| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I've been trying to build a music folder for my soon to be Kingmaker campaign and I'd like to know what are you all using in your own games?
Music:
I managed to gather a decent amount of stuff over the years and this is a short list of what I'm considering using.
-Conan the Barbarian/Destroyer soundtrack (Epic stuff)
-Planet of the apes (2001) soundtrack (Wild stuff)
-Beowulf soundtrack (Action and as well as smoother stuff)
For the creepy bits, Midnight Syndicate and Nox Arcana are always interesting.
Playing the same music over and over again is worse than not playing music (Recurring themes are fine), but managing music during lengthy roleplay and downtime scenes is sometimes an extra bit of work I'd do without.
This is the perfect solution:Radio Rivendell
I find classical music suits my taste better. The last campaign I played in, whenever the GM played that song that starts with bell sounds all the players would end up head banging and emulating the intro to “For whom the bells tolls” from Metallica with their mouths. So basically, proceed with caution. ;)
Any suggestions?
Sound effects:
I really enjoy using a few sound effects when I GM and I'm quite satisfied with the results so far whether to surprise my players or to set the mood..and basically to wake them up in the middle of the night.
Still gathering them for now so feel free to suggest anything!
I’ll be using a really loud frog chorus in the hot springs that will stop, announcing the presence of the giant frogs. I got the amazing wolf howls linked below as well as storm and wind effects (I’ve read about someone using a tornado on these boards and I actually never thought about it before... my players have come to hate blizzards but they won’t expect this! Thank you)
Maybe Perlivash is really an amazing whistler
Makes a fine duet with Tyg-Titter-Tut and her +6 Perform (strings)
The battle starts at 1:37
Maybe the chasm in the sycamore actually is more profound than it looks and a eerie droning
comes from a seemly bottomless shaft? Giving a giant tick a climb speed will dissuade players that are too curious.
Maybe Chief Sootscale is really an amazing tribal drummer.
Some links:
This site:
http://www.freesound.org/index.php
You need to register in order to download sounds but you can find quite a lot of stuff ranging from a 1 hour storm, creepy whistlin', loud barks, wind chimes,...
This site
http://www.searchingwolf.com/howls.htm Amazing wolf chorus howling
Youtube does the job also. You can find a bunch of sites that will extract audio from a youtube video for free. The quality is diminished, but if the track has decent quality from the start the result shouldn’t be so bad.
Bluegrass for hanging out at Oleg's and exploring the greenbelt.
Polka also works.
Marches for the formation of the empire and ruling the Kingdom phases.
I'm still struggling with making an ideal soundtrack, and haven't yet worked it out to my satisfaction. I have broken it down into 4 or five lists though: Greenbelt, Narlmarches, Kamelands, Olegs, & Monster Attack! (a lot of Godzilla tracks on this last one).
I have found I get a lot of mileage out of my reasonable collection of Environmental recordings, covering country rainstorms, creeks, woods, frogs, swamps, and even an entire tapes worth of Wolf noises (oh, wolves, horrid, horrid wolves...).
I love making new playlists for RPG sessions. I can't help myself.
The current one I'm using (or rather, the last one I used) including folky music from finnish and russian folk metal bands. Songs where they're not doing the metal thing and are just playing folk music. Bands like Finntroll, Skyforger, Ensiferum, and Tumulus. I punctuate that with various wilderness sounds from Echoes of Nature and Sonic Legends releases, and there's a couple of authentic tracks that were contemporary with the crusades, and one track from the Pyatnitsky Russian Folk Choir, and a couple from the Age of Conan soundtrack.
I have over 2000 tracks on my iTunes that I consider appropriate for RPG playlists and I'm always looking for more. I'm going to get the Planet of the Apes OST recommened by the OP, right now!
I'm already planning on making Pitax sound a bit like the Godfather movies mixed with polka music. The idea works in my head anyway. Heh.
One of the sets of score music I crack out way too often is the score for Extreme Ghostbusters.
Though the individual pieces are short, they're often mournful, dissonant and downright creepy.
They're rather limited in scope for Kingmaker, but this being a Paizo adventure, there are more than a few spots where they just fit.
Just posting so the board will put the dot beside the thread
Lots of metal band really produce awesome folky music. I used a few tracks from Bal-Sagoth before but it's annoying to filter thru the really metal sounding stuff and the folksy bits. Do you have any particular albums in mind, gang?
Sampled some tracks from Echoes of nature and this is great. Quite liking the sonic legends site, but 2.99$ per track is a bit steep imo. Definetly added to my favorites so I can at least stream some of the really amazing city/tavern ambiance tracks.
About the Planet of the Apes OST - Can't go wrong with Danny Elfman!
I'm really enjoying the Extreme Ghostbusters soundtrack, fits great with all the fey business in the AP. Would you know any converter from m4a to a more mainstream format by any chance?
Polka, really? I can only imagine guys in lederhosen drinking beer from what I'm hearing after a quick search. Maybe I am mistaken tho. Enlighten me!
Well remember that the climate of Brevoy is supposed to be Poland/Russia; therefore the climate of the Stolen Lands would be similar to Poland/Germany.
BBC Orchestra performs (Pie in the Face Polka) as used in "The Great Race" movie is a nice one to play when unwinding at Olegs (imagine him in lederhosen!) or for the Fey pranks.
Xylem and Phloem by Circus Contraption is also quite good for partying or the fey.
Garden Devils by the Mabuses also works for the fey.
The Coal Porters are the main Bluegrass band on my list. (Absurdly, I believe they are from Britain.)
The Main Title From "The Longest Day" is good victory music.
Lots of metal band really produce awesome folky music. I used a few tracks from Bal-Sagoth before but it's annoying to filter thru the really metal sounding stuff and the folksy bits. Do you have any particular albums in mind, gang?
It would've helped if I'd told people that wouldn't it.
Let's see...
Visor Om Slutet by Finntroll and Zobena Dziesma by Skyforger are entirely folk albums. But both those bands, as well as Ensiferum, and Tumulus usually sneak at least one track onto each album that could seemlessly be put on a playlist for a session.
Thanks, these are all great ideas. I guess one good question to ask is: What is the best real-world counterpart for the River Kingdoms, Brevoy, and the Stolen Lands? Then yoink music from that cultural tradition.
Some of the stuff gives me a German and Eastern European vibe.
That's how I ended up finding a lot of Finnish, Latvian, and Russian folk metal bands. :D
I was having problems finding a vibe for the Stolen Lands, Eastern european sounds like a good idea. I love gypsy music.
Found this gem recently:
Basso profondo -Youtube- Russian male choir. Manliest choir.
Not seeing a lot of video game music.
Left for dead 1-2 -YouTube- Creepy/scary stuff, namely Dark Carnival and Swamp Fever.
Quake 1 -YouTube- Creepy/weird actions. Some tracks not too usable however.
Thief - Available here. More creepiness.
Arcanum - Available here.More generic stuff.
Legacy of Kain - Available here. More electronic sounding sometimes. Fast-paced mostly.
Not seeing a lot of video game music.
I find a lot of video game music sounds (understandably) artificial. Not organic enough for the vibe I wanted for this AP.
I did the fiction for this month's Kingmaker (Part 4 of 6 of the "Prodigal Sons" storyline) and if I had to score the action of the story with classical music, I'd go as follows:
Phargas & Ollix encounter the Shrine of Hanspur: cue a selection from "The Hut on Fowls Legs" by Mugorsky from Pictures at an Exposition.
Once the boatride is underway, start "The Merry Widow Waltz" by Franz Lehár.
For the puppetshow portion, use "The Fossils" from Carnival of the Animals by Saent-Saens.
Finally, for the Harrow game, "Das Kartenspiel" by Stravinsky.
I would agree in most cases. Video game music is more useful as a backing track than as defining music for a campaign, but some tracks can really set a great mood if used in the right circumstances.
I'm sad that the Tristram track from Diablo has been used to death in my gaming group.
Great to hear from one of the contributors of the AP. I'll definetly be checking out those tracks.
EDIT :TRACK
|
For an eerie eastern-european vibe I like [ulr=http://www.myspace.com/pogonishte]Hala Strana[/url].
I also use kocani orkestar for celebrations