Use of music in a game session

[Mark1733]

Has anyone mastered the use of music as a gaming component beyond background, mood music? I would be curious to know if you have "thrill buttons" for when the party do something heroic, or if you have that "DUN Dun, dun" music for when they are about to bite it.

Please don't reply with solely what music you use; there have been many a post on that. I am looking for techniques.

Thanks.

Obi*

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Usually, I just play music we all like. On occasion, though, I've used types of music to set a mood.

Rarely, I've used specific songs to enhance a particular sequence of events, like when I used Kodo's theme to The Hunted in a perpetual loop when the PCs were...well...being hunted.

Beyond that? No real "thrill buttons" or anything like that.

 

[Aus_Snow]

If you fancy yourself . . . as a DJ, you could try Syrinscape, or something like it.

Not sure if that qualifies as a technique, so much as a tool, however.

 

[Lwaxy]

Have tried it, but it is very hard to do, especially in a campaign with many players. They don't follow the pace the music needs. And to get up and change the music a lot kills the tension.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Or there's this one, which was the first that Google spat out at me. Might work for what you have in mind. Haven't tried it, so not sure either way.

 

[Mark1733]

Have tried it, but it is very hard to do, especially in a campaign with many players. They don't follow the pace the music needs. And to get up and change the music a lot kills the tension.

There is no doubt that there is inherent complexity and difficulty in doing this. The music has its own timing and duration, none of which can be expected to match.

I want to run campaigns so they have a cinematic feel. The background music is what it is...we can let that run all night long and loop and loop and loop...no problems. However, it would be cool to be able to press "the thrill button" every once and a while when a big winning roll occurs by a player. The Thrill Button is the key theme of a hero/heroine that plays at key times in a movie. It helps the audience ride the success with the character.

Here is what I am thinking about.

<player rolls a 20 confirmed crit> Horgath slams his axe into the evil minotaur, doubling it over as it quickly steps toward Death! <MUSIC ROLLS: Do do do dooooo, d-do do do do do dooo do d-do do do do do dooo!! Do do dooo, do do dooo.>

 

[kensanata]

<player rolls a 20 confirmed crit> Horgath slams his axe into the evil minotaur, doubling it over as it quickly steps toward Death! <MUSIC ROLLS: Do do do dooooo, d-do do do do do dooo do d-do do do do do dooo!! Do do dooo, do do dooo.>

I tried it by using a CD and writing down a few key elements of the various track. I knew the track that started with a bang and was useful for combat and I planned to switch to that as the dice fall for initiative.

It turned out to complex to juggle. I forgot to turn it off when combat ended until a player complained; I forgot to turn it on half the time; it took me critical seconds between combat announcement and die rolls to skip to the right track.

Lesson learnt. I no longer do this.

I do scream "DO DOO DOO DOOOOOM!!!!" at the table at opportune moments, however. The players already start laughing when I start with "Ok, so you're walking down this corridor, when... [looking up stuff] dumdidumdidooo..." they will react with "Watch out, random encounter incoming!!"

In a way I have maybe three or four such "musical" humming themes that I use at the table.

 

[Dyson Logos]

I found the trick is wiring my ebook into the sound system and running a simple app like Winamp (or in this case audacious). I set the program to repeat a single track if there are no more tracks in the queue. Then I dump the tracks in that I want instead of using a CD player, and I can manipulate them at the same time as I do my usual stuff on here (take notes, track initiative).

The trick is to never get up to do it, and to keep the volume low so that when you DON'T get around to using the music right, it just plays in the background. Occasionally the music will hit the right moment on it's own without your intervention and the players will blame that on you too.

 

[timbannock]

double post, sorry

 

[timbannock]

I've done it A LOT.

Things I've learned: no matter how much you might think it doesn't matter, playing the following things is detrimental 9 out of 10 times:

- Music the players are very familiar with
- Music with lyrics (unless they are drowned out or very non-intrusive)

Aside from that, some of my best techniques have been coming up with themes. Not just for a significant character, but also for the campaign itself. So, I start nearly every session with the same CD of like 8-12 tracks, and this becomes like the campaign theme music. When that CD starts, after the first session or two, people just know "that's when the gaming begins."

But themes for NPCs are good, too. Especially if you do the cinematic entrance of the badguy and have appropriate theme music. Therion's "Enter Vril-Ya" (sp?) served this purpose better than any song I've ever used. My players shudder when that song plays, even if it's not at a game session!

Just as important: themes for the players. This may be harder to achieve and implement, but I try to find like 1-5 songs that are bad@$$ that I can play when things go the players way. It's nice to have themes for the villains, but if the Players know a song means that they are doing the butt-kicking, that empowers them. Then you can play with that later, and start the song, but cut it short or something and screw with them ;-)

My biggest problem is finding incidental music that doesn't put people to sleep. This took me a while to figure out: sometimes, no music is better than music that is slow and plodding. There are subtle effects at play, so you have to watch out. At the same time, if all you play is death metal every combat scene, that can get stale too (especially for players who hate that music). Most people don't talk about this with their players, but honestly, it's worth chatting about. If somebody loathes Gregorian Chants, then no matter how appropriate they are for the Church of Pelor, it's better to just leave the music off and concentrate on the game.