Well, I’ve gone and done it. I’ve found a group that wants to play, and I’m going to start DMing another campaign starting Friday. I’ve decided to put together a soundtrack disc of MP3s, something I can put on in the background as we play, and I’ve accumulated a good selection of artists and tracks so far, I think, but I was wondering if the assembled masses here at the boards might have some additional suggestions.
The campaign I’m running is going to be a D&D game, but feel free to suggest music for other genres as well.
So far I’ve got:
Sigur Ros
Enigma
Loreena McKennit
Dead Can Dance
Clannad
I’m open to all sorts of suggestions. What would make a good gaming soundtrack?
I used to use John Carpenter’s Greatest Hits as background for a Chill campaign (it’s a horror game). On one memorable occasion I hid a mini hi-fi under the table preset to play Through The Mirror - which opens with the sound of smashing glass - at high volume. Because I had the other disc playing on loop at low volume on the main stereo, nobody suspected a thing until, at the appropriate moment, I applied my big toe to the Play button…
I’ve always found Enya, Holst’s The Planets, and Orf’s Carmina Burana appropriate as background music for D&D. Maybe Holst or Orf as everyone’s gathering and getting set up, and then switch to the Enya when you need to be able to hear what the DM is saying.
We often had music for specific events: fight music or whatever. Also, certain recurring villains had theme songs that would get played just as the DM announced their arrival. It was great cause you’d hear the first three notes of something and think “oh shit, we’re fucked” before anything was even said.
If you’re going to have specific fight music, you should use a loop of the Final Fantasy I battle theme. It’s definately appropriate, and I for one think the music sounds cool.
And you should try to work in the victory song somewhere. That sounds really cool.
I was always fond of the Camelot soundtrack for D&D. These days, I’d also want to add as much Misty Lackey filk as I could find. Threes for example is perfect for a D&D campaign.
The Camelot soundtrack? In a local theater production, I was in the chorus, and the part I would recommend is the “Fie on Goodness” section.
I like some of Rush’s songs as background for battle, especially “By-Tor and the Snow Dog.” A Farewell to Kings is OK, too.
Other bands and pieces that help create the mood:
Led Zeppelin: Battle of Evermore, Immigrant Song
Pink Floyd: Some of the stranger cuts from Ummagumma work well, like Grantchester Meadows and Several Species…
Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra (for important events, like the main chamber or the King’s appearance)
If you decide to play a Planescape campaign, bring your computer into the D&D room and run the background music from the game Planescape: Torment.
Crap! I can’t believe I forgot Conan…well, I’ll second it. Second it, and raise it with the 13th Warrior soundtrack. Good stuff, excellent battle music.
I’ve been gaming all this weekend, and this is a catalogue of the pile of CDs currently on top of my stereo:
Vangelis: 1492: Conquest of Paradise*
Philip Glass: Anima Mundi*
Philip Glass: Powaqqatsi*
The Bulgarian Women’s Choir: The Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir
Carl Orf: Carmina Burana
Milladoiro: Castellum Honesti: Celtic Music from Spain
Basil Poledouris: Conan the Barbarian*
Patrick Doyle: Henry V*
Dead Can Dance: Into the Labyrinth
Dead Can Dance: Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
Peter Gabriel: Passion*
Carter Burwell: Rob Roy*
The ‘Ravenous’ soundtrack would be excellent if your adventurers are in a somewhat alien environment, i.e. the Underdark, demihuman and humanoid settlements, etc. The instruments are all rather primitive and acoustic, but the songs are very…different.
If you are breaking it down into locations/actions:
Cities: Bach
Wilderness: Conan all the way
Underground: ???(But some tracks from LOTR would work, and not just the “Moria” tracks either…the ones with the “ringwraiths” singing work too. As a hijack, they are the best part of the FOTR soundtrack, i’m pissed that the singing was taken out of their theme in the other soundtracks :mad:)
I definitely recommend the LotR stuff, as well as Enya’s The Celts. I’m of the opinion that one can never go wrong with Carmina Burana, also. There are some nice dark Danny Elfman tracks that would probably work, as well. Mozart’s Dies Irae also strikes a nice terrifying chord for those big battle scenes.
And I LOVE the idea of having special bad-guy themes. Give a whole Imperial March feeling to the game. I wish we’d thought of that when we still played regularly.
I’ll second (or third) the LotR suggestion. I’d also recommend the soundtracks to Braveheart and to The Rock. Other orchestral soundtracks by Mark Mancina or Hans Zimmer would work well.