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Whether in Rule of Fear or at some point during the course of the Carrion Crown AP I want to do a run down of suggestions for creepy background music to play during horror-themed adventures. We've already got a bunch of this in the reference section of the GameMastery Guide, but I want to expand beyond this.
So what do you use in your horror roleplaying to set the tone? I'm not looking for "Creepy Sounds XI" from Spencer's Gifts, but actual moody stuff subtle enough to play in the background of your game, but creepy enough to set a mood.
To get things rolling, I'll throw five out here that immediately come to mind:
Midnight Syndicate (Anything)
Michiru Yamane (Castlevania series)
From Hell Soundtrack
Dracula Soundtrack
Hannibal Soundtrack
So what works for you? As always, links are appreciated!
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All of the Silent Hill soundtracks, as well as the soundtracks to Forbidden Siren and its sequel, are fantastic music for a horror-oriented game. If you don't mind separating out the creepy tracks from the cheerful ones, the OSTs for Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni are excellent.
Jeremy Puckett
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Hellraiser - Christopher Young: some may be too electronic, but many pieces on the soundtrack work including the main title
main title
Lustmord - some of the tracks are not available on youtube, but here are some samples. A good cd to pick up:The Monstrous Soul
Black Star
Disintigration
Not my favorite tracks but gives you an idea.
If you like Danny Elfman's soundtracks Nightbreed and Sleepy Hollow are pretty good
Hollow
Nightbreed
Nox Arcana has some good stuff in the vein (heh) of Midnight Syndicate
Necronomicon, Transylvania being two good ones. Warning though, a few of their tracks do have some narration over the music -which IMO is lame and defeats the purpose but on any given CD there will be several tracks (most) that don't do this. Usually the opening track and a few others so they are still worth the buy.
The Omen (original Goldsmith) and Damien:Omen II are excellent but may have limited use.
Black Aria II by Glenn Danzig is good
When I ran The Skinsaw Murders, my playlist was loaded with tracks from the following:
Dracula (both the Philip Glass score and the score to "Bram Stoker's Dracula")
The Thing (rare, but available on YouTube)
Alien
Aliens
The Village
Various Hitchcock soundtracks, courtesy Bernard Hermann (Vertigo, Psycho)
The opening theme was the Main Titles music from the Tim Burton Sweeney Todd movie. The Skinsaw Man's theme was "The Nightmare" from the soundtrack to The Elephant Man, which unfortunately is not on YouTube.
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I was going to mention JC "The Thing" (Morricone) and maybe "the Fog" but I thought they were too electronic.
The first one is great for sci-fi or post-apocalyptic horror, even modern horror just not sure if it would work in D&D, the second one is just too syth for D&D -IMO of course.
Both excellent soundtracks though.
Van helsing soundtrack
Silent hill game soundtracks (various)
Erdenstern-Into the dark (music made for roleplaying)
Various Nox arcana
Various Midnight syndicate
Allicorn music for Call of Cthulhu (check out this page for free samples)
Wolfman (new version) soundtrack
Various Lustmord (some of it may be a bit electronic though)
Various Atrium Carceri (again pretty industrial)
Four shadows soundtrack for Trail of Cthulhu (check out this free sample or go over to Pelgrane press to check out Four shadows)
Ulf soderberg (appropriate for ancient ruins and dark wilderness, his Sephiroth project is espescially recommended if you can find it)
Hellsing anime soundtrack
Devil may cry videogame soundtrack (some of it is very electronic though)
Shadow hearts video game soundtrack
Alone in the dark video game soundtracks
Castlevania video game soundtrack
Immediate music (these guys make various music for movies, television and trailers, they have an album called horror and sci-fi #1)
Pandorum soundtrack
Event horizon soundtrack
Two steps from hell (various orchestral scores for trailers and television)
X-ray dog (as two steps from hell and immediate music)
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I've done a LOT of soundtrack research recently - I gathered together TONS of different soundtracks and then picked cool sounds from each one. I then made a 10 CD set of all cool soundtrack music for our group to game to ...
Anyway, one soundtrack I would also very much add for creepy atmosphere and cool music is The Cell.
My secret weapon for setting a creepy, haunted mood is the soundtrack to the Farscape episode "Eat Me" by Guy Gross.
It's out of print now, but I notice Amazon has a couple used copies for sale. Farscape Classics
The disc contains music from two episodes, and they couldn't be more different thematically. The first is from a comedic episode that sounds like Looney Tunes. The second, though, is what I use it for.
The music is low, dark, and dissonant. It's unnerving, without being intrusive. There are no recognizable themes (except for the opening/closing credits music) and lasts for about 45 minutes. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Emilie Autumn - Laced/Unlaced: a lot of violin tracks (classical covers) for urban/tavern/inn scenarios and the few harder tracks (keyboard/elec. guitars) seem ideal for haunted castle encounters.
I've always kept the Extreme Ghostbusters Score Music by Jim Latham handy ever since he released them as a free download on his website.
They're awesome short little discordantly creepy pieces of mood music which got a serious workout during my running of Skinsaw Murders.
I believe he's taken them down due to bandwidth reasons but they're now hosted HERE.
Ay ay ay! Keep 'em coming ya'll!
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Salem's Lot (2004)Christopher Gordon & Lisa Gerrard (DCD, many soundtracks)
Aria
Main
Some action pieces and more melancholy stuff - good variety
One very good track (well, just a good band) which might fit -10 minutes out of 21
Godflesh - Pure II
Used to use it for my Chill games, excellent background music.
The album is heavy dark grind industrial - doesn't fit fantasy gaming, but if you can purchase the one track or pick up the cd for cheap it won't disappoint
I second/third/whatever the various Silent Hill video game soundtracks. I recently used them when I ran my first ever Call of Cthulhu game. The awesome horror music from those soundtracks really set the mood for the game.
I didn't play the spooky/creepy music the whole time, just when the players were in a situation where something "could" happen to them. It really put the players on the edge of their seats and brought the tension levels right up. You could literally see the fear in the players' eyes whenever I reached for the play button on my iPod.
It was the first time I've ever noticed that the background music has had such a big impact on my game.
Olaf the Stout
Great to see mentions of Akira Yamaoka's Silent Hill and Michiru Yamane's Castlevania.
No question I'll be using those soundtracks.
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Let me add onto this, since I've gone through my music files again recently:
*Saya no Uta: The soundtrack is short, but creepy as all get out.
*Bram Stoker's Dracula: The movie is excellent, the soundtrack is fantastic.
*Dark City: Heavy and oppressive at times, sharp and frantic at others; still a great pick.
*Jigoku Shoujo: The soundtracks to the three seasons of this anime (translated name: Hell Girl) are worth getting for the tracks called "Jigoku Rock" and "Jigoku Metal" alone.
*Ravenous: Get it. Love it.
*Vampire Princess Miyu: The OST to the TV series (not the OAV) is simply one of the best anime soundtracks ever produced.
Hope those help!
Jeremy Puckett
There's some good stuff on the Chrono Trigger soundtrack
It's not an easy CD to find, but Estimating the Time of Death by an obscure project called
Note: I do not endorse or share the beliefs/viewpoints of Rozz Williams, Chuck Collision, or any other members of that project.
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My current "Fright Night" playlist on my iPod includes:
- The Lacrimosa from Mozart's requiem
- The "Blink" suite and "Unicorn and the Wasp" from the Doctor Who soundtracks (Seasons two and four)
One thing I've found works well for making the players stop and stare is to throw a single song that has lyrics - right now I have "Valhalla's Feast" by Albannach, which gets bonus points for having a crow cawing.
I will definitely be checking out the many awesome suggestions to begin building a proper music library.
The score to the video game Riven: The Sequel to Myst is creepy, unobtrusive, and full of mystery. Highly recommended, particularly for horror games. (All of the Myst STs are great for gaming background music, actually, but Riven's specifically has a slightly darker, creepier edge.)
For creepy stuff, I cannot go past the Thief: Deadly Shadows Offical Soundtrack.
It is atmospheric and ominous; working well when reading flavor text. I played Deadly Shadows some years ago, and memories of the Shalebridge Cradle still gives me chills.
The best thing is that the music is not intrusive.
Some of my favorites are:
How to describe it? Ambient as most game music is, but very eldritch and dark; suitable for gothic horror or any driven-darkly campaign. It is something that you have to listen to yourself. Fans of Eric Brosius' work (Thief, Thief 2, Thief:Deadly Shadows and System Shock 2) will know what I mean. You can find most of the OST content here to get a better understanding.
If a person has access to the Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide, pages 39 to 42 has a good list of music that would more than likely be appropriate to Carrion Crown.
And I have to second the Ravenous Soundtrack. Been creeping out players with that one for years.
Manuel de Falla, Dance of Terror
Krzysztof Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence
Krzysztof Penderecki, Polymorphy
Krzysztof Penderecki - Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima
Frederick Chopin, Funeral March
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Prelude Op.3 No.2 in C-sharp minor
Charles Ives, Robert Browning Overture
Bela Bartók - Out of Doors, BB 89 Sz.81 - 3. Musettes
Dmitry Shostakovich Symphony No. 10, mvmt. 2
Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony no. 2 "to October" mvt. 1 Largo
Several selections from Delerium
Riptide 777, I really like your selections. I will use some of those extensively in future games.
Thanks. :-) More to come when I get the chance.
It's not an easy CD to find, but Estimating the Time of Death by an obscure project called ** spoiler omitted ** is strange, haunting, and worthy of horror games. I used this album to great effect, during a horror-based adventure I ran for D&D several years back. The players were scared out of their minds the entire time.
Note: I do not endorse or share the beliefs/viewpoints of Rozz Williams, Chuck Collision, or any other members of that project.
Dude, these samples are genuinely creepy. I've also been going through music samples by Williams' primary project, Christian Death, and there's a lot of horrorshow goodness in their work. Thanks for the tip off on this!
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Serenity. For both creepy mood music and high intensity battles:
Escape
Trading Station Robbery
River Goes Wild
River and Simon
Population Dead
Haven Destroyed
Mal Decides
Crash Landing
Run to Black
Generator Room
Mal and Op fight
Final Battle
Ligeti's Lux Æterna (2001: A Space Odyssey)
OSTs:
John Carpenter, In the Mouth of Madness; esp. "Hobb's End Escape" & "The Portal Opens"
Pino Donaggio, Carrie(1976); esp. "Collapse Of Carrie's Home" & "School In Flames"
Various Artists, Shutter Island; esp. "Fog Tropes," "Rothko Chapel 2," "Uaxuctum," & "Lizard Point"
Brian Tyler and Klaus Badelt, Constantine; esp. "Destiny" & "Ether Surfing"
Brian Reitzell, 30 Days of Night; esp. "Girl Bait," "They Didn't Take Me," & "Overture"
There's a few things from when I put together my Age of Worms soundtrack that should work well.
Here's some that stand out to me...
Claude Debussy, Assez vif et bien rhythme
Claude Debussy, Nuages
Yasunori Mitsuda, Dead Sea - Ruined Tower (Chrono Cross OST)
Fryderyk Chopin, Prelude for piano No. 2 in A minor ('Presentiment of Death')
Nine Inch Nails, 5 Ghosts I (There's a lot of good ambient stuff on this album)
Motoi Sakuraba, Lakes and Marshes with Doubt (Star Ocean: Till the End of Time OST)
Enya, Pax Deorum
Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral
Nine Inch Nails, Ripe (With Decay)
Jerry Goldsmith, The Alien Planet (Alien OST)
Erik Satie, Gnossienne No.1
Erik Satie, Gnossienne No. 3
anyone considered setting up a Pandora station for this music?