D&D Music / Soundtracks?

Do any of you guys use music to accent your games? If so, what kind (as in, modern stuff or is it like msotly instrumental/classical stuff?)

I seem to remember an issue of Dragon Magazine a couple years ago, (I believe that it was the "funny" or "whacky" issue if that means anything...) That had a whole skew of different songs and when they should be use / what setting to use them in. Anyone know the issue that I'm speaking of? I'd like to get a copy of those lists.

Or does anyone just use their own selection of music? If so, what songs and when? I'm thinking a little Metallica might spruce up our game (with appropiately placed songs, of course...)

Synthetik Fish said:

I believe that it was the "funny" or "whacky" issue if that means anything...)

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It means that it was an April issue.

A lot of instrumental music has made its way into my games, both played and DMed, usually soundtracks to movies or video games (especially Final Fantasy). F'r instance, the Battle of Endor music from Return of the Jedi was very very good at pacing and accenting a climactic battle towards the end of the last campaign I played in.

Demiurge out.

Soundtracks that I use:
Minibosses videogame remixes
Trigun
Last Samurai
Eberron
Final Fantasy Orchestral versions
The Good, The Bad, the Ugly
Some Kill Bill/Tarantino music

Really, 50% catering to collective tastes, 50% fantasy music. I picked all of it based on

1) Must be cool
2) Music spans a variety of moods, although trying to make those moods adaptable to different circumstances (thus, none would be "reflective" "love scene" or "brooding"),
3) Not being so loud or intense to demand immediate attention
4) No silences followed by loud noises (highly distracting),
5) None that was excessively slow or downer feeling (if it hits when the game's exciting, it sucks, and if the game's boring, it sucks). The Lonely Shepherd from the Kill Bill soundtrack is about as far in this direction as you can go, and even that's borderline.
6) No vocals - they compete for the attention the DM should have.

What I ended up with is a soundtrack that, most crucially, doesn't demand any attention by me. I find player moods slot into the music, so rather than trying to control the tempo, I make sure my soundtrack meshes nicely in random order and then play towards whatever mood it sets up (battle scenes to steady, cool music are really awesome, as are battle scenes with fast, upbeat music, so you can see how it all works). So I guess I'd advise trying to stay away from the "carefully placed" aspects of soundtrack work, and just flow with it - it's really, really hard to keep a combat to a song length, and when it changes tracks it can be really random.

One thing I've learned, though, NEVER try to just have battle music. You forget to change it, and every goes completely nuts hearing the same track over and over again. Had a DM who used one track from Pirates of the Caribbean as his battle music, over and over again, and it drove us completely bats. Can't even watch the movie without gritting my teeth.

I plan on using the music from Diablo II (available for free from the blizzard website) to provide ambience for my upcoming underdark-centric game. I plan on playing it low-volume, almost to the point of inaudibility, to keep it from being e distraction.

I love this topic, though it is a recurring one...there's a thread on it every 2 months or so.

For our Star Wars games, I use the Star Wars soundtrack CDs (duh ).

For D&D, I have a variety of other movie soundtracks I'll use:
- Lord of the Rings
- Stargate
- The Mummy / The Mummy Returns
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- King Arthur
- Henry V

We use them for background / atmospheric music; I usually don't try to match up specific tracks with specific scenes in-game.

Definitely orchestral music with a variety of moods. Beyond that, one CD that is frequently used during our gaming sessions is the Resident Evil soundtrack. One time, the opening sample of the little British girl saying, "You're all going to die down here." played just as we entered the mouth of this cave It was priceless. Though, in truth, only one out of six didn't return, and he didn't actually die.

If you have Winamp player, check out Radio Rivendell on the Shoucast radio. It is all instumental Fantasy music.

Synthetik Fish said:

Do any of you guys use music to accent your games?

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No. I hate it. Incredibly distracting.

Midnight Syndicate has an "officially licensed" product, a D&D soundtrack CD. I've used just a few tracks, quietly in the background, and it DOES add atmosphere.

But use it too much, and it loses its specialness.
And if it's too loud, it's a distraction.

I highly recommend the MS CD, particularly the "spookier" tracks.