Music at the gaming table?

[Mouseferatu]

Just curious...

Adding music to a game doesn't make it distracting or anything? I thought it would and there would be less focus on the game.

As long as it's kept at relatively low volume, so it's not drowning anyone out or making it hard to hear, and as long as it's either purely orchestral or in a language nobody at the table speaks, my experience is that it's not distracting at all.

But I advise strongly against using any music with English* lyrics. That, IME, is what starts causing distractions.

*Or whatever language you and your players speak.

Also, try to avoid any specific pieces that are too famous. You don't want popular modern music, and you don't want certain pieces from famous soundtracks. You don't want your players stopping the action to note, "Oh, that's AC/DC!" or "Hey, that's the Imperial March from Empire Strikes Back!"

 

[NewJeffCT]

The audio CD that came with Rome: Total War is great. So if you have that game and have not considered it, check it out.

In fact...

From the RTW Wiki Page...

Forgot all about that, as I have the game but never played it due to systems issues. Thanks

 

[NewJeffCT]

Haha.

I'm relatively new to GMing. So I'm very cautious of what I do that could cause the rest of my group to fall apart from distractions. So I think I'll wait before adding music to games. Maybe for major moments, but that's it. XD

Well, after gaming about every other week for 2 years now, most of the rest of the moments in the campaign will likely be climactic in one way or another.

 

[NewJeffCT]

As long as it's kept at relatively low volume, so it's not drowning anyone out or making it hard to hear, and as long as it's either purely orchestral or in a language nobody at the table speaks, my experience is that it's not distracting at all.

But I advise strongly against using any music with English* lyrics. That, IME, is what starts causing distractions.

*Or whatever language you and your players speak.

Also, try to avoid any specific pieces that are too famous. You don't want popular modern music, and you don't want certain pieces from famous soundtracks. You don't want your players stopping the action to note, "Oh, that's AC/DC!" or "Hey, that's the Imperial March from Empire Strikes Back!"

Good point - I'm going to keep it to instrumental/orchestral stuff like the two I mentioned above in my OP. The ES Posthumus stuff is pretty good for that... And, I thought the Bulgarian women a capella was perfect for the harpies - foreign language and beautifully harmonious.

 

[Mean Eyed Cat]

...or in a language nobody at the table speaks, my experience is that it's not distracting at all.

But I advise strongly against using any music with English* lyrics. That, IME, is what starts causing distractions.

*Or whatever language you and your players speak.

Which is why I love Corvus Corax. They use traditional instruments and everything they sing is in latin.

 

[pjrake]

i use music all the time. and since i'm into music myself (writing, recording, etc) i use a program called Ableton Live. looks alot like a spreadsheet program but each "cell" is a music clip. i name all the columns based on a theme (traveling, combat, F/X, etc) and drop songs or clips to the cell. each cell as a play/stop button, and i can even have to clips running at the same time, like if i wanna have sounds of horses on top of background music.

i tend to be careful with overdoing it. sometimes i get so into it i end up being a DJ and not a GM

-PJ

 

[Toben the Many]

Just curious...

Adding music to a game doesn't make it distracting or anything? I thought it would and there would be less focus on the game.

For myself, I find that music can often be used to focus the players, instead of distract them. For example, my own players know that when the music starts, I'm going to start narrating a little and then turn to them for some RP. It serve as an unconscious cue to the players to get serious.

One thing - I would strongly suggest making a long list of music for something like a marathon session of combat. Listening to the same song over and over can get grating upon the nerves.

If you don't have the time or resources to make a long playlist, my suggestion would be to play your list for a while...and then stop it. When the battle starts to reach a natural climax, put in the music again to get everyone charged up.




For example, if you have a specific theme that always plays when a particular NPC or faction arrives, playing the music right before they arrive lets the players know who's coming.

 

[Almacov]

I would love to get back to using music in my games.
I used to do it more often, but right now I'm working with a high-energy casual group that hasn't met very often and isn't entirely familiar with the rules, so I almost always have something on my plate as DM.
Once running them is a smoother process I have definite plans to use background music again.

One idea I find appealing is taking pop music people are familiar with and messing with it in an audio editor. (Slowing it down to make creepy atmospheric tracks, increasing tempo gradually for dramatic effect, or pulling out vocals)

So far the test results have shown great promise...

 

[Ravilah]

Since everyone's already talking about music...

Does anybody know of any good music as background for an exotic city/tavern setting? The Tavern Intro que from World of Warcraft is the perfect sound I'm looking for (but since its a whole minute long I need more than that).

My group loves background music. I have ten different playlists for various situations (creepy, battle, sacred, big city, wilderness, tavern, etc.). I'm in need of more tavern/city music.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

1) Keeping the music instrumental is probably a good idea, unless its for a particular scene. When Black Sabbath's "Children of the Grave" came up on shuffle-play one night, just as we rolled for initiative against the first of a horde of undead that were beginning to push up from their crypts, we all stopped and looked at each other (even though the lyrics don't have anything to do with undead- its allegorical).

2) Check out Peter Gabriel's Last Temptation of Christ and anything by Kodo- especially their theme to The Hunted. There are also several good ones from Tangerine Dream out there that may be of interest for modern/sci-fi campaigns.

3) For tavern music, Ritchie Blackmore (of Rainbow and Deep Purple fame) and Candace Night have a nifty little band of balladeers.

The Official Ritchie Blackmore and Blackmores Night Website

That gets you the "European" stuff, and Kodo (see above) gets you some Eastern...though you'd probably want something more like samisen or shakuhachi music.

For a more Middle-Eastern feel, check out the music of Rabih Abou Khalil.