Need music suggestions

[Seatbelt]

I'm running the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (with heavy influences from the Ravenloft PHB) game in about a week and a half and I want to get some solid music to run in the background, and was wondering if anyone had good suggestions. Broad suggestions are great, but if you have specific song suggestions for specific moods (like for during combat, in Svalich woods, Strahd's castle, general combat, epic combat, etc) that would be amazingly helpful. I dont really want to use songs with a lot of lyrics, but I'll make exceptions for especially haunting/eerie songs (like Gollum's Song from the end of LotR:TT).

[lacesmcawesome]

I've never played that setting or anything, but

Try the Black Mages, they do some kick-awesome covers of Final Fantasy songs. They've got one of the Square Enix ex-designers or something. It's amazing. Definitely good stuff. They've got fight scene music that I'm sure you're gonna love.

[Penguinsushi]

Have you listened at all to Midnight Syndicate? They did an an official d&d album a few years back, and they have some other more gothic stuff as well. Would probably work pretty well thematically.

~PS

[Dark_Wind]

Try the Black Mages, they do some kick-awesome covers of Final Fantasy songs.

Second this. The Decisive Battle FTW.

They've got one of the Square Enix ex-designers or something.

*facepalm*

The band was started by Nobuo Uematsu. Yeah.

[Tellah]

I've used the soundtrack to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for years now. You need it so badly I can't even express it in text.

Other stuff that gets a heavy rotation in my games:

• Brave Fencer Musashi OST
• Chrono Cross OST
• FF4 Celtic Moon
• FF7-11 OSTs
• FF Tactics OST
• Ico OST (very atmospheric and creepy, good for Ravenloft)
• The Black Mages
• Okami OST (very Japanese, not recommended for Ravenloft)
• Wagner
• Emerson, Lake and Palmer (action scenes, especially when aberrations are involved)
• Dragonforce (intentionally cheesy hack n' slash only)
• Bruch
• Prokofiev
• Vivaldi

Various nineteenth-century operas, world music, and other video game soundtracks round out my gaming music collection.

[ocato]

Carmina Burana O Fortuna

[EvilDoom]

Wow, none of you has ever used the Alien CD soundtracks then? They are by far the best I've encountered and zero cheese factor.

[rawling]

(like Gollum's Song from the end of LotR:TT).

Crazily enough, guess what I was listening to when I opened this thread...

[Seatbelt]

Thanks, this is useful. I appreciate it. :)

[blacksabre]

Maybe not the best for a Ravenloft campaign, but the Soundtrack to Conan the Barbarian is a good choice for general backgound

[Tellah]

Carmina Burana O Fortuna

Maybe not the best for a Ravenloft campaign, but the Soundtrack to Conan the Barbarian is a good choice for general backgound

Listen to these men. I can't believe I forgot to mention Carmina Burana!

[Narmoth]

Opeth - melodic metal for the gloomy mood.
Arcturus - especially their last album
Secret Garden - outdoor at daytime
Iced Earth (the early albums) - figting
Various medieval music is also good

But really, don't rely on the music to create the mood. Keep it in the backgroun, or it will only irritate the players.
I usually just run a lot of speedmetal in the background to have somehting to listen to while the players try to deside what to do next

[kyz]

Just use Rob Zombie.

For everything.

YEAAAAAAH, WE'RE CHECKING INTO AN INN!

YEAAAAAAH, WE'RE FIGHTING A BAND OF EVIL ORCS!

YEAAAAAAH, WE'RE PRAYING AT THE TEMPLE OF PELOR!

YEAAAAAAH, WE'RE SLEEPING!



But, seriously, my group tended to just put on really long playlists of various game music and let it run on end. Nothing special.

[Amphimir Míriel]

Lately I have been using the following movie soundtracks (besides some of the choices already posted):

1- 300 (good for battle scenes)
2- Willow (good for outdoors wilderness scenes)
3- The Lord of the Rings soundtracks

For horror scenes you can use some instrumental tracks by Danny Elfman, from the Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Batman soundtracks, for example.

...oh the Interview from the Vampire soundtrack is also good

[Yvian]

Dead Can Dance

They are not who you think they are from the band's title. They play instruments that were popular before the "classical" period. Maybe not exactly the best for Ravenloft or combat, but it is very good at setting up the mood.

Camina Burana O Fortuna is also great.

[Shinkoro]

Some music I play when my group games.

Battle without Honour - Tomoyasu Hotei

Conan the Barbarian Sountrack - Basil Poledouris

Conan the Destroyer Sountrack - Basil Poledouris

Braveheart sountrack, Troy Sountrack, Willow Soundtrack - James Horner

The 13th Warrior Soundtrack - Jerry Goldsmith

Bram Stoker's Dracula Soundtrack - Wojciech Kilar

The Last Samurai Soundtrack, King Auther Soundtrack, Batman Begins Soundtrack, Gladiator Soundtrack - Hans Zimmer

The Ten Commandments (Overture) -City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Resident Evil Main Theme - Marilyn Manson

The first Underworld Soundtrack Renholder stuff is pretty good for Ravenloft setting but the songs are somewhat short.

[Seatbelt]

I was sorting through my music last night, and I actually really like the second season Battlestar Galactica score. It's got a nice, dark, depressing sound, but for the most part it keeps to the background. Just to add a suggestion to my own question thread...

[Vazzaroth]

May not be for everyone, but Power Metal, AKA Epic or Symphonic Metal (Which can be VERY diffrent from Death Metal) goes together with RPG games like Dice and Pouches.

Namely, Rhapsody of Fire. They rock my table top group's collective face off.

PS. Holy Thunderforce is their best song.

[Fourth Tempter]

The Danse Macabre would make an excellent choice.

[Dareon]

E Nomine and E.S. Posthumus would fit well in a Ravenloft campaign, as would the Chaos Legion soundtrack.