Use of music in a game session

[Lwaxy]

We make soundtracks for each season of our epic at the end of the season. That way, players can help decide which music fits where (sometimes it is something that has been playing during sessions). And it stops me from having to worry about times music anymore.

I would try again with a small group but with 13 players and sometimes thrice that in characters it is just not doable.

 

[aboyd]

Has anyone mastered the use of music as a gaming component beyond background, mood music?

I'm running the Cage of Delirium module; it comes with a soundtrack. I do use it. The players like it and request it when I get weary of it and want it off. Of course, they may notice that I am weary of it and ask for it just to drive me crazy.

It mostly is used to set up a creepy mood (it's a haunted house module). However, it has a few tracks that include speech or secret messages. These tracks have to be played when characters enter certain areas or handle certain objects. So far, it has been fun.

Never would I try to have "hero music" or "dangerous combat music" or similar. Too much juggling. Just finding the correct track and hitting "play" when the characters enter a room is enough of a distraction.

I have, however, considered pre-recording speech for one NPC. The NPC is vile, powerful, and otherworldly. I would probably think of the 20 or 30 most likely interactions the players would have with this NPC, record the responses myself, and then alter the voice a whole lot to sound creepy and inhuman. Using audio for that one very important NPC might be something I eventually do.

Also, my players at one point commissioned a bard to create a song about their exploits -- the bard created a bar song about them, rather than an ode or something. There is a local band that writes jigs and pirate music, and I've bookmarked their site with the idea that I might hire them at some point to put the bard's lyrics to music.

So that's another way that music might creep into my game.

 

[tyrlaan]

I don't have anything as fancy as thrill buttons, but I scour any instrumental content (movie scores and the like) I can get my hands on and categorize them based on the mood they convey. (example moods - fight, town, inn, journey, mystery, eerie, etc) From there I dump the playlists on my ipod and have easy access to changing what's playing at any given moment.

 

[KayeoticNeutral]

Let the music help set the mood... don't throw your player's off by playing eery, spooky music from The Sixth Sense while travelling through a peaceful village of Dwarves... however, if a creepy, undead figure in a hooded cloak lurks in the shadows just at the top of a hill and is conjuring more undead... be prepared to have the creepy music fade in just before it happens or just after the players spot him.
I will second the comment about the well-known/ lyrical music... it is distracting... I am serious about my games but even I will at least be tempted to sing along if "Indestructible" or "Bodies" begins to play... however fitting it might be, don't use it! People will more than likely pay more attention to the song itself than how fitting it is and move on.
Have a list prepared... if possible, categorize playlists in moods or events... be prepared to play the suitable song.. don't spend time fumbling through your music library in mid-game... that too is distracting and catches people off-guard more often than not. If you're the DM, you know the general direction of the game well before any of the players do... know what is coming or what may happen in the future and be prepared for when the moment comes.
One final note... volume is key... too loud, obviously, is too obnoxious... it distracts from gameplay, makes it hard to hear... etc. Too soft, however, and you fail to do what you want to do with the incorporation of music... if you can't hear it, it does nothing for the game... if you can BARELY hear it, people might strain to hear it in the midst of trying to play and pay attention... sound checks prior to gaming could help you in the adjustment of volume.

 

[Dyson Logos]

Here's the post I wrote about it on my blog:

Effectively Using Music at the Gaming Table « A character for every game

At the heart of it, like anything you want to do in a game, remember the basics: Keep it simple and keep it fun. You won’t turn your game into a cinematic experience the first time you add music to it – and if you take on too much right away you’ll probably find it overwhelming or annoying. So take it easy and have fun with it.

Evaluate the Scene

No matter how much some groups love well-used music, there are some groups where it will not work. I have a group with a player with a hearing disability and using music in that game is cruel and no fun to that player. I also know a game master who has a hard time having himself heard in the best of times, so adding additional noise to the game would be a bad idea. If the room you game in is very small, then there is likely not enough room to set your speakers up properly (see the Equipment section below). If you have a player with a severe aversion to the musical style you intend to use, you should consider not using it either. If you already find that you are overwhelmed with the tasks of GMing, or get overwhelmed by adding new tasks, forget about advanced techniques completely (but still check out the rest of the article, the basics really are basic). We are gaming to have fun – make sure it remains fun for you and your players.
​

Use the Right Equipment

Really, we both agree that this requires that you use a laptop computer so you aren’t getting up, turning around or doing something to change music during the game. Using music in a game works best if you already use a laptop to game master with. And don’t play the music through the laptop speakers – having it playing from the gaming table makes it harder to understand anything being said and the quality of most laptop speakers sucks. Hook your computer up to your sound system, use a simple mp3 player program like WinAmp (I use Audacious on my linux box), and take advantage of the other benefits of gaming with a laptop (instant DM screen, use PDF adventures, track initiative and so on). If you can’t possibly set the speakers far from the table, try putting them under the table and see if that works, but be warned that it may not and you may have to abandon this already.
​

Set the Speakers & Volume

This takes a bit of practice, but first of all make sure the speakers are no where near where you will be sitting. Preferably you want them as far from any of the gamers as possible, and definitely opposite from you in the room, so your players will be able to discern from the source of the sound what is background noise and what is GM noise. Now playing with volume is essential. The best way to set this up is to sit down with a group and have a conversation and set the volume so the music can be heard, but the player closest to the speakers doesn’t EVER find it overwhelming. This volume should be with your computer sound volume at 75% or so. In this way, when you start using advanced techniques you will be able to increase the music volume when needed from your laptop without going to the sound system to turn up or down the volume knob.
​

Avoid Music With Lyrics

Seriously. This is probably the first thing you run into also on most forum threads about the subject. You don’t want your players singing along with the soundtrack. That said, there are definitely exceptions to the rule. When running a cyberpunk genre game (like my Ex Machina campaign from last year), pulling out the classics of industrial music like Ministry and Skinny Puppy can work. The trick in these cases is to keep the volume down to keep it from being too distracting – probably even further down than when you set up your volume in the previous step.
​

Pick the Right Music

I started getting into this above. You need music that suits the genre of your game. I love ambient and goa trance, but it really doesn’t suit a game of deep dungeon delving. And really, even though many gamers love metal, it is rarely the right music for the scene. Look at movie soundtracks: the Lord of the Rings trilogy for fantasy games, the Akira soundtrack for cyberpunk or modern games (and throw in some tracks from the Hardware soundtrack too) and I keep hearing people shout out with Diamanda Galas for vampire / horror games. Now go through the music you are using and set up a few playlists – each should be about an hour long. You want a general use playlist and a brave and bold playlist. You can start making other playlists as you get comfortable with it. Set the playlists to repeat – with a one hour loop most people won’t even notice.
​

Don’t Worry About Timing

You will keep hearing people discuss and brag about how they use music to highlight certain points in their games – the entry of certain villains, major combats, and various crises all seem to have the “right track” to play at the moment. Don’t worry about this until you are already comfortable with music playing in your games. The “right timing” will happen on it’s own every now and then and it feels awesome when it does. Once you and your players are comfortable with music at the table, then you can start looking for specifics.
​

Start Getting More Advanced

This is vital – don’t do anything more complex than the above material until you are comfortable with it. Just like running a game, you don’t want to overload yourself with new material right away – get into the basic game and then learn the new rules later. Having music for specific scenes is cool, but easy to mess up. The trick is to insert the track into your playlist when the scene comes up, so you won’t have the track on infinite repeat or just stop when it is done. If you forget the track, no big deal, the music goes on. This is cinematic window dressing – get tracks together for major battles, for introducing (or bringing back) villains, for specific locations (the cantina or the inn, or even the palace should have their own soundtracks) or even for major events that the PCs do on occasion. A metal song when they start their raid against the enemy base. An operatic piece when a character dies. The imperial march when the orcs come down the pass. And don’t be afraid to spike the volume for these tracks – bring it up a bit to highlight the track, and then fade it back to normal after thirty seconds to a minute. But remember that you have to take more clearly and loudly when the music is turned up.​

 

[mykelsss]

The absolute best way to organize this would be to cut out the computer entirely and just organize whatever ambiance/music/etc. mp3's on your ipod and hook that directly to your speakers. Couldn't be easier.

 

[Dyson Logos]

The absolute best way to organize this would be to cut out the computer entirely and just organize whatever ambiance/music/etc. mp3's on your ipod and hook that directly to your speakers. Couldn't be easier.

I've found that it is more difficult to switch between a variety of playlists and individual "zinger" tracks using a device like an mp3 player than it is using the full interface of a computer.

But I don't have an iPod per se, just a collection of other mp3 players.

 

[Renfield]

Well one thing I am trying is simple. Since my laptop died I've had to find a different method running music for my games. I still have my ipod and docking speakers so I set up a playlist (easily done with any player) and make sure to set it to repeat one. The playlist will consist of various music I imagine using at certain scenes as well as some basic background music just in case. Usually isn't too terribly long. With the ipod within easy reach of me I find it's easy enough to quickly switch to the next track on the list or the one I think best fits the scene without having to sift through the entire selection.

This of course require some prep time to listen through your music, pick out the ones you want, make sure you know which ones fit which event/scene/battle and the like. But once you have that set up in a short playlist of 11-16 songs (usually more than enough for a four hour play session) for a single session it's a simple matter to switch to other songs.

Next session, erase the songs you don't want in the play list, add the ones you do, maybe switch up your generics and repeat.

 

[stonegod]

A little OT: Why is this in General Rules? I think it'd get more attention in General RPG Discussion.

I had an oWoD GM that used music effectively; it was just an old movie soundtrack on loop. He didn't bother changing it too much for the scenes as it was all just ambient anyway.

I have the CD from Sharn: City of Towers but I haven't used it yet.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

I use the iTunes program to help manage track lists for major cities, ambience in forests, cityscapes, battles and military camps, while employing Atmosphere Deluxe for natural soundscapes of wharfs, people in markets, seasonal weather, thunderstorms and the like.

You can run both in conjunction so you have both atmospheric music and the ambience of nature.