D&D 5E [Gaming Aids] Sound effects

[Sacrosanct]

Often over the years while playing we would have music playing in the background. Don't ask me why or how it started. All I know is that from my first sessions in 1981 listening to the Scorpions and Journey, to soundtracks today, it's just something that's been there often. But I haven't really done much sound effects.

Yesterday's session I set up the bluetooth speaker on the far side, behind the players, and sporadically throughout the game, I'd secretly hit play on a sound effect. We were playing Felk Mor, which is a dungeon crawl with Lovecraftian elements to it. It's one thing as a DM to describe visuals, smells, and sounds the PCs are experiencing, but I found it a LOT more engaging when the player is describing how they are searching the hallway and suddenly they hear a series of anguished whispers telling them to leave. Or the constant sound of water dripping that suddenly transitions into echoed footsteps.

I didn't play the sound effects all the time, but when it was appropriate. In this particular area of the underground temple, they were random, and always off in the distance, impossible to pin down.

I have to say it worked very well. There were a couple times when I could definitely feel the players on edge themselves. And I grinned inwardly I've always been a fan of player handouts; something tangible for them to feel in the game, from illustrations, to scrolls, to potions, to puzzles. Using sound effects is going to be added to my toolbox from here on out.

Curious to see if anyone else has regularly used these.

 

[Imaculata]

I always play both music and sound effects in the background. If the players are in a tavern, I have tavern sounds of glasses and loud people singing. If they are outside in a city, I have the sounds of merchants yelling and loudly advertising their wears. And at sea I have crashing waves, and in the jungle I have all sorts of jungle sounds.

For dungeons I have a broad mix of various sounds of dripping water, strange creepy echoes, and sounds of strange creatures.

 

[wedgeski]

It's something I'm growing into. Last year saw me running my first online game and with the right tools, mixing music and sound into the stream is so easy, it's almost criminal not to do it. It worked very well, so I'll probably introduce it to my tabletop as well.

Bluetooth speaker controlled from phone sounds like the way to go, for sure.

 

[phantomK9]

I always play both music and sound effects in the background. If the players are in a tavern, I have tavern sounds of glasses and loud people singing. If they are outside in a city, I have the sounds of merchants yelling and loudly advertising their wears. And at sea I have crashing waves, and in the jungle I have all sorts of jungle sounds.

For dungeons I have a broad mix of various sounds of dripping water, strange creepy echoes, and sounds of strange creatures.

Do you use a specific program or have you done the mixing yourself?

I've recently started using a bluetooth speaker paired to my phone and then amazon music library to simply play a background soundtrack (mostly various tracks from Morrowind, Oblivion, The Witcher 1&2 plus a few others). Would love to be able to drop a neat sound affect on top of that.

 

[Li Shenron]

There are softwares available specifically for this purpose, but they are not free AFAIK.

We've been using Spotify (continuous music, not sounds effects) with properly built playlists for different environments: landscapes, battlefields, dungeons, taverns... It takes some time to build lists that last long enough to avoid being repetitive, so the key is not to try and "finalize" them in the first evening, just keep them as WIP and add more songs as you find them

Battle music is the easiest. Just scour historical/adventure movie soundtracks, there are thousands

For other environments, I suggest you check out the following:

landscapes > Brian Eno*, Vangelis
temples, holy places > Enya
taverns > Penguin Cafè Orchestra
dungeons > Brian Eno*, Goblin

*Eno is a known master of ambient music, you can find of him awesome songs both of light and darkness

 

[Z. H. Darkstar]

If you're looking to go in the other direction for a more light-hearted approach, InstantButtons is a good soundboard app that has plenty of pop culture soundbytes and the ability to add your own buttons.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

I have an app on my iPad and iPhone called DMDJ. It's relatively cheap and has both music, ambient sounds, and various sound effects.

I don't use it all the time, but when I do it definitely can add to the game.

 

[TailleferTheWise]

I also regularly use www.tabletopaudio.com but also have been using tracks from www.ambient-mixer.com lately with good effect. The latter has mobile apps for Android and iProducts, as well.

 

[Cyan Wisp]

Whenever someone casts Moonbeam, I play "Dancing Queen" by Abba.

 

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