Background Music

[loki44]

Just wondering what others think about background music during game play. Personally I like it, providing that it doesn't distract. Last session our DM played Midnight Syndicate's Official RPG Soundtrack and I thought it added a nice touch. Any opinions about other "made for D&D" music? Any suggestions for other musical selections?

 

[Desdichado]

The Eberron soundtrack (included with the Sharn book) is pretty good, and much the same. I generally prefer orchestral movie soundtracks, as I think they are better written for the most part. I've ripped a bunch of such movie soundtrack CDs to mp3 and put them all on a single CD, and then I hit shuffle during my sessions. I've got music from the following sountracks all on there:

• Stargate
• Braveheart
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Fellowship of the Ring
• The Two Towers
• Return of the King
• Gladiator
• Bram Stoker's Dracula
• Sleepy Hollow
• Signs
• From Hell
• Last of the Mohicans
• The Mummy
• The Mummy Returns
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
• Sum of All Fears
• Patriot Games
• End of Days
• Minority Report
• The Last Samurai
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• Van Helsing
• Raiders of the Lost Ark

 

[Deset Gled]

There's a rock band called Rhapsody. One album they have is called "Dawn of Victory", and features songs like "The Last Winged Unicorn", "The Village of Dwarves", and "Dargor, Shadowlord Of The Black Mountain". Another album of theirs is called "Symphony of Enchanted Lands", and has songs like "The Dark Tower Of Abyss" and "Heroes Of The Lost Valley".

I don't know much about the band themselves, but I'd feel confident saying 90% of their demographic are RPGers of some type.

 

[MonsterMash]

Personally I'm not too bothered and don't often try and bother, but I'd be more focused on using it for a horror game than 'straight' D&D as then it'd help build atmosphere.

 

[Dareoon Dalandrove]

I've tried it but it never worked out the way that I envisioned it. I wanted to have "action music" playing while the pc's were fighting and such, but it never worked out well. I lost were certain tracks were, some people didn't like it etc.

 

[IronWolf]

I have not tried it myself. Not sure how it would work out. From this and other discussions I have seen on these boards it seems to have a more popular following of doing so than I would have thought. Maybe one day I will try playing some in the background and see what the reaction is.

 

[kenobi65]

We use background music fairly often. Everything we use is on Joshua Dyal's list, with the exception of the soundtracks to King Arthur (by the same guy who did Pirates, and it's a great feel for D&D), and Henry V. There are times we fish out specific tracks for specific scenes, but generally, it's just there for mood.

(And, when we play Star Wars, we use those soundtracks. Duh. )

 

[Henrix]

I generally play music when I'm DMing. I try to suit the music to what the PCs are doing at the time, but avoid too soft music (as it makes them sleepy and lethargic).
Music can really get people going, if appropriate.

I've found Corvus Corax' mix of medieval folk music and metal very good as general D&D background.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Joshua Dyal's named pretty much my entire list. Though Conan is a great adddition to it all.

I also use Star Wars soundtracks, but that's because I run lots of SWd20. If only the same effect could be done with PbP games...

 

[Archade]

I also recommend the MP3 files that come with the game Medieval: Total War. They're great for mood!