Post/Author/DateTime	Post
jonthegm 11-10-05, 11:40 AM	I know we've had some soundtracking before, but let's focus a little. Imagine that you have a game set in the cavernous ruins below the Mror Holds. What kind of music evokes that feeling to you? Post the titles of your tracks here (freely available music is epecially great), along with a brief description. Also, critique others by describing the terrain that you see when you listen to their tracks.
realdm 11-11-05, 03:54 AM	get the rpg soundmix. a very useful utility if you play with the pc
A Vision In A Dream 11-11-05, 04:26 AM	GRIEG. a classical composer. check out his Peer Gynt Suites 1 and 2
jonthegm 11-11-05, 10:55 AM	GRIEG. a classical composer. check out his Peer Gynt Suites 1 and 2 Peer Gynt Suite #1, a review in context of this prompt: Movement 1) Morning Mood - Can only be used for comedic purposes. Seriously, it's the standard music for any comedy number to show "morning" or "springtime in the fields." Listen to it here. Completely Legal, I checked. (http://www.peoplesound.com/music/play_stream.cfm?ID1=44931) Movement 2) The Death of Ase - Almost. This is definately a funeral piece, good for general backgrounds when you want to intro a piece. There's not a lot of forboding or creepiness to this piece, just a sense of loss. Play this when a character dies. Search for Grieg on Ampcast, and you'll find a good version of this song (http://www.ampcast.com/music/) Movement 3) Anita's Dance - Good for a dance scene in Zilargo (I know it's not a tango, but it sounds Spanishy, and I have attributed Brazil to the Gnomes), but not really for the underground halls of the ancient Dwarven civilization. Listen here (http://www.garageband.com/mp3player?|pe1|S8LTM0LdsaSkYlOwYmw) Movement 4) In the Hall of the Mountain King - Perhaps Grieg's most famous piece. However, there are a bazillion versions of them, most of them really interesting. Unfortunately, this piece is far too dramatic for an average game session; it changes mood FAR too quickly. An Interesting synth version can be found here (http://www.aliwood.com/sound.html)
DoveArrow 11-11-05, 12:46 PM	I honestly don't use music that often in game play. However, I've found that sound effects can really enhance the feel of a particular environment. For example, I used the sound of a blizzard once for an RPGA Event that I ran for Mark of Heroes. It was neat because it was designed so that when it repeated, there was no interruption, it just kept playing. It was also nice because I could adjust the volume so that my NPCs had to shout over the sound, or lower it when the PCs went into an ice cave or something. The effect cost me $5.00 from some website, but it was worth every penny, because it really helped my players visualize where they were. When I get home, I'll try to see if I can find the website I downloaded it from and see if they have the sound of stalactites dripping, or something. I know $5.00 sounds like a bit much for something you'll probably use once or twice, but sometimes (like when you're reading a module, listening to the sound of a blizzard in your head, and thinking, 'God, wouldn't it be cool to have that sound at the table?'), it's worth it.
Effling 11-11-05, 02:20 PM	Animes are great sources for RPG music, though I guess the quality varies quite a lot. Vision of Escaflowne's Dance of Curse is an awesome fight music and Machine Soldier would fit very well when fighting the Lord of Blades or something like that. From the Berserk soundtrack, Forces is a beautiful piece. Mror Holds specifically though... I dunno. Escaflowne has some good moody pieces, and Record of Lodoss War is basically a D&D-inspired anime, so the soundtrack from there would probably work too. I don't recall if System Shock 2's musics had too modern of a sound, but they might work too.
Eberik 11-11-05, 02:22 PM	I can think of nothing better fitting for the Mror Deeps then the Mines of Moria track from the Fellowship soundtrack. It seems to evoke all the things you would expect from a mining community and well, it's just damned cool as hell too.... IMHO
cancerousmango 11-11-05, 02:35 PM	Hmm...for Eberron, I've found that Strings for the Deaf (A string quartet version of Songs for the Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age) is a great album, as it has the driving sound that an Eberron campaign needs, but it sounds 1800's-ish so it fits the period. You should check it out. For the Mror Holds? That's a toughie. I'd use Garmarna, a Swedish folk band, they can have some pretty low-key stuff, as can Vinterricket, very, very desolate music, especially their track Die Ruinen die Jenseits (or something like that) it's evokative of being competely alone in the cold, and NO WORDS, which is a big plus for RPG music, as you need as few distractions from your DMing if possible. Hell, if I could be at my computer at home, I could throw you up a list of some pretty good music for this purpose (I have lists for combat and ambience)
Lurkalot 11-11-05, 06:10 PM	Darn - was beaten to it with Hall of the Mountain King. What could be more appropriate? Okay, as pointed out, it jumps a bit too much for a single scene, but it would make a great overture as you enter the depths. I'm going to play it as they plummet down a mineshaft in a rickety elevator, seams of rock and crystal whizzing past and dwarfs singing baritone and bass. Will definitely be a good "role-playing time starts now" signal. More appropriate for dramatic moments? I can't think of anything better than Prokofiev's Montagues and Capulets from Romeo and Juliet. There may never have been a better piece of battle build-up music written and the deep slow bass makes it perfect for war in the depths.
Straylight 11-12-05, 01:40 AM	The first things that spring to mind for the Mror Deeps is Moussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" (at least the end of it) and some parts of Respighi's "Feste Romane" (mvts. 1 and 2, mostly, with some bits in mvt. 4). Slightly more generally, almost anything Robert W. Smith has ever written can find a place in Eberron (two iconics for me are "Ireland, of Legend and Lore" for the Reaches and "Africa: Ceremony, Song and Ritual" for Talenta). Sticking with proper composers for the moment, we all know that John Williams has a lot of good "heroic" music, and Johan de Meiij's "The Big Apple" is the ultimate piece for Sharn (all thirteen-something minutes of it). Moving into slightly more unconventional territory, nothing gets your players' blood pumping quite like some fast-paced Juno Reactor or Nightwish if you need to add a little spice to a fight. I've even been known to put on a little Andrew W.K. when the mood requires it. Oh, and there's Evanesence, if you can stand Amy Lee's voice (I can't). Another songwriter to look into is Eric Johnson. He's a guitarist who plays something like what you'd get if you locked Carlos Santana, Van Halen and Joe Satriani in a room and didn't let them out until they had an album recorded. Very bright, very anthemic, and very iconic with just a hint of patriotism. "Cliffs of Dover" is my personal favorite if I need something bright and airy. It makes a great "opening credits"-style theme song. Since someone already mentioned anime soundtracks, I might as well mention Yoko Kanno. You can't really talk about anime soundtracks without bringing her up at some point, and her incredible diversity make one album of hers a romp through the history of music, bouncing from Satchmo to Aerosmith to Chick Corea to the Offspring and then careening off on another tangent altogether. Yoko Kanno was responsible for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop (rumor has it that Ed's personality was based on YK) and Lodoss War among others, and she's also been the musical force behind about half an album's worth of Maaya Sakamoto songs. And while I'm weaving about the history of music like a drunken exclamation point, this is probably as good a time as any to bring up VNV Nation. They're a strange sort of dark electronica that defies conventional description beyond "really good." Their "Empires" CD and the track "Dark Angel" in particular are wonderful fuel for the inner megalomaniac in all of us, and I've been known to use it as "psyche up" music if I'm walking into a day of heavy DMing. Also on the "slightly strange" tangent, there is the Twelve Girls Band, which is basically twelve young chinese musicians performing everything from traditional chinese music to Bach on traditional chinese instruments, backed up by a rhythm section that includes everything from a drum set to a Taiko troupe. The music is mostly recognizable, but it has a very alien, very ethereal sound to it that I think suits Eberron well. If you're looking for the ultimate music for a bardic troupe, look no further than The Barrage (www.barrage.org), a performance troupe that really can call themselves bards and has a very gypsie-flavored look and style. I have both of their CDs and I've managed to build an entire Eberron campaign around their music, so have a look. You just might like what you see. ...And finally, to close the circle, go see if you can't dig up some stuff on Bill Brown and the Seattle Symphony. Specifically, they're the ones who did the amazing soundtrack music for the evil little goth sister of Korean developer NCSoft's MMO family, Lineage 2. The game is only so-so, but the music is amazing and fits a dark, brutal fantasy world very well. Unfortunately, the only way to get the soundtrack is to buy the Lineage 2 Collector's Edition box, which is no longer available but still might be lurking on a shelf in the back of your local Gamestop, but the soundtrack (if not the game) is worth the $14.95 you'll pay for the box. I also don't imagine it would be hard to extract the music files from the game itself, since they are already conveniently encoded in 128K MP3 format ...not that I'm advocating this, mind you. Okay, that one kinda ran away with me, but there you go. That's my Eberron soundtrack.
A Vision In A Dream 11-12-05, 03:43 AM	I'll admit that perhaps Hall Of the Mountain King is too cataclysmic (even more so is O fortuna by Orff). Beethoven's "Storm" is great for a fight. It has some nice strings that represent that sharp jab and sweeping swing of the PC's weapons and it has some nice lulls to it as the PC's and their enemies circle, ready to pounce. Kyrie by Palestrina is worthy (if you don't mind vocals). It would also be nice for adventuring in Flamekeep or in Thrane in general. The first half of Albinoni by Adagio is nice but a tad sorrowful. The Piano Sonata no. 14 by Beethoven could be of use. As could Overture to Coriolan and the first half of Overture to Egmont. Various parts of the Orchestral Tubular Bells (composed by Mike Oldfield) may also be of assistance. A note to the wise. Any one wishing to use the piece "Sabre Dance" by Khatchaturian as backing music had best listen to it first. (definately not for sabre fights)
Lurkalot 11-12-05, 06:34 AM	A lot of good suggestions above, but too many of them not Mror Ready. I think anything used for down in the deeps has to carry the tune at the low end of the scale. For that reason, I'd possibly suggest the last movement of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (I think called the Witches Sabbath). It's one great, scary, underworld ride of a piece just right for a flight through some caves from a swarm of shadows. If you want something that lasts longer, you could pick great chunks of Wagner's Ring Cycle - another composer who you just know would play a Dwarf Warlock. ;) Never forget the lighter side of Dwarf's though. I think the following would be just great for life in a busy underground dwarven community: Katchaturian Sabre Dance (again), The Wicked Witche's Castle from the Wizard of Oz (the Ooo-Ee-ooo song), an instrumental version of Potiphar from Andrew Lloyd Weber's Joseph (as you can tell - my games are not alltogether beneficial for one's sanity). More dramatically, you could also look at some Philip Glass (perhaps Ankh Nacht) which is also suitably bass and powerful. His score for the film Dracula is very very good for RPGs, being long, horrific and wordless. It is more suitable for hiking through the cold mountains above than down in the deep dark depths though.
cancerousmango 11-15-05, 02:52 PM	I'm likin' Straylight on this one. Yoko Kanno and Juno Reactor. Good job on having some taste.
MrFilthyIke 11-15-05, 04:19 PM	Not really for the Mror Holds (unless it's a gala event) I use The Blue Danube for most big events requiring to PCS to attend formal parties w/ dancing. :)
Ehtiar 11-15-05, 04:42 PM	Depending on how... pulp ...you want to go, you could always try some of the scores to sections of any of the Indiana Jones films :D Nothing quite says Extreme Explorer in the depths like the "Mine Car Chase" track from Temple of Doom :cool:
The Brat Prince 11-15-05, 04:49 PM	Some of this is Mror-Esque, but other bits, not so much Might be cliche, but any of the stuff from the Moria scenes in Fellowship would work well for the creepier sections of the Mror Holds. Howard Shore is my musical GOD. I actually used Pippin's little song from Return of the King as a song my Bard sang at a funeral. Most of Nobuo Uematsu's music from the Final Fantasy games would work really well too. Divinity (parts 1 and 2) from the Final Fantasy VII- Advent Children soundtrack are great for a battle, as are the actual battle themes for any of the games. The battle and boss themes for VII are called "Those Who Fight" and "Those Who Fight Further" Weirdly enough, i find a lot of Andre Lloyd Webber's stuff works well for D&D, if you can find instrumental versions. "Masquerade" from The Phantom of the Opera makes a great song for any sort of formal ball. The entre acte from Phantom makes a good intro background piece for Sharn or any large city really. Most of the stuff on Enya's Shepherd Moons album is very nice soft, atmospheric stuff that would fit in well in a temple setting in my opinion. The Dresden Dolls are a caberet-punk band with a fondness for strings. They have several pieces that remind me of Eberron for some reason... If you're in the mood for a more lighthearted battle theme, try the Jennifer Saunders version of "Holding Out for a Hero" from the Shrek 2 soundtrack. It's super fun and high-energy, and the lyrics are pretty D&D. I'll poke through my iTunes and try to come up with some more stuff later.
Lurkalot 11-15-05, 05:09 PM	The Dresden Dolls are a caberet-punk band with a fondness for strings. They have several pieces that remind me of Eberron for some reason... Dresden Dolls are THE best band going at the moment (and they offer some of their music free as a hook on their website - worked on me, I bought two copies of their last album because of that). But how in the Hell you could shoe-horn them into a D&D game, I don't know. You could possibly use Coin Operated Boy for the Warforged, but it makes me.. um, wonder what sort of things people are using Warforged for. :embarrass One more for the Mror holds - Also Spake Zarathustra by Richard Strauss. Also known as the dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-Dun bit from the start of 2001. I think I might play it when PCs are first confronted by that mountain sized carving of an ancient king. :)
ThoughtShifter 11-16-05, 07:27 PM	An excellent collection for creepy dungeon music is Glenn Danzig's "Black Aria" album... it's very dark sounding with some background chanting from time to time!
The Brat Prince 11-17-05, 12:53 AM	Dresden Dolls are THE best band going at the moment (and they offer some of their music free as a hook on their website - worked on me, I bought two copies of their last album because of that). But how in the Hell you could shoe-horn them into a D&D game, I don't know. You could possibly use Coin Operated Boy for the Warforged, but it makes me.. um, wonder what sort of things people are using Warforged for. :embarrass For some reason "Girl Anachronism" makes me think of a half-mad Cannith artificer girl. Possibly one in love with a Waforged, thus "Coin-Operated Boy" There's got to be something wrong with me for coming up with that...
Lurkalot 11-17-05, 02:09 PM	For some reason "Girl Anachronism" makes me think of a half-mad Cannith artificer girl. Possibly one in love with a Waforged, thus "Coin-Operated Boy" There's got to be something wrong with me for coming up with that... Hmmm. Well the video does have her slaving over the blue-prints to her lover, so I suppose it isn't that far of a stretch. To avoid this turning into a Dresden Dolls appreciation thread however, I shall make one last suggestion for a Mror soundtrack: Jamiroqui - "Going Deeper Underground" BWAH HA HA HA! YOu're players will kill you. :D
Ehtiar 11-17-05, 03:47 PM	Again, digging into the depths of the Soundtrack collection... the score from Chronicles of Riddick would work quite well for the mix of closed, claustrophobic caverns.. (hm, too much alliteration there?) as well as general pulp depths and urban sprawls like Sharn..
The Brat Prince 11-17-05, 05:39 PM	If you don't mind a bit of an electronic touch, there's a CD called "O" Volume 1 by Operatica. It's kickass opera vocals over slowish techno beats. One song in particualar, "Vocalise" makes me think of some kind of mysterious location, quite possibly an abandoned dwarven hall ofr some sort. Juno Reactor's song "Zion" from the Matrix Reloaded soundtrack has KILLER precussion, and i've always assumed Dwarves are fand of drums, what with the sound carrying well through tunnels and such. That and dwarves like to hit things. On a non-Mror-related note, Rufus Wainwright has a very lounge-singer-y voice that i love for some bard sitting in a smoky bar somewhere in Sharn, playing whatever passes for a piano in Eberron.
Ehtiar 11-18-05, 08:37 AM	Just wait to see the look on your PC's faces when they wander into serious ambush territory.. and you start "March of Cambreadth" playing.. ;)
MarkB 11-18-05, 09:19 AM	This is a bit of an obscure one. As a Babylon 5 fan, I'm keen on Christopher Franke's soundtrack music, and was listening to the first Babylon 5 album last night. Mind War part one has a very nice dark, echoey sound that's evocative of mysterious caverns, strange beings and deadly encounters. I think it'd do well as accompaniment to the Mror depths.
cancerousmango 11-18-05, 02:22 PM	The Wondrous World of Punt - Therion It's pretty incredible at the start, heavy opera vocals and organ, exactly like I would have for a dwarven city if I were doing my soundtracks. Also, in response to people who think that a soundtrack should be in the background, and be very vanilla music, here's something to make you chuckle, about this director whose soundtracks overshadow his films. http://www.theonion.com/content/node/42377