Good ambient/environmental sounds for a game?

[Kunimatyu]

We've all seen the threads about suggested music for games; I'm curious what people would recommend when it comes to ambient/natural sounds for a game. I don't really want to have loud music competing with my voice when I'm GMing, but I'd love to have a good source for a thunderstorm, or water dripping in a cave, or wind blowing through the leaves in a forest, etc.

 

[CM]

Neverwinter Nights has oodles of natural ambient sounds. You'll need NWNViewer to extract them though.

 

[enworldatemylogin]

Didn't a Planescape product have a mimir-cd rom? I'm not sure if that is what you are looking for, or actual ambient sounds of nature and the environment.

 

[dave_o]

Low-volume music in the background can liven things up a lot. I'd suggest stuff like the OSTs from A Fistful of Dollars, Kill Bill Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, and stuff like that. Change genres to suit your taste/need.

 

[the Jester]

While the pcs were exploring a weird, unearthly cyst I looped two tracks of Saturn's sounds. Very unearthly stuff indeed.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

C'MON! HE SAID:

but I'd love to have a good source for a thunderstorm, or water dripping in a cave, or wind blowing through the leaves in a forest, etc.

There are dozens of companies out there that produce CD's of nothing but nature sounds...

Like Nature's Creations (AKA Lifescapes), from Compass Productions . They have Rain & Thunder, Waves, Streams, Rainforest, etc...*

Ditto for Echoes of Nature, from Lifescope.*

I have found these CDs in places like Target, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com and in pure music stores. They average around $5-8 per CD. Sound quality is pretty good (one Thunderstorm CD I have usually makes people check the windows for rain!), and recordings are generally about 1 hour of continuous nature sounds.


*Note: many companies, these included, have nature recodings with music dubbed in. In both of these lines, the companies are offering 100% natural recordings. Make sure you read the descriptions carefully.

 

[diaglo]

i serve plenty of refried beans, chips, and salsa.

diaglo "Au Naturel Gamer" Ooi