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Just crossed my mind. I picked up the two Deadlands soundtrack albums they had for sale at GenCon, and just now started listening to the first one. A bit synthy for a supernatural western soundtrack, but it does help set the mood. I've also long been using and listening to instrumental tracks from bands from all over the place, like Nightwish, Hybrid, Two Steps From Hell, and Celldweller, along with numerous videogame soundtracks like Devil May Cry and Silent Hill(all of which got use during CotCT). That got me to thinking: What if Paizo did the same thing?
I know they already sell a number of such products for general use, like Nox Arcana's album, and the suggested music lists in the back of their books tend towards wide-ranging and eclectic, which is really nice. But what if Paizo were to put together albums, be it in physical format or over iTunes, specifically for Golarion?
The biggest hurdle would probably be to settle on what kind of music to use. As mentioned before, the suggested music appendix, which probably had different suggestions spread out across the staff, is all over the place. I see that as a strength in that context, but when putting an album together...it could get tricky. There's also the matter of Golarion itself covering a lot of ground. Music appropriate for Taldor might not be appropriate for Geb or Osirion, and that's before you get into different kinds of adventures and campaigns(high fantasy, urban noir, horror, etc.). You don't even have to get into Golarion to run into the problem of narrowing down the range: The core game itself isn't bound to Western European Fantasy or that specific sort of tone. It fits as well with the Lord of the Rings soundtrack as it does with something BT might put together.
If Paizo were to ever go down this route, how would they likely arrange it? Would it be played relatively safe and standard with culture-appropriate symphonic ambience(not that there's anything wrong with that), or would there be an anachronistic metal or electronic edge here and there as well? Would such a line be divided by the regions it was meant to evoke or by campaign genre, theme, and tone? Would a Varisia album feature background music appropriate for Varisian and Shoanti locales, and leitmotifs for the major locales like Korvosa and Kaer Maga? Or themes dedicated to specific entities, like the Sandpoint Devil? Or would it be arranged by mood and theme(slums of the cities, goblin antics, etc.)?
Hmmm...
Hey Mikaze,
I actually have gone a whole long way down this path. I in fact wrote a program for myself, to play the music (spaced out like in a movie) and grouped into SoundSets, and ALSO I added sound effects... I have been sharing it on-line for a few years. I've had such positive feedback that I'm actually RIGHT NOW in the process of re-releasing it cross platform (supporting PC and MAC and Androids and iPhones/Pads/Pods), hopefully next month.
It's called Syrinscape, and if you are interested in this kind of thing, you should really check it out.
www.syrinscape.com
or
www.facebook.com/Syrinscape
You can see a video of the OLD version here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOFeLaDMkOc
The new version is going to be all-kinds-of-awesome better!
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The problem with background music is that film-makers know when the battle is about to begin, when the respite to hide will be, when the playful bit of banter happens...
GMs can't anticipate players in the same way.
For generic heroic fantasy you can always just play the LotR soundtrack in the background.
Another problem is control, choice and taste: if a film-maker chooses music I don't like then I have to suck it up; if my GM puts on cheesy hair-metal I'll ask him to stop.
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I use Background music to keep up the atmosphere. I downloaded all the Monkey Island Soundtracks for that express purpose. The Hobbit has been great for the Varisia section of Jade Regent (Next Skyrim, then Icewind Dale).
Video game soundtracks are pretty good for general atmosphere, and I make Soundtracks based on Terrain/Mood/Action and then just hit shuffle on a playlist depending on context. My players enjoy the atmosphere. I want to start layering Sound Effects into the mix (ocean sounds, sword clangs, creepy creaks etc) building up a soundscape to texture my verbal descriptions. See the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons episode of Community for examples.
As someone who is going to start a carrion crown campaign sooner or later i'd love to see your playlist for that
Hey Swny!
Check out our series of Videos of us playing through "Haunting of Harrowstone" for ideas of how we used music and sound at our table...
The videos get better as they go along, but the first one is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYCN82whurQ
Benjamin