Mood music

[Foxhound438]

What's everyone's thoughts on playing music appropriate for an event during d&d? is it good? bad? distracting? dumb? something else? and why? assume the chosen music is actually both good and fitting, we all know playing linkin park's "crawling" during the boss fight for no apparent reason would give someone cancer.

[FabulousFizban]

my experience as a DM has been that players usually find it distracting. I'll throw in sound effects once in a while when I feel they are warranted, and might have something like Erdenstern playing at a low volume as background noise. Generally though, trying to introduce music as a game element, even as "mood music" just hinders play.

EDIT: there are exceptions. Once, when my party was in a tavern, I played Irish folk music very loudly to simulate actually being in a bar. I had another audio file of mumbled conversation going as well. It forced the players to yell at each other to be understood. Then I started a barfight. The musicians kept playing. Good times.

[RickAllison]

For my bard, I like to have actual music similar to what I imagine him playing. This usually isn't during climactic moments, but I find it provides in-universe ambiance. Last song I played was Stravinsky's Petrushka as entertainment for a weary convoy of travelers. Put it to a moving Minor Illusion of an elf and framed it as a fairy tale.

[Sir cryosin]

It's different at my table I'm a player and I'm trying to introduce more music in to are game the DM try ed doing it but he has so much to do as is so I took up the mantel but playing music is a good thing if done right that's why movies will play music at important parts it puts people in the right mine frame it makes what you are thinking feel a little more real. But it needs to be done right.

[Squibsallotl]

I've always DMed with music, it's a staple of all the games I run. I just finished a 4-year campaign that ended at level 22 (4e), and the final session had 14 separate music scores for different moments.

I use the Baldur's Gate & Icewind Dale soundtracks, Final Fantasy 6-9 tracks, and/or epic music megamixes for heavy combat sessions.

[Laserlight]

One of the local DMs keeps a play list of "battle music"--instrumental pieces from Halo, Final Fantasy, Two Steps from Hell, etc--and has each player add his character's "theme song". One cleric had "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God", I picked an Irish reel for my pixie, and a warforged chose a piece from MechWarrior II. When your theme song plays, you immediately get one Action.

On the other hand, I find that background noise makes it harder for the players at the other end of the table to hear the GM and vice versa. I don't have music when I GM.

[Foxhound438]

On the other hand, I find that background noise makes it harder for the players at the other end of the table to hear the GM and vice versa. I don't have music when I GM.

that said it would clearly be a bad choice to make it hard for players to hear, but you can easily just play the music more quietly.

[Knaight]

I sometimes have something quiet in the background. Lyrics are all sorts of distracting and best avoided, but instrumental music that conveys the proper genre can work just fine, particularly if it isn't too recognizable. Movie sound tracks are great for this, and I've used video game sound tracks in other contexts (Halo has a great sound track for futuristic space games; not so much D&D).

[Laserlight]

that said it would clearly be a bad choice to make it hard for players to hear, but you can easily just play the music more quietly.

Depends on who's setting the volume.

One situation in which I might recommend mood music would be to cover up outside noise--neighbor's TV, traffic, etc.

[JoeJ]

Personally, I find it distracts me. If the music is good, I want to listen to it instead of play the game. If it's not good, I don't want to have to hear it.

[Safety Sword]

There is some really thematically appropriate music you can get for certain settings.

Ravenloft games especially benefit from a good dose of spooky orchestral music...