My last 'fun' topic, "Favorite module/module series" seemed to be a winner, and I don't want to inundate you with 'mechanics' inquiries all the time. So here is one about 'mood music.' Not that kind, unless your PCs come across a succubus.
Rather, what music, artist, or songs do you all like, if any at all, to set the mood. I have long enjoyed some type of background music, and often employ it as a tone setter. Here are some of my own personal favorites, in completely random order:
1) Anything composed by Basil Poledouris, such as "Conan the Barbarian" (Argon, is he a relative?)
2) Hammerfall: I love the following songs- Remember Yesterday, Templars of Steel (makes me think of my fighter-priest of Trithereon), At the End of the Rainbow
number one is Nox Arcana!, followed by Midnight Syndicate, (the D&D album... ) and Danny Elfman, he did a lot, if not all, of the soundtracks for Tim Burton
Nox Arcana's music is used at a lot of haunted house/Halloween themed events, they have 8 albums, my favorite is Darklore Manor, followed by Circus of Lost Souls and then Transylvania. _________________ Servant of Azmekidom the Most Prudent Despot, The Unapproachable One
I thought of some others that may be in the "duh!" category, and glad that you didn't call me out on them, but here are two that came to mind, almost immediately after I posted the initial query:
4) Carl Orff's "Oh Fortuna" (just made for combat sessions)
5) Any of the Lord of the Rings soundtracks (I always liken the seige of Gondor to maybe what happened to Chendl during the Greyhawk Wars)
Uriah Heep did some cool stuff back in the day too, and then there is folk music too, Steeleye Span _________________ Servant of Azmekidom the Most Prudent Despot, The Unapproachable One
You named my top three but TT also named a few I've used. I have used soundscapes like brooks, Mountains, waterfalls, etc. I have also in certain times used some Iron Maiden, Metalica, Black Sabbath, Dio, and some Led Zepplin.
Danny Elfman has numerous works you can't go wrong with him. Classical music has entered some of my games as well.
It depends on the setting or mood I wanted to instilled in the case of the metal music if often woke people up during 13 hour gaming sessions.
1) Anything composed by Basil Poledouris, such as "Conan the Barbarian" (Argon, is he a relative?)
2) Hammerfall: I love the following songs- Remember Yesterday, Templars of Steel (makes me think of my fighter-priest of Trithereon), At the End of the Rainbow
The Kitchen Or... uh, Battle, by Basil Pasedouris is the first one I'd list too. I'm disappointed that I wasn't the first one to do so in this thread. Makes me look like a copy cat.
Next, I like People are Strange by The Doors and Cry Little Sister (artist?) both from the Lost Boys. These songs work so well in combination with Ravenloft.
I also enjoy using the song from We Were Soldiers- don't remember the name - that begins with, "Lay me down, in the cold, cold ground, where before many more have gone." This sets quite an epic mood when a PC/NPC has given his or her life to save the rest of the party.
Hey, aside from a number of sound tracks to choose from, I recently pick-up "Camelot" based off of a tv series, music good, show not so good... and of course "A Game of Thrones" soundtrack based off of the HBO series. Both music cds have merit in my humble opinion, so maybe you might wish to acquire them. My music cds for gaming has grown well over the last 15+ years, mixing and matching to suit the game is good preperation.
Also, to add historical Classics and Medieval music give a good background, especially tavern related themes.
SirXaris, good to see you again! I really like "The Lost Boys" (I am a product of the 80s after all, and that is a classic vampire movie...by the way, go check out the remake of Fright Night for a comparison with the old) and the soundtrack is great. The song, Cry Little Sister is a good one, along withLost in the Shadows by Lou Gramm of Foreigner.
Sample these two CDs by Dronolan Tower (orchestral music composed specifically as soundtracks for tabletop RPGs by a gamer... and recorded with a real orchestra!):
They're by far my favourite background music for gaming.
Midnight Syndicate also ranks high with me (especially their Dungeons and Dragons soundtrack), and Nox Arcana's Blood of the Dragon.
While I'm a big fan of heavy metal music (and can see how it would be appropriate for some scenes in a game), I only play movie soundtracks or other instrumental music at my game table. Makes for a more epic feel, and creates less distraction...[url][/url][url][/url]
Sample these two CDs by Dronolan Tower (orchestral music composed specifically as soundtracks for tabletop RPGs by a gamer... and recorded with a real orchestra!):
They're by far my favourite background music for gaming.
Midnight Syndicate also ranks high with me (especially their Dungeons and Dragons soundtrack), and Nox Arcana's Blood of the Dragon.
While I'm a big fan of heavy metal music (and can see how it would be appropriate for some scenes in a game), I only play movie soundtracks or other instrumental music at my game table. Makes for a more epic feel, and creates less distraction...[url][/url][url][/url]
Thanks! I listened to a few of the samples and they rival Nox Arcana. VERY good!! _________________ Servant of Azmekidom the Most Prudent Despot, The Unapproachable One
I'm that way with the TV (geek alert warning! esp. with the Discovery Channel, Nat Geo, or anything science-related...or a few sit-coms); I have to turn it off or I get drawn in. Background music set on low volume is usually good.
Not much of a background music fan. But some times use sound effect's. But.....if it just comes down to my fav music, I have to go with the guitar god himself Joe Satriani
I've recently become inspired by music inspired by old Swedish folkmusic. When depicting the more rural areas of civilized kingdoms I find that bands such as Hedningarna, Garmarna, Boot and Groupa or musicians like Hållbus Totte Mattson and Ola Bäckström provide a good atmosphere. _________________ Never say blip-blip to a kuo-tua
Baronzemo, "Satch" is great. I am listening to him right now as I reply!
Heard some of the Dronolan's Tower stuff. Really like it. My computer couldn't open the sound files from the hyperlink that was posted (my machine must be a POS), but I was able to access YouTube and listen.
My son loves to queue 'Mortal Kombat' when its his turn to roll the dice. I admit it does fit nicely. But I'm going to go back through this list and google some of these.
I did like some of the music by Lisa Gerard, I heard of her through Anna's FGS Facebook site. Its not bad at all. _________________ Dymond
-My kingdom for a Shield Lands map!
Good stuff on here! I would add the Henry V soundtrack - good combat music, and the music from the St. Crispin pep talk is good for role players who want to give a rousing speech before they storm a castle against overwhelming odds. Also for combat - "Ping Island/Lightning Strike Rescue Op" and "We Call Them Pirates Out Here" from soundtrack to The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. And I don't have it, but I'd guess the soundtrack to The Thirteenth Warrior would be good.
It may come as no surprises that I enjoy a bit of aquatic-themed New Age when I DM, such as Aquaria by Diane Arkenstone and Oceanic by Vangelis.
Add to that a fair helping of Celtic-themed tunes (hags love bagpipes), soundtracks, and electronic music from the likes of Jean-Michel Jarre, then stir in a few vintage tunes from the 30s and 40s.. and hey, did someone mention Nox Arcana? ;)
Aeolius: Vangelis did the soundtrack for Bladerunner IIRC.
I'd have to say hands down the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack. The new Conan OTOH...I can't even recall what it's soundtrack was like. Too much SFX going off.
What else? Hmm...I am kind of a sucker for Braveheart and the Legend soundtrack.
My favorite music band of all time is RUSH (applause to all you folks from Ontario, eh?). I dedicated different songs by the Power Trio (I also call them the Holy Trinity: Geddy, Alex, and Neil) to honor various characters, whether NPCs or PCs, from their earlier to more recent songs. Sometimes when RUSH plays on the radio, I warn my player that I am about to roll a crit success as a DM and crush him!
Lanthorn, dedicated song "Kid Gloves" off Grace Under Pressure
I may be a real nerd but I find Video Game music to be very good for background RPG. Final Fantasy, Warcraft, Devil May Cry, metal gear solid, many others. One good thing about video game music is that it is meant to be looped so you dont have a song starting and stopping over and over if you have a long battle or whatnot.
Rob Zombie is great for undead adventures. Nothing says undead horde quite like Scum of the Earth
Go to the store and pick up some dollar Halloween music and sounds CDs. Dont get the ones with like song just eerie music and sounds. Awesome for a dungeon crawl.
Shield2099, if you are a 'real nerd,' I think you are in good company. I will take the forefront on that.
As Argon mentioned on another one of my posts, welcome to Canonfire! It is always good to hear from new and more people. I myself only started posting about 2 wks ago (hard to believe, yes?), though I 'lurked' for quite some time before that.
I have lurked some here too. I am happy to find a group where my opinions seem to be welcome. I have posted at other sights but the new players just seem to be obsessed with power gaming. All characters are min maxed for combat and have very little in role-playing substance.
I started playing with 2nd shortly after it came out in middle school. I played with various groups, finally settling down with a great group in high school. I took a 2nd edition paladin from 1st to 19th level over the course of about 5 years.
I started playing 3rd edition in 2001 and 3.5 about 2005 or so. I fell in love with Greyhawk with living greyhawk adventuring in Geoff and some in Koeland and Gran March. The final year of Greyhawk I wrote and submitted an APL 2 to 10 adventure called A Little Problem that was written as a throwback to the early second and third year mods. It included story info about Grand Duke Lluth (Grand Duke Owens father). I worked with Jose Ortiz mostly, the other Triad members approved the mod to be included in the next years adventure lineup with virtually no changes; It would have been GEO9-02 A Little Problem by Adam Thomas and Crystal Rose Kitty Piper. Unfortunately, a few weeks later WoTC announced the end of GreyHawk and my mod sits played only by my playtesters.
I was crushed by LFR and the restrictive nature of 4th ed. Role-playing also seemed to take a backseat in LFR as my quirky characters stopped getting complements and started getting complaints that I was not min maxed for battle. Since that time I have drifted from group to group. I also play Spycraft, Star Wars Saga Ed., Serenity/Firefly, Rifts, BattleTech, and Witchcraft role playing and tabletop systems. I am not sure if there is an introduction form if so Ill repost this.
Shield, there is another Forum for introductions (Welcome to Greyhawk Forum, methinks), but I made the same "blunder," too. Nonetheless, I think some of us don't worry too much about that (I am probably the biggest culprit) and just want to generate discussion. I would venture to guess that most of the respondents want to hear opinions and ideas, even if we don't agree on the outcomes. At least people are writing and exchanging ideas. That's my take, and I thank everyone for their time.
I'd advise you to make a 'formal' intro on that aforementioned site, or add to DarkHerald's post (now 4 pgs long) where many posters have offered information about themselves. It's been a great read.
I'm with Tiger, he knows his stuff. Nox Arcana and Midnight Syndicate are great as is a lot of earlier stuff by Danny Elfman. Conan the Barbarian is kind of the token D&D soundtrack as is Lord of the Rings. The D&D soundtrack (not based off the horrid movie) by Midnight Syndicate is great too.
There's 2 articles from Dragon Magazine that talk about music for gaming. The 1st is from Dragon # 275 (Sept 2000) called 'The Definitive D&D Soundtrack' and the 2nd is from Dragon # 355 (May 2007) called 'I-Dragon-Modern Music in D&D'.
I actually have a Word doc with the 1st article in it that I use from time to time. I added to it with some newer music as well. I'll reprint the article here with my additions to it. Hopefully it will prove useful to some of you. Enjoy:
The Definitive D&D Soundtrack
(As compiled by Dragon # 275, Sept. 2000, updated by Mouse)
*The basics of a D&D soundtrack should come from 5 categories of music: Rock, Celtic melodies, Instrumentals, Classical, & Soundtracks.
Rock category:
Led Zepplin-Darkened Depths of Mordor, Kashmir (both songs)
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Jethro Tull
Allan Parsons Project
Stevie Nicks-Bella Donna, Enchanted (both albums)
Fleetwood Mac-Rhiannon (song)
Queensryche-Empire, Operation: Mindcrime (both albums)
Blue Oyster Cult-Black Blade (song)
Black Sabbath-Paranoid, Iron Man (songs)
Judas Priest
Alice Cooper
Alternative Rock:
White Zombie
Korn
Rage Against the Machine
Ministry
Lim Bizkit
Nine Inch Nails-Pretty Hate Machine (album)
The Cure-Disintegration (album)
GWAR
Instrumental:
Joe Satriani
Andres Segovia
Tangerine Dream-Le Parc, Hyperborea, Goblins Club (albums), Elf June & the Midnight Patrol, Sad Merlins Sunday (songs)
Enigma-River of Belief (song)
Deep Forest
K-Tel Albums (scary sounds)
Phillip Glass
Industrial/Dark/Ambient:
Delerium-Morpheus & Karma (albums)
KMFDM
Frontline Assembly
Synaesthesia
Einsturzende Neubautens (sounds like Dwarves clanging)
Art of Noise-Close to the Edit (albums)
Diablo game soundtrack
Nox Arcana-Darklore Manor, Necronomicon, Blood of the Dragon, Blackthorne Asylum, Zombie Influx, etc.
Midnight Syndicate-Born of the Night, Realm of Shadows, D&D, The 13th Hour, Dead Matter, etc.
Celtic Melodies:
Fairport Convention (Richard Thompson)-Matty Groves, Reynardine (Songs), Liege & Leaf, Unhalfbricking, Meet on the Ledge (Albums).
The Chieftains-March of the King of Laois:: Ruairi Og o Mordha (song), 1992 The Best of the Chieftains (Album)
New Christy Minstrels
Silly Wizards
Loreena Mckennit-Book of Secrets (Album), The Mummers Dance, Night Ride Across the Caucasus, The Highwayman Albums)
Enya-The Memory of Trees (Album & Song)
Clannad-Anam (Album & Song)
Capercaillie-Beautiful Wasteland (Album)
The Pogues-Red Roses for me, If I should fall from grace with God (Songs)
Molly & the Tinker
Classical:
Bach/Beethoven/Brahms
Wagner-Ring of Nibelung, Tristan & Isolde, Faust (Albums)
Modest Moussorgsky-Night on Bald Mountain, Pictures at an Exhibition (Albums)
Carl Orff-Carmina Burana (Album)
Franz Von Suppe-Light Cavalry March
Aaron Coplands-Fanfare for the Common Man
Holst-The Planets (Mars, Uranus)
Igor Stravinski-The Rite of Spring
Antonio Vivaldis-The Four Season
Benedictine Monks-Chant
Nikolai Rimski Korsakov-Scheherazade, Arabian Nights
Mozart-Requiem
Soundtracks:
Basil Poledouris-Conan the Barbarian, Hunt for Red October, Starship Troopers
James Horner-Krull, Aliens, Braveheart, Star Trek 2, Mask of Zorro, Willow, Patriot Games (Horner/Clannad), Sneakers, Glory, Rocketeer, Titanic, Apocalypto, Troy
Hans Zimmer-Gladiator, The Rock, Crimson Tide, True Romance, Thin Red Line, The Last Samurai, Blackhawk Down, Pirates of the Caribbean, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight (w James Newton Howard)
John Williams-Jurassic Park, Star Wars (all of them), Indiana Jones (all of them), Hook, Saving Private Ryan, Harry Potter (all of them)
Danny Elfman-Batman, Batman Returns, Darkman, Nightbreed, Army of Darkness, Sleepy Hollow, Mission: Impossible (varies, mostly Danny Elfman), Terminator Salvation
Tyler Bates-300, Watchmen, Dawn of the Dead
Various Artists-Apollo 13, Heavy Metal (Devo, Blue Oyster Cult, etc.), Matrix, Replacement Killers (mostly Crystal Method), The Crow (NIN, The Cure, Thrill Kill Kult, STP), Mortal Kombat (Napalm Death)
Vangelis-Blade Runner
Michael Kamen-Robin Hood, Highlander, Die Hard
Twin Peaks
A Midsummer Nights Dream
Fantasia
Something Wicked this way Comes
Terminator 2
Dracula
Hamlet
Interview with a Vampire
Stargate
Last of Mohicans (some Clannad)
Usual Suspects
Lady Hawke
Queen-Highlander, Flash Gordon
Star Trek Amok Time
Anime-Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa, Porco Rosso, My Neighbor Totoro, Ghost in the Shell
I know this is a slumbering thread posted by yours truly, but after purchasing and listening to "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" soundtrack, I have to add it to this very extensive and impressive list. There are several that are great background for combat. I have to admit that I really like the 'dwarf' theme as I call it, with the brass booming out to the tune of their Misty Mtns song. Absolutely love it.
Also, a production company / band in California , Two Steps from Hell, has done backgrounds for more movies than most would realize... bet you have heard alot of thier stuff and didnt realize....
trailers for such films as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Star Trek, The Dark Knight, The Fighter, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Tron: Legacy, Anna Karenina, No Country for Old Men, 2012, Captain America: The First Avenger, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Super 8, Inception, Drive Angry, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Hugo, John Carter, The Town, Priest and Prince of Persia, as well as video games such as Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3, Killzone 3, and Star Wars: The Old Republic and television shows such as Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, Revolution, Homeland, The Walking Dead and Merlin, and during the 2012 London Olympics.
Not a favorite background music, but a funny experience with some. The player who was hosting the game put Sigur Ros' album, Agaetis byrjun on loop... for 3 hours... for 3 sessions in a row. About the middle of the third session I calmly requested something "... less Icelandic, and less whiny."
A lot of my favorite stuff has already been listed (Basil Pouledaris's Conan stuff, James Horner's Willow, etc.), so I'll point out some stuff I use that hasn't been mentioned yet.
Hook was an awful movie, but the title theme by John Williams was great: Hook Prologue
I also use a lot of video game music. This may or may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I find it works.
Then there's the Dragon Quest games (also known as Dragon Warrior for a while in the US due to trademark issues with none other than TSR). The music for every game in the series (including spinoffs) was composed by Koichi Sugiyama. Sugiyama has also conducted live orchestral performances of his Dragon Quest soundtracks.
ActRaiser was a combination platformer/town building sim with music by Yuzo Koshiro. Koshiro was well-known for his pop/hip-hop inspired scores on games like Streets of Rage and Revenge of Shinobi, but he proved he can handle classical music well with this soundtrack.
The gauntlet stuff was a bit of a reach for my tastes in background ... but to each his own... had forgotten about the Diablo one though..
And As lanthorn put it, the links were a very cool touch... So much so, you made me figure out how to do it.. and via your links I did find this one...
URL Helene Bøksle - The Dreaming "Ere the World crumbles" (Age of Conan OST)
A variant off this thread but music related.. I tend to use music to inspire the action and also to hint to the past or future events in the realm for my PCs... and with that I'm always looking to old and new musics for insparation and muse.
From this thread, it lead me back to combing YouTube and came across these "goodies"
Sound of Silence S&G Those Were The Days - Mary hopkin
Was thinking one leads the party back to a tavern of their youth, only to find a "new evil" has taken hold.....
With that.. what are the communities thoughts around a "dampening field" for the "verbal" portion of spell components... thus the sounds of silence.....
the parties goal, of course is to remove the "evil" but first must overcome this dampening field or determine its cause.. to gain full use of their spells....
Thoughts?
Edit****
And even on this site.. these would be the Ancient Wyrms of song resources... hehe as even I was almost too young to remember them.
I also use sounds of nature such as thunderstorm tracks. Very mood setting music for the high seas and such...
have thought the same thing, but its difficult to find a track more than a minute long, save making a loop.
Can see this as useful for large scale battles too.. ie background sword clashes etc. or explosions for fireballs etc...
I also use sounds of nature such as thunderstorm tracks. Very mood setting music for the high seas and such...
have thought the same thing, but its difficult to find a track more than a minute long, save making a loop.
Can see this as useful for large scale battles too.. ie background sword clashes etc. or explosions for fireballs etc...
Actually, My thunderstorm (album?) has over an hour of thunderstorm audio spread across three different thunderstorms. Ive mostly used it for high seas, but I'd imagine it'd be great for Ravenloft or Rauxes, etc.. I picked it up at Bookworld about a decade and a half ago for $5.
I also I have a "Sounds of the Jungle" one with around 50 minutes that I used on repeat for running Isle of the Ape. Worked great!
My other favorite is a stretch of Gregorian Monk chants, although I've never used it before. _________________ Kneel before me, or you shall be KNELT!
Verry Cool. Would be very interested in the manufacture / producer if you can convey, so I can google a search for them...
have tried sound effects, theater, etc... but all seem to be mp3 of at the most 3min in length. love the chant idea.. (adding to my list)
Last edited by Dark_Lord_Galen on Wed Feb 13, 2013 8:11 pm; edited 1 time in total
Just a thread bump in the spirit of Lanthorn...... and to add for those looking for some unique background music check out Adrian von Ziegler via u-tube or google.... great stuff.
here's a sample
I liked not only his mixture of music, but other background sounds (ie birds, water, etc) blended into the tune. Very easy to imagine many of his tunes as backdrops for kingdom halls or elven woods, or dwarvish banquets.
I agree, infact mentioned them In This Thread awhile back
Dark_Lord_Galen wrote:
SirXaris wrote:
This is always a great idea, though I rarely have time to properly prepare for it.
True, but it is a bit easier than when you and I "wore a younger mans clothes".. hehe There are lots of fonts and software that didn't exist back in the day. Everything was by hand.... Even the character sheets.. lol Now its all electronic.
The Groups 2steps from hell, dutch band within temptation and Ghosts1-4 album by Nine inch nails make for great backgrounds.
SirXaris wrote:
I used the runes from the Best of the Dragon #1. My players had a blast deciphering them.
SirXaris
Wow thanks for reminding me!!! totally forgot that rune reference... been utilizing the back of the original GH gazetteer for lack of other resources.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Canonfire! is a production of the Thursday Group in assocation with GREYtalk and Canonfire! Enterprises
) and Danny Elfman, he did a lot, if not all, of the soundtracks for Tim Burton
aka BusterBudd
The gauntlet stuff was a bit of a reach for my tastes in background ... but to each his own... had forgotten about the Diablo one though.. 