Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 KoleHicks Apr 25, 2015 15:51:26	Hello everyone, it's nice to e-meet fellow D&D gamers. My name is Kole and by profession I'm a Composer/Sound Designer for video games, but I've always been very passionate about pen & paper RPGs. In fact, D&D 3rd edition was my first foray into both the fantasy genre & RPGs. I've been hooked ever since.   Recently, (as in last week) I just started DM'ing again. We've got quite the unique group & are playing through "The Hoard of the Dragon Queen" campaign right now. Reading through all the chapters & chatting with everyone about their characters has inspired me to combine the two things that I love... so I'll be composing music alongside each chapter in this campaign. The inspiration/subject of each piece will change, but my goal is to compose something for each chapter & share the demo with everyone here. I may eventually take these tunes into the studio & get them professionally performed/recorded (and release an album), but for now they'll remain demos that hopefully some of you may find useful when DM'ing your own campaigns.   Here's the 1st piece I composed for the 1st Chapter of "The Hoard of the Dragon Queen: Greenest in Flames." I want the music to build over every chapter eventually becoming something epic, so this piece is relatively placid & bounces between 2 main motifs. The Hero's theme that plays softly throughout most of the piece & then unexpectedly gets interrupted by an intrigue/mystery theme playing at the end (to represent the Cult of the Dragon's mischief). Nothing overly intense; it just hints at potential mystery/danger... I used it to introduce the chapter to my players before reading the first blurb about Greenest.   CH: 1 - Greenest in Flames   Also, I've done something similar to this in the past, but I was a player (Dwarf Monk) in a Pathfinder Campaign. I finished that album & it's available for Free right now (A party member died, so naturally this offer is in his honor!). Thanks for reading & hope you enjoy!   The Vigilant Menagerie   -Kole
#2 KoleHicks May 06, 2015 12:50:26	Hello again!   I'm back with Chapter 2.   For this piece I decided to emphasize the militaristic portion of the Dragon Cult that our heroes have been exposed to. In the 2nd chapter they'll be walking right into the "lion's den," so (since I play these pieces before we start the game) I wanted the piece to make them feel as if they would encounter a mighty force they aren't exactly prepared for. Musically, this introduces the primary motif that I developed from the end of the 1st chapter & will be referencing throughout the rest of the campaign. In terms of Orchestration, this differs quite a bit from the 1st piece & heavily features Percussion & Brass.   Ch:2 - Raider's Camp   Thanks & hope you enjoy!