Moob music

[Guinea Anubis]

So who else here likes to use some music in the background as they play to help set up the mood of the place the players just went in to?

One of my favorite bands to use for setting the mood as I DM is Nox Arcana.

[Thurbane]

Dunno about moob music, but I like Moog (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moog_Cookbook) music! :smalltongue:

[LibraryOgre]

My moobs usually listen to what the rest of me is using... though there was that night I woke up with earbuds taped to my shirt, and ABBA playing on a loop... no idea how that happened.

:smallwink:

Slightly less snarky: I find movie soundtracks are good.

[Wereling]

So who else here likes to use some music in the background as they play to help set up the mood of the place the players just went in to?

One of my favorite bands to use for setting the mood as I DM is Nox Arcana.
I've been known to crank Motorhead for particularly epic large-scale battles ("Deaf Forever" is something of a favorite for this).

[JonestheSpy]

Well, I don't put on soundtrack music for battles or whatnot, but I do like adding music that would actually be in the scene, like music in a tavern.

Speaking of which, I have to add a little plug for some aquaintances of mine, The HoboGobbelins (http://www.hobogoblins.com/). They bill themselves as "The Troglodyte Jug Band ov thee Unseelie Court" and live up to it in spades. I highly recommend checking out some of their songs on their website if you ever want to have a bunch of goblins and maybe a renegade dwarf or two playing twisted music in the background.

http://www.hobogoblins.com/webimages/bioicons/jrblobglobs.jpg

[Andras]

One of my favorite bands to use for setting the mood as I DM is Nox Arcana.

Coincidentally, Arcana works pretty well too.

[Akal Saris]

I used to play the Imperial March from Star Wars whenever Verminaard entered the scene in my Dragonlance games :smallbiggrin:

The main theme from Pirates of the Caribbean is also quite excellent for combats. Catchy, martial and recognizable without being too distracting. I also sometimes play themes from WoW or Conan, but those are a bit more distracting.

Oh! I should try and find the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale background musics!

[sofawall]

I used to play the Imperial March from Star Wars whenever Verminaard entered the scene in my Dragonlance games :smallbiggrin:


I approve.

[Dracomorph]

I like using Primus for caves and dungeons. I think, if I could play it in an echoing cave chamber instead of a living room, it would sound even more appropriate, but we make do. "Jerry was a Race Car Driver" would be the first track I'd use, second would be "Coat Tails of a Dead Man."

For really tough encounters, "I Will Survive", either the Gloria Gayner original or the Cake cover.

[AslanCross]

I lost my moobs since I lost a lot of weight recently, so no. :smallbiggrin:

I use music a lot, especially now that I have decent speakers to play it on. (My I think my laptop speakers quickly got busted because I used them too much in the past.)

Here's the unofficial "soundtrack (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7139406&postcount=163)" of my current Eberron run of RHOD.

It's a mix of instrumental metal, techno and orchestral music due to Eberron's rather unconventional nature. My soundtrack for my very first game (set in Forgotten Realms) was almost entirely orchestral and lifted from Neverwinter Nights or Baldur's Gate II.

[Vagnarok]

I highly recommend trying the Myst OSTs. There completely instrumental and ambient, perfect for your game. They're not the best for battle music, so I'd recommend having several playlists set up on your laptop/ipod. That way when the players get into a fight or move into a new area, all you have to do is click the new playlist and let it run. There's no worry about trying to find a specific song.

[Fluffles]

Moob? Like... Man boobs?

[Merk]

Music is a huge part of our campaign. Since it's a One Piece campaign, I use the soundtrack from the series a lot, but I've also used other sources -- mostly from video game and anime OSTs. Sometimes it feels like it's more trouble than it's worth, but then other times it really kicks a scene into next gear. I used this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZrSUvrXRc4&feature=related) for a burning building boss battle sequence near the end of my last session, and it worked pretty well.

[Drider]

Fire emblem music is pretty good for a video game sound track, and if your players know the game enough, they might pick up on, "battle music is battle music, but music that plays when you are hoplessly losing means this guy is too tough and we should flee" without spending a few rounds killing half the party to show how monsterous the encounter is.

[Edea]

I think he meant to say 'mood music,' but it doesn't really matter XD.

I use Touhou music a wee bit too much for these purposes :x.

[jiriku]

I use Radio Rivendell (http://www.radiorivendell.com/) for background music. In my previous group, we had a guy who would burn CDs full of properly themed music for city time, dungeon delving, war scenes, tragic moments, and climactic battles. I wish I still had those CDs.

[Thurbane]

In the past we used to used classical compilations, movie soundtracks (Aliens, Terminator), video game soundtracks (ToEE, Heretic) and Black Aria by Danzig. We tended to avoid anything with words.

[Inhuman Bot]

Moob? Like... Man boobs?

I think that was what everyone else was joking about. :smalltongue:

[cupkeyk]

the arcanum soundtrack

[JonestheSpy]

the arcanum soundtrack

Far and away the best thing about that game - too bad the rest of it didn't measure up...

[Vorpalbob]

For my SWSE Campaign, I just have the original trilogy soundtrack playing quietly in the background, and I just skip songs if they don't fit the mood.

Occaisionaly when big baddies enter the room, I play this really menacing Danny Elfman orchestral piece that I can never remember the name of.

(I of course save the Imperial March for the Big Man himself)

[Optimystik]

Moob? Like... Man boobs?

The horror... the horror.

[Emmerask]

the arcanum soundtrack

indeed the music is awesome :)

For Tavern music Baldurs gate 1 and 2 have some decent ones and also some other short themes to get the mood of a place ;)

[Satyr]

Use a computer for your playlist management. That will allo you a finer adjustment of the tracks than with a conventional playing device.

Using a computer also allows you to play two traacks at the same time, which can create eery dissonants or just a combination of both music and background sounds (those stupid 'sounds of nature' cd's are usually a good idea. For RPG's at least).

Music is best when used pinpoitedly; background music all the time doesn't add much to the atmosphere and is actually worse than no music at all. Just use a sondtrack to underline the important scenes, not everything.

Movie soundtracks are a gold mine, as are computer games. Just don't use the best known tracks whiche are recognized immedeately; your players will associate the scene with the movie or game squence, not with the scene at the table, and that is going to be more distracting than helpful.

Apart from Nox Arcana, there is a edicated D&D soundtrack by Midnight Syndicate, which is okay. I personally prefer the German band Erdenstern (http://www.erdenstern.de/?lang=en), but that's probably a matter of taste.


Good Movie and Game sounctracks include:


13th warrior
Le Pacte de Loups (Brotherhood of the Wolves)
Alexander (bad movie, good soundtrack; 300 is similar, only more so. in both regards)
Conan (both movies; really good soundtrack, but the mentioned asociations can be a problem)
pretty much everything by Ennio Morricone (the best soundtrack writer ever)
Gothic (a computer game, and as far as I know pretty much unknown outside of Germany)
Name of the Rose
Requiem for a Dream (probably the most outstanding movie soundtrack ever written and the film is not that well known)
The Serpent and the Rainbow (hardly known movie about voodoo and zombies; repetitive but good soundtracks, especially for 'exotic' settings)
The Last of the Mohican (for nature scenes; it's dripping with pathos, though)
The Other Bolyn Girl / The Tudors (good for courts, castles and general dealings with the nobility)


And my personal favorite: Every time characters in any of my roleplaying games has sex, this wonderful piece is played: Willhelm Tell Overtüre (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkymTHSbWe0).