best music to game by

On Thu, 01 Mar 2007 22:40:48 -0500, Shawn Roske
<fh439.DeleteThis@NOSPAM.ncf.ca> wrote:
]So, what is your favourite selection of music to game by? What do you do
]for action, drama, suspense, or other?

I use a small windup 60 minute alarm. The ticking bothers some of my
players, most say it makes them more tense. Others tell me it
doesn't bother them because it is used to track the time left to the
next 10 minute break.

JimP.
--
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 >> Stay informed about: best music to game by 

D.J. wrote:
> On Thu, 01 Mar 2007 22:40:48 -0500, Shawn Roske
> <fh439 DeleteThis @NOSPAM.ncf.ca> wrote:
> ]So, what is your favourite selection of music to game by? What do you do
> ]for action, drama, suspense, or other?
>
> I use a small windup 60 minute alarm. The ticking bothers some of my
> players, most say it makes them more tense. Others tell me it
> doesn't bother them because it is used to track the time left to the
> next 10 minute break.
>
> JimP.

whoa, devious!
 >> Stay informed about: best music to game by 

On Mar 2, 12:07 pm, "Justin Alexander" <jus....RemoveThis@thealexandrian.net>
wrote:
> The Mad Afro wrote:
> > On Mar 1, 9:40 pm, Shawn Roske <f....RemoveThis@NOSPAM.ncf.ca> wrote:
> > > So, what is your favourite selection of music to game by? What do you do
> > > for action, drama, suspense, or other?
>
> > The Lord of the Rings soundtracks are excellent for all-purpose
> > fantasy gaming music. Ditto for Willow, Braveheart, Legends of the
> > Fall, etc. Unlikely soundtracks that serve the same purpose are
> > Gettysburg and Crimson Tide. David Arkenstone's "Quest of the Dream
> > Warrior" is another excellent fantasy choice.
>
> I tend to avoid fantasy soundtracks and other well-known soundtracks.
> The problem is false association: People hear the familiar chords of
> the LOTR soundtrack come on and they're thinking of Middle Earth and
> Arwyn and Mordor, instead of the Western Lands and Emperor Atal and
> the Kingdoms of the East.

I haven't noticed that particular problem with movie soundtracks, but
mileage varies. Even so, during the current campaign I've been trying
for an Eastern European flavor, so I've toned down the John Williams
and Frank Horner in favor of things like Hungarian folk music. And
violins, lots of violins, mostly because the instrument is a Really
Big Deal in the area that the PCs are currently in.

>
> I get a lot of mileage out of obscure anime and CRPG soundtracks.
> Sometimes I can get away with Final Fantasy, but Nobuo Uematsu scores
> are pretty distinctive. My current group has a couple of FF junkies,
> so I can't use them. But stuff like hack/SIGN, Xenogears, Ghost in the
> Shell -- all good stuff.

I played a couple Gundam soundtracks near to melting two campaigns
ago. Macross Plus' volumes are also marvelous, with enough variety of
sounds to fit different situations.

Another that I've used for a long time is Armitage III's soundtrack,
although it's much better for cyberpunkish settings. I'm afraid I've
fallen behind on anime music, so I appreciate the titles you mention
above.

>
> (Sometimes the associations will work for you, though: Playing "O
> Fortuna" (Carmina Burana), "Anvil of Crom/Riddle of Steel" (Conan), or
> Liberi Fatali (Final Fantasy VIII) is pretty much musical short-hand
> for "something epic is happening".

Indeed. I've used the LotR stuff for precisely that effect during some
epic goings-on. There are some soundtracks that I stop short of using
during games because the associations are TOO powerful. Star Wars, for
instance.

--
Jay Knioum
The Mad Afro
 >> Stay informed about: best music to game by 

On Mar 1, 9:40 pm, Shawn Roske <f... RemoveThis @NOSPAM.ncf.ca> wrote:
> So, what is your favourite selection of music to game by?

"The Sound of Silence" on continuous loop.

> What do you do for action, drama, suspense, or other?

Describe the scene with words and then play it out.

Music playing for RPGs always comes off like a bad sound track. It
either doesn't match the specifics of the scene, is too loud when it
should be soft, too soft when it should be loud, makes it hard to hear
the players or GM, etc., etc., etc.

This needing to have background noise everywhere baffles me.
 >> Stay informed about: best music to game by 

On Mar 1, 9:40 pm, Shawn Roske <f....TakeThisOut@NOSPAM.ncf.ca> wrote:
> So, what is your favourite selection of music to game by? What do you do
> for action, drama, suspense, or other?

I use movie soundtracks, game sound tracks and other stuff. I have
it divided up into a Combat playlist, Exploring playlist, Traveling
playlist,
and Wonder Playlist (players just found the lost city...).

I pick through the music, and look for stuff that is evenly paced. If
the
song changes too much in the middle (like going from quiet and calm
to huge and dramatic) I ditch it.

If you want to get away a little bit from the average stuff, Crouching
Tiger,
Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and Blackhawk Down are really good.

PS: Someone always says "Sam, I love you" when the LOTR music
comes on. Always gets a laugh, too.

Age of Empires
Blackhawk Down
Conan TB and Conan TD
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
D&D cd (not from the movie, the Midnight Syndicate one)
Diablo 2
Gladiator
Harry Potter
Hero
House of Flying Daggers
King Arthur
Last Samurai
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Master and Commander
Pirates of the Caribbean
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Sleepy Hollow
The Name of the Rose
Last of the Mohicans
LOTR
Troy
Willow
World of Warcraft - Burning Crusade
 >> Stay informed about: best music to game by 

On Thu, 01 Mar 2007 22:40:48 -0500, Shawn Roske
<fh439 RemoveThis @NOSPAM.ncf.ca> wrote:
]So, what is your favourite selection of music to game by? What do you do
]for action, drama, suspense, or other?

We tried music, once.

My players and I decided it was a distraction and stopped it before
the first hour was up.

JimP.
--
http://www.linuxgazette.net/ Linux Gazette
http://crestar.drivein-jim.net/testy/ Feb 22, 2007 1E AD&D
http://www.drivein-jim.net/ March 2, 2007: Drive-In movie theatres
http://poetry.drivein-jim.net/ poetry blog Feb 15, 2007
 >> Stay informed about: best music to game by 

On Mar 2, 2:00 pm, "D.T.Collins" <dirk.coll....RemoveThis@verizon.net> wrote:


> http://www.gamemusicjukebox.com/

Yep. That's a bookmarkin'.

--
Jay Knioum
The Mad Afro
 >> Stay informed about: best music to game by 

D.T.Collins wrote:

> http://www.gamemusicjukebox.com/

that's really cool!
 >> Stay informed about: best music to game by 

The Mad Afro wrote:
> I played a couple Gundam soundtracks near to melting two campaigns
> ago. Macross Plus' volumes are also marvelous, with enough variety of
> sounds to fit different situations.

I hear you on that one. (ha, ha) The two volumes of Gundam 0083 would
have long since worn out if they weren't digital.

> There are some soundtracks that I stop short of using
> during games because the associations are TOO powerful. Star Wars, for
> instance.

Yeah. The only time I can use STAR WARS music is when I'm actually
playing STAR WARS.
 >> Stay informed about: best music to game by 

On 2 Mar 2007 11:39:10 -0800, WDS wrote:
/snip/

> Music playing for RPGs always comes off like a bad sound track. It
> either doesn't match the specifics of the scene, is too loud when it
> should be soft, too soft when it should be loud, makes it hard to hear
> the players or GM, etc., etc., etc.
>
> This needing to have background noise everywhere baffles me.


What you said.


Mary
 >> Stay informed about: best music to game by 

On Fri, 2 Mar 2007 10:31:35 -0800, The Mad Afro hath written thusly
(in article <1172860295.780580.195240.DeleteThis@n33g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>):

> On Mar 2, 12:07 pm, "Justin Alexander" <jus....DeleteThis@thealexandrian.net>
> wrote:
>> The Mad Afro wrote:
>>> On Mar 1, 9:40 pm, Shawn Roske <f....DeleteThis@NOSPAM.ncf.ca> wrote:
>>>> So, what is your favourite selection of music to game by? What do you do
>>>> for action, drama, suspense, or other?
>>
>>> The Lord of the Rings soundtracks are excellent for all-purpose
>>> fantasy gaming music. Ditto for Willow, Braveheart, Legends of the
>>> Fall, etc. Unlikely soundtracks that serve the same purpose are
>>> Gettysburg and Crimson Tide. David Arkenstone's "Quest of the Dream
>>> Warrior" is another excellent fantasy choice.
>>
>> I tend to avoid fantasy soundtracks and other well-known soundtracks.
>> The problem is false association: People hear the familiar chords of
>> the LOTR soundtrack come on and they're thinking of Middle Earth and
>> Arwyn and Mordor, instead of the Western Lands and Emperor Atal and
>> the Kingdoms of the East.
>
> I haven't noticed that particular problem with movie soundtracks, but
> mileage varies. Even so, during the current campaign I've been trying
> for an Eastern European flavor, so I've toned down the John Williams
> and Frank Horner in favor of things like Hungarian folk music. And
> violins, lots of violins, mostly because the instrument is a Really
> Big Deal in the area that the PCs are currently in.

Good call! Eastern European folk music is fascinating, and respectable
from a music theory point of view. There's a good range of feeling
within the subgenre

- E


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 >> Stay informed about: best music to game by 

On Fri, 2 Mar 2007 12:24:02 -0800, D.J. hath written thusly
(in article <jt1hu2h60imvoa7evssuc2f6h1n0dorhud DeleteThis @4ax.com>):

> On Thu, 01 Mar 2007 22:40:48 -0500, Shawn Roske
> <fh439 DeleteThis @NOSPAM.ncf.ca> wrote:
>> So, what is your favourite selection of music to game by? What do you do
>> for action, drama, suspense, or other?
>
> We tried music, once.
>
> My players and I decided it was a distraction and stopped it before
> the first hour was up.
>
> JimP.
>

Anything from Wagner's Ring Cycle, especially with today's technology,
where you don't have to keep getting up to turn the record over and/or
change albums (that's vinyl LPs for you youngsters ).

- E


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==============================================================
 >> Stay informed about: best music to game by 

On Sat, 03 Mar 2007 05:15:45 GMT, Eric P.
<ericpNOSPAM06.RemoveThis@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
]where you don't have to keep getting up to turn the record over and/or
]change albums (that's vinyl LPs for you youngsters ).

I have 500 vinyl lps and about 300 45 rpm records. I haven't
listened to them in years.

We listened to cassette tapes when we tried music in the 1980s.

JimP.
--
http://www.linuxgazette.net/ Linux Gazette
http://crestar.drivein-jim.net/testy/ Feb 22, 2007 1E AD&D
http://www.drivein-jim.net/ March 2, 2007: Drive-In movie theatres
http://poetry.drivein-jim.net/ poetry blog Feb 15, 2007
 >> Stay informed about: best music to game by