Okay, I used Heart of Courage last night to underscore a "let's go kick some butt" speech delivered by an NPC. My players enjoyed it, but I noticed a couple potential problems:
1. While delivering the speech, I found myself getting distracted by the epicness of the music and stuttering while I found words to match said epicness.
2. My players, being the jokers and movie buffs they are, reacted to the music's inclusion by immediately asking, "What is that from?" and then proceeding to joke about/discuss movie soundtracks for the next couple minutes. While I was hoping it would pull them further into the story, it seemed to have the opposite effect... maybe it was because I haven't included music in a while.
Gnunn, we used to have similar problems. I can't think of how many times the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack led to all night quote-a-thons. "You killed my mother, you killed my father, you killed my people, you took my father's sword!!" and "Two snakes like this!" and especially "I'm a wizard mind you!".
Then there was the night that we were in the middle of an Oriental Adventures campaign and one of my buddies just blurted out "I don't feel like listening to Chinese music all night!" --> We still laugh about that to this day.
Eventually the group matured and we cut down on the gooning, but it can be really hard not to let even the slightest thing become a major distraction. I think that combined with the fact that we use music all the time and have been doing it for over a decade now has made the music less distracting, now we just have to be careful not to get gooning about other things.
LOL, i deleted my comment, cause it was wrong, and I couldn't see your comment on my non-refreshed page, so I suppose to make the comment above me make sense, I said his second Duns sounded like Indiana Jones :P
My girlfriend's brother isn't a John williams fan because he says all his music sounds too similar. He says he can never tell Star Wars from Indiana Jones. So that's kind of funny that you said that Gaaran. Obviously theres a big difference listening to it and reading it transposed to "dun-Duh Dun's" but I just find it kind of funny.
So, I just wanted to mention that one of my players is now totally hooked on Two Steps from Hell. He says it makes getting ready for work feel like preparing for some climactic battle.
I also wanted to add the ablum, "The Score by Epica":http://youtu.be/e4QUuds40Pw to the list of to-add music.
I just wanted to let you all know that we have now reached over *100* albums reviewed in film, tv, and video game soundtracks and other music!!! I will be tackling the many wonderful suggestions everyone has made very soon (I just wanted to get threw my own collection first since I was more familiar with it which makes it a little easier).
Dethstryke has prettied up the page and thought of using the "Characters" tab for the artists/composers who make the albums we review.
Also, Gaaran has begun an awesome idea called "The Playlist Helper":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/gaming-music/wikis/the-playlist-helper which will be built upon to make use of the adventure logs. Basically we will write suggested songs and more for themed playlists which will be "Adventures" in the "Adventure Log" tab.
Dewds & Dewdettes! I stumbled across the composer, "Tomas Leonhardt":http://www.tomasleonhardt.com/en/index.html after seeing this "awesome video":http://vimeo.com/16414140 I think he definitely needs to be added to the recommended list.
I recently received a copy of the Elder Scrolls Skyrim soundtrack. Its a no-brainer for "my campaign":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/of-men-and-mer but there's a lot of great stuff in those four discs, capable of evoking a broad range of emotions. The fourth disc is 42 minutes of continuous atmospheric sounds and subtle melodies.
Okay ... Prepare for a long list.
[This list is set up as "artist" - "Album" (Genre)]
Dargaard - Rise and Fall (Folk/Darkwave/neoclassical) combinations of male and female vocals with piles of atmosphere.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfNw3ku3ddQ
Alcest - Les Voyages De L'Âme (Shoegaze/Post-Black Metal) Vocals are in french and the music just .... flows.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUAbqFhd5iM
Alestorm - Black Sails at Midnight (Pirate Metal.) Yeah I'm not joking. It's all about pillaging on the high seas. This works well for swashbuckling campaigns)
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOr7c7ybAgE
Blind Guardian - At the Edge of Time (Power Metal) Bombastic, But this is one of their less ridiculous albums. Also see their album 'Midnight in Middle-Earth'
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MLmdm3nKIs
Chaostar - Chaostar (Avant-Garde Symphonic/Neoclassical) Bizarre, creepy, yet hauntingly beautiful. [warning cover art is nsfw]
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q599nQEPCZU
The Fountain - Soundtrack (Soundtrack/Neoclassical) Aronovsky is brilliant. The music for the movie is no less brillant
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG0bh9fTQts
Ghost Brigade - Until Fear No Longer Defines Us (Melodic Doom Metal) This album is much more chill than the genre would have you think. Lost of acoustic guitar work.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reXcz3ETGbw
Sherlock Holmes - Soundtrack (Soundtrack/Folk) Come on, who doesn't want to grind through a dungeon to this?
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJwLGXfajuc
Les Discrets - Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées (French Post-Rock) Like Alcest above, a little heavier though.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMMLfgu7zRw
Lumsk - Det Vilde Kor (Folk, Some metal influences) I don't even know what they are singing in, beautiful female vocals though.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFoKeGqjWqw
Lunatic Soul - Lunatic Soul (Folk, Eastern) Beautiful, chill, with just a smidge of creepy.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqgY6YuYsPw
Neuen Welten - Vergessene Pfade (Folk, Neoclassical) Beautiful, haunting, and just very cool.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBzIsyFDEtQ
Opeth - Damnnation (Progressive, Mostly acoustic) Despite being a Progressive Death Metal band they released an album that is all soft, mellotron, slow, proggy stuff. It's excellent.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IzLDT73bkk
Sig:Ar:Tyr - Beyond The North Winds (Dark Folk/Neoclassical) Not sure what to say about this. Norse themed neoclassical.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKlbxGH7lwg
Tenhi - Airut:Aamujen (Folk, Acoustic) Anything by this band is good. Give it a listen and see what you think
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TnUzLKiWkQ
Týr - By the Light of the Northern Star (Folk, Viking Metal, Awesomeness) Bombastic, Norse themed, Might be too "heavy", but who cares?
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqmgpuZLsXQ
Ulver - Kveldsjanger (Folk, Norse) Ulver has done everything from Black Metal to Avant- garde electronic, this is their Norse themed folk album. Lots of acoustic and vocals.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n73iQRNJYYA
I've got some more running around my music library that might work if you want, I'll post some more to see what you like and what you don't think will work but there's a good number of albums for you to take a look at and see what you think will work.
There's a DMDJ app for iOS. has built in music board and soundboard and dice roller i think. Midnight syndicate has some great stuff for "ravenloft" type settings. Think that did a D20 CD too for WoTC
Hey thanks so much everyone for the suggestions. I will add them ASAP to the to-do list!
Grad school has me super busy, to the point where I barely see family anymore in any quality time kind of way, so everyone else has just fallen by the wayside. I am really hoping to get back to the swing of things for a bit over the summer.
Comments
1. While delivering the speech, I found myself getting distracted by the epicness of the music and stuttering while I found words to match said epicness.
2. My players, being the jokers and movie buffs they are, reacted to the music's inclusion by immediately asking, "What is that from?" and then proceeding to joke about/discuss movie soundtracks for the next couple minutes. While I was hoping it would pull them further into the story, it seemed to have the opposite effect... maybe it was because I haven't included music in a while.
Then there was the night that we were in the middle of an Oriental Adventures campaign and one of my buddies just blurted out "I don't feel like listening to Chinese music all night!" --> We still laugh about that to this day.
Eventually the group matured and we cut down on the gooning, but it can be really hard not to let even the slightest thing become a major distraction. I think that combined with the fact that we use music all the time and have been doing it for over a decade now has made the music less distracting, now we just have to be careful not to get gooning about other things.
Best of luck to ya.
I also wanted to add the ablum, "The Score by Epica":http://youtu.be/e4QUuds40Pw to the list of to-add music.
Dethstryke has prettied up the page and thought of using the "Characters" tab for the artists/composers who make the albums we review.
Also, Gaaran has begun an awesome idea called "The Playlist Helper":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/gaming-music/wikis/the-playlist-helper which will be built upon to make use of the adventure logs. Basically we will write suggested songs and more for themed playlists which will be "Adventures" in the "Adventure Log" tab.
Also thanks for the suggestion. I will add Tomas Leonhardt to the to-do list.
[This list is set up as "artist" - "Album" (Genre)]
Dargaard - Rise and Fall (Folk/Darkwave/neoclassical) combinations of male and female vocals with piles of atmosphere.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfNw3ku3ddQ
Alcest - Les Voyages De L'Âme (Shoegaze/Post-Black Metal) Vocals are in french and the music just .... flows.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUAbqFhd5iM
Alestorm - Black Sails at Midnight (Pirate Metal.) Yeah I'm not joking. It's all about pillaging on the high seas. This works well for swashbuckling campaigns)
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOr7c7ybAgE
Blind Guardian - At the Edge of Time (Power Metal) Bombastic, But this is one of their less ridiculous albums. Also see their album 'Midnight in Middle-Earth'
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MLmdm3nKIs
Blotted Science - Machinations of Demetia (Progressive Instrumental Metal) Frantic, panicky, fast-paced.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtzb0FTN4BE
Chaostar - Chaostar (Avant-Garde Symphonic/Neoclassical) Bizarre, creepy, yet hauntingly beautiful. [warning cover art is nsfw]
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q599nQEPCZU
The Fountain - Soundtrack (Soundtrack/Neoclassical) Aronovsky is brilliant. The music for the movie is no less brillant
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG0bh9fTQts
Ghost Brigade - Until Fear No Longer Defines Us (Melodic Doom Metal) This album is much more chill than the genre would have you think. Lost of acoustic guitar work.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reXcz3ETGbw
Sherlock Holmes - Soundtrack (Soundtrack/Folk) Come on, who doesn't want to grind through a dungeon to this?
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJwLGXfajuc
Les Discrets - Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées (French Post-Rock) Like Alcest above, a little heavier though.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMMLfgu7zRw
Lumsk - Det Vilde Kor (Folk, Some metal influences) I don't even know what they are singing in, beautiful female vocals though.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFoKeGqjWqw
Lunatic Soul - Lunatic Soul (Folk, Eastern) Beautiful, chill, with just a smidge of creepy.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqgY6YuYsPw
Neuen Welten - Vergessene Pfade (Folk, Neoclassical) Beautiful, haunting, and just very cool.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBzIsyFDEtQ
Opeth - Damnnation (Progressive, Mostly acoustic) Despite being a Progressive Death Metal band they released an album that is all soft, mellotron, slow, proggy stuff. It's excellent.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IzLDT73bkk
Sig:Ar:Tyr - Beyond The North Winds (Dark Folk/Neoclassical) Not sure what to say about this. Norse themed neoclassical.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKlbxGH7lwg
Tenhi - Airut:Aamujen (Folk, Acoustic) Anything by this band is good. Give it a listen and see what you think
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TnUzLKiWkQ
Týr - By the Light of the Northern Star (Folk, Viking Metal, Awesomeness) Bombastic, Norse themed, Might be too "heavy", but who cares?
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqmgpuZLsXQ
Ulver - Kveldsjanger (Folk, Norse) Ulver has done everything from Black Metal to Avant- garde electronic, this is their Norse themed folk album. Lots of acoustic and vocals.
"youtube link":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n73iQRNJYYA
I've got some more running around my music library that might work if you want, I'll post some more to see what you like and what you don't think will work but there's a good number of albums for you to take a look at and see what you think will work.
Just trying to help out.
Grad school has me super busy, to the point where I barely see family anymore in any quality time kind of way, so everyone else has just fallen by the wayside. I am really hoping to get back to the swing of things for a bit over the summer.
DarkMagus
"The Circle of Light":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/the-circle-of-light