Don't search for a support group in Barranco, Lima.
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I don't like background music with lyrics (unless it is indistinct chanting, or the like).
Songs with lyrics are a distraction to the players (whether they want to admit it or not).
Instrumental music is fine, as long as it is played at an appropriate volume and corresponds with the current mood of the story.
Never been in a group that played music while gaming, and I've been gaming almost 20 years now.
Our group does use background music. The problem is when the music that comes up isn't appropriate for our mood. If I'm being all depressed and angsty, I don't want to hear cheerful overland music for example. Otherwise, it works well.
Personally, I like when the GM controls the background music. I've had a couple GMs do this very well, with multiple playlists set up based off of mood. They mostly used Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger sound tracks, and it worked great.
When done poorly though, its can be a big distraction.
I dislike music in my games under any circumstances. It's never worth the added distraction and the lowered ability to hear what people are saying. I fully recognize that it can help to set the mood, but when I need to hear other people talking any additional noise is unwanted.
I am greatly in favor of having background music, but it has to be appropriate. Prog-rock works pretty good for casual play, having long songs with a lot of different parts. I like to use horror movie scores or other symphonic pieces when running something dark and creepy.
When done right, I think background music has an incredible impact on the level of immersion in a game. If it's just a radio set to som random rock station with commercials, then it's a terrible distraction. It takes a little extra work on the DM's part to keep the music appropriate to the event at hand, but when done well, it's worth it IMO.
Midnight Syndicate back in the heady days of 3.5 published some soundtracks (no lyrics) for D&D specifically, which work pretty well for my group.
Tracks such as "Ruins of Bone Hill" work perfectly for spooky graveyards, and "Craft Of The Wizard" suits a creepy wizards tower and so on, they're not too loud or obnoious, and no lyrics, so I find them appropiate without being too loud.
I am greatly in favor of having background music, but it has to be appropriate. Prog-rock works pretty good for casual play, having long songs with a lot of different parts.
Nothing says D&D to me more than "Roundabout" and "Tom Sawyer". ;-)
"My Name is Ray and I'm a..."
Is this a rhyming contest?
Anyway, background music is extremely useful. When I'm sitting at a table playing PF and there's no music, something is missing.
You just have to do it right. Not too loud, not too distracting. Nothing with vocals.
Computer games are a great source for good music - the stuff is made for this very purpose.
It's just slightly off-topic, because I know you're talking about people playing music specifically to set the mood for a game, but...
When I gamed at home, I usually had to watch the kids at the same time. When I was running Lady of the Mists (a ghost-story type of adventure,) the kids were playing with a toy that moved balls around, entertaining the kids who got busy running after the balls, while the toy played music.
So if you're complaining about music being distracting during gaming sessions, just imagine trying to set a dark, mysterious mood, while a toy is crudely beeping out "Pop Goes the Weasel," and the like.
Never tried it, but assigning certain sounds or tunes to a BBEG or mid-boss would work wonders when it's easily accessible from a click of the mouse. The PCs would have just finished their tough combat and was about to take a breather when <click boss theme song on laptop> or they're eating and drinking merrily at the local tavern when <click boss theme song on laptop>
It would be interesting to watch their Pavlovian reaction to bring their attention back to the game as the scheiss is about to hit the fan. ;)
My name is Ray and I'm a...
"HI RAY... Welcome to the 1st of 12 steps..."
In my group, we don't do background music either. While I think it could be done right - we just don't do it. Too much of an easy temptation.
In fact, we don't do 'technology' at all. NO texting/twittering/facebooking/Iphoning/general computing/PDAing, etc.
Unless we are building characters, the highest tech we use is a calculator... all other electronics are banned from the table.
I think this is a result of all of us being 'older' - our youngest player is 41 - and we all have careers where we are hooked to cells, PDAs, etc. at least 5 days a week. So when we play, we don't want that crap around us.
We DO allow electrical lighting however. We're not HARDCORE er anything. :)
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Nothing says D&D to me more than "Roundabout" and "Tom Sawyer". ;-)
Rush's "The Necromancer" always gets me into the mood for D&D...
But as for music being played while gaming, don't care for it really (and I did dabble with it a bit, just didn't find it to my liking)...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
Director of Narrative
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I don’t mind music during games, but movie soundtracks on a loop for five hours gets a little annoying. I think music has its place and can really add to the game more than distract…if done right. I think the biggest problem with music while gaming is that the pieces don’t quite fit and it would be hard as hell to anticipate how long or short you’d need a particular piece. I think someone could do it really right, I’ve just not had that experience yet.
My favorite application of music lately has been for my current character, a fiddle-playing bard. My friend Brandon edited down some tracks from various fiddle/violin styles and sent them to me. I have those all on the same playlist and play them from my phone when my bardic music bonuses are active. This not only adds to the mood, but it also lets all the players know for sure when they receive bonuses from my song. If I’m not playing it that round, you don’t get it.
I am surprised at the predominance of "nay-sayers" for music at the table; I thought it was practically universal.
My group has always had music when possible (which is the last 18 years or so), but we use only instrumentals. Mostly big movie sound tracks; Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Hans Zimmer, and Howard Shore are the mains. The soundtracks of Conan the Barbarian, Hyborian Adventures: the Age of Conan, 300, Gladiator, the 13th Warrior, the Last Samurai, and of course all three Lord of the Rings movies.
When we used to play Shadowrun, we would put in various techno-rocky soundtracks. And when we play Star Wars, well naturally, we use the great John Williams.
We don't have it too loud, but I guess we are lucky to not have anyone easily distracted by it, as that seems to be a common complaint here. The music often doesn't perfectly fit the scene, but when you have it going constantly for 6 or 7 hours during a session, it is astounding how often the perfect theme will come through at the crucial dramatic moment.
I cannot imagine gaming with no music playing...I would go nuts.
I use music at the table almost constantly too. No lyrics is pretty much mandatory aside from Rush or Dream Theater where the lyrics can get lost on many of the songs. I mostly use game soundtracks, like Shadow of the Colossus, for epic battles where a lot is on the line. I have an NPC who has "Counterattack" as his theme. In a recent game I was drawn on to solve a double murder as an inquisitor, and the layout of what i was doing reminded me of the Phoenix Wright games, in particular Miles Edgeworth. I hijacked the Orchestral soundtrack once I had built my case, and the violin swells seemed to put everyone on edge when it looked like we weren't going to get the guy.
Honestly, I realized how well they were arranged after I heard them, and they have only added with our groups. I think every group needs a designated DJ though. I've tried to build tension during a fight when a fight was turning and someone else starts to play some song that has nothing to do with the situation. A signed waver saying your computer can be smashed if you play something stupid would be a good solution. I know all my files are backed up, at any rate.
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In my own case, I use music in one game I run, and reject it in the other one. In the case of the former, I use music because on of the players runs it through his computer speaker set-up in an adjacent room, on a mid-low volume. This allows the music to filter in, and add its energy to the atmosphere without distracting us, no matter what is playing. In my other game, we play in a dorm room, so I don't use music because it is right there, in my ear. Very distracting.
generally my group doenst use music. Like others say it can be distracting and make it harder to hear eachother. I have seen soundtracks used to good effect for specific events (creepy grave yard, dramatic massive battle) but in the end to me at least its more trouble then it's worth.
I was in a game where the DM had the radio on the local classic/album rock station. I didn't care for it, and it was the station I listened to in my car. Other people at the game might not have been fans of the music at all, but no one ever complained.
I never use music in my D&D games. I ran a Shadowrun game where the group was hired to protect a musician at a concert, and I had Billy Idol's _Cyberpunk_ album playing during the encounter, then I turned it off. That was the only time I ever used music in my own game.
I can't imagine a game in which (appropriate) music didn't play a part.
I had a DM that would toss porn on in the background during games...talk about distracting...a bit creepy too I might add.
A bit creepy?
That's appropriate background music for the second circle of hell right there.
Maybe minus the corny guitar riffs.
I had a DM that would toss porn on in the background during games...talk about distracting...a bit creepy too I might add.
Were you sixteen at the time, and he was 40 or so?
Did he serve you youngsters beer?
Did he switch out the porn with gladiator movies, so you would get excited and confused?
...yeah.....
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I hijacked the Orchestral soundtrack once
Thanks, I had no idea there was an orchestral soundtrack released for Phoenix Wright, and now I can't stop listening to that version of "Cornered". This thing is going to be stuck in my head all day now...
I want to use some specific pieces of music very badly in the CotCT campaign I'm running. The problem is, as fitting as it may be, certain pieces would be instantly recognizable to certain players. It just seems like it would be too much of a distraction.
So now I'm having to hunt some alternates that hit the same vibes as my original choices.
I had a DM that would toss porn on in the background during games...talk about distracting...a bit creepy too I might add.
Let me guess: He loved American Psycho.
I've just started seriously using background music for my games.
One thing I noticed right away is that it needs to be background music. As in, turn it down so that's it's just audible. Too loud and it's foreground music.
The key is setting up smart playlists with an ipod or similar music device. I have entire playlists set up for town/tavern, general adventuring/exploration, suspense/tension, and combat. And since our current campaign is using Desert of Desolation, I have an egyptian/arabic playlist. I have made each playlist long enough so that they either don't loop in a single session, or if they do it happens at a long enough interval that it isn't obvious. The different thematic playlists eliminate the "wrong" type of music playing at the wrong time.
The source music is almost entirely soundtracks from movies and video games, but I also use some dark instrumental stuff like Delerium.
I like it and my players seem to enjoy it.
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I had a DM that would toss porn on in the background during games...talk about distracting...a bit creepy too I might add.Were you sixteen at the time, and he was 40 or so?
Did he serve you youngsters beer?
Did he switch out the porn with gladiator movies, so you would get excited and confused?
...yeah.....
*cry*
I'll admit that I hadn't always had a positive view of music with my games. However, a friend of mine bought me a couple of the old TSR adventures that came with a cassette that went with the game and I quickly saw that it could work well if used properly.
I had an old ref who ran a modified Ravenloft (The original module) for me and a friend and he used music perfectly. He got a hold of old hungarian bazuki music and other culturally applicable stuff from the library and played it at key times for proper background.
I also had a ref do a constant soundtrack at Gen Con one year in a middle earth game where we are all traveling dwarves. Each encounter and scene had a carefully sctipted and chosen music. Was phenominal.
But I am pretty sure such things are not easy to pull off on a full time basis and require talents not only with DMing but with music. Not everyone can do it well.
But when it IS done well it can be an EXTREMELY cool addition that makes for heightened excitement and drama and an experience that lasts.
I had a DM that would toss porn on in the background during games...talk about distracting...a bit creepy too I might add.Were you sixteen at the time, and he was 40 or so?
Did he serve you youngsters beer?
Did he switch out the porn with gladiator movies, so you would get excited and confused?
...yeah.....
*cry*
** spoiler omitted **
So he watched porn at the table. He "really liked porn". I hope you never used his dice!
Not only do I play music, I make my players dance.
DANCE MONKEYS. DANCE!