As we all know music can be a great enhancer for any scene in a D&D game. An emotional or romantic scene is much more moving with the right track in the background and combat music keeps your blood pumping and the action tense. Finding the right songs, however, can be tough. An emotional song goes into a wild combat-centric crescendo when you don't want it to, a combat song suddenly stops in mid-note to deliver a soothing romantic tune or a nice background travelling song suddenly turns into a horror tune! That is the reality of many soundtracks that come from movies and video games; they are already set to a different pace and scene than the one you had in mind. They have swells, ups and downs, that can be really distracting when played at the table-top. Instead of bringing you into the game, it brings you out.
However; I have noticed that constant battle music can tire out the mind, especially if the combat runs for a long time. To help with this, I've created the "Combat with variation" playlist. Add a few of those songs into your combat playlist if you feel like adding some variation. Don't be mistaken, these are still epic and powerful songs that will add much to any combat!
For years this has been my major gripe with music in role-playing, and for years I've been collecting songs from video games, movies and artists to get music that I feel are free of the faults I presented above (no mid song cresendos, no mid change of theme, etc). I never really thought about sharing it but then I saw that Spotify had a share function! Hopefully you will have some good use of these songs just as I have (and these will be updated as I discover more songs). They are pretty heavily categorized and while the library might not be huge (in some cases), the music does what it's supposed to.
The music is generally for a Fantasy setting. When the playlist is for another setting it says so in the description. Follow each playlist on Spotify if you want to keep up to date as I update the playlists.
So, without further ado, I present to you my Spotify playlists for role-playing games (just click the name of the playlist, it will take you to the songs).
Background music - Day Songs to play when the players are going about their daily business, be it travelling or exploring a new town.
Background music - Night Are the players travelling at night? The songs herein are not horror oriented, and while still a bit darker than daylight songs, they are here to help the feeling of travelling at nighttime.
Background music - Ambient If you want to forgo music when travelling outdoors, in the rain or in the forest, this is the playlist for you.
Background music - Mysterious A playlist that enhances the feeling of mystery. This is not horror, and does not necessarily convey a tense feeling (though some do). A sense of mystery is a sense of impending discovery; walking the halls of a long abandoned magicians library or strange ruins.
Background music - Tension "Something is wrong. You can feel it, but you can't see it. You continue to explore the abandoned farmstead with your friends, expecting something to happen at any time." This is not full blown horror, but this playlists will help set a tense feeling during exploration.
Background music - Horror This is it. Full blown terror. The players witness the horrors of the mansion, the terror of the graveyard cult or the horde of insanity that is coming for their souls. Playlist with the most disturbing music for the most disturbing scenes.
Background - Combat Swords, shields and courage! Charge! The most expansive playlist I've created (also includes my favourite combat track - "Town in Chaos" by Stuart Chatwood).
Background music - Chase Scenes Do your players need to catch someone in a high speed chase? Do they need to run away from the big monster? This is the playlist for you! Can also be used for combat if your battle is really, really intense.
Background music - Sci-Fi Generic songs for use in the background whenever the players find themselves in their spaceship, exploring a space port or talking in the briefing room.
Background music - Sci-Fi Combat Combat, but in the far future. Can be mixed with non-sci fi settings if you don't mind the futuristic feel of most of the songs.
Emotional music - Beautiful Entering an elven forest? Setting camp under the starlit sky? A playlist used to convey a beautiful and impactful feeling.
Emotional music - Romantic For those affectionate moments... The beautiful playlist above can be used as romantic as well, but these are a bit more focused on this emotion.
Emotional music - Sad Music to play when someone says their final words, when the heroes are defeated, etc. Music with a sense of loss. Can also be used for great effect in romantic scenes in time of sadness.
Emotional - Melancholy hopeful Feelings of hope and victory in the face of adversity. Great playlist for those songs where you overcome, persevere and feel hopeful. Also a great list for epic last stands and final goodbyes.
Setpieces/Cutscenes Music with highs and lows, crescendos and change of theme. Great music, but best used during carefully planned out scenes such as "DM cutscenes" or setpieces where you know the music will hit the right notes at the right time (even when the scene is player driven). Some are listed here because they are shorter, and thus also best used for small scenes (not really loop-able). I have personally used songs like "Tessa" and "This is the End - Markus" to great effect in my games, so it can certainly be done!
Endings Songs to be used at the end of an adventure or campaign. Some of the songs have lyrics which means they will be best used as "Credits" song (talking over lyrics is generally not a good idea), when the campaign or adventure is over. Great way to keep the feel of the RPG even after the game has ended!
Main themes Music to play before the gaming night starts as the players are sitting down. Good way to set the mood!
Norse music You like vikings in your RPG? You like norse mythology? This playlist is for you! As a Swede, I had to get some Norse music in there!
Comedy For those funny and quirky moments and characters!
Combat with variation Combat with highs and lows. If a combat goes of for a long time, these might help to bring down the monotone feeling of constant battle music. Don't be mistaken though, they still fit right combat; there's no romantic cresendos or sudden tavern music. These are all handpicked to be varied, but still fit in any combat!
---
And that's it! Hope you enjoy! If there's a category that you think is missing, don't hesitate to tell me. I might make a new list from that suggestion. 🙂
Wow! This is amazing! I love how much effort you've put into this. I'm curious if you'd also do playlist by environment types (desert, ocean, tundra, etc.)?
Thank you, I'm glad you like it! No environment music as of yet, I'm afraid. :) It's a lot of work to find the right music, so it takes some time to find just the right music. That said, it's not impossible, we'll see in the future!
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Glad you liked it! :) I know how tough it can be to find good songs to fit your games, and if my work has made someone else's game better, I'm all good! :)
I cast raise dead on this thread. As per Vedexent's post I have transcribed these spotify playlists to google play playlists as best I could. I may update or change these playlists to suit my own needs and tastes, but as of this posting they're as close to the originals as I could find in google's music library.
Brian got plenty of music, no doubt about it, but it doesn't really fit what I'm personally going for. My goal was to make the playlists consistent and reliable - if you play a song in one of my list, I want to make sure there's a big chance it'll fit the scene you're currently having (i.e if you have a mysterious scene going on, just click a random song in the mysterious playlist and you're good to go). I feel like Brian got a huge amount of music, and the playlist are very popular, but the music is a bit too varied once inside the playlists. That said, listening to the playlists you can easily grab what you like and make your own playlists, and for that they are very good!
Hello fellow DMs!
As we all know music can be a great enhancer for any scene in a D&D game. An emotional or romantic scene is much more moving with the right track in the background and combat music keeps your blood pumping and the action tense. Finding the right songs, however, can be tough. An emotional song goes into a wild combat-centric crescendo when you don't want it to, a combat song suddenly stops in mid-note to deliver a soothing romantic tune or a nice background travelling song suddenly turns into a horror tune! That is the reality of many soundtracks that come from movies and video games; they are already set to a different pace and scene than the one you had in mind. They have swells, ups and downs, that can be really distracting when played at the table-top. Instead of bringing you into the game, it brings you out.
However; I have noticed that constant battle music can tire out the mind, especially if the combat runs for a long time. To help with this, I've created the "Combat with variation" playlist. Add a few of those songs into your combat playlist if you feel like adding some variation. Don't be mistaken, these are still epic and powerful songs that will add much to any combat!
For years this has been my major gripe with music in role-playing, and for years I've been collecting songs from video games, movies and artists to get music that I feel are free of the faults I presented above (no mid song cresendos, no mid change of theme, etc). I never really thought about sharing it but then I saw that Spotify had a share function! Hopefully you will have some good use of these songs just as I have (and these will be updated as I discover more songs). They are pretty heavily categorized and while the library might not be huge (in some cases), the music does what it's supposed to.
The music is generally for a Fantasy setting. When the playlist is for another setting it says so in the description. Follow each playlist on Spotify if you want to keep up to date as I update the playlists.
So, without further ado, I present to you my Spotify playlists for role-playing games (just click the name of the playlist, it will take you to the songs).
Background music - Day
Songs to play when the players are going about their daily business, be it travelling or exploring a new town.
Background music - Night
Are the players travelling at night? The songs herein are not horror oriented, and while still a bit darker than daylight songs, they are here to help the feeling of travelling at nighttime.
Background music - Ambient
If you want to forgo music when travelling outdoors, in the rain or in the forest, this is the playlist for you.
Background music - Mysterious
A playlist that enhances the feeling of mystery. This is not horror, and does not necessarily convey a tense feeling (though some do). A sense of mystery is a sense of impending discovery; walking the halls of a long abandoned magicians library or strange ruins.
Background music - Tension
"Something is wrong. You can feel it, but you can't see it. You continue to explore the abandoned farmstead with your friends, expecting something to happen at any time." This is not full blown horror, but this playlists will help set a tense feeling during exploration.
Background music - Horror
This is it. Full blown terror. The players witness the horrors of the mansion, the terror of the graveyard cult or the horde of insanity that is coming for their souls. Playlist with the most disturbing music for the most disturbing scenes.
Background - Combat
Swords, shields and courage! Charge! The most expansive playlist I've created (also includes my favourite combat track - "Town in Chaos" by Stuart Chatwood).
Background music - Chase Scenes
Do your players need to catch someone in a high speed chase? Do they need to run away from the big monster? This is the playlist for you! Can also be used for combat if your battle is really, really intense.
Background music - Taverns
Music to use when players visit a tavern, inn or similar establishment.
Background music - Sci-Fi
Generic songs for use in the background whenever the players find themselves in their spaceship, exploring a space port or talking in the briefing room.
Background music - Sci-Fi Combat
Combat, but in the far future. Can be mixed with non-sci fi settings if you don't mind the futuristic feel of most of the songs.
Background music - Modern or Sci-Fi clubs
Time to hit the club. Electronic beats and bass!
Emotional music - Beautiful
Entering an elven forest? Setting camp under the starlit sky? A playlist used to convey a beautiful and impactful feeling.
Emotional music - Romantic
For those affectionate moments... The beautiful playlist above can be used as romantic as well, but these are a bit more focused on this emotion.
Emotional music - Sad
Music to play when someone says their final words, when the heroes are defeated, etc. Music with a sense of loss. Can also be used for great effect in romantic scenes in time of sadness.
Emotional - Melancholy hopeful
Feelings of hope and victory in the face of adversity. Great playlist for those songs where you overcome, persevere and feel hopeful. Also a great list for epic last stands and final goodbyes.
Setpieces/Cutscenes
Music with highs and lows, crescendos and change of theme. Great music, but best used during carefully planned out scenes such as "DM cutscenes" or setpieces where you know the music will hit the right notes at the right time (even when the scene is player driven). Some are listed here because they are shorter, and thus also best used for small scenes (not really loop-able). I have personally used songs like "Tessa" and "This is the End - Markus" to great effect in my games, so it can certainly be done!
Endings
Songs to be used at the end of an adventure or campaign. Some of the songs have lyrics which means they will be best used as "Credits" song (talking over lyrics is generally not a good idea), when the campaign or adventure is over. Great way to keep the feel of the RPG even after the game has ended!
Main themes
Music to play before the gaming night starts as the players are sitting down. Good way to set the mood!
Norse music
You like vikings in your RPG? You like norse mythology? This playlist is for you! As a Swede, I had to get some Norse music in there!
Comedy
For those funny and quirky moments and characters!
Combat with variation
Combat with highs and lows. If a combat goes of for a long time, these might help to bring down the monotone feeling of constant battle music. Don't be mistaken though, they still fit right combat; there's no romantic cresendos or sudden tavern music. These are all handpicked to be varied, but still fit in any combat!
---
And that's it! Hope you enjoy! If there's a category that you think is missing, don't hesitate to tell me. I might make a new list from that suggestion. 🙂
Wow! This is amazing! I love how much effort you've put into this. I'm curious if you'd also do playlist by environment types (desert, ocean, tundra, etc.)?
Thank you, I'm glad you like it!
No environment music as of yet, I'm afraid. :) It's a lot of work to find the right music, so it takes some time to find just the right music. That said, it's not impossible, we'll see in the future!
Good stuff
Thanks for everyone who followed! I hope you enjoy the music!
Awesome work. I really appreciate the effort put into this.
I may have to transcribe this over into Google Play Music for my own use, but the curating work is already done for me ;)
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Glad you liked it! :) I know how tough it can be to find good songs to fit your games, and if my work has made someone else's game better, I'm all good! :)
I cast raise dead on this thread. As per Vedexent's post I have transcribed these spotify playlists to google play playlists as best I could. I may update or change these playlists to suit my own needs and tastes, but as of this posting they're as close to the originals as I could find in google's music library.
Background - Day
Background - Night
Background - Ambient
Background - Mysterious
Background - Tension
Background - Horror
Background - Combat
Background - Chase Scenes
Background - Taverns
Background - SciFi
Background - SciFi Combat
Background - Modern or SciFi Clubs
Emotional - Beautiful
Emotional - Romantic
Emotional - Sad
Emotional - Melancholy Hopeful
Setpeices/Cutscenes
Endings
Main Themes
Norse Music
I always start my sessions with dnd by semisonic.
Thanks DenverDungeonMaster for the help with google's music library, appriciated!
This is awesome! Thx for putting this together!
My pleasure! I'll update them as I go. :) Glad you liked it!
Thank you for sharing this. It's a real time-saver.
Fantastic playlists, thanks!
I've also been making extensive use of playlists from Brian Davis https://open.spotify.com/user/bezoing
He has tons of them, nicely organised.
Glad you liked it! :)
Brian got plenty of music, no doubt about it, but it doesn't really fit what I'm personally going for. My goal was to make the playlists consistent and reliable - if you play a song in one of my list, I want to make sure there's a big chance it'll fit the scene you're currently having (i.e if you have a mysterious scene going on, just click a random song in the mysterious playlist and you're good to go). I feel like Brian got a huge amount of music, and the playlist are very popular, but the music is a bit too varied once inside the playlists. That said, listening to the playlists you can easily grab what you like and make your own playlists, and for that they are very good!
Added the "Combat with variation" playlist, as well as the "Comedy" playlist! :)
All playlists have also been updated since my last post. Have at it, and enjoy!
P.S. If you think there's a category missing, don't hesitate to give me a heads up! Maybe I'll make it. 🙂
Great playlists to step up my dming without having to spend hours and hours listening and searching through spotify.
Thank you!
Is there a way to play spotify through Roll20 without adding it to the downloaded songs?
We totally necro’d this thread haha. Leaving a reply so I can find and try out the music playlists later!
*rises from the grave* I'm.. aaaalive!
Thanks guys, glad you enjoy it! Continuously adding to it. :)