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I'm always looking for music to make into my D&D (or whatever RPG we're playing at the time) playlists.
What have you been listening to that you like for your game?
I find iTunes store to be helpful because of their sampling they offer. But then I see if I can get it from the library. ;)
I'm a big videogamer, I usually find that soundtracks to computer or console RPGs do the best job. They beat out movie scores in my book because movie scores can cover several different atmospheres or emotional extremes in a single track or scene, where game music is meant to loop so each track is meant for one particular "feel."
The soundtracks to Bioware games (Dragon Age, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect) are really good for fantasy and sci-fi games, especially D&D-flavored western fantasy and classic space operas.
Any soundtrack to a Blizzard game tends to get a whole lot of mileage for me, too. Nobody in my group plays World of Warcraft, so using that game's (large) soundtrack gives me a really wide range of extremely atmospheric background music that nobody in my group will recognize. The soundtracks to Diablo 2 and the Starcraft games sometimes come in handy, too.
The soundtracks to recent JRPGs (Final Fantasy and Xenosaga in particular) have also helped me set a good scene, and are generally my favorite for fight scene music. Less so for western-fantasy D&D games, but they're perfect for my Exalted campaigns.
I've also found there are actually a lot of bad (or just uninteresting to me) video games with very good music. Many MMORPGs I don't play still have great scores that set good atmosphere.
For my group in particular, most music with lyrics in a language one of my players knows (English, of course, but I also have a French-speaker in my group) is too distracting, but I've had a great success with music in languages nobody I game with can speak. I do this sparingly, but it really got everyone fired up when one of the climactic scenes of my D&D game had Rammstein's "Mein Herz Brennt" going in the background. Now nobody I game with can hear that song without remembering that particular scene from my game.
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I'm a big videogamer, I usually find that soundtracks to computer or console RPGs do the best job. They beat out movie scores in my book because movie scores can cover several different atmospheres or emotional extremes in a single track or scene, where game music is meant to loop so each track is meant for one particular "feel."
I love iTunes (and I'm sure you can accomplish this on other music programs as well) because you can create a alternate "start" and "finish" on any song. So I can capture the emotional extreme of any song just by altering it a bit. Hell, sometimes I use the same song two or more times but just create copies of it with different start and finish times. :D
That being said, I just purchased the Diablo II soundtrack. So I get your point about video game soundtracks.
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Check these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FPUExZCWwY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5lA3GyuA6M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a5JCpXLcmM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQQ54NNuYTk
The second one was a little too synth-y for me but the rest were killer! Thank you!
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Then I'll add some more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsl5IbcK67c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-ZvGMZ1xm4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4azL6jpH5t4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_EowlYKKJ8&feature=related (I recommend Florent Omnes from them, but coudn't find it on YouTube.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN5RUSNc7Jc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olOamTOTtNI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpud5mCj768
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94J71KbLeiY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUhEsuwp6g8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f4eGQ9MIWM (Two songs in one, be sure to hear them both.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh7HTDQLeTM (This might suit an Andoran parade or ceremony.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qyg8yudIhU8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bRd3TKqPh8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH2mlg_pywA
I have so many more in my favourite list... too bad I can't go searching for them all.
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Good background music is very cool to play during a game. I vastly prefer actual movie (and some TV) soundtracks for this.
I actually have spent a LOT of time amassing some great movie soundtracks for gaming. I even picked the best tracks from these CDs and then created a 12 CD set of custom game tracks that we play during our games.
Yeah, I'm, a geek :)
Here are some of my favorites:
Conan the Barbarian
Braveheart
The Cell
300
Lord of the Rings (all three)
Gladiator
Lost (TV show)
The DaVinci Code
King Kong (new one)
The Last of the Mohicans
Pirates of the Caribbean (all three)
Last of the Mohicans
Alexander
Kingdom of Heaven
King Arthur
The 13th Warrior
Excalibur
Troy
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
Clash of the Titans
Prince of Persia
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (Kevin Cosner version)
Robin Hood (new one)
Star Trek (new one)
The Tudors
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
I would recommend anything by Midnight Syndicate or Nox Arcana.
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I love iTunes (and I'm sure you can accomplish this on other music programs as well) because you can create a alternate "start" and "finish" on any song. So I can capture the emotional extreme of any song just by altering it a bit. Hell, sometimes I use the same song two or more times but just create copies of it with different start and finish times. :D
That being said, I just purchased the Diablo II soundtrack. So I get your point about video game soundtracks.
iTunes: Very yes. My music application of choice for years. Only reason I'm still not using it is because I'm using Ubuntu Linux on my laptops.
I love the Diablo 2 soundtrack. Diablo 2 and the World of Warcraft soundtracks are second to none for setting the perfect atmosphere. I've actually been using the Diablo 2 soundtrack for the background sound in my Exalted game, where the PCs are infiltrating the Imperial Manse.
I noticed that the back of the PFRPG Gamemastery Guide has a pretty good music list, too, on page 311, including some of the best American and Japanese video game soundtracks.
I find that music like Nox Arcana and other ambients can help, though power metal is my inspiration. From Stormwitch to Rhapsody of Fire, just about any can inspire me, and sometimes, like with Rhapsody of Fire, a song just begs to be played during a game.
Guardiani del Destino is a perfect example. It's got a very medieval feel to it, it is strong and best of all (IMO) is the lyrics are sung in Italian, which none of my gamers understand so it sounds like a fantasy language. I plan to use it for a scene where a paladin gets his Divine Bond at his temple.