Background music for your gaming sessions

[Michikawa]

Greetings!

I'm not sure if you are customed to listening to music while gaming, but our group has found it to be a wonderful way to set the atmosphere and define the general feel of the story. Film soundtracks are widely used, but sometimes "normal music" as well. I'd be interested in hearing also, do you use background music in your gaming sessions, or do you prefer to play "in silence"?

I am a hobbyist composer myself and have produced orchestral fantasy themed music for many years now, usually my vision or goal is to produce such tunes that would fit roleplaying game sessions and produce strong visual images and associations.

In 2007 I posted a thread on this forum where I offered my tunes for other gaming groups and it got so good response I thought that after a long silence I could refresh the memory and mention the same thing to "the next generation" as well.

Here are a few sample tunes that gives concept of the quality and style I tend to aim for, but I have also produced really calm and minimalistic tunes as well.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEMlGi8X--s[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=202xhWUsKXI[/ame]

Here's the latest compilation "The Fall of Ragnaros":

http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/95667

Feel free to check out the project homepages on french Creative Commons music site jamendo. All music is published under attribute/non-commercial/sharealike licence, so it's free to download, copy, use, listen and even integrate into own projects:

Free music downloads: Celestial Aeon Project - Jamendo - main project, offering orchestral fantasy music in spirit of Lord of the Rings
Free music downloads: Project Divinity - Jamendo - more electronic ambient drifting soundscapes
Free music downloads: Frozen Silence - Jamendo - minimalistic piano music

Hope you find the soundscapes enjoyable and all the best to your gaming!

-Matti

 

[Hussar]

Michikawa, I've used your stuff a whole bunch when I ran games over OpenRPG. You're actually one of the main reasons I didn't want to switch to Maptools because Maptools doesn't support sound.

Great stuff.

 

[Slander]

Thanks for reposting, Matti. I loved your stuff, but had lost the links to your site after an upgrade had wiped out my bookmarks (no lectures on backing up, please). Awesome to see you're still composing!

 

[Ruined]

Thanks for posting this, Michikawa. I've just started compiling my game music for my current games, and I'll gladly add this to the mix.

 

[maddman75]

Awesome, I'll check these out.

I use music quite a bit, constructing the soundtrack is an important part of any game for me. For Call of Cthulhu or general horror, I love Midnight Syndicate. My Hunter: The Vigil game is heavily based off Supernatural so the soundtrack is full of classic rock and heavy metal. For pulp adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean works wonderfully. I usually use the World of Warcraft for fantasy, but don't run fantasy that often.

 

[TarionzCousin]

In 2007 I posted a thread on this forum where I offered my tunes for other gaming groups and it got so good response I thought that after a long silence I could refresh the memory and mention the same thing to "the next generation" as well.

So is this 3E or 4E music? We need to know so we can argue about it.

 

[nedjer]

We've been here before with the ambient Irish panpipe LotR music fiasco.

Ditch it, ask responsible adults to leave the building and listen to an hour of hardcore French urban hiphop before every game. This will make you well ready for battle

 

[TheNovaLord]

dont like background music at all in rpgs or other things!!

 

[El Mahdi]

deleted

 

[Michikawa]

Thanks guys, so glad to hear you have enjoyed the soundscapes!

So is this 3E or 4E music? We need to know so we can argue about it.

Heh, actually the question brings back a lot of memories. I started roleplaying back in the 80s with the old AD&D (Forgotten Realms, anyone?) when you could play Gold Box Ad&D games on C-64 Computer (Pools of Radiance!!!).

We've been here before with the ambient Irish panpipe LotR music fiasco.

Ditch it, ask responsible adults to leave the building and listen to an hour of hardcore French urban hiphop before every game. This will make you well ready for battle

Thanks for the tip, sounds like a plan!