Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dauntless 09-28-04, 02:59 AM	I know a number of groups run music in the background when they play. I myself never have before when I DMed, but I'm thinking of starting with my next game (should be starting next sunday) I've downloaded the samples from the Sharn music, and the actual City of Towers track will work excellently for background when the party is stomping about the city. However I need ideas for music for a couple more locations/activities. Lightning Rail: I need some decent background music for while the party is riding in the posh first-class section of the lightning rail. (The first part of their adveturing career in Eberron will take place onboard) Combat: Any suggestions for music for combat on the train? The other DM I play with tends to use combat music from various console RPGs, but is that the only option? Any other general suggestions for musical accompaniment is welcome.
chalybeous 09-28-04, 09:41 AM	Generally, I'd say go hunt in the bargain bin of your favourite music store for some classical music or movie soundtracks. I've got a few full-priced ones that I intend to plunder in the near future (the three Lord of the Rings discs, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), and I'm always on the lookout for more. Classical recordings tend to be fairly cheap (HMV has their own label, and sells reasonably priced individual discs and box sets), but soundtracks will cost a little more. For even more flavour, consider these: Are the PCs visiting a monastery? Try looking for a CD of, say, Gregorian monks chanting in Latin, or Latin hymns. Is there a group of exotic buskers in the square? Try some Mongolian throat-singing. Bard or minstrel in the tavern? How about some folk music or a ballad? Want a crowd with no music, a thunderstorm, or an outdoors setting? Maybe there's an "ambient sound effects" CD that you can loop. Really, the best thing you can do is to buy or borrow some of these CDs and listen through them to find a variety of tracks for a given situation. If you have access to a laptop or PC for your gaming sessions, save some playlists on your media player of choice with descriptive names. If you're really lucky and have access to editing software, or can play more than one track at once, mix and match to create a lone minstrel in a busy tavern, or a chase in the middle of a storm.
polt 09-28-04, 10:32 AM	I like to use Blind Guardian in the fights, slow classical music just wont work there.
billseurer 09-28-04, 10:45 AM	Silence please. Blessed silence. I find background music at games EXTREMELY distracting. Ask your players first.
chalybeous 09-28-04, 11:12 AM	I find background music at games EXTREMELY distracting. You've got a point there! Think of music at games as Halloween candy, and don't overdo it. You'll notice that I didn't say you should pick out tracks to run constantly - sooner or later your players might end up fighting to be heard over the din if you play a lot of loud combat music, and even if all you play is ambient, if you score every minute of the game then eventually it'll lose its effectiveness. So pick your moments carefully and, as billseurer suggests, ask your gaming group first.
Dauntless 09-28-04, 12:47 PM	Silence please. Blessed silence. I find background music at games EXTREMELY distracting. Ask your players first. I'll be keeping it nice and low-key, don't worry. I also plan on only using it for specific times (especially the first time they enter an area, to help set the "feel" of a region)
Eltarren 09-28-04, 12:50 PM	My DM used to run background music continuously and would have to stop and change the track occasionaly when the music didn't fit the mood. To me, the music was just noise as I focused on the campaign, but a friend of mine was distracted a lot and would sometimes not focus on the campaign for stretches at a time. The DM recently stopped the music, and when I run my own campaign, I'll only play music in certain situations to highlight emotion.
Saurenda 09-28-04, 12:56 PM	I like to use Blind Guardian in the fights, slow classical music just wont work there. Hell yes! This is a man who a good ear for music. And then there was silence: Mournlands Lightning Rail I would reccomend a good slow paced song that quickly goes up in beat; Maybe something instrumental. I often use Use console music, but classical is a good choice here. Hall of the Mountain King for the short red line. A long Lightning rail encounter calls for Siberian TransAtlantic Symphoney (sp?). Battle I would recommend guitar, as it sets the mood. If Blind Guardian is something you wanna save for bigger battles then you might want to try, :shivers: punk rock. Quori: Must be Dreaming by Frou Frou, SeeSaw; 'Kimi ta Kimatri' As it has a nice dream quality to it. For the Eldeen Reaches I accidentially played "Gummi Bear Theme Song". all my rl players hate me now...:eek: I didn't mean too. I mean to played Dead can't Talk 'Dark Forrest'. The Half orc Ranger still looks at me funny. Lords of Dust I see as meloncolly when not in Rakshasa form so I use Kansas's Dust in the Wind to hint when someone gets good sense motive checks. When in Raskhasa form I use "Rebirth" by Blind Guardian.
Master of shaarat'khesh 09-28-04, 04:04 PM	For the Eldeen Reaches I accidentially played "Gummi Bear Theme Song". LOL-O.K. Saurenda, I gotta ask... And why exactly do you have the gummi Bear Theme? :) Actually, It's a good ploy... Lull them into a false sense of happy thoughts... "La la la laaa, strrolin' thru the happy woods, Happy gummi song in my head, no worries..La la laa laaa." *frolic, frolic, frolic, skip & frolic*CHOMP, CHOMP, CHOMP ...??? "hey, where did everybody go...ooaaoaaagggghhghg?! Last words heard before undead gummi bear engulfs point man of the party. :) O.K. seriously, I like to use bakground music with specific tracks laid out for certain parts of the adventure. It takes some planning but it has good effect. I use alot of soundtracks, they're good because there are no lyrics to distract. Midnight Syndicate has been useful in my more traditional D&D adventures. Try The Last Samurai soundtrack it's good for slow mellow music that transitions to battle pace. Also it's not overwhelmingly oriental sounding. The HellRaiser II soundtrack is excellent for setting an uneasy mood. It's very intense and leaves a sense of forboding and impending doom. Very good for background and/or introduction of "the Bad guys". The Predator II soundtrack is good too as long as you use it sparringly. It's easily identifiable music so some players might recognize it, but it' really never been a problem. It's good for adventuring in the forest, woods or jungle. I guess an urban adventure too but I just feel that it fits in a more open environment. Polt and Saurenda, I have to know who this Blind Guardian is? I've never heard of it. What type of music is it? Where can it be found? Thanks
Saurenda 09-28-04, 04:12 PM	LOL-O.K. Saurenda, I gotta ask... And why exactly do you have the gummi Bear Theme? :) Polt and Saurenda, I have to know who this Blind Guardian is? I've never heard of it. What type of music is it? Where can it be found? Thanks http://www.blind-guardian.com/ VERY good music. Listen for yourself though, the songs are long , but I love em. As for the Gummi Bears, I made Cubbi into a Lesser Planar Ally. He has 5 levels Fighter, 1 level Sorceror, and 2 levels Eldritch--I mean Gummi Knight. He wears a Gummi Medallion on his chest so he gets eschew materials. I have original Planar allies as well, but this one is always good when people ask for last resorts. "An anthropomorphic bear with pink fur appears before you in a BreastPlate bearing the sigil of some unkown nation. He carries a large staff, and wears a similar symbol embalzened on his armor. His muscles show through the sleeves of his padding and his helmet obscures his face." At any rate... I originally had the theme because I wanted to introduce Greensingers Sect, but lost my nerve. It sounded cute at first, but upon careful thought it would make me seem more dorky than I needed to be.
Ardent 09-28-04, 04:59 PM	Eh...with us it's usually no music or jazz in the background. I suppose if I actually put some effort into prepping sound for a session I'd just draw from the hundreds of tracks off of my Final Fantasy discs (and assorted other Square Enix ganks). Nobody's better than Nobuo Uematsu at manipulating music to influence mood. My group is fairly audial, but the consensus is usually that music is distracting. I suppose playing something like "Maybe I'm a Lion" or "Sephiroth's Return" might get their blood pumping during combat, but I'm not looking to force things on them. Occasionally, they bring their iPods with them and just listen to those.
jonthegm 09-28-04, 05:37 PM	Here's some suggestions that have worked wonders for me so far: Lightning Rail encounters - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones Underground Caverns (of EEEEEVIL) - Diablo II soundtrack Rainy Nights in Sharn - Generic Sci-Fi soundtracks (I've used I, Robot/King Arthur/Chronicles of Riddick) Generic Tavern - SCUMM Bar Theme (From the Best of Lucasarts CD) Dungeon Delving / Sewer Walking - Quiet Fantasy Tracks (LotR, Harry Potter, Full Metal Alchemist) Ship to Ship Combat - Pirates of the Carribean The Desert - A few Ennico Morricone tracks...
Doctor X 09-28-04, 05:47 PM	Hmm... an entire album about the Silmarillion? Cool. I think my friend showed me that before, but I never looked at the track titles, and he didn't know what the Silmarillion was... So these guys are heavy metal fantasy nerds? That's insane.
Kiirnodel 09-28-04, 06:37 PM	Blind Guardian is possibly the best band out there, they are excellent musicians.. I have met ALL of them and they personally signed my imaginations from the other side album... I was in a stupor of ecstacy for the next couple months. Kevin Manthei, go to his website, he has some good music.
Haer'dalis 09-29-04, 08:10 AM	So these guys are heavy metal fantasy nerds? you call BG a heavy metal band?? :mymy: they're power metal...not heavy, power. Iron Maiden's heavy metal, Blind Guardian is not... sorry for that I was in a shock for a while. I do agree that thier songs make for good background as long as you know which ones to choose. Bard's Song comes in handy whenever you want to relax your party (and then send a red great wyrm at them while they're too relaxed to notice anything as big as the Titanic falling from the sky :D ), and Battlefield is well suited for huge battles on...a battlefield :)
Doctor X 09-29-04, 12:19 PM	you call BG a heavy metal band?? :mymy: they're power metal...not heavy, power. Iron Maiden's heavy metal, Blind Guardian is not... sorry for that I was in a shock for a while. Well, I've never heard them before, so I wouldn't know.
MrFilthyIke 09-29-04, 01:39 PM	Last words heard before undead gummi bear engulfs point man of the party. :) What's the CR on a Gummi Bear? Is Gummi a template, or a subrace?
Saurenda 09-29-04, 02:26 PM	What's the CR on a Gummi Bear? Is Gummi a template, or a subrace? +4 LA anthropomorphic bear from Savage species CR 7 from levels, so Cubbi the 5fighter.1sorc.1Gummi(Eldritch)Knight is a CR11 Encounter SA: A Gummi bear may have a bounce speed of double thier base land speed, and grants the gummi bear a crushing attack based on thier size. 1d4+str small, 1d6+str medium, etc This effect is activated when the Gummi bear drinks a special potion known as 'Gummi berry juice'. It costs the same amount of materials as a level 3 potion made by a level 5 caster. Any Humanoid being other than a Gummi bear which consumes the potion gains +20 strength for 5 minutes. This effect is once a day; If the humanoid drinks more than one potion or drinks more than one doce at a time they must make a DC 25 fortitude save or ignite in an explosion which sends them uppwards dealing 4d6 points of damage subdual.
Eberrosius 10-03-04, 06:55 PM	My options about music Best fight: Klaus Badelt - Pirates of the Caribbean (track 8 or 9 - "sword crossing") Best 'ere we Go: Klaus Badelt - Pirates of the Caribbean ( other tracks, especially "He is a pirate") Horror scene: Danny Elfman - Sleepy Hollow ost ( its melancholic and dark) - Requiem for a dream ost ("lux aetherna") Sharn caffe best: Casablanca music themes sharn theme or warforged factory: 5th element soundtrack temple of elemental evil game soundtrack Library working and researching : Harry Potter ( prisoner of azkaban ) desert or xen'drik - prince of persia sands of time game soundtrack - Jerry Goldsmith - Mummy and mummy returns ost - etherlords game soundtrack - temple of elemental evil game soundtrack - Indiana jones ( all parts ) - predator movie themes ( 1st film only) Rest: Gladiator ost (hans zimmer), Equilibrum ost (Klaus Badelt), King Arthur ost (hans zimmer), The rock ost (hans zimmer), and much, much more....
Dr. Benway 10-04-04, 10:00 AM	I have found that music can only enhance your game when used intelligently and artistically. I find sound effect CD's extremely useful for creqting atmosphere...dripping caves is a great one, so are examples like breaking waves, a number of ambient social setting likes fine dinging, pub, etc exist with people talking in the background...and one my personal favorites for undead hunting or when my PC'sw get to the mournlands...lonely wind and nothing else... DOcB:88E: