off the end and its great...
Alien Ressurection
Aliens
Kodo (Japanese drums)
Any of those cheap 'sounds of narure' CD's from the local new-age shop, usually called things like 'Enchanted Forest' or 'Thunder Storm' (great for setting the scene)

Banned Music (ie: Good but overly used and far too recognisable movie soundtracks to ever consider using again in any game unless I get new players or wipe their minds):

Braveheart
Any Starwars
Highlander
Any Lord of the Rings
Gladiator
The first Conan one

:)

Silver Crusade

i use alot of the soundtracks listed myself, so i wont repeat what's already established, opting instead to add new ones to the mix...

Jade Empire
Legend (soundtrack and score)
The Crow (nothing says urban mayhem and vengeance than the score but the soundtrack is good too)
Record of Lodoss War OVA soundtrack
Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight TV series soundtrack
Vision of Escaflowne TV series Soundtracks
Escaflowne: A Girl from Gaia the Movie soundtrack
Bastard! the OVA soundtrack
Final Fantasy 7/Advent Children (One Winged Angel rules for epic boss fights)
The Hunt for Red October (Basil Poledouris rules)
Alexander Nevsky soundtrack

Liberty's Edge

Hard to find...
Command and Conquer: Red Alert sound track...
Hell March is the best but it's all good for heavy military flavor...


The soundtrack to the Age of Empires III real-time strategy game. Has a 'Patriot' feel (the Mel Gibson movie, I mean).


I haven't seen anyone mention the "Glory" soundtrack for military campaigns. Near the end of the CD is a track called (I think) "Charging Ft. Wagner" that is terrific. There are also some great sad sounding tracks that can give a nice, moody touch to the aftermath of a battle.

All of M. Night Shymalan's movies have great scores. If you are running a game with horror aspects, I highly recommend them.

If you are running an urban campaign or a game that involves lots of "sneaky" activities, then "The Usual Suspects" has some great tracks.

On the purely classical side I was watcing "Excalibur" the other day and noticed that they used Siegfried from Wagner. Wagner has a lot of great bombastic stuff.

And of course there's always "The Planets" by Holst. . .


d13 wrote:
If you are running an urban campaign or a game that involves lots of "sneaky" activities, then "The Usual Suspects" has some great tracks.

So does the "Sneakers" soundtrack. "-D

d13 wrote:
And of course there's always "The Planets" by Holst. . .

LOVE THAT SYMPHONY. Especially "Mars" and "Jupiter". :-P


"Mars: The Bringer of War" has got to be one of the most used (and overused) D & D battle themes, but I do love it.

It always cracked me up that there is a track in that symphony called "Uranus: The Magician"

Gustav, what were you thinking?

I have used "Neptune: The Mystic" a bunch of times too. Nice and moody - good for dungeon crawls.

If you like "The Planets" you may also like "Finlandia" by Jean Sibelius and "Symphony for a New World" by Dvorak. Listen to the Allegro in New World and tell me John Williams didn't rip off Dvorak for his famous "Jaws" theme.


I highly recommend the following:
The 13th Warrior
The Mummy
The Mummy Returns
Van Helsing


Another good one for horror is the soundtrack from Event Horizon.
The "heartbeat" that the ship made really gave me the creeps.

Someone already mentiond my other staple - Excalibur.


I enjoy the World of Warcraft Soundtrack, as well as the soundtrack for Warcraft III.

Another good pc-game soundtrack is Morrowind (Oblivion's soundtrack just came out. It's fantastic). As mentioned above, the soundtracks for Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate are exceptional.

Other than those, my usual playlist consists of these movie soundtracks:
-Gladiator
-Braveheart
-Conan The Barbarian
-Troy
-Pirates of the Caribbean
-LOTR collection
-Black Hawk Down (surprisingly good for fantasy settings)
-Henry V

And lastly, the Eberron music that came with Sharn.


"The Warriors" had a great soundtrack to scare your pc's
can't think of anything else that hasn't been mentioned.

Hmm; the music of "Spinal Tap" hehe with songs like:
Break like the Wind
Hell Hole
The Sun Never Sweats
Diva Fever
Gimme Some Money
Stinkin Up the Great Outdoors
and its a great lampoon of a Heavy Metal rock and roll band.


undeaddragonhunter wrote:
Someone already mentiond my other staple - Excalibur.

The Lady of the Lake track is great for making the hair stand up on the back of the players necks! ;)


Gotta agree with all of the above posts. I'd also add eXistenZ for unbeatable creepy atmosphere (composed by Howard Shore of LotR fame) - some great eerie themes on there. The score from the X-Files movie is also great, with a lot of variety. Danny Elfman's score to Sleepy Hollow also has plenty of gothic goodness, dreamy atmosphere and pounding battle tracks.

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