I couldn't find a thread about background music for games and wanted recommendations so thought I'd start a thread. I like having a small amount of background music in my games, especially if you/the dm matches the music to the current mood. For the current game i'm running I currently have 4 playlists I'm gradually building up. Combat, Sneaking, Positive Social and risky/less positive social. As its a V:tM game I can put things like Bloody Tears in my combat section (I think my group won't get the reference and personally I try and avoid songs references they get as it kinda ruins the mood) as well as Kashiwa Daisuke - Roar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra5rzFt9crA Entertainment System - Bloody Tears https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpEmXmIKg1w Kashiwa Daisuke - Road Combat playlists feel like the easiest - you can raid most videogame or film OSTs and end up with a fairly decent playlist. So i'm looking for suggestions for the other three. For sneaking I've currently grabbed a few pieces from videogames and a few horror movies such as: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSN7cGb_nKE Dangan Ronpa V3 OST - Nightmare in the Locker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_peBZWzAu7Y Scntfc - Catbird Station (Oxenfree OST) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrqS96JxWVA Disasterpiece - Title (It Follows OST) While the last two - friendly conversations and risky conversations are still essentially empty. What would you recommend? Is there anything else about RPG music you want to discuss?
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# ? Mar 1, 2019 00:31 |
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# ? May 15, 2024 04:48 |
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50s / 60s easy listening could be a good fit for friendly conversation, something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoejnjfTlNo For risky conversations, I'd suggest some dark ambient synth music like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRmsMyiBN8k I'm not much of a pen & paper player, but I'm a music geek, so here's some general recommendations for DMs to use in their campaigns I guess. For anything medieval / high fantasy there's a few artists that immediately spring to mind: Wardruna - Pagan Folk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbgvgk50e94 Heilung - Pagan Folk (sometimes with a metal influence) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRg_8NNPTD8 Forndom - Ambient Folk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-euwknf4F3s Fief - Dungeon Synth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DffQVP6UqVQ For general Sci-Fi: Nervous Testpilot - Electronica with influences from various genres from Breakbeat to Dubstep https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAln2rGiOF4 Mega Drive - Synthwave https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Q7e9Q6DlI For grimdark Sci-Fi: Dom & Roland - Dark Drum and Bass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg0WfdaKGOQ Current Value - Dark Drum and Bass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jB17QhL_nU
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# ? Mar 1, 2019 01:08 |
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Been gathering tunes for an "Eastern" themed campaign. I try to stick to video game music - it's exciting for the party when someone recognizes it. Here are a few gems: Combat Street Fighter 5 - Chun-Li's theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX42oOJbUog Breathe of Fire 4 - A Warring God https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCSAqplG8Jg Sekiro - Corrupted Monk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_ywF3fp564 Dungeons Mario Odyssey - Bowser's Castle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8fXxXztwQs WoW Pandaria - Shado-Pan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeKNsayJHbw Sekiro - Folding Screen Monkeys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0fKkq7pZaA Travel Pokemon Sun - Maile City Daytime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB3gWdVKAfA FF14 - A Father's Pride https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IkIGkp9OyE Civ 5 - China Peacetime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_ODTjkXdtk Bonus character death song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62Y7BXIuX6Y Any game soundtracks I missed? Happy to hear recommendations.
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# ? May 4, 2019 03:18 |
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I'm not sure whether it's quite what you are looking for - but for ambient music I can't recommend tabletop audio enough - free tracks to use as ambient music in your games. It started out as someone doing it for themselves and putting the tracks online for free and it's still free but with Patreon funding.
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# ? May 5, 2019 19:05 |
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Das Butterbrot posted:
Hey, this is exactly the song I've been using when tension is high and mysterious poo poo is happening. This one and Evil Ball also from Sinoia Caves. I've made it appoint to limit my soundtracks to one or two songs for different type of scenes and just looping them instead of having huge soundtracks. This way when a soundtrack starts it puts people in the right mindset right away. For combat in modern settings I've got a lot of mileage out of Hate or Glory by Gesaffelstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdJ_SGof2GI
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# ? May 5, 2019 19:18 |
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CHaKKaWaKka posted:Hey, this is exactly the song I've been using when tension is high and mysterious poo poo is happening. This one and Evil Ball also from Sinoia Caves. This is the way to do it. I played in a game where the GM would make long playlists and just hit play when the sessions started. It doesn't work well. The music almost never matches the mood (often distractingly so) and it's not like films or TV shows have music going every single second. And even with a long, randomized playlist, you get very tired of the same songs, especially video game combat themes. Spotify playlists have the same problem. Music works way better as an intentional and sparse mood setting, as you're approaching it. Edit: this is a great song and I'm going to steal it for my Eclipse Phase game. Ditto the "Forever Dilating Eye" track. Thanks for sharing these. Sionak fucked around with this message at 17:42 on May 7, 2019 |
# ? May 7, 2019 16:33 |
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# ? May 15, 2024 04:48 |
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For some actual suggestions: I find that music that is too strongly associated with the original source else doesn't work that well. Things like the Game of Thrones theme or Lord of the Rings soundtrack are just so memorable that you're distracting your own players from what's happening at the table. I can't really think of much that works for "easy conversation" other than some ambient noise or some of the various "tavern cozy" tracks found in games like World of WarCraft and the Witcher. Whole Witcher tavern playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMxo_3oHULE World of WarCraft tavern ambience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p8jLMz0lu8 Depending on the genre, the Night in the Woods soundtrack has some great ambient tracks without a threatening mood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRwqAU3IfgM These tracks might work for just exploring or talking to people. Pelgrane Press commissions soundtracks for their games and they're pretty solid. They're not too expensive and are suitable to play for sessions, and have descriptive titles. Games range from 13th Age (d20 fantasy) to Ashen Stars (sci-fi) to Night's Black Agents (technothriller horror). You can check out some of the tracks from the main composer's page here: https://soundcloud.com/james-a-semple Atlas Games has hired him as well, to do soundtracks for Unknown Armies and Over the Edge. I've enjoyed all of them. For more horror and weirdness, I like Chad Fifer's work for the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast. https://chadfifer.bandcamp.com/album/music-from-the-h-p-lovecraft-literary-podcast-volume-one There's some jokey ones and ones with voice clips which wouldn't work well, but the majority are written to be played during readings, so they're evocative but not too distracting. He did a Call of Cthulhu soundtrack album called Sense Impacts as well. It's a particular flavor, but I also like the Eclipse Phase soundtracks that have been put out: http://www.eclipsephase.com/releases/eclipse-phase-soundtrack http://www.eclipsephase.com/infiniteindivisiblereleased For other soundtracks, I like to pick from things that are a little more obscure. The Myth games have kind of slow, melancholy soundtracks that I think work well for fantasy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IQY_js0DkM The Vampire: the Masquerade computer games both had good soundtracks for modern horror or mystery. VtM Bloodlines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FU6JTZhMS8 (the lyric tracks from Bloodlines are probably distracting for most tables, though) VtM Redemption: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV9qcmyOvAs
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# ? May 10, 2019 16:23 |