I will be running a campaign in a few months and was considering incorporating background music as suggested in the Gamemastery Guide I would appreciate any opinions regarding incorporating music and would really appreciate any feedback regarding other peoples actual experience with background music.
Did the players enjoy it, find it distracting, or even care?
Should it be on at all times or only for important events?
If you have successfully used music before could you suggest some good music for towns, dungeons, castles, and wilderness themes etc.
Thanks to everyone in advance.
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I use music in "old-style" with a CD-player using music from the Braveheart soundtrack and Witcher comp game soundtracks. I go with instrumental, no voices. I haven't invested in the ambient sound CDs for inns, etc., but am curious for those who have.
In any case, my players seem to like having a little noise running rather than silence. We also play at our local gaming store often as there's a background hum of other tables and dice. I'm not so convinced it's my music as just having background energy noise.
Sometimes, though less often then not.
Never anything with lyrics.
We always use music...
some film sound tracks, Baldurs gate I + II sounds, NWN ...etc
DM is the only one allowed a PC/Laptop for music and looking up monster stats.. ;-)
Breiti
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I used to have two cd's that I tried out for a while, Battle Music and Exploration Music. It would have worked better if I could have played with the lighting some, but it was not at my home, and there were little kids running around while we gamed, so we tend to keep the lights up.
In my current campaign (Legacy of Fire) I'll play some arabian-style music softly on my laptop. Just enough that you hear it if you listen for it, but not loud enough to be distracting. In fact a couple of times the tracks have stopped and I hadn't even noticed, until there was a lull in conversation and I was like, "It's quiet... TOO quiet..." ;)
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I have several gigabytes of music that I use as regular parts of my campaign soudtrack. I tend to create individual adventure playlists and use music stings to heighten the mood. I use both pure instrumental music and lyrical music, classical (and classical-sounding) and modern. It really depends on the campaign in question, but I use music almost constantly in my games. My players seem to appreciate it.
Jeremy Puckett
Most of mine I stream from places like Radio Rivendell, aol music (FF soundtracks), and Streaming Soundtracks when I can get them to work on the uni comps, since I'm usually running a game there.
I seldom use music in my face-to-face games (too distracting), but I am constantly linking to musical tracks and even entire albums in my PbP games. Battles, songs performed by the characters, and even plays attended by the party are all fair game.
Muahahah, here is where I'm a viking.
I have the following soundtracks: Final Fantasy iv, vi, vii, viii, viii orchestra version, Xenogears, Chrono Trigger, Age of Conan, Carnivale, Battlestar Galactica, Gladiator, Diablo 2, and a few others.
I have playlists set up with certain tracks from all of these sources plus more. Some of my playlist titles include: "Determined Determination" "A Mysterious Encounter" "A Fight" "The Final Fight" "Overland Travel" "Under the Earth" "Safe Area" "Company of Friends" etc.
Each of these playlists suits a certain time of play. Random/non-essential encounter? A Fight. Final boss of the module? Final Fight. Long travels? Overland. In a dungeon? Under the Earth. An NPC telling them a spooky or interesting story? Mysterious Encounter.
The point is, I can quickly turn on music that suits the mood. And I do it. And my players love it.
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Did the players enjoy it, find it distracting, or even care?
From my experiance the overall response was good. If it's music that fit the world/adventure/situation they really liked it.
Sometimes the music can be distracting depending on who it is. Other times it helped them focus and wake up.Ex. Our paladin works long days, so he tends to "rest his eyes" on occasion. This was fixed with the Conan soundtrack. Which is fitting for most adventures.
Should it be on at all times or only for important events?
We do most of the time (sometimes we forget to turn it on). It doesn't hurt to have a little background noise as someone has said. Be aware of volumes on all the tracks you choose. That can throw off the vibe.
We use specific songs for battles. Couple songs on the conan soundtrack. Someone mentioned Braveheart.
If you have successfully used music before could you suggest some good music for towns, dungeons, castles, and wilderness themes etc.
Google "Sea Shanty Music" for a list of songs good for sea voyages and seadock taverns. Sometimes a little irish or celtic folk music.
Enya I like alot for forest travel and wilderness.
Conan soundtrack for all purpose.
My wife is a belly dancer so I steal some music from her for desert travel and adventures...( Katapesh, Osirion, etc.) Pentaphobe is a good desert artist. And Tribal Derviations album by Beats Antique is good.
Braveheart soundtrack. Also which can mix it up a bit is the new age kung fu movie soundtracks. (Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, House of flying daggers, (just to name the popular ones)). Very orchresta stuff.
Abney Parks's Lost Horizion I have used as background for Grand Lodge adventures.
Pi soundtrack for Dungeon crawls.
Any Darren Aronofksy(director) movie soundtracks (produced by Clint Mansel) works for the dark dungeon crawls. Or brooding dark full moon rainy nights. etc.
Set up a radio station on pandora sometimes that will help you out as well, if you can stream over a computer.
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Music can be great. It really adds to the experience and isn't too distracting as long as there's no lyrics (as stated by others.)
The biggest distraction (in my opinion) is the fumbling around with the CD player, MP3 player, or what have you. Say you finish a dungeon, with victory music playing in the background for the BBEG finish-off. The players walk back to town and you change the music which can take 30 seconds to a minute depending on whether or not you have to change CDs, try to remember which track it was, etc. So now you have the ambient inn music playing. The players rest and get ready to go now you change the music to the normal background music. Another 30 seconds to a minute. See my delima?
This is the only reason I don't use background music but some people really enjoy it.
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I use music constantly in my games. Not only do i have the normal playlists - battle, explore, creepy, ect. i generally have three or four tracks that have the same melodies or tunes to be the theme of a country or the main villian. I use the Nazgul pieces from the LOTR soundtracks to represent my villian, for example. But definitely only classical or soundtracks....NO vocals.
My players are ok with it, but could honestly care less if we played with it or not. I have a player who visibly cringes with most of the music that i play, she far prefers (and i kid you not) - pop music, techno, or classic rock for her games....and we play in a fantasy setting. But she's played so many video games that she knows, for example, the explore music from Oblivion by heart and starts talking about walking through Cyrodil in the middle of the game or how this part was when this happened in this game and/or movie. that's actually kinda annoying.
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Dragon magazine published an article on just this subject, from which I got "Low Evil" from the Fog of War soundtrack. Like many of the posters, I steer away from music with lyrics. I presently have two working playlists: one for city and one for the dungeon. Sundtracks include the classics: Lord of the Rings, Braveheart, and the like. I also use Albannach and Wicked Tinkers for a bit of Scottish flavor. For the dungeon, I've thrown in a couple of weird ones to make the players stop and wonder, "What in the name of John Williams is that?". Currently I use "Winky in C Minor" by Dr. Steel.
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I use background music some of the time. If you have it on all the time, everyone tunes it out or can even be distracted by it. But music is great to create a certain mood or to communicate to the players that what's coming up next is really special.
I like old soundtracks that the players won't recognize immediately. Mysterious Island by Bernard Herrmann is great. Sometimes the music should work against the action.
One time the PCs were trapped by a storm in a cave and they just had to wait. They knew the enemy was out there stalking them in the storm. While they made preparations for the inevitable battle I put on Pan's Labyrinth. I just had it low in the background, but they really got freaked out and scared. Without the music the whole wait would have been a bore and I'd have probably just jumped to the battle. With the music, they started suspecting each other of betraying of the party and got themselves all worked up even before the monster arrived.
The problem with music that they immediately recognize is that they start thinking about the movie or other circumstances where they've heard that music.
For great battle music, listen to soundtracks from the oldies -- Jason and the Argonauts, Sinbad, etc.
I've run and played games with music, but have usually found it to be more of a distraction than an aid. I haven't tried any of the specially made gaming soundtracks though.
Always, creepy ambiance makes dungeons creepier and cheesy metal guitar solos make combat more enjoyable. I stay clear of lyrics as mentioned earlier, though.
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Setting up a nice background playlist is nice; for our legacy of fire game I have a blend of songs from Lawrence of Arabia and Indiana Jones and stuff; trying to pull up songs for specific battles or villains tends to backfire though. Takes too long to find the song and pull it up and the song doesn't last as long as you need it to.
I might add a couple here: Interview with the Vampire ST has a couple and if you can find it the "Nightmare Creatures" soundtrack is great but I imagine is hard to find because it is an old playstation one game.
I have found that a well placed track can make a pretty bland encounter pretty memorable. Ex: I put a group against a Wheep and played a track called "The hands of small children" by Marilyn Manson during the fight and one of the players said later that he had nightmares about it later :)
Our GM uses background music during games. She likes a lot of different sources, but I'll let Deathquaker speak for herself. I use it to get ready for a game too. I associate different songs with different characters. Even have a playlist for getting ready for this game.
Mostly, I have the feeling that something is missing when there isn't any music, and that something is out of place when there is.
I played with a DM that was really good with music selection YEARS ago and I remember that it made a huge difference. I wish I had this skill to do the same for my players...
'findel
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I must be the lone one out - I have played on two adventures with music while one was ok the other was distracting so unless the music is supposed to add to the feel of the adventure (eg. actually set for it) then I would rather it not be there
while I like music eg. battlestar galactica or diablo2 themes they are not for D&D adventure so I would possibly ask the DM to turn off or at elast a fair way down
Ask players before you start if they are okay with music and let them know that if you use it, they can, at any time ask you to stop.
I've found that background music is distracting enough for me that I can't focus on conversation, my character sheet (ie trying to add bonuses together), etc that it actively makes me miserable if someone tries to use it. It is always easier if the GM asks before playing music, because it gives me a chance to say no, rather than have to work up the courage to ask the GM (or another player) to turn it off.
I love the idea of soundtracks to tabletop RPGs, but it really only works if everyone at the table has the same taste, or at the least, the same musical background.
This is evident with the poster above who mentioned videogame rpg soundtracks -- she hears the quality of the music whereas someone else might just hear that it's techno. When my D&D group was all teenagers, we found Leaether Strip's "Serenade for the Dead," to be the perfect epic-sounding background music for a grand battle, but I suspect most of the people I play with now would find symphonic metal cheesy. And I wouldn't much like to be subjected to five hours of eighties pop and excerpts from Avenue Q.
Still, if you can get everyone on the same page -- and any changes you make you can make REALLY quick -- go for it. How awesome would it be to start Bach's Toccata and Fugue when your players arrive at the vampire's castle?
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Absolutely. I tend to be a movie soundtrack "purists" and shy away from video game tracks (of course, I also don't play video games as a rule ...)
I spent a good amount of time amassing a large number of what I feel are some great movie soundtracks for gaming. I then pulled the best tracks from each one and burned custom game soundtracks CDs - now have a 12 volume set! 12 CDs filled with more than 200 great tracks of music we can play during our games - over 14 hours ... not to mention the CDs are really fun to listen to LOUD in the car :)
Here are the main soundtracks that make up the 12 disc set. By main, I mean there was a LOT of great stuff on these and I ended up choosing a significant number of tracks from each one. There are assorted single songs from a number of other soundtracks as well to round the collection out, but these CDs served as my primary sources:
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
A LONG and involved project, but it was worth it!
Of course, I still continue to pick up sountracks, so I can't rule out a Vol. 13 and 14 at some point ... :)
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Music can be great. It really adds to the experience and isn't too distracting as long as there's no lyrics (as stated by others.)
The biggest distraction (in my opinion) is the fumbling around with the CD player, MP3 player, or what have you. Say you finish a dungeon, with victory music playing in the background for the BBEG finish-off. The players walk back to town and you change the music which can take 30 seconds to a minute depending on whether or not you have to change CDs, try to remember which track it was, etc. So now you have the ambient inn music playing. The players rest and get ready to go now you change the music to the normal background music. Another 30 seconds to a minute. See my delima?
This is the only reason I don't use background music but some people really enjoy it.
I used to dismiss the use of music in my games for the exact same reason. Then I got a music player with a remote control. With the ability to switch between playlists at the push of a button, it made most of the switched between theme and mood seamless.
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I ran a Call of Cthulhu game in which I created a custom soundtrack from my collection from the Midnight Syndicate. I used a free music editing software called Audacity to extend certain tracks, add SFX, loop certain phrases and even mess with the stereo balance (the sound of a crow gradually moving from the left to the right). It was a lot of fun to make, it added a lot of atmosphere to the scripted scenario, and it creeped my players out to no end.
There are other audio packages out there tailored to RPG games to you can easily cue up tracks and add SFX when you need to. IIRC, one is called Scene Sound.
I use music all the time, makes a great distraction!
On a more serious note, we pretty much view music as a nice touch, but too much of a burden to plan and implement.
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We have settled on leaving the LotR soundtrack playing in the background. It suits Rise of the Runelords and I can imagine using it for Kingmaker but we might use something else for other APs. I have some really cool arabian jazz that I'm going to use for Legacy of Fire: Check it out.
We have it on quietly all of the time so that it isn't jarring, it just sets a mood for the evening.
It also cuts out other interruptive noises from outside that might break our immersion.
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I think it varies greatly upon the group.
And one thing it does weigh heavily upon is the setting for the campaign. I wouldn't exactly use the Hobbiton theme music for ambience in a Ravenloft campaign, for example. What I do is build three playlists: Battle Music, Background Music, and Traveling Music. Background is the easiest, just simple filler music for between scenes. Traveling would be wilderness stuff, which I've built using overworld music from several RPG's (Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, etc.) and less ominous OST music from epic films. Battle music I plug in hard rock usually, depending on the encounter. My group helped me build it, so they're pretty cool with it. I dunno how it would work with other groups, we're pretty weird :P
All about Dead Can Dance.
A lot of their music fits almost every single game type and situation. The only activity it doesn't fit is combat-- which a majority of console roleplaying games have two to up to six different themes for combat per game, so it's covered there.
I got turned on to them thanks to a much older music suggestion thread and I really couldn't be more appreciative.
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All about Dead Can Dance.
A lot of their music fits almost every single game type and situation. The only activity it doesn't fit is combat-- which a majority of console roleplaying games have two to up to six different themes for combat per game, so it's covered there.
I got turned on to them thanks to a much older music suggestion thread and I really couldn't be more appreciative.
+1
Here are the main soundtracks that make up the 12 disc set. By main, I mean there was a LOT of great stuff on these and I ended up choosing a significant number of tracks from each one. There are assorted single songs from a number of other soundtracks as well to round the collection out, but these CDs served as my primary sources:
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
Great stuff... I use most of these and a few others...
Transformers 2 soundtrack (I'm really trying to get the first one but it's hard to find for some reason...)
1492
Avatar
SOME Star Wars themes
Survivor Soundtrack
Mortal Combat
and a few new age CDs (like Phillip Glass and Peter Buffet)
I've also dubbed some tunes from the Tomb Raider games, Final Fantasy Tactics and Diablo 2.
lol... I've even used an old audio clip from the 1966 Batman series when a brawl broke out in a tavern. Fun times.
Ultradan
I never have. Well, maybe that's not quite true -- I think I might have had "Ray Stevens' Greatest Hits" playing during a game of "Toon", once.
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All about Dead Can Dance.
A lot of their music fits almost every single game type and situation. The only activity it doesn't fit is combat-- which a majority of console roleplaying games have two to up to six different themes for combat per game, so it's covered there.
I got turned on to them thanks to a much older music suggestion thread and I really couldn't be more appreciative.
Yeah, I've been using DCD for years, and there at least one epic combat track I can think of - and by epic I mean endgame (think good guy and bad guy finally clashing swords right at the opening)
Summoning of the Muse
From Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
IDK, it could be the bells - always reminds me of battle, it mellows out at the end but it's a good ending. Brooding and powerful, overall a good opening track to an final battle.
It's all about ambient music. Movies aren't so good at this - their music tends to be more aimed at being LOUD and EPIC and EXCITING and DROWNING OUT THE ACTUAL GAME. It leads to people paying more attention to the suddenly blaring of horns and trumpets then they are the rats they're fighting.
Shadow of the Colossus, Aquaria, Fallout 1 & 2, Planescape Torment, Breath of Fire 4...a lot of video game music and soundtracks, I've found, are far better. Shadow of the Colossus especially has an absurdly good soundtrack of ambient music.
When a big fight would break out, our DM occasionally played music from Conan the Barbarian. I also recall some bit from the LotR soundtrack for a meeting in the elven court. Otherwise, not so much.
Some players love it, some players hate it, but for those who love it, it can really make the whole game better. My players now ask me to put music whenever we play and with a good mp3 player plugged on speakers next to the game table, it's easy to create a nice feel.
"You're doing it all wrong" - music edition.
Well, music more or less started the trend ;)
"If you've already heard of it, it's too mainstream for me."
Thanks so much for all the various piece or soundtrack suggestions everyone. I will be sure to ask my players for their opinions as well but the positive feedback everyone's been giving has me excited.
I gladly welcome any more input.
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Great, epic music during a big battle is a must!
I recall in a recent game, we battled a Pit Fiend. It was an awesome battle - just before the battle started, Duel of the Fates (Star Wars Phantom Menace) starts playing on one of the afore mentioned soundtrack compilations. It was perfect.
Then, as if on cue, during the one cool, almost frantic part of the song, my character (a Vanguard from SGG) made a valiant attempt to attack the Pit Fiend and get out of his way at the same time ... and got killed, right as the music swelled!
It was quite a cool, dramatic moment and having good music as a backdrop really enhanced the moment.
I still think of it anytime I hear Duel of the Fates!
I find that music distracts me or i can't hear what someone is saying. Our group voted not to have music.
I have tried music before but it has generally been unsuccessful. In my experience it either didnt have enough of an impact to make a real difference or it was more trouble then it was worth, or both.
Either the music is too low, or not synched with what is going on in game, or it is too loud, and the dm has to spend time changing songs to match the current situation that could be used on moving the game along.