The Moods of D&D

[Asmor]

If you were determined to have mood music playing through the entire session, and your only control over what was playing was by using themed playlists you created ahead of time, which playlists would you make?

I'm thinking:

General - Upbeat or neutral stuff that fades into the background. Good for anything from traveling through the forest to haggling in the market square.

Suspense - Slower, slightly-creepy music that gets under your skin and raises your hackles. Meant for building up tension*

Action - Faster, more overt stuff for when feces contacts fan.

*Incidentally, 2k released the orchestral score from Bioshock for free, and it's very, very creepy/suspenseful.

 

[washout]

Music in the background bothers me in DND games, but I've never had anyone set up a bunch of stuff without lyrics in playlists before either. I'd say explain to your players and find out if they even are interested in it to begin with.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Anything with lots of wah-wah pedal.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

One thing I sometimes like to do is have "theme music" so something that would play before or after a game. Generally these are allowed to have lyrics since they don't get in the way of gameplay since there isn't any at the time.

I adore game-soundtracks for all mine. One I have used particularly for a somewhat technological-advanced D&D was the MGS soundtrack (from all 4 games).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Kodo's theme to the movie "The Hunted" is pretty nice- chant + percussion with a broad dynamic range: woodblocks, small drums etc. supported by huge 15' diameter drums struck by 4' long sticks.

I used that at the beginning of a chase sequence, and one of the players asked me if what they were hearing was "in game."

When I said "Yes," it was as if I'd lit a fire under each one of them. They acted as if they were actually being chased. They tried to act more quickly, their voices raised a bit, and even made mistakes players of their caliber wouldn't usually make.

Many of their other tunes can be similarly used. Besides that soundtrack, also check out their album, "Mondo Head."

 

[SpiderMonkey]

Needs more cowbell!