Hello, everyone.
As far as I can find, there is yet to be a thread on these forums dedicated to mood music. Therefore, I think it would be fun to start one. Music can turn a great encounter into a downright memorable one.
The right song can complete that feeling of immersion, enabling the players to truly see that Great Wyrm Red Dragon as it topples yet another iconic structure in the heart of the capital. The proper background sounds can pass that threshold, sending goosebumps up the players arms as they're descending into the Lich's crypt. A simple track of ambient rowdy tavern noises can encourage the Barbarian to start that bar fight that will be talked about for months to come.
While making suggestions, I'd like to try to stay in the realm of "free", but if you firmly believe a certain song can't go unmentioned, and there isn't a site that offers it for free, go right ahead and add it. Suggestions can include a specific song (please include the intended mood, the artist, and the website to find it - the full url if possible), or simply the name of a website that offers a lot of free mp3's of mood music/ambient sounds.
Thanks for any suggestions; I really hope this can catch on :)
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Free? Oof, that's tough to find. I can't think of a single royalty free track I'd use in my games. But a user on Grooveshark called Ultimate_RPG compiled a great group of playlists for every mood, and Grooveshark is free to use.
We listen to a lot of the Glitch Mob when we play, they're great for both combat and exploration, less so for talky parts. Musical scores can be good background music, when they aren't too evocative of their source material. Generally, the only thing we really avoid is lyrics, when it comes to our game music.
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I agree about lyrics.
I have a vast library of gaming music on my iPhone (in fact, gaming music is specifically why I purchased my first iPod years ago). A lot of it was "free" in the sense that you can use various programs to capture audio that is playing on (say) Youtube.
Also, a lot of video game music is "free" if you already own the game, and know how to rip it. These days some fantastic old video game music is probably available for free download online as well (barring that the games themselves are available for cheap on sites like GOG.com).
I organize my gaming music in iTunes into the following categories:
* Background (Bleak, City, Creepy/Alien, Cult, Dungeon, Inspirational, Mystical, Other, Spooky/Undead, Tech, Tension/Suspense, Terrain, Travel, Tribal)
* Combat (Movies, Other, Television, Video Games)
* Noises (Aberrations, Amphibians, Beasts, Birds, Bodily Functions, Cheering, City, Dark Tower, Dragons, Environmental, Fiends, Game Tones, Gnolls, Goblins, Kobolds, Mammals, Oozes, People, Reptiles, Spells, Temple, Undead, Vermin, Weather)
* Quips (Too Many To List)
Actual music would be mostly in the Background and Combat sections.
Some good video games to rip for music include:
* Baldur's Game (1 and 2)
* Civilization 4
* Diablo I, II, and III
* Icewind Dale
* World of Warcraft
* Dragon Age: Origins
* Fallout (All)
* Neverwinter Nights (1 and 2)
* Planescape: Torment
* Vampire: Bloodlines
* Thunderscape (the game CD actually has the music tracks right on it)
* Torchlight I and II (same composer as the Diablo soundtracks)
* Rebuild (which you can play for free online, and capture music from)
* Blood Bowl (opening track, on Youtube I'm sure)
* Dungeon Keeper
* Temple of Elemental Evil
Well, you get the idea.