I'm a complete music fanatic, and I discovered a few new bands whose aesthetics would be in line with the campaign. Unfortunately, I'm completely unsure how to incorporate that into my campaigns without it coming off as ham-fisted.
Have any DMs tried this before? How did it turn out? What did you do?
What do you mean by incorporating? Do you want do present the music you like as piece of music that played by a band of npc's? Or would you play the music as a background for atmosphere.
In the first case i would recommend, that you use the music in the Background. Explain that there is a band playing in the tavern or at the noble party or on the street and let the music played, that you can continue playing.
play the music in the background and test if it contributes to the atmosphere. I downloaded a soundboard app that lets me run atmospheric background sounds and music in parallel. I can also build in logic that stops the music that was playing when I call up a new atmosphere. For example, when a fight starts or the party enters a tavern.
Face to face I use music all the time, I have track lists set up for different settings and environments, I have combat music cued for the moment I say roll for initiative, I have even more dramatic music for big boss fights. It adds to the room and helps the players become more immersed. I keep the volume low enough that people can talk over it though.
Remotely, and I have explained this in detail on a few posts now, independent studies have shown that music being played at the same time as someone is talking on a video call has no positive side. The ear can’t separate the talking from the music because both are from the exact same source (the speaker or headphone). This means the brain locks onto the most repetitive sound, the music, and phases out the speaker. This means the listener has to focus harder which results in mental fatigue, a loss of concentration and requires the person speaking to repeat themselves more often.
So remotely do not use it, in person always use it is my advice.
Ham-fisted in what way? Anachronistic? On the nose? I don't usually use songs because I find lyrics distracting. The bigger problem for me is that music is one more thing to keep track of. I've done things as complicated as finding soundtrack music and making playlists, but that's an extra investment of time.
It took me all of 15 mins to find 10 playlists for different atmospheres and a total of about 300 tracks, they are already there on iTunes and Spotify. computer game scores, film music, all out together for different settings .
I don't like using music that's distracting (i.e. anachronistic or anything with lyrics), nor do I like spending time "DJing" or trying to find the appropriate moment for each track, because that's attention I'd be better off spending on my players. But I do usually have two to four setting-appropriate playlists (i.e. town, wilderness, dungeon, battle) that I switch when appropriate. Maybe I'll play dwarven music in the dwarf-mines, or wizardy music in the wizard's tower.
And sometimes I do an opening and/or closing "theme song" to set the tone for each session or tie it up nicely—that's when anachronistic songs or songs with lyrics are perfect, because they stand out! Just be careful to find something that's obscure and hasn't been used in any movies or TV shows your players will likely have seen: for example, "Bang Bang" is a great song, but it'll always make me think of Kill Bill, and you want your players to think of your campaign.
So I’m a professional Musician and Audio Engineer, so Music is extremely important to me, as is Ambience. So I have created EXTENSIVE playlists for various moods. I have a combat playlist for low level fights (ie party is fighting thugs or grunt type monsters) Medium fights and then a BBEG playlist. I have epic soundtracks for my players characters themselves. So when the Paladin does something ******* amazing, I have something equally epic to underscore it.
I recommend you organize playlists of music from games, movies and tv into moods. Then switch to that playlist when it is appropriate and just shuffle it.
for Ambience’s you can go to YouTube and play numerous 10 hours of wind, or specifically dnd ambiences like Caves, castles towns and wildernesses.
my players have frequently told me that the music makes things so much more intense. So I recommend using it
So I’m a professional Musician and Audio Engineer, so Music is extremely important to me, as is Ambience. So I have created EXTENSIVE playlists for various moods. I have a combat playlist for low level fights (ie party is fighting thugs or grunt type monsters) Medium fights and then a BBEG playlist. I have epic soundtracks for my players characters themselves. So when the Paladin does something ****ing amazing, I have something equally epic to underscore it.
I recommend you organize playlists of music from games, movies and tv into moods. Then switch to that playlist when it is appropriate and just shuffle it.
for Ambience’s you can go to YouTube and play numerous 10 hours of wind, or specifically dnd ambiences like Caves, castles towns and wildernesses.
my players have frequently told me that the music makes things so much more intense. So I recommend using it
I will second this approach, although as I discussed only for an in person, round the table game.
I used to use music all the time in my Champions games. I can still remember using the more bellicose parts of the Mars movement from Holst's The Planets for Darkseid... and the "Slave Children Revolt" sequence from Indy Jones & the Temple of Doom for Set, the Egyptian god of evil. Those were some epic moments.
I don't use music any more. I tried a little bit in D&D, but a couple of my players said they had to mute it because it was hard to handle over the VTT, between getting zoom in one ear and music in the other ear. So I stopped.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
YouTube is a great resource to find ambience tracks. There's also an app called DnDify that uses a spotify/youtube account to collect and sort musice into categories. Great resource and easy to use. Just play it in the background and adjust the volume a bit and you're good to go. 🤘🤓
I have two recent experiences that might be of interest.
First, the group that I've played with for years has had a habit of making up song titles that relate to our stories. As we sit there, one player will write down a list of funny titles. We've gotten a big laugh out of this over the years. For our most recent campaign in which I am a player, I decided to actually write these songs. For each session, i take notes, and then I write and record a song that tells the story of that session. We use these songs as a recap at the beginning of the next session. I think a good poem might also be useful for this.
Second, during a Roll20 session that I ran recently (Dungeon of the Mad Mage), there's an area where you can get on a small gondola. (No spoilers intended.) During the slow ride on the gondola, a player played the song from the Disney ride "It's a Small World" on his phone while we played out the boat ride. I thought this was hilarious, and I think the rest of the party did, too. Adding a *little* spice to the game with the occasional song sometimes has a good effect.
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I'm a complete music fanatic, and I discovered a few new bands whose aesthetics would be in line with the campaign. Unfortunately, I'm completely unsure how to incorporate that into my campaigns without it coming off as ham-fisted.
Have any DMs tried this before? How did it turn out? What did you do?
"h"
Another player has played movie soundtracks during combat, I recall a player once played the Cowboy Bebop opening when we got in a bar brawl.
I would definitely say play it during tense RP'ing or Combat, it can help set the mood greatly.
Mystic v3 should be official, nuff said.
What do you mean by incorporating?
Do you want do present the music you like as piece of music that played by a band of npc's?
Or would you play the music as a background for atmosphere.
In the first case i would recommend, that you use the music in the Background. Explain that there is a band playing in the tavern or at the noble party or on the street and let the music played, that you can continue playing.
play the music in the background and test if it contributes to the atmosphere.
I downloaded a soundboard app that lets me run atmospheric background sounds and music in parallel. I can also build in logic that stops the music that was playing when I call up a new atmosphere. For example, when a fight starts or the party enters a tavern.
Not sure why you're assuming that the music is going to steal the stage.
Using atmospheric and instrumental (Non-lyrical) music is a great way to help set the tone for scenes, or to up the tension during combat and chases.
I use Syrinscape constantly to provide music and ambience to my games, and I use Foundry VTT's audio system to do the same.
Face to face I use music all the time, I have track lists set up for different settings and environments, I have combat music cued for the moment I say roll for initiative, I have even more dramatic music for big boss fights. It adds to the room and helps the players become more immersed. I keep the volume low enough that people can talk over it though.
Remotely, and I have explained this in detail on a few posts now, independent studies have shown that music being played at the same time as someone is talking on a video call has no positive side. The ear can’t separate the talking from the music because both are from the exact same source (the speaker or headphone). This means the brain locks onto the most repetitive sound, the music, and phases out the speaker. This means the listener has to focus harder which results in mental fatigue, a loss of concentration and requires the person speaking to repeat themselves more often.
So remotely do not use it, in person always use it is my advice.
It took me all of 15 mins to find 10 playlists for different atmospheres and a total of about 300 tracks, they are already there on iTunes and Spotify. computer game scores, film music, all out together for different settings .
I don't like using music that's distracting (i.e. anachronistic or anything with lyrics), nor do I like spending time "DJing" or trying to find the appropriate moment for each track, because that's attention I'd be better off spending on my players. But I do usually have two to four setting-appropriate playlists (i.e. town, wilderness, dungeon, battle) that I switch when appropriate. Maybe I'll play dwarven music in the dwarf-mines, or wizardy music in the wizard's tower.
And sometimes I do an opening and/or closing "theme song" to set the tone for each session or tie it up nicely—that's when anachronistic songs or songs with lyrics are perfect, because they stand out! Just be careful to find something that's obscure and hasn't been used in any movies or TV shows your players will likely have seen: for example, "Bang Bang" is a great song, but it'll always make me think of Kill Bill, and you want your players to think of your campaign.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
So I’m a professional Musician and Audio Engineer, so Music is extremely important to me, as is Ambience. So I have created EXTENSIVE playlists for various moods. I have a combat playlist for low level fights (ie party is fighting thugs or grunt type monsters) Medium fights and then a BBEG playlist. I have epic soundtracks for my players characters themselves. So when the Paladin does something ******* amazing, I have something equally epic to underscore it.
I recommend you organize playlists of music from games, movies and tv into moods. Then switch to that playlist when it is appropriate and just shuffle it.
for Ambience’s you can go to YouTube and play numerous 10 hours of wind, or specifically dnd ambiences like Caves, castles towns and wildernesses.
my players have frequently told me that the music makes things so much more intense. So I recommend using it
I will second this approach, although as I discussed only for an in person, round the table game.
I used to use music all the time in my Champions games. I can still remember using the more bellicose parts of the Mars movement from Holst's The Planets for Darkseid... and the "Slave Children Revolt" sequence from Indy Jones & the Temple of Doom for Set, the Egyptian god of evil. Those were some epic moments.
I don't use music any more. I tried a little bit in D&D, but a couple of my players said they had to mute it because it was hard to handle over the VTT, between getting zoom in one ear and music in the other ear. So I stopped.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
YouTube is a great resource to find ambience tracks. There's also an app called DnDify that uses a spotify/youtube account to collect and sort musice into categories. Great resource and easy to use. Just play it in the background and adjust the volume a bit and you're good to go. 🤘🤓
I have two recent experiences that might be of interest.
First, the group that I've played with for years has had a habit of making up song titles that relate to our stories. As we sit there, one player will write down a list of funny titles. We've gotten a big laugh out of this over the years. For our most recent campaign in which I am a player, I decided to actually write these songs. For each session, i take notes, and then I write and record a song that tells the story of that session. We use these songs as a recap at the beginning of the next session. I think a good poem might also be useful for this.
Second, during a Roll20 session that I ran recently (Dungeon of the Mad Mage), there's an area where you can get on a small gondola. (No spoilers intended.) During the slow ride on the gondola, a player played the song from the Disney ride "It's a Small World" on his phone while we played out the boat ride. I thought this was hilarious, and I think the rest of the party did, too. Adding a *little* spice to the game with the occasional song sometimes has a good effect.