I like having music in the background during my games to help set the tone. Right now, I'm running Curse of Strahd and my players are really digging my playlist for it so I figured I would share it and maybe get some more ideas from other DMs.
For general creepy Embiance I have the Musica Cthulhiana album call Fragments and a few tracks by Goblin from the Suspiria soundtrack. I've also been trying to find a digital copy of Ennio Morricone's original 1982 soundtrack for The Thing, but since the new one came out it looks like I'm out of luck :(
I also have a couple of Johan Sebastian Bach, specifically Passacaglia in C minor and Prelude & Fugue in C minor for the obvious set piece encounter.
I seriously recommend checking out Musica Cthulhiana. It's interesting, and works well for getting that little extra "things aren't right here" tone.
Suggestions? Thoughts? Please add! I'm always looking for more good music.
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Welcome to the Grand Illusion, come on in and see what's happening, pay the price, get your ticket for the show....
No you cannot. Nothing beats cueing up "United We Stand Divided We Fall" when the PCs turn the tide of an epic boss fight.
I have been on a Synthwave kick ever since Thor Ragnarok came out. Dance with the Dead has been dominating my playlist for sure. Has a high energy 80's EDM vibe with horror style chord progression.
What a great thread! I love all the suggestions so far. I'd like to take a moment and rep my friend Wes Otis, who is a professional sound designer in LA. He produces 10-minute looped audio tracks for all kinds of gaming genres (Fantasy being my genre of choice) under the name Plate Mail Games. Tracks are super cheap and they go on sale frequently. He also does bundles. I have a few hundred of them myself and I love having them on in the background for mood music when I run games.
I got my group on board with Syrinscape and I've done a lot of work putting together different audio clips. The free version is robust enough to give you a large collection of feels, nothing cinematic worthy, but enough to set moods. The subscription service has a much larger pool to pick from, edit and customize and is decently priced.
Before that, I'd hop on youtube and play the different clips I could find on Final Fantasy, Elder Scrolls, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and Zelda. Those covered just about any situation I'd set my group up on. I ended up making a dozen different playlists each one tied to a specific theme or location.
ps: Manowar is amazing for inspiration when writing up story arcs!
Lots of great stuff on YouTube. I recently started making my own music for my own campaigns, I finished on recently that was entirely influenced by Icewind Dale's Rime of the Frostmaiden!
I happened to pose a question like this to Ed Greenwood on a listserv a couple decades ago and he mentioned that he liked 'Magic Man' by Heart as a theme for his alter ego Elminster.
I like having music in the background during my games to help set the tone. Right now, I'm running Curse of Strahd and my players are really digging my playlist for it so I figured I would share it and maybe get some more ideas from other DMs.
For general creepy Embiance I have the Musica Cthulhiana album call Fragments and a few tracks by Goblin from the Suspiria soundtrack. I've also been trying to find a digital copy of Ennio Morricone's original 1982 soundtrack for The Thing, but since the new one came out it looks like I'm out of luck :(
I also have a couple of Johan Sebastian Bach, specifically Passacaglia in C minor and Prelude & Fugue in C minor for the obvious set piece encounter.
I seriously recommend checking out Musica Cthulhiana. It's interesting, and works well for getting that little extra "things aren't right here" tone.
Suggestions? Thoughts? Please add! I'm always looking for more good music.
Welcome to the Grand Illusion, come on in and see what's happening, pay the price, get your ticket for the show....
Check out http://tabletopaudio.com/
Natural 20 Charisma
You might want to check out Spotify for already existing fantasy playlists.
Here is one link to a fantasy song list that was posted on LifeHacker.
https://open.spotify.com/user/kingslayer133/playlist/1iAPMwtsmtiDIrWBvtLjg1
You can't go wrong with Two Steps From Hell.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
No you cannot. Nothing beats cueing up "United We Stand Divided We Fall" when the PCs turn the tide of an epic boss fight.
I have been on a Synthwave kick ever since Thor Ragnarok came out. Dance with the Dead has been dominating my playlist for sure. Has a high energy 80's EDM vibe with horror style chord progression.
https://youtu.be/n4E4kjQIw6M
Magic Sword is also amazing
https://youtu.be/q0RVXs3gXnY
If my players were more metal heads I would just cue up Man O War and Bolt Thrower for 3 hours ;)
Welcome to the Grand Illusion, come on in and see what's happening, pay the price, get your ticket for the show....
What a great thread! I love all the suggestions so far. I'd like to take a moment and rep my friend Wes Otis, who is a professional sound designer in LA. He produces 10-minute looped audio tracks for all kinds of gaming genres (Fantasy being my genre of choice) under the name Plate Mail Games. Tracks are super cheap and they go on sale frequently. He also does bundles. I have a few hundred of them myself and I love having them on in the background for mood music when I run games.
Plate Mail Games audio tracks
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I got my group on board with Syrinscape and I've done a lot of work putting together different audio clips. The free version is robust enough to give you a large collection of feels, nothing cinematic worthy, but enough to set moods. The subscription service has a much larger pool to pick from, edit and customize and is decently priced.
Before that, I'd hop on youtube and play the different clips I could find on Final Fantasy, Elder Scrolls, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and Zelda. Those covered just about any situation I'd set my group up on. I ended up making a dozen different playlists each one tied to a specific theme or location.
ps: Manowar is amazing for inspiration when writing up story arcs!
This is what I played when Tiamat showed up in Rise of Tiamat(full power version)
https://youtu.be/gjETXk1pVME
When the PCs and the host of allies turned the tide of battle
https://youtu.be/BcoOmrjUJyE
Post battle
https://youtu.be/vVezbVxp2Pw
My players loved every note and beat.
Cryo Chamber Has some great ambient mixes for creepier themed games, their mix: Dark Gothic Music of Abandoned Castles and Forgotten Temples is insanely good and would work well for Castle Ravenloft :)
Lots of great stuff on YouTube. I recently started making my own music for my own campaigns, I finished on recently that was entirely influenced by Icewind Dale's Rime of the Frostmaiden!
https://youtu.be/_GrCF5QZ7-o?si=iaxLV-I6n88Zetkp
Working on peaceful / castle based music for ttrpg campaigns at the moment but there are a few longer videos on the channel :
https://www.youtube.com/@QuibbleBoghopper/videos
I happened to pose a question like this to Ed Greenwood on a listserv a couple decades ago and he mentioned that he liked 'Magic Man' by Heart as a theme for his alter ego Elminster.
Funny you say that: I'm making a synthwave list for each of the Elder Evils and their respective minions and adventurers.
So I'd be open to suggestions as well.