Music at the gaming table?

[Oryan77]

I would never, ever, ever play anything metal at the gaming table.

I'm not a big metal fan myself, but I really like Apocalyptica. I use their songs as "battle" music in our games (I try to avoid their Metallica covers unless I think I can get away with it)

YouTube - Apocalyptica - Hope

YouTube - Kaamos - Apocalyptica

YouTube - Inquisition Symphony - Apocalyptica

 

[Oryan77]

You may find the program RPG-Deck handy - it allows multiple tracks, so you can interrupt the background music with gunshots, explosions, etc.

Dang, when I saw this I thought "what a coincidence"! I just downloaded some nature music that I wanted to try and play it with my regular background music. The only thing was I assumed I was going to have to use Winamp to play my soundtrack playlist and MediaPlayer to play the nature sounds. Then I saw you mention RPG Deck and it sounded perfect.

But I'm disappointed about it. There really isn't any kind of control over it at all. I can't even figure out how to remove a song from the program once it's loaded and I no longer want to use it. It's odd that you can't select a specific song in a playlist after uploading a playlist (but it shows the list of songs in the playlist). The volume control is wacky too. Oh well, it was a good start though. I would hope for an update but it looks like the last version was made in 2007.

 

[Desdichado]

Any particular reason why? There is some fair amount of overlapping on certain types of metal and DnD situations, after all...

Several, one of which I already mentioned in this thread, for instance. The main reason is that it's distracting. It's hard to play the game when folks get distracted by the music. And I disagree that there's overlap; or if there is, it's in the lyrics. Lyrics while gaming are always a bad thing, IMO.

But also, I don't really like metal. I don't really want to hear it in any circumstance, especially not in tandem with a hobby of mine.

 

[Paul_Klein]

Lyrics while gaming are always a bad thing, IMO.

Well, not always. In last Monday's Star Wars game we actually had the Beatles White Album playing through over half of the session. It was fine

Of course, I can see why people feel this way, and even I do for the most part. But sometimes it's okay, and actually kinda fun.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Metal?

That covers a broad variety of stuff, but artists who have at one time or another been classified as some kind of rock/metal/industrial that could work at a gaming table- obviously depending on campaign type- include (but are not limited to):

Joe Satriani
Yngwie Malmsteen
Shawn Lane
Pelican
Earth
Kyuss
Ronnie Montrose
Helios Creed
Godflesh
Ministry
Praxis
Buckethead

 

[Blair Goatsblood]

The main reason is that it's distracting. It's hard to play the game when folks get distracted by the music. And I disagree that there's overlap; or if there is, it's in the lyrics. Lyrics while gaming are always a bad thing, IMO..

I listen to "kill-your-mother" metal and, in general, I agree with the above. "Histrionic" metal at the game table gives me a headache.

 

[Blair Goatsblood]

I...Dragonforce music whilst playing 4th ed?

I would say that is a perfect combination...

 

[Quickleaf]

Hey, good recommendations! I'm definitely checking out Erdenstern.

As far as sound tracks a few stand out to me: Henry V, King Arthur, Kingdom of Heaven, and

As far as gaming music, Nox Arcana's "Blood of the Dragon" rocks.

As for music music, I just found two musicians that I love: Adiemus ("Songs of Sanctuary") and Jennifer Thomas ("Key of the Sea").