Music at the gaming table?

[delericho]

Midnight Syndicate did an "Official D&D Soundtrack" that's actually quite good. They have also released a number of other 'gaming soundtracks', mostly aimed at the horror genre. I have "Gates of Delerium", which would be very good for the right sort of horror game (something set in an asylum, or similar). There was also a CD included in the "Sharn: City of Towers" sourcebook for Eberron, which I believe was by the same team (certainly, it's in much the same style).

Of course, there's also the soundtrack for the D&D movie, which is okay, but not great.

I know Interplay did a soundtrack for one of the Neverwinter Nights games, but I don't know if it was ever made available separately, or only with a 'deluxe version' of the game. I also have no idea how good it is, although the in-game music of the games themselves is generally pretty good.

Depending on the game, I've had some success with soundtracks from "Angel" (the TV series), "Batman Returns", "Conan the Barbarian", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", the aforementioned D&D soundtracks, "Enemy at the Gates", "Final Fantasy" (the movie), "From Hell", "Gladiator", "Harry Potter", "Interview with the Vampire", the "Matrix" trilogy (scores, not soundtracks), "Planet of the Apes" (the Tim Burton version - the soundtrack's better than the film), "Reign of Fire", "Team America" (the instrumental/anthemic pieces at the end of the album), "The Crow", "The Man in the Iron Mask" (Byrne/Malkovich/Depardieu/Irons version), "The Mummy"/"The Mummy Returns" (I daresay "The Scorpion King" and the third "Mummy" film would probably have good soundtracks too), "The Patriot" (Mel Gibson) and "X-Men 2".

You might also try the "Indiana Jones", "Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars" soundtracks, but the sheer familiarity of these may act as a distraction. In particular, "Star Wars" isn't really very good for any game except Star Wars. However, if you are running a Star Wars game, I highly recommend getting the soundtrack for the recent "Clone Wars" movie, which is just different enough to fit really well.

I second the advice to avoid anything with lyrics (especially in English), to avoid anything too familiar, and to keep the volume reasonably low. You should also be warned that a lot of soundtracks include at least one (usually very poor) attempt at a pop song at the end. For that reason, I would recommend the use of an MP3 player rather than the raw CDs for in-game music (this also allows much more flexibility in putting together playlists and audio cues).

 

[NewJeffCT]

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.

Good suggestion - my list is up to 16 songs now. Now, I just need to figure out how to get it from youtube to something portable like an iPod (I've never used an iPod, believe it or not...) so I can play it in my basement. If I go straight from youtube on a laptop, I'm afraid there could be interruptions to my internet service down in the basement.

 

[Toben the Many]

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.

The best thing, I have found for something like tavern music is some nice atmospheric classical music. For example, Renaissance music. Just have it low and on in the background.

However, more specifically, I can recommend The Tudors soundtrack, which has a lot of good music that you can have on just in the background. Otherwise, the "Religious Debate" theme from the The Conan soundtrack works really well for a tavern. Just understand that it's only one song so you won't be able to play it that much.

Good suggestion - my list is up to 16 songs now. Now, I just need to figure out how to get it from youtube to something portable like an iPod (I've never used an iPod, believe it or not...) so I can play it in my basement. If I go straight from youtube on a laptop, I'm afraid there could be interruptions to my internet service down in the basement.

Really, the best way to do it would be to buy your songs on iTunes. If you have 16 songs, then it would only cost about 16 dollars. Not too bad for something you're going to use over and over for months. Then, you could play it off of your laptop without worry of the song being interrupted.

 

[NewJeffCT]

thanks - I might just have to set up a laptop down there - I'm too cheap to pay 99 cents a song for music I may only use once.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Another good source of "tavern" music would be things like classical/spanish guitar (see Pepe Romero), acoustic guitar stylists (Michael Hedges, Kaki King) or "world music" (see Osibisa, Ali "Farka" Toure & others from Africa, Seu Jorge from Brazil).

 

[Toben the Many]

thanks - I might just have to set up a laptop down there - I'm too cheap to pay 99 cents a song for music I may only use once.

It might work out as a great experiment. If the music goes over well, then you might find yourself using the music more than once. That's precisely what happened to me. My foray into using music started with just 1 CD.

That said, just be sure you can navigate the musical tracks you want through YouTube well. For example, it might be hard to have all 16 tracks cued up and ready to go off of just your browser.

 

[catsclaw227]

There are some good suggestions here. I like listening to Arcana or Midnight Syndicate, as it creates good mood music. For other things, I like Rhapsody of Fire (Rhapsody) for cheesy D&D awesomeness.

Lord of the Rings soundtrack is good, get all three movies and play them in order. Good stuff and lasts for many hours.

EDIT: Oh and Someone mentioned Blackmore's Night. It's his prog-rock-folk band with his wife. It's good for D&D stuff too. Also a bit of cheese inside, but it's mostly good for background stuff.

 

[mac1504]

Radio Rivendell is a great resource for fantasy based music.

Also check out Erdenstern; they have several albums that are themed (sci-fi, nature, battle, water, etc.)

Dronolan's Tower has produced two good albums that see a lot of play time at my game table.

 

[erealspiller84]

For some great encounter music, check out Ars Arcana, Position Music - Orchestral series, and Epic Action & Adventure series. They are very dramatic and upbeat. You can check them out on iTunes.

I think that music without English lyrics is a great way to keep the mood for your players around the table. I use external speakers with my iPhone and have premade playlists for sertain situation. From combat to rping in town. Check out Adiemus for some nice medieval style music to set a peaceful mood.

The only problem with having music is not having enough. Sitting down for a 2 hour encounter with only 15 minutes of co
bat music can get a little annoying. You can fix it by keeping the volume low. But it always help to have a good amount of tracks available. Now if only someone would make an iPhone app that played atmoshphere music and sound fx... But that's another thread >.<

 

[D.M.T.]

can anyone recommend a good source for jungle and swamp background sounds? Like the stuff you hear at Disneyland on some rides, like crickets and frogs and sloshing water, or tropical birds and monkey howls.

For that matter, a nice gothic background soundtrack would be nice, wolves howling and such, wind blowing. Probably get that at some of the halloween stores this time of year, anyone know a good one? I'm sure the quality is all over the map on those types of things.