Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 celestialkin Nov 10, 2008 14:33:35	Thanks to some advice I had found on another gaming forum, I have been using background music in my games for about two months now. I use iTunes on my Macbook for this, and I connect some old computer speakers to it. I have all the playlist folders set on Repeat One so I can choose one song, and that song will repeat until I choose another one. Here are the "playlists" I have to breakdown and organize whet music to use when: Anime + Sci-Fiish music Battle Music Boss Battle Music (Just added this one while making this thread, so surrently empty) City/Town/Village music Conversation music Dungeon Music Forest music (A lot of open untouched lands in my homebrew setting) Inn/Tavern music (Could really use some more of this! Only have one.) Items (Currently only have a music box music in here.) Preludes Shop/Store music Sound Effects (Have a few sounds in here, but since it cuts off the background music I ahve not used them.) Special Cases music (I have a Sad Song from an FF gave for when someone dies, a Danger! song from FF5, a Hurry Hurry! sing from a FF game.) Traveling music Victory Songs!
#2 thelash_dup Nov 10, 2008 14:41:11	Well for the battle music, you CAN'T go wrong with Amon Amarth. Here is an example. Amon Amarth - Gods of War Arise http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpnXBVcMdBw
#3 zombie_babies Nov 10, 2008 14:42:42	The ultimate D&D background music: The Conan the Barbarian soundtrack. You don't even need anything else.
#4 werral Nov 10, 2008 14:48:10	Battle: Excalibur theme music. Alien theme music. Braveheart theme music. Apocalypse theme music. Beethoven's 5th. Wagner's Charge of the Valkyries Forest Music: Brian Eno's Lizard Point and some other albums he did (very atmospheric, great for writing/studying to as well). The Pastorial Symphony Inn Tavern music. Try looking up some traditional Serbian, Gaelic, Jewish music and so forth - the theme to Underground is full of crazy Serbian stuff that gives the idea of some pretty wild inns. Pentangle did some weird Medieval style music (I think they did the theme music to the original Wicker Man). Sound Effects: look at filmmaking sites and you will find lots of CDs full of SFX. Cities/Villages(Towns: Lots of classical music might work, some Mozart, Bach or Vivaldi.
#5 pigknight Nov 10, 2008 14:49:26	I use songs with lyrics for boss fights. PC 1: "Oooooh yay this song has lyrics." PC 2: "O SHIZ RUUUUUUUUN!!" PC 1: "What?" DM (Me): "A dragon swoops down, roll initiative."
#6 thelash_dup Nov 10, 2008 14:51:48	I'm sorry for not thinking of it before. This is the perfect Tavern/ Cantina song in the entire universe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMOhsvhF4Jw
#7 werral Nov 10, 2008 14:53:03	"Oh Fortuna" is great boss fight music - if you suddenly crank it out full blast it'll scare the hell out of 'em! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0I8_bOAuso&feature=related
#8 thelash_dup Nov 10, 2008 14:54:08	"Oh Fortuna" is great boss fight music - if you suddenly crank it out full blast it'll scare the hell out of 'em! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuERh0jBjh8 YES! Hmm, my next epic BBEG style fight will have to be to this tune.
#9 terronus Nov 10, 2008 15:07:11	Nox Arcana, Midnight Syndicate, Michael Hedstrom, and E.S. Posthumus are all excellent. Movie soundtracks are also the way to go. Here's a snippet of my favorite tracks from E.S.P. that I love to play in epic battles (despite the video, its not from the Hellboy II soundtrack): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX4bbL4Rxzk Also, I strongly suggest using pandora.com. Its an interactive radio webpage... when you enter a song and/or artist you like, it uses a database to select similar music. That's how I've found a lot of my D&D music. Division of my playlists. Long /sblock, but a good outline for those who love good music at their games. Just for funsies. I've found that these playlists cover almost every conceivable part of the game: Adventuring slightly heroic and usually upbeat. Think LotR soundtrack. Ambient: Dark Ambient: Sad Ambient:Standard/Peaceful Based on genre, my ambient stuff is just enough for background noise but sets the tone. Arabian & Indian I use this for deserts and exotic locales. Bagpipes & Fiddles Battle: Epic Battle: Standard Battle: Tense Battle: Uplifting Celebration: Angellic Celebration: Islanders Celebration: Standard Chants: Druidic Chants: Gregorian Guitars & Latino Horror: Creepy Horror: Demonic Horror: Standard Mourning Someone important just died Mystical Think Lothlorien (sp) for mystical. Good for new, wondrous places. Native American & Pacific Nature & Weather A lot of times I will use this on a different device. Having a thunderstorm coming from my PC and dark ambient music off the iPod sets a great tone. Likewise ocean waves and a peaceful ambiance can have a different effect. Pub Songs & Sea Shanties Russian & Yiddish I use this for northern, snowy areas Sound Effects Suspense: High Suspense: Low Tense[i] I use low suspense for dark creepy dungeons, or locales like Murkwood. High for when the players know something bad is stalking them in the dark creepy dungeon (or spiders in Murkwood). Think Signs soundtrack, also. Tense, I use for things not-so-scary. Like, "Ah, the cave is collapsing, we gotta get out of here!" Trust me, I never have to bog down game time looking for a song... the lists are specific enough I just click and play
#10 werral Nov 10, 2008 15:10:00	Another great one for forests and is the opening of "The Rites of Spring": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjX3oAwv_Fs Later it gets pretty freaky (in fact there was a riot after its first performance as its fans and haters had a mass fight). Also you'll probably recognise riffs that were ripped off for the Jaws, Star Wars (Tatooine) and Psycho soundtracks.
#11 greenlink2 Nov 10, 2008 17:44:47	Finally, someone I can help! :D Alright, now if your going with music to fit in the game, I know a couple sites for the music. For one (may seem cheesy, but it would be pretty good) "www.runescape.com" Oh, one song for sure that I couldn't go with any battles on any game without (unless its a hard rock or metal song thats got a veery quick beat) is "Requiem for a Dream" Amazing song and conductor/s Another place is somewhere you've been looking, which is final fantasy, which I might add has amazing game music. They have some good fighting music too, including boss music (of course!) I usually listen to the reagular encounter music from ff7, along with one winged angel (the encounter against sephiorth) Whenever that doesnt fit me, I try making some music of my own at a website I found. Its kinda hard finding the right stuff for the d&d type of music, but once ya get the hang of it, it can be very useful for music, as much as having fun making it the website it "www.musicshake.com" Now I haven't gotten too much music on mine, just regular music. If ya wanna give my songs a look at though, heres your link. http://eng.musicshake.com/zb/contest_list.php?boardid=zb_adver&startPage=1&find_key_1=subject&find_key_2=boarder_id&find_value=greenlink2 thats all I can help you with, so hope it helped!
#12 terronus Nov 10, 2008 17:54:24	"Requiem for a Dream" Amazing song and conductor/s I think its called Lux Aeterna. Requiem for a Dream was the film title. If you like that you should check out Fatal (not final) Fantasy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wZlxF5q8F0 Its pretty much a rip off, but still good.
#13 rizen_isstaria_dup Nov 10, 2008 22:44:46	The ultimate D&D background music: The Conan the Barbarian soundtrack. You don't even need anything else. Haha I play that sometimes. Ever come across the song; The kitchen the orgy ? Good background music, Apocalyptica or even some anime soundtracks are good too.
#14 baneofelves Nov 10, 2008 23:08:06	Well, here are some of the bands/artists I use Nightwish John Williams - best reserved for epic battles between good and evil Slayer/Slipknot/In Flames/Dark Tranquility - all of these groups are good for inspiring a bloodfrenzy in your players Metallica (the old albums. Ride the Lightning, And Justice for All, Master of Puppets and Kill 'Em All will get you set) Dragonforce Turisas The soundtrack from the Halo games, and also from the Devil May Cry games Iced Earth has some good songs, like 'Dante's Inferno'. Static - X A Band of Orcs (c'mon, it's death metal and the lyrics area about orcs taking over all existence and killing and looting and stuff. PLUS it's made by D&D nerds too) Even if you don't like death metal, just listen to Warchiefs of The Apocalypse and Into the Maelstrom. Some epic stuff there. Hope this helps! Enjoy!
#15 zombie_babies Nov 11, 2008 8:41:51	Haha I play that sometimes. Ever come across the song; The kitchen the orgy ? Of course! ;) When I first started gaming many moons ago, my friends and I watched Conan so many times we could recite it word for word. I still can manage some of it. :P I like it because it has some good travel music, build music and fight music. Overall, I've never encountered anything that does it better. Since Conan the Barbarian is also the best "D&D" movie ever, it makes sense. :D
#16 1_ton_ghost Nov 11, 2008 12:32:25	Yeah, can't go wrong w/ Conan OST. Any epic or swords and sandals movie really, Gladiator (and most Lisa Gerrard/Dead Can Dance stuff), Troy, etc. Conan, related: I've seen this movie many times, but it took a fellow gamer to point this scene out I always missed; Sabutai & Conan hook up w/ some black lotus, get high, and go wandering through the city in a stuppor. They round a corner exiting stage right when Conan looks in the background to see some merchant in the depths of bestiality w/, what I think was a llama (hard to see), and he exclaims, "Can you believe that?" I mean, damn... Stick w/ movie & game scores/soundtracks, instrumentals preferably, ambient music, classical, stuff like that. Lyrics are distracting (only words exchanged should be the PCs or the DM's) cuz' you're processing language in addition to tone/freq and RPGs are nothing but language(s) and communication. The "standards" work well in most campaigns; LotR I-III, D&D OST, Star Wars, all the above listed ones, pretty much any favorite movie you & your friends like and get psyched to. Cater to the crowd (PCs), not yourself. Werral's suggestions are quite good IMO; keen on Braveheart, Aliens, Stravinksy he's listed thus far. Can't go wrong. Anyway, for what it's worth (off the top of my head) -God of War OST (particularly "The Vengeful Spartan") -Dune OST (I know, Toto & the 80's and all, but the main theme alone...) -Hitman Contracts OST (any Jesper Kyd music really, 1st rate) -300 OST, truly excellent. Same composer did "Dawn of the Dead '04", etc. -Berlioz's "Witches Dream of a Black Sabbath", super heavy/slow/creepy. Main overture from "The Shining" I believe. Very ominous. -Okami OST, particularly for Oriental themes. -ResEvil 4 OST; more mood than "music", but unnerving/scary as Hell -Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works II, most Lustmord LPs, Rapoon, Lull, and Scorn are all decent ambient artists, bit on the dark side. -Legend OST -Edward Scissorhands OST (most Danny Elfman works really)
#17 werral Nov 11, 2008 17:01:38	Yes and Morricone's "The Mission" soundtrack. I haven't seen Conan for a long time, but drugs and llamas, I don't remember that at all.