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I've seen a number of posts in the past about people looking for music to 'score' their campaigns and I just had to share this with you.
I use a theater technique of sorts in my campaigns where I choose a specific piece of music which is going to represent thematically the entire campaign, and I play it just before the session officially begins. No one talks during the music, instead re-reading their notes from the previous session, making character sheet adjustments, sorting out their minatures or just getting back into the mindset of their characters and the story. Its kind of like when you sit down to watch a favorite television show and the opening credits begin, just mentally putting you back in that place, as in 'its time to be this for a while'.
Well, I found the perfect piece of music for the Rise of the Runelords to do just that... its the Apocalypse theme from the end of Battlestar Galctica, with the language being sung conceptualized as ancient Thassilonian though I didn't reveal that to the players until later. The link is below and I whole-heartedly suggest listening to the entire piece (it really gets bad@ss around the 1:20 mark).
Moreover, we just finished up book four and I used a live version of the song to represent the storming of Jorgenfist, the change catching my players off-guard. It was, in a word, epic.
I never thought a piece of music could so accurately capture the feel of a campaign, from the sound of a clear voice singing in an elegant, ancient language, harking back to what once was to the ominous sounds heralding the doom to come - even including the tribal drums of the forces arrayed against you, be it goblins or giants. I imagined a montage of sorts, from standing defiant on the walls of Sandpoint awaiting the coming assault to braving through the bitter cold in the ascent to Xin Shalast.
I simply cannot recommend it highly enough, and for additional ambiance or to score specific scenes in your campaign, the entire collection of BSG season soundtracks are also reccommended - there is some amazing music there by Bear McCreary, and it holds the theme together throughout the AP.
Great! This is really cool! Thanks a lot Story Archer!
Wow. Thank-you so much, this is just epic... definitely going to reccommend it to our GM, and not just for RotRL (though you're right, it does sound as if it was made for it).
Thank you!
Bumping for a friend :)