gnunn
"Musical Lairs: Using music and sound in your campaign":http://www.obsidianportal.com/guest-bloggers/December3009
This article made me super excited! I have been struggling to incorporate a soundtrack into my campaign for a long time. I am totally going to download the "Softrope mixer":http://softrope.net/ as soon as I get home!
Up until this point, when I use sound in my campaign, I often pull from the following sources:
* Soundtrack, __Braveheart__
* Soundtrack, __Fellowship of the Ring__
* Soundtrack, __The Two Towers__
* Soundtrack, __Last of the Mohicans__
* Soundtrack, __Dragonheart__ (Trivia: The main theme from this horrendous movie was used for AFIs 100 years, 100 movies campaign!)
* Soundtrack, __Dances with Wolves__
* Apocalyptica, __Amplified: A Decade of Reinventing the Cello__ (Metal covers played on cello!)
* Holst, __The Planets__ (You know that music 21 & 24 sing in the second episode of _Venture Bros. Season 2_? That is "Mars, Bringer of War" and it is EPIC!)
Other contributions that come from my players:
The temple of time music from Zelda
The chest opening music... also from Zelda (One of my players cues this up everytime they score major loot)
Various Final Fantasy themes.
What music and/or sound do you recommend?
Comments
Bad Austrian accent, "Do flowers grow here?", "You kill my fazer, you kill my mah-der, YOU KILL MY PEEPOH!" etc.
Now my GM strategy focuses on keeping the game simple and as close to pencil, paper, and dice on a table as possible. I've only got so much time to invest in writing, mapping, and planning anyway. I stopped linking laptops to share info, stopped hooking up displays on the flat screen, and limited stuff to printed handouts and maps. Works more smoothly for us, but if your group can handle all of the above then more power to you!
DM Fred
* *Hunt for Red October* - _An all around great sound track, surprisingly good for almost any setting. This is a classic choice for me, something I've gamed too for almost 15 years now, and always loved._
* *Pirates of the Caribbean* - _A good mix, energetic enough for combat, but not too much for other activity. Well blended enough to just let it play in the back without worrying about specific tracks and such._
* *300* - _Great for heavy combat, though the modern sound may not suit your tastes in a fantasy game. I think it works well in moderation, but can be a little intrusive at times. It's still a favorite though._
* *Stardust* - _A really fun selection of adventuring music, as you might expect from an adventure film. Probably best with combat and non combat play lists, as some of it is too low key to carry a battle scene._
* *Transformers* - _Phenomenal epic feeling tunes, with the exception of one track (Sam at the Lake) which should be skipped. Always. One of my all time favorite sound tracks, without question._
* *Gettysburg* - _A really well done soundtrack, though the best tracks on it may be too theme specific for your game. A lot of good martial feeling themes here, for long battle scenes and such._
I've been meaning to get __Hunt for Red October__ and __Pirates__ into my collection as well.
The one downside with some of these soundtracks, like __Gettysburg__, __Dragonheart__ and really anything by Randy Edelman is that they used synthesized orchestras. I guess it's not a big deal when it's just being used as an unobtrusive background behind a game, but when I know the music is created on electronic instruments but with an intent to not sound electroninc, I feel like something is lost.
Granted, a soundtrack I already enjoy might have been even better performed by a live orchestra. From the same perspective though, you might say that a game I already enjoy playing might be even better if the books had been better organized and edited. In either case, if I'm already enjoying the thing, the fact that it _could_ have been better in some way doesn't detract from the experience for me.
Other music I thought of that is potentially good for gaming:
* Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
* The Gladiator Soundtrack
* Carmina Burana, Il Fortuna (sp?) (It's the really epic theme from the movie Excalibur)
RP_adventure (general music)
RP_fight (duh)
Rp_travelling (epic, sweeping music for describing vistas, excusing myself to get another cup of tea)
RP_if there's any girls there i wanna do them (bars, pubs and cantinas)
RP_sneaking
etc, etc. there are tons of good soundtracks out there. my issue is no one soundtrack has sustained tone to it - a fight song, an epic song, a sad song. so i like to mix and match into playlists. then i just click over to the appropriate one when the scene warrants.
on a much more interesting note: www.freesound.org is a *HUGELY USEFUL* resource for GMs. i usually type in the weather or setting (pub, campfire, forest, blizzard), find a good loop and let it roll over music. you would shocked how much the players will start acting out holding cloaks and shields over their heads when they hear rain, or sipping from mugs when they hear bar ambience. i've gotten a huge response from my players. it takes a little work to get the right sounds so i usually keep multiple browser tabs open to queued up sound loops.
On another note, I totally agree with what you are saying about playlists. I've been struggling to build a number of them myself. I find that even picking individual tracks can be challenging, since movie soundtracks tend to have each track constructed like an individual scene, complete with a "story" arc. Hence, most epic battle pieces start off quiet and ominous, or peaceful and then build to the fight. While tracks like this might work great in the beginning of an in-game fight, it can be obnoxious to suddenly go back to the "peaceful calm before the storm" music when the next track begins.
Oh, and continuing to run with Asian-themes: _The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_ soundtrack is also a good one.
I've also been meaning to pick up some of Joe Hisaishi's music. He does the soundtracks for most of Hayao Miyazaki's films like _Princess Mononoke_ and _Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa_
i'm giving away all my secrets here, but Harry-Gregson Williams' "Kingdom of Heaven" soundtrack is a godsent. it still hits a lot of different tones, but in general it's pretty consistent throughout. give it a listen.
Knut Avenstroup Haugen's "Age of Conan" soundtrack is great too. Again, a little nit-picking with tracks but overwhelming good throughout and very consistent in terms of a mood.
Finally, Aly Bain and Ale M
i never use freesound - or any other service - for incidental noise. i only use it for environment or "walla." queuing up the sounds can be a real hastle so i tend to save them for the places i think the players will spend the most time: tavern (if one is featured in the game), market, plaza, castle, forest, snow storm, etc.
keep working at it. i went and checked out softrope, btw. it seems like a good solution for what you're going for - incidental sound effects. have you DL it and tested it?
Of course, when it comes to game planning, I find myself constantly struggling to prioritize my tasks. The adult GM in me says, "Focus on figuring out the next step of the story first!" but the kid GM says "But wouldn't it be cool to add this new shiny thing! SHINY!!"
I suppose it's the sort of thing EVERY GM deals with on some level. Hopefully I'll have some time to prep some soundscapes for next week.
luckily my group drinks a lot of tea and i'll usually chime in with a "anyone fancy a cuppa?" that gives me a good 5 minutes to sync up some tracks.
incidentally, the Westerlands wiki is really impressive. i'm going to take some time to go through it. i'd love to send you some notes and have you send some to me in return. would you be down? you can find my campaign at the above address.
In terms of my initial thoughts on sound design... my gameplan is to sit down with softrope and ask myself, "Okay, what scenes would be most useful" then
# set up blank placeholder scenes for useful settings (Tavern, marketplace, magic shop, potion shop, temple, woodlands, etc.)
# determine which settings will be used in my next session
# figure out the sort of sounds I would want for those scenes
# import those sounds into my library
# start putting together scenes beginning with the ones that could be used next session
Fortunately, my players just hit a town, so a lot of the scenes I will be working on will be the sorts that can be used in a wide variety of situations.
Check 'em out - I've been impressed - and they're mp3s, so they work with SoftRope.
Darkechilde