OK, I've spent the better part of my lunch hour searching the boards for discussions on great soundtracks for gaming and found some good stuff. Some of the suggestions I have already while others I would like to pick up.
What I want to do is come up with a list of the 20 Best "MUST HAVE" CD Soundtracks for Gaming? They can be movie or TV. These should not be soundtracks that just have a few good songs on them, these should be great overall soundtracks that should be in every D&D players library.
What I would love to do is have everyone add to this list if you feel strongly or take away from the list if you feel one is not good enough to be on the list.
So, here is list of the soundtracks I have seen mentioned repeatedly as being great overall music to play during a game:
Conan
Lord of the Rings
Gladiator
Lost (TV show)
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Last Samurai
Last of the Mohicans
Alexander
Kingdom of Heaven
King Arthur
The 13th Warrior
Excalibur
Troy
Sleepy Hollow
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Waterworld
Dragonslayer
Black Hawk Down
Dark Crystal
Dragon Heart
Willow
So, is this list close? Thoughts???
...some great soundtracks
...but, you're only missing the most awesome gamer soundtrack ever recorded! The Conan soundtrack by Basil Poledouris! Play the first track while you're setting up the battlemat for an important combat encounter and let loose the dogs of war :)
...some great soundtracks...but, you're only missing the most awesome gamer soundtrack ever recorded! The Conan soundtrack by Basil Poledouris! Play the first track while you're setting up the battlemat for an important combat encounter and let loose the dogs of war :)
Good lord! I was sure I had Conan on the list!
I was able to go in and edit the list, so the Conan soundtrack(s) are now there where they belong! Thanks!!!
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Conan! Everything Conan is awe inspiring. The Anvil of Crom (the aforementioned first track) is a great way to start a fight. I'm re-reading the original Howard stories now and it makes me want to bite a person in half! I would add:
300 (Returns a King = BBEG track)
Midnight Syndicate (they have some specifically designed for adventures)
Clash of the Titans
Jurassic Park
Star wars
Das Boot
For Horror/Suspense:
The Name of the Rose
Diablo II soundtrack - available for free from Blizzard.
I have found the Mechwarrior II: Mercenaries soundtrack great for futuristic game settings like RIFTS.
Nox Arcana is great stuff too.
Iron Maiden Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
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I stay away from certain "iconic" soundtracks like Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Lord of the Rings because the music is so recognizable. In game the players are very likely to associate a certain song with a scene from the movie and then the game comes to a stop as everyone talks about the movie.
Just about any Dio album should work :)
Iron Maiden and Jethro Tull are great bands, but these are not really the kind of CDs we are looking for. We want to stick with actual soundtracks - great soundtrack CDs.
Good point about iconic soundtracks like LOTR - you can just avoid some of the more recognizable songs though. I still think these deserves to be on the Must Have list
May I suggest everyone check out playlist.com? It doesn't have everything, but it has enough to give you a general idea of what a soundtrack is like and it's free. ;-D
So, is this list close? Thoughts???
An excellent list, indeed. (Lost might be a bit of a stretch, though.)
(And I cannot imagine anyone - in the whole wide world - could possibly even think that Iron Maiden or Jethro Tull [especially the execrable Aqualung] is even remotely appropriate music to play during a gaming session. Baffling, and continued proof the wackiest things are on the internet.) ;)
+1 for including Waterworld on that list.
-1 for not including John Debney's Cutthroat Island (though admittedly it's easily forgotten)
Diablo II soundtrack - available for free from Blizzard.Grrr ... Doesn't seem to be working. Lots of broken links
R.
Crap. Sorry about that - you might try checking iTunes or similar services to see if its available through there. The artist's name is Matt Uelmen.
On a similar note, the soundtrack to Hellgate: London is also quite rockin'. Sonic Mayhem is the artist.
Edit: For the asian-themed games I've run in the past, The Yoshida Brothers and Uttara Kuru have seen some heavy play time.
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Solid List Dalgrim
To Add:
Gamer specific
Dronolan's Tower
- Legends of Kitholay (good town/city music, 1 very iconic track)
- Journeys into Darkness (good dungeon crawl, slwo moody even paced background music - not really epic but good).
Both of these can be found on Paizo
Nox Arcan - Blood of the Dragon (some real good stuff)
Paizo doesn't carry this one anymore but you can pick it up from Noxarcana for cheap, worth it
Anything by Lisa Gerrard - ex Dead Can Dance, she actually does the vocals for about 2 of the soundtracks you listed (Gladiator and King Arthur)
Some DCD stuff is great for epic fantasy gaming moments
Serpents Egg
Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
Aion
for those into Horror or Modern/SF/PA Gaming
The Thing - Ennio Morricone
Halloween I & II
Escape From NY
Alien/Aliens
The Omen
Terminator I&II
Planet of the Apes (org JG score)
Hellraiser (soundtrack or unreleased score by Coil)
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Iron Maiden and Jethro Tull are great bands, but these are not really the kind of CDs we are looking for. We want to stick with actual soundtracks - great soundtrack CDs.
Good point about iconic soundtracks like LOTR - you can just avoid some of the more recognizable songs though. I still think these deserves to be on the Must Have list
That is very true. Use iTunes, or whatever, to make a playlist so the select songs don't appear.
Something else that just occurred to me is if you make multiple playlists for "Heroic," "Combat," "Sneaky," "Dramatic," "Scary" etc moments, then when that scene hits cue up the appropriate playlist. Can even have notes in the adventure "When Ancient Red Dragon appears, cue the "Dramatic" music and have the "PCs run away like little sissies" music ready next. lol
Grieg and Vivaldi comes to mind...
EDIT: and Wagner.
I've used the D&D movie score several times to great affect.
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I've used the D&D movie score several times to great affect.
How cthulhuesc of you - terrorizing your gaming group with the horrible images that those sound will unerringly summon within their very own minds...
The Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay Soundtrack ist good, too, and Vivendi offers it for free, hereThe Game Soundtracks of Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, The Witcher and Spellforce see good use in several D&D groups I know and they are much less recognizable than any movie soundtrack.
I've used the D&D movie score several times to great affect.How cthulhuesc of you - terrorizing your gaming group with the horrible images that those sound will unerringly summon within their very own minds...
Well it worked for, if it doesn't work for you, that's fine, but you don't need to tear me down in the process. Grow up, we all have different tastes.
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Diablo II soundtrack - available for free from Blizzard.Grrr ... Doesn't seem to be working. Lots of broken links
R.
Crap. Sorry about that - you might try checking iTunes or similar services to see if its available through there. The artist's name is Matt Uelmen.
On a similar note, the soundtrack to Hellgate: London is also quite rockin'. Sonic Mayhem is the artist.
Edit: For the asian-themed games I've run in the past, The Yoshida Brothers and Uttara Kuru have seen some heavy play time.
The Yoshida Brothers, carefully selected, work great also for monk-themed encounters (Rising, Storm, Morricone) or non combat scenes (Madrugada).
I must do some research about Uttara Kuru. :-)
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Well it worked for, if it doesn't work for you, that's fine, but you don't need to tear me down in the process. Grow up, we all have different tastes.I've used the D&D movie score several times to great affect.How cthulhuesc of you - terrorizing your gaming group with the horrible images that those sound will unerringly summon within their very own minds...
No worries - I'm pretty sure he was just kidding you about how bad the movie was. We're all friends here ;)
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No worries - I'm pretty sure he was just kidding you about how bad the movie was. We're all friends here ;)Well it worked for, if it doesn't work for you, that's fine, but you don't need to tear me down in the process. Grow up, we all have different tastes.I've used the D&D movie score several times to great affect.How cthulhuesc of you - terrorizing your gaming group with the horrible images that those sound will unerringly summon within their very own minds...
I'm sorry for the misunderstanding - this is exactly what I meant - I think the soundtrack isn't so bad at all - I just really dislike that movie...
The Yoshida Brothers, carefully selected, work great also for monk-themed encounters (Rising, Storm, Morricone) or non combat scenes (Madrugada).
I must do some research about Uttara Kuru. :-)
Look for "Mendicant Priest" by Uttara Kuru - it's by far my favorite from Uttara Kuru. "Our Life" became the unofficial theme song for the last game I ran.
I'm not going to say what's "must-have" because it's a matter of taste, what's available, and so on, but my RPG soundtrack playlists (I have separated into battle music, dungeon crawl music, etc.) come from the following sources:
Movie Soundtracks
Glory at Sea by Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin
Pirates of the Caribbean from the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra ("too" iconic yes, but suits many game moments)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (some really good songs that in fact aren't immediately recognizable)
Video Game Soundtracks
The Neverwinter Nights and Neverwinter Nights 2 Soundtracks, with music by SoulForge, David John, and others.
The Arcanum Soundtrack by Ben Houge
The Baldur's Gate Soundtrack by a composer I'm blanking on at the moment
The Baldur's Gate II Soundtrack by Michael Hoenig
The Suikoden V Soundtrack by Norikazu Miura
TV Series and Animation
The Xena: Warrior Princess Soundtrack Vol. 6 by Joe LoDuca
The Slayers Try soundtracks 1 and 2 by Ozamu Tezuka
R.O.D the TV soundtrack by Taku Iwasaki (much of this is too "modern" for fantasy gaming, but a few songs work well)
Kamichu! Soundtrack by Yoshihiro Ike (the "Love Is Mysterious" series of songs particularly are great for town soundtracks, etc.)
If I had to recommend just one of these, I'd probably say the Xena soundtrack, hands down. Joe LoDuca is amazing.
Second place would be David Johns' music for NWN, as well as the other NWN music.
After tonight's session, I highly recommend the 28 days later soundtrack for any horror session.
I've gotten some good comments from my players for using multiple Castlevania soundtracks and Bram Stoker's Dracula score for Ravenloft, while using less theme-specific scores for other games. The Castlevania stuff works well for combat scenes and general adventuring, but I prefer much moodier music for building tension.
The Star Wars prequel trilogy scores work pretty well if you cut out the main theme and other noticeable pieces such as "Duel of the Fates" and the like. The other pieces are much less memorable(at least for me) than anything from the original trilogy... which is burned into my mind for eternity. There's some decent ambient stuff there for in-between scenes. Or, leave all those in if you happen to be playing in a Star Wars game. Worked for us rather well!
Don't think anyones mentioned this one, but the planescape soundtrack and midnight syndicate are awesome.
There were alot of good tracks from the Temple of Elemental Evil game.
Also some nice ones from The Transformers movie soundtrack.
Hellraiser
Hellraiser II
Ninth Gate
Nightbreed
I've gotten some good comments from my players for using multiple Castlevania soundtracks and Bram Stoker's Dracula score for Ravenloft, while using less theme-specific scores for other games. The Castlevania stuff works well for combat scenes and general adventuring, but I prefer much moodier music for building tension.
The Symphony of the Night soundtrack is AWESOME for gothic goodness.
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Quick FYI ... Check your local library! Mine has a pretty good selection of music CDs, including movie soundtracks! I'm heading over this week to check out 9 or 10 on the original list as well as a bunch more that sounded interesting. It's free to check them out so you can see if you like them.
Don't know why I didn't think of the library before ...
The Star Wars prequel trilogy scores work pretty well if you cut out the main theme and other noticeable pieces such as "Duel of the Fates" and the like.
For some time, I used Duel of the Fates as the generic lietmotif when my BBEG appeared. It got to the point where the party would start buffing as soon as I cued that cut...
Quick FYI ... Check your local library! Mine has a pretty good selection of music CDs, including movie soundtracks! I'm heading over this week to check out 9 or 10 on the original list as well as a bunch more that sounded interesting. It's free to check them out so you can see if you like them.
Don't know why I didn't think of the library before ...
Forget the library! Get your laptop out and go to playlist.com!! Check out my playlist entitled "roleplaying" there, it has most of the songs mentioned in this thread.
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I'd add to the list:
Beowulf by Alan Silvestri
Battlestar Galactica (any season really, though I prefer nr. 3)by Bear McCreary
Hellboy I and II, the second one is by Danny Elfman. I forget who wrote the first.
Uncharted 1 and 2 by Greg Edmonson
Firefly by Greg Edmonson
Sherlock Holmes, Gladiator, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight by Hans Zimmer.
Master and Commander by Iva Davies
Aliens by James Horner
King Kong by James Newton Howard
Icewind Dale by Jeremy Soule
Jade Empire by (I think Jeremy Soule)
Star Trek by Michael Giacchino
Band of Brothers by Michael Kamen
Mýrin by Mugison (this is an Icelandic movie that was released in the US as JarCity I think), there are some really creepy tracks here.
Watchmen by Tyler Bates
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Forget the library! Get your laptop out and go to playlist.com!! Check out my playlist entitled "roleplaying" there, it has most of the songs mentioned in this thread.Quick FYI ... Check your local library! Mine has a pretty good selection of music CDs, including movie soundtracks! I'm heading over this week to check out 9 or 10 on the original list as well as a bunch more that sounded interesting. It's free to check them out so you can see if you like them.
Don't know why I didn't think of the library before ...
I just tried to do this but nothing came up when I searched for roleplaying ...
I just tried to do this but nothing came up when I searched for roleplaying ...Forget the library! Get your laptop out and go to playlist.com!! Check out my playlist entitled "roleplaying" there, it has most of the songs mentioned in this thread.Quick FYI ... Check your local library! Mine has a pretty good selection of music CDs, including movie soundtracks! I'm heading over this week to check out 9 or 10 on the original list as well as a bunch more that sounded interesting. It's free to check them out so you can see if you like them.
Don't know why I didn't think of the library before ...
Search for FreeholdDM.
Also, click on where it says playlists featuring roleplaying as opposed to songs on roleplaying.
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I just tried to do this but nothing came up when I searched for roleplaying ...Forget the library! Get your laptop out and go to playlist.com!! Check out my playlist entitled "roleplaying" there, it has most of the songs mentioned in this thread.
Search for FreeholdDM.
Also, click on where it says playlists featuring roleplaying as opposed to songs on roleplaying.
Sorry, nothing (unless I'm doing something wrong when I search)
I just tried to do this but nothing came up when I searched for roleplaying ...Forget the library! Get your laptop out and go to playlist.com!! Check out my playlist entitled "roleplaying" there, it has most of the songs mentioned in this thread.
Search for FreeholdDM.
Also, click on where it says playlists featuring roleplaying as opposed to songs on roleplaying. Sorry, nothing (unless I'm doing something wrong when I search)
That's weird. I'll have to check it out. In the meantime see if this link works.
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OK, so I have purchased / aquired / assembled most of the CDs from my original list (along with some addition ones as well). I am now in the process of pulling the best pieces from each soundtrack into iTunes so I can then burn my "Ultimate Pathfinder / D&D game soundtrack". Currently, it looks like it will be a 4 or 5 CD set! I can post the actual track list here when I'm all done ...
There are a few soundtrack CDs I'm having trouble tracking down though. Does anyone have any of these?:
The Last Samurai
Kingdom of Heaven
King Arthur
The 13th Warrior
Excalibur
Sleepy Hollow
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Waterworld
Dragonslayer
Dark Crystal
Dragon Heart
Willow
Thanks!!!
Did that link for work you, Marc?
These two soundtracks by Dronolan's Tower definitely should be added to the list, in my book. Composed by a composer who is a gamer with a real live orchestra! Stands up there with the best movie soundtracks...
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Here are a few I might add...
Atlantis (yes, by Disney)
Batman Begins
Broken Arrow
Dinosaur (again, by Disney)
Eragon
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
I, Robot
Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
Mummy
Planet of the Apes (the newer bad movie, but great music by Elfman)
Stardust
Stargate
Terminator 2
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Tomb Raider (score)
Van Helsing
Great albums on the list.
I would encourage you to pick up the God of War soundtracks, I have always enjoyed these as well.
Fantasia (the original, not the 2000 pile of fail). A good selection of classical music appropriate to various situations. If you can break the "collections" (Nutcracker Suite, Rite of Spring) into their shorter component pieces, it's even better.
Ballet, classical music, and opera are great sources of gaming music, BTW. Even some more modern orchestral music (Peter and the Wolf, anyone?) can be worth a listen.