Gaming music

[Mystic_23]

Probably the only time my group has used music was in a V:TM game I played in...me, my friend Leroy (who was the "storyteller" in the game) and my brother were renting a house at the time. Anyway...we get to a crucial time in the game where we're going to crash a car into a bar in Tacoma, Washington where a bunch of bad Vamps are housed.

So, after we crash into the bar, one of the Vamps, a Malkavian (crazy vampire) presses play on a tape player and "Rock Lobster" by the B52's begins to play. So, I tell Leroy "Hey...my brother has that song on CD." So we decide to put it on and have it repeat just that song...we played it through most of the battle. It was definately an odd thing to be hearing while battling vampires in the middle of a bar in Tacoma Washington with an old car filled with pillows which has collapsed through the floor. Weird...

 

[King_Stannis]

Track down a group called "Milladora". They are a Spanish group that does Celtic music. I use one of their CD's, (yellow cover) religiously in my campaign. Great backround and mood setting music.

 

[Arnwyn]

If you have a laptop, Winamp, and a list of CDs itching to be played, I highly suggest this. I will never DM without music again.

Yep. But anyone can do that with a CD-changer. I use my 300-disc CD-changer all the time. I know my discs and tracks very well (and have a list just in case), and voila. Loads of music ready to go, for whatever theme/environment is occuring at the time.

I agree, though - like you, I will never DM without music.

 

[uberkitty]

My group has burned various D&D mix CDs over the years. Generally, we just let them run along in the background regardless of whether the song playing is appropriate to the events of the game or not. Sometimes we make the effort to synch up the music to the action.

Some tunes no D&D mix should be without:

Orff's Carmina Burana

"Dies Irae" from the soundtrack of The Lion in Winter

The Imperial March (Darth Vader's theme) from the Star Wars soundtrack

Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries

Scotland the Brave on bagpipes

the Overture from the soundtrack of Elizabeth

various travelling tunes from the soundtrack of Lawrence of Arabia

Battle Drums from the Princess Mononoke soundtrack

the main theme from The Last of the Mohicans soundtrack

DJ Shadow's Organ Donor (Overhaul)

 

[fusangite]

I'm very reliant on Peter Gabriel and Loreena McKennit as well. The only other thing I've found goes really well with gaming is the single track Black Wings on Tom Waits' Bone Machine. One could (and I sort of have) build an entire campaign off that one song. The lyrics are superb for gaming and the sound fits perfectly with them.

Here are the lyrics:

Black Wings

Take an eye for an eye
Take a tooth for a tooth
Just like they say in the Bible
Never leave a trace or forget a face
Of any man at the table
When the moon is a cold chiselled dagger
Sharp enough to draw blood from a stone
He rides through your dreams on a coach
And horses and the fence posts
In the moonlight look like bones

Well they've stopped trying to hold him
With mortar, stone and chain
He broke out of every prison
Boots mount the staircase
The door is flung back open
He's not there for he has risen

Well he once killed a man with a guitar string
He's been seen at the table with kings
Well he once saved a baby from drowning
There are those who say beneath his coat there are wings
Some say they fear him
Others admire him
Because he steals his promise
One look in his eye
Everyone denies
Ever having met him

He can turn himself into a stranger
Well they broke a lot of canes on his hide
He was born away in a cornfield
A fever beats in his head like a drum inside
Some say they fear him
Others admire him
Because he steals his promise
One look in his eye
Everyone denies
Ever having met him
Ever having met him