PDA

View Full Version : Music to Create Atmosphere in Your Campaign



Lonely Tylenol
2012-02-24, 06:35 AM
So, I'm working on building something of a soundtrack for my campaign; nothing overly specific, but just background music to sort of set the atmosphere for places and some events in the world (like music to set the environment for a town, or for a particularly epic battle). I'm trying to steer away from things that are overtly contemporary (pop music and such), instead using largely folk/acoustic music, neo-classical (with a smattering of jazz), and the like, with a special sort of emphasis on solo work (think of it as music a single bard could play :smalltongue:).

I've found a gold mine in the artists of Candy Rat Records; while I've been listening to Andy McKee for awhile, I've started listening to the others for quality music of this kind and have picked out some stuff from Ewan Dobson, Antoine DuFour, and others. I've also got a few things I've pulled from other places that fit situationally (or work well as parody).

All of this got me to thinking... What does everyone else use to help set the tone in their campaign? Do you use music to set the mood, and if so, do you use serious compositions or do you use music to lighten the mood around the table? Classical or contemporary? Borrowing from other soundtracks, or original (that is to say, not used for other media) works?

Here's some of what I've got thus far:
Antoine DuFour - These Moments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQlyHbu0zz4
Andy McKee - Rhylynn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsD6uEZsIsU
Andy McKee - Gates of Gnomeria: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlDdzNuJto4&feature=related
Ewan Dobson - Blood and Ice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBvAvW6KQDk
Sergio Altamura - Down Roma Traffic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBVt6uIdyXw
Sergio Altamura - Final Blu/Aria Meccanica: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr4YRsa5DPo&feature=relmfu
Stefano Barone - Batman/Alexander Supertramp: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDFP_MbvyGc&feature=relmfu
Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucia, & John McLaughlin - Mediterranean Sundance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvVmqnNBo9w
Jethro Tull - Bouree (from Bach's Suite in Em for Lute): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2RNe2jwHE0
Paul Cecchetti - Fantasie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb0jclcZzxg
Turnabout Jazz Soul - The Fragrance of Dark Coffee: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMnrl0tmd3k

And some for parody:
Heather Alexander - March of Cambreadth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCrnF844_ww
Cantina Band - Cantina Band: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaPf-MRKITg

Hopefully some of the stuff I posted will give people ideas for songs they can incorporate into their campaign background, and maybe someone can help me flesh out my list in kind.

Let the sharing begin! :smallbiggrin:

Yora
2012-02-24, 07:14 AM
There's a huge amount of very good video game soundtracks.

Icewind Dale
Guild Wars
Skyrim
The Witcher
Resident Evil
Silent Hill
Mass Effect
Half-Life 2

And Quake (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F7s3RjAgP4&feature=BFa&list=PLA4B1D15D2B9C046A&lf=results_main). There's nothing for sci-fi horror like Quake.

ClothedInVelvet
2012-02-24, 07:15 AM
Depends what I'm doing. The Lord of the Rings soundtracks are great, as are the Firefly, Serenity, and Stardust soundtracks.

Personally, I like a bit more classic rock, so I've got a playlist of AC/DC, The Who, Meat Loaf, Styx, etc. that I play when I want to inspire my players. What kind of player doesn't get inspired to be epic when Thunderstruck comes on. And who doesn't get a bit more energized when MJ sings Thriller? The biggest problem with this is when the Jurassic Park theme song comes on while the PCs are talking to the blacksmith.

Necroticplague
2012-02-24, 07:21 AM
I like to set the tone by putting "When your Evil" by Voltaire on quietly on loop in the background (also helps the noobs learn what their in for).

DigoDragon
2012-02-24, 07:55 AM
There's a huge amount of very good video game soundtracks.

Agreed. I use Portal 2 for dungeons with a large mechanical aspect, and Wild Arms 3 is great for a wild western flavor of D&D.

Gandariel
2012-02-24, 08:00 AM
Listen to some Lins (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3KUyPKbR7Q&feature=related)dey (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxIOUJ7by6U&feature=relmfu) Stir (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrF814OnFQ4&feature=related)ling! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHjpOzsQ9YI)



Seriously, that girl's amazing, i'd put her as a background music for EVERYTHING

Swooper
2012-02-24, 09:00 AM
There's a huge amount of very good video game soundtracks.

Icewind Dale
Guild Wars
Skyrim
The Witcher
Resident Evil
Silent Hill
Mass Effect
Half-Life 2

And Quake (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F7s3RjAgP4&feature=BFa&list=PLA4B1D15D2B9C046A&lf=results_main). There's nothing for sci-fi horror like Quake.
I tend towards video game and film soundtracks, too. Preferably ones the players don't know well. Other than that, I'm looking forward to using Septicflesh's Great Symphonic Mass as the main soundtrack of a certain area in the next game I'll DM.

Saintheart
2012-02-24, 09:19 AM
Well, in the acoustic vein for travelling parties I do like W.G. Snuffy Walden's "On the Road to Kansas" - comes from the TV series adaptation of The Stand -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZqQTTT_T5E

Might work better for post-apocalyptic settings or slightly more modern ones, but it's a personal favourite of mine.

Look up anything by Immediate Music; there's some good trailer music they've done which also sets moods nicely.

If you want to get closer than acoustic guitar, look for stuff played on the actual lute -- John Dowland (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg92fcPzH5Q ) is from the late Renaissance period and he's still played. Sting did a version of one of his songs (Come Again) -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55jnH3rqcoU&feature=related -- which as usual got looked down on the purists, but it gives a sense of what the music from the period was like.

smashbro
2012-02-24, 12:40 PM
For a while, I would use Vitamin Sting Quartet covers; I like playing songs that people will recognize after a bit, but stuff that can go on in the background.

Ormur
2012-02-24, 01:09 PM
I have three separate playlist to set the mood, one for epic, another for background and the third for spooky.

The first two are mostly classical music, ranging from baroque to impressionist, and conventional film soundtracks (LotR, John Williams).

The spooky one has an appropriate selection from those two categories too (The Ninth Gate soundtrack, Togate and Fugue) but leans more towards eerier contemporary works (György Ligeti, Krzysztof Pendereck).

There are some electronic and rock songs mixed in but they can break the mood sometimes. I think I'll remove most of them when I update the playlists.

I'm a bit prejudiced towards video game soundtracks but I also don't know much about them, not having played the right games.

SleepyShadow
2012-02-24, 01:42 PM
For any sort of epic encounter or combat, I recommend anything by Two Steps From Hell.

Lonely Tylenol
2012-02-24, 06:11 PM
There's a huge amount of very good video game soundtracks.

Icewind Dale
Guild Wars
Skyrim
The Witcher
Resident Evil
Silent Hill
Mass Effect
Half-Life 2

And Quake (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F7s3RjAgP4&feature=BFa&list=PLA4B1D15D2B9C046A&lf=results_main). There's nothing for sci-fi horror like Quake.

I've used soundtracks before (mainly the older Final Fantasies, the ones I'm familiar with, and a few other things along those lines), but I usually run into a speed bump when I find a song that the party instantly recognizes, because then they're associating it with the game instead of the present experience. I'll never use the Zelda theme in a game for that reason, for instance, nor the Halo theme, or anything along those lines, since they're instantly recognizable.

(I haven't played any of the above games, but I know people in my party who have played every single one.)


I like to set the tone by putting "When your Evil" by Voltaire on quietly on loop in the background (also helps the noobs learn what their in for).

Haha! That smacks of something you would have a Lawful Evil ex-Bard enemy guy playing in concerto in the middle of a game. :smalltongue:


Listen to some Lins (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3KUyPKbR7Q&feature=related)dey (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxIOUJ7by6U&feature=relmfu) Stir (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrF814OnFQ4&feature=related)ling! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHjpOzsQ9YI)

Yeah, she is pretty good! I like the third music video a lot.


Well, in the acoustic vein for travelling parties I do like W.G. Snuffy Walden's "On the Road to Kansas" - comes from the TV series adaptation of The Stand -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZqQTTT_T5E

Might work better for post-apocalyptic settings or slightly more modern ones, but it's a personal favourite of mine.

Look up anything by Immediate Music; there's some good trailer music they've done which also sets moods nicely.

If you want to get closer than acoustic guitar, look for stuff played on the actual lute -- John Dowland (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg92fcPzH5Q ) is from the late Renaissance period and he's still played. Sting did a version of one of his songs (Come Again) -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55jnH3rqcoU&feature=related -- which as usual got looked down on the purists, but it gives a sense of what the music from the period was like.

On the Road to Kansas is excellent! Sounds exactly like something you'd want to throw in amidst a long walk or something. :smallbiggrin:

I guess it would be nice to get a little more accurate, historically speaking--especially since one of my group is SCA--but I admit to knowing nothing about classical lute music whatsoever, so that's somewhat difficult for me.


I have three separate playlist to set the mood, one for epic, another for background and the third for spooky.

The first two are mostly classical music, ranging from baroque to impressionist, and conventional film soundtracks (LotR, John Williams).

The spooky one has an appropriate selection from those two categories too (The Ninth Gate soundtrack, Togate and Fugue) but leans more towards eerier contemporary works (György Ligeti, Krzysztof Pendereck).

Yeh, I have some Krysztof Penderecki in my list as well, for that reason.

You might be interested in Sergio Altamura (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBVt6uIdyXw) (from above); I'm currently playing Down Roma Traffic over Penderecki's Polymorphia and losing my freaking mind.

Kol Korran
2012-02-25, 05:38 AM
I've started experimenting with music in the last campaign i ran. it was mostly to set the mood of a special country (Mournland from Eberron) and for the final session. most players welcomed it, with one who really really got into it.

in the next campaign i hope i'll have the time to explore enough to find suitable music. i haven't started yet, it's going to be a pirate campaign mostly.

i too shy away from well knonw music either from films or video games or common culture. thankfully enough few of us play major games (RL not generous with the time thingy) so i can use quite a bit of that.

if you're interested i compiled some of the music (not that much) in my youtube channel. i hope it can be accessed without a problem (http://www.youtube.com/user/kolkorran/videos)

Fatebreaker
2012-02-25, 09:01 AM
An excellent source of music is http://ocremix.org/. Contributors take video game soundtracks, remix them, and submit them for review. Finished products are then put up for you and I to enjoy!

They have a lot of great songs, and for a wide variety of moods. I've had great success with them in my games, whether during play or while writing up scenarios.

Enjoy!

Bagelson
2012-02-25, 07:03 PM
Music are great mood setters. I haven't run a game long enough to warrant a soundtrack, but based on my experience with gaming I know what I'd prefer.

It'd have to suit the genre and theme of the game (eastern instrumentals for L5R, symphonic for anything western, more electronic for sci-fi), and no discernible vocals. Listening to singing is almost always something that distracts the players. Also, the music can't be so intrusive that the players pay more attention to it than the game.

Movie, TV and game soundtracks are all excellent for just that reason and because they often keep a consistent theme all throughout. It's usually easier to track music by composer than by soundtrack; search for Hans Zimmer rather than Batman. For those epic moments you can bring in the trailer music producers, like Two Steps From Hell, Q-Factory, Epic Score or E.S. Posthumous and many others.

Mind you, some music can prove good gimmicks. For the first couple of years of a long-running post-apocalyptic campaign we had The No Smoking Orchestra - Black Cat White Cat (http://youtu.be/C5D89ywPq6o) as the battle theme. It really truly fit the setting theme apart from being an excellent battle theme; it had us on the edges of our seats. Several years later the GM brought it back for the final battle and it was epic.

Science Officer
2012-02-25, 10:03 PM
There's a lovely RPG from France called Les Ombres d'Esteren (The Shadows of Esteren) that has it's own original soundtrack. Not only does this strike me as a great idea, the music is really good as well.
You can listen to the soundtrack here (http://www.myspace.com/esteren/music/).

Ozreth
2012-02-26, 12:57 AM
I've got my music on my iPhone and have made three different playlists:

Frontier
Town
Dungeon

I've got the 90s Final Fantasy soundtracks, the Diablo 2 Soundtrack, and the Conan soundtrack. I've divided up the songs from those soundtracks amongst the three playlists. There is never not music playing at the table and it always suits the mood of what the party is doing.

Lonely Tylenol
2012-02-27, 08:41 PM
I've got my music on my iPhone and have made three different playlists:

Frontier
Town
Dungeon

I've got the 90s Final Fantasy soundtracks, the Diablo 2 Soundtrack, and the Conan soundtrack. I've divided up the songs from those soundtracks amongst the three playlists. There is never not music playing at the table and it always suits the mood of what the party is doing.

Diablo 2 soundtrack. <3

These are all excellent resources, guys!

What do you all think about music that incorporates a mix of classical and heavier elements? I'm talking, in this case, about Apocalyptica (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMGVR-seoG0), which is a modern metal band comprised entirely of cellists, but really any music that fits that sort of theme works. On one hand, I can see the decidedly modern spin being immersion-breaking for some, but I find music like this very good for setting tone, because it's created to create this sort of feeling for those with a modern mentality.

Saintheart
2012-02-29, 08:18 AM
Oh! Before I forget, consider the soundtracks for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, and The House of Flying Daggers if you're running an oriental campaign. :smallsmile:

Werekat
2012-02-29, 10:26 AM
My recent gaming soundtrack love is LOTRO OST.

Some examples:

War pipes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlwsVWhc9Mo)
Hammerhand (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POubiIcS_7o&feature=related)
Breefields (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yosmhIgRfDQ&feature=related)
Forests of Eregion (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFXPMTj1rew&feature=related)

Excellent work, and there is MUCH more where that came from.

Upd: as for Apocalyptica, we've used their work, and it's hard. They tend to whip around the loudness level, so you either don't hear any sound, or suddenly find it hard to talk over it at the table.

Ashjustash
2012-02-29, 10:46 AM
I tend to build a new playlist for every session, depending on what we do or what I have planned and lately with the big final end of our currant campaign its been a lot of dark discordant music by Bones Domingo, Eugene Ysaye, Bela Batork, and the soundtrack from Battle Star Galatica (the new one).

Besides that, I actually encourage the players to make up playlists for their own characters, or to find "theme songs" for their characters (songs which bring to their minds the essence, personality, purpose, of their character) and include those songs into the nights playlists if we're gonna be focusing more on something from that particular character's backstory, or if that character has done something with sparked a larger consequence they'll be faceing, use it for foreshadowing, and also if the character are about to face something particularly daunting I'll include all their themesongs to help put the players really in the mindset of their characters.

Examples:
Eugene Ysaye and Bela Bartork (http://grooveshark.com/playlist/Charlie+Violin/67316749)
BSG (http://grooveshark.com/playlist/BSG/61633597)
Character Theme Song (http://grooveshark.com/playlist/Fml/67776172)

McMouse
2012-02-29, 09:16 PM
Not to flog my own blog, but I just recently added a "sounds" section to my online-roleplaying-resources website LookingForGroup.net (http://lookingforgroup.net). I think a lot of the content I have listed there is perfect for what you're looking for. Much of it is just a quick Googling away from freely-available. It's by no means a comprehensive listing, more of a compendium of the best I found going through a bunch of threads like this :)

Best of luck getting a killer playlist together!

TechnoScrabble
2012-03-01, 04:42 PM
Bookmarking this for later use. I love music for campaigns.
Try Suidakra.

Grinner
2012-03-01, 05:37 PM
Bookmarking this for later use. I love music for campaigns.
Try Suidakra.

+1

In particular:
Dead Man's Reel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3SXa0hnJrE)
Rise of Taliesin (www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar06Xq7cMIg)
Ár Nasc Fola (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jlUJndidP0)
maybe The IXth Legion (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmyL2EwHu3g)
definitely Stone of the Seven Suns (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ADzplwOKe0)