Music Soothes the Savage Beast
Like most GMs whenever I run a game, I like to have
appropriate music or sounds effects playing in the background. The right music
can really set the tone for a scene within game like dungeon crawling,
celebrating at a tavern, or an epic battle with the big-bad evil guy (or gal). I
fondly remember listening to Metallica or Led Zeppelin on a cassette player
while my friends and I played RIFTS during our many sleepovers in the mid-80s.
I listen to a huge variety of music; from classical to metal
to rap you can find it in my Spotify library. Whenever I’m watching a movie, I
try to pay close attention to the score or soundtrack. To me it’s just as
important as the actors, the script, and the production values. Aliens, Blade
Runner, and Dune are soundtracks that are just as good as the movie.
When I run games online, I tend to use Roll20 for the VTT
(virtual table-top) and Discord for voice and video chat. A cool feature about
Discord is the ability to play music for others to hear if you’re in the same
chat room. You can also play music through Roll20 using their pre-programmed
music selections (which are pretty good).
As I mentioned earlier there are soundtracks that I
absolutely adore, but there’s plenty of music to choose from if you’re looking
for gaming appropriate sound tracks. I list a few that I use for my games:
http://audiomachine.com/
They produce music for movies and commercials. Listen to a few and you’ll
recognize them almost instantly. This is my absolute go-to for anything I need
for my games. Give them a listen you won’t be disappointed.
https://tabletopaudio.com/
Music made specifically for role-playing games. I’ve used it a few times and
it’s worth checking out.
https://syrinscape.com/
Another site that produces music specifically for role-playing games.
Syrinscape has a lot of fans and for good reason. They’ve been around for some
time now and have an excellent selection of ambient music.
Finally, https://www.youtube.com/! You can find just about any soundtrack for
your games, and if you are a paid subscriber you forgo the numerous
commercials. Still, it’s a great resource what especially if you don’t know
exactly what you’re looking for.
That’s it for now! Feel free to leave a comment about your
favorite soundtrack or resource you use for your games. Stay classy and thanks
for stopping by!
DeeKay
I'm a huge fan of ambient music for my online games. Question, though, about discord. As far as I can tell the available music bots for discord let you stream in music from outside sources (youtube, spotify, etc.). Is that what you mean? Right now I'm uploading mp3 tracks to Roll20 for my games and it's excruciating. I don't see any obvious bots that let you play mp3s. Of course, I've written my own discord bot before for the Midgard Fan Organized Play discord, so if it doesn't exist that sounds like a fine rabbit hole to explore.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know everyone's favorite "fantasy" music for gaming in such worlds. I find the standard fantasy soundtracks almost universally rely on Celtic flutes and such, and I would like to have a sense of options outside this rather overused style.
ReplyDelete