Is there anyone who takes music really seriously for D&D?

[Libramarian]

I'm listening to the Elder Scrolls soundtracks by Jeremy Soule today and marveling at how great they are. So I'm wondering if anyone out there not only plays a sort of generic fantasy playlist during their game, but specifically chooses particular music to match the mood of a scene or sequence, or area. If so, tell me about what you do please.

 

[Morrus]

I used to. I think when I was at school it was either the Conan soundtrack or the Rambo: First Blood soundtrack we tended to have on in the background. The latter was surprisingly appropriate.

 

[AstroCat]

I've often made custom playlists for different scenes and settings in our games. I am way into the music/sound side of things personally and professionally. I think the right music can be a great backdrop to increase the immersion of the game.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

Usually, we don't have anything on TV or my sound system. Occasionally, if a big game is on, it plays in the background. Other times, I'll put on some music we all like- usually, hard rock from the 70s-90s* or soundtracks from fantasy movies- on some kind of random cycle.

I made only one particularly good intentional use of music in all my years of DMing: I used Kodo's "The Hunted" as the sound of the Anthro-Tigers hunting party starting their pursuit of the NAKED party...said hunt to begin after the Anthros finished their meal of fresh, spit-roasted cabin boys. Results were stupendous- my veteran players started discussing the issue of being naked and about to be hunted by big tiger-men in the usual matter-of-fact way players discuss situations at the table while calmly telling me about how their party was headed into the jungle, etc.

When I pressed "play" to start the music, one player immediately stopped what she was saying to other players and asked me "Those drums- is that the hunting party?"

"Yes."

Instantly, the players demeanor changed. They talked more rapidly and loudly. They started ignoring each other's points. Some got snappy as they got interrupted by others while trying to tell me what they were doing...never mind that they might have interrupted someone else themselves.

In short, they acted like a real group of people being hunted by tigers.







* One time, Black Sabbath's "Children of the Grave" came on just as the DM was about to reveal the impending undead attack on the party as they went through the graveyard. Creepy!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

BTW, you might want to check out this awesome thread from Mark CMG:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?174448-Game-Related-Music-Threads-and-Links

 

[Ray_K]

There is a free program called "syrinscape" that lets you soundboard your own music score. You can phase songs in and out, and overlap effect noises (rain, footsteps, wind, water, spooky horror sounds, etc). I'm sure somebody can explain it much better than I can, but it's pretty cool if you want to completely micromanage your game's soundtrack and sound effects.

 

[Evenglare]

A lot of people always link to that thread. There just seems way to much information and linking in that thread. It's like drinking form a fire hydrant.

 

[the Jester]

Rarely. Usually only for very weird or specific areas, and often not music per se. For instance, I played the sounds of Saturn for background noise when the pcs went into an area corrupted by the Far Realms. It really set them on edge!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Way cool!

 

[JustinAlexander]

I'm listening to the Elder Scrolls soundtracks by Jeremy Soule today and marveling at how great they are. So I'm wondering if anyone out there not only plays a sort of generic fantasy playlist during their game, but specifically chooses particular music to match the mood of a scene or sequence, or area. If so, tell me about what you do please.

About a decade ago, I started prepping specific tracks cued to specific sequences. I would also take the playlists and burn copies of the adventure's "soundtrack" for the players (complete with CD cases and covers and the like). People generally liked it.

Tip #1 - A Big Pitfall: "Wow, this 2 minute track sounds perfect for the fight with the cultists!" Then the fight takes 40 minutes to resolve and everyone is really, really sick of that 2 minute track by the end of it.

Tip #2: If you're going to do this, it helps to have a music player with a remote control and a large display that you can see from across the room.

Over time, I've moved away from this type of specificity and instead prepped generic playlists for my iPod. At the moment, for example, I have four primary playlists that I use for D&D:

- D&D Generic Background
- D&D Generic City
- D&D Generic Combat
- D&D Epic Combat

Whenever I add a new CD or soundtrack to my collection, I go through it track by track and add songs to the appropriate playlists. At the moment, for example, there are 4.8 hours worth of music in the D&D Generic Combat playlist.

And what I've found is that the result of this light theming is pretty much wholly equivalent in terms of effectiveness to the specific track-by-track prep I was doing before. Plus, it's prep-once-and-done instead of requiring a heavy prep load for every session.

Of course, you can also move past the purely generic. For example, I've prepped a separate playlist for the two major Bad Guy Organizations in my regular campaign: So when they're fighting Group A it sounds different than when they're fighting Group B (and also sounds different than the Generic Combat playlist). It's a subtle distinction, but over time I think it's effective in building up musical associations.