On another forum a friend of mine posted about using a title song at the beginning of the session while recapping the events from the last session to the players. I rather like asking the players themselves what had happened before, to gain more insight what was memorable and what was not. In one group I game with, the host usually starts his rpg music playlist with the Conan the Destroyer title song.
Next sunday I will start a Warhammer fantasy campaign set in Mousillon, and I would like to use the same method. At the moment I am thinking of using Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, but am open to suggestions that are more powerful/energetic, and not necessarily classical.
What are your rituals of beginning a session?
Not tried it yet, but when I get around to running The One Ring I'm tempted to use the intro and outro music and narration from the 1977 BBC radio adaptation to put people in the mood.
The old Robin Hood series from the fifties/sixties had a title song sung by a bard, telling what is going to happen in the episode.
We normally recap the last session and catch up with important things outside the game.
Quote from: soltakss;851315We normally recap the last session and catch up with important things outside the game.
That's what we do.
Based on past experiences I'm not a fan of trying to have a 'soundtrack' or musical cues... it's often too loud or distracting to the GM as he fidgets with finding the right track. Also, it can be offputting if the GM's idea of the perfect match for the game is something like the theme song from Xanadu.
I suppose I could see having some standard track that sets the general mood of the campaign that gets played at startup to say, 'let's play'... but for my own games I wouldn't bother.
We eat and catch up, followed by a recap and/or level up, and then get the show on the road.
My experience with background music in gaming, generally speaking, is a mixed bag. I love the idea of theme songs and introductions and background music, but from the GM's chair ir all too often becomes an additional chore, and sometimes a distracting one at that.
Anything but loud podcast bumper music.
Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;851370Anything but loud podcast bumper music.
Definitely... I wince every time I start up Save Or Die!
We talk.
A game is neither a movie nor a radio play.
I tried this with a couple of campaigns, but the players never seemed to really get into it.
It has worked great for me in a couple of campaigns, but I don't use it all the time.
For Star Wars, it was pretty much a no-brainer. The SW theme to start off the game session, complete with 20th Century Fox fanfare. Have a couple of the right tracks in a folder to be clicked on with no bit fuss at need - a couple of battle tracks, a couple of Imperial March tracks, that sort of thing. Was usually not too terribly distracting. Also - there used to be a GREAT soundboard for X-Wing/TIE/Millennium Falcon engine nosies, blasters and explosions. A tool like that made battles feel really exciting due to the authentic Ben Burtt sound effects. The same soundboard had some great droid and alien lines I could use, too - there's no Wookiee like a real Wookiee.
I had a Shadowrun campaign we opened each session with Cyndi Lauper's "Change of Heart" and speckled the sessions with 80s synthpop and stuff like Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" and Drowning Pool's "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" It was pretty awesome, too.
In the D&D campaign on Wednesdays in which I participate as a player, my DM lets me queue up appropriate fantasy music while he runs the game. It means it's not a GM task, and it places a certain amount of trust in me not to start playing "Yakkety Sax" during a battle scene. Mostly, I do things like the Raiders of the Lost Ark "Map Room at Dawn" during mystery scenes, and "Bloody Tears" from Castlevania while fighting Strahd in Ravenloft. Stuff like that.
The only setting that I use audio for is Star Wars (which is also what I run most often).
I have the theatrical sound tracks to all six movies on my iPhone, which is bluetoothed to the speakers. I play the certain songs in the background depending on what's going on (certain songs for when climactic-seeming battles start, the flute-y sounding song when someone dies in game, the Imperial march when appropriate, etc.)
And I have an app that makes a Star Wars-y crawl thing, and at the beginning of every session I show a crawl and use the iPhone/Bluetooth/Speaker set-up to play the intro music loud. "DAN dadada DAN..."
Star Wars is the only setting that gets me in the mood to go so all out in the props department.
I also have a thick folder of Star Wars character art from the internet printed out, and EVERY NPC gets a picture.
Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;851380We talk.
A game is neither a movie nor a radio play.
There are more things in RPGs and gaming, Gronan,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
It's not a fashion show, an art exhibit, or an architectural display either. But that doesn't stop some folks from displaying costumes they made, art work they created, or buildings they constructed.
I've used music to great effect in games. Often it's only a theme tune played at the beginning and end of a games session:
'I Feel Alright' by Steve Earle for Firefly (It could have been written for Firefly games)
'Alexander Rag' by Elena Kats-Chernin (a ragtime piano piece) for Mycrofts' Minions - my Victorian spy game
'Come With Me' by Puff Daddy for my Torchwood spin-off game.
The only game where I use music during play is in Blue Star - a game of investigators working for the League of Nations in the 1930s. It does have a theme tune, but I also play popular 1930s song when the PCs are in nightclubs and seedy dives (which is a lot of the time).
Oh yeah, Sword and Sorcery music.
For our Barbarians of Lemuria game (in the game's default setting of Lemuria) I used the soundtrack for the Age of Conan computer game. Seemed to have all I needed for a theme tune and some spooky music for when evil sorcery was in the air.
I think something like that - less familiar music - works better than the Conan film soundtrack, or whatever. YMMV.
And I must say that I've never found handling music to disrupt any game I'm running or spoil the mood. On the few occasions when I've neglected to play a theme tune, my players have protested - so I suppose that means that they like it.
Quote from: Simlasa;851320That's what we do.
Based on past experiences I'm not a fan of trying to have a 'soundtrack' or musical cues... it's often too loud or distracting to the GM as he fidgets with finding the right track. Also, it can be offputting if the GM's idea of the perfect match for the game is something like the theme song from Xanadu.
I suppose I could see having some standard track that sets the general mood of the campaign that gets played at startup to say, 'let's play'... but for my own games I wouldn't bother.
All "Rainbow in the Dark," all the time.
With the *very occasional* occurrence of "Xanadu" for when the party is fighting Olivia Newton-John on roller skates.
Quote from: Natty Bodak;854454With the *very occasional* occurrence of "Xanadu" for when the party is fighting Olivia Newton-John on roller skates.
That sounds oddly compelling.
Recently used the "Thunderball" theme to get everyone psyched for a session where they dodged around 30 foot tall mechanical colossi that rose out of the ocean to attack the city by stormy night. Worked well, might try that sort of thing again.
The trick is not to make too big a deal about it, then it looks pretentious.
I sometimes cue up Star Trek's theme before playing FASA Star Trek. I also have a disc of Star Trek sound effects but seldom try to use it as it becomes too cumbersome to try to keep pace.
I'd like to find some authentic music for Flashing Blades, recordings of songs from that era (or close enough), but haven't really scoured anywhere for that yet. Any suggestions?
Quote from: The Butcher;851366We eat and catch up, followed by a recap and/or level up, and then get the show on the road.
My experience with background music in gaming, generally speaking, is a mixed bag. I love the idea of theme songs and introductions and background music, but from the GM's chair ir all too often becomes an additional chore, and sometimes a distracting one at that.
I do a quick recap. Like "Ok, when we left off you were preparing to take on the white dragon." and then ask them what they do now.
Or "Ok, last session you arrived at the swamp and were waiting for the guide." and roll into the guide arriving.
This has been my experience too. One DM I was a player on their campaign started off with wanting to do music in the background. But quickly dropped it as...
A: it was a bit of a hassle to set up and required pauses to change tracks. Once set up though it moved relatively smoothly.
And more importantly.
B: it got in the way of playing. Both in hearing the DM and other players clearly. And it was actually
breaking immersion for some.
This was something they warned about in oration class way back too.
Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;851380We talk.
A game is neither a movie nor a radio play.
Some games are not anyway. Some are. It's quite a challenge to elevate a game to that level though, I'll grant you.
Quote from: Dumarest;979819I'd like to find some authentic music for Flashing Blades, recordings of songs from that era (or close enough), but haven't really scoured anywhere for that yet. Any suggestions?
I listed a few in this post (https://honorandintrigue.blogspot.com/2015/07/songs-from-period.html).
Quote from: Bren;979831I listed a few in this post (https://honorandintrigue.blogspot.com/2015/07/songs-from-period.html).
Thanks, any particular recordings worthwhile?
Quote from: Moracai;851234What are your rituals of beginning a session?
At the beginning of a session someone usually does "last time on" to remind everyone what's going on. It also helps -- I think -- to put things in context of the world; if I'm doing the recap, I'll throw in cultural or background context.
This is usually /short/ unless it's been awhile since we played.
I do use music when we play -- not as background (which makes it hard to hear) but sometimes to introduce a scene or whatever. Usually the music is commentary on what's going on in some way. During combat, I'll also run music between rounds while I'm setting up the initiative tables or whatever -- give the PCs something to listen to.
I think RPGing has a LOT that's similar to radio and story telling. Running a horror game is a LOT like telling ghost stories. YMMV, of course.
Cheers,
-E.
Quote from: Dumarest;979834Thanks, any particular recordings worthwhile?
I haven't purchased any, just used what I've found free on YouTube and such.
Quote from: Dumarest;979834Thanks, any particular recordings worthwhile?
Can't go wrong with the version of Handel's Sarabande from Barry Lyndon.
Quote from: Voros;979865Can't go wrong with the version of Handel's Sarabande from Barry Lyndon.
It's about 100 years too recent, though, isn't it?
I'm looking for 1600 to 1650ish.
As I well know, that period is a bit tough. Other than La Vive de Roi (King Henri's Song) there isn't much that I've found. Although the Sarabande existed (according to the scene where the Cardinal dances one mentioned both in Dumas and other sources) the easiest one to find is Handel's. Their are a few Dutch Beggar Songs from that period (I listed one from Bergen op Zoom). Lully (b. 1632) is the probably the best known 17th century French composer, but he is writing in the second half of the century. You should be able to find works by Michael Preatorius for the first half of the century. He might be your best bet.
As an anglophone its always easier to find stuff from England. Chansons are likely to still be popular and if you don't mind the location change you should be able to find some English Renaissance airs and such from the late Tudor period. Those are probably still being sung somewhere.
Quote from: Omega;979821I do a quick recap. Like "Ok, when we left off you were preparing to take on the white dragon." and then ask them what they do now.
Or "Ok, last session you arrived at the swamp and were waiting for the guide." and roll into the guide arriving.
My DM for our current campaign loves the "When we last met our band of intrepid adventurers..." in a old-timey newsreal/radio-play announcer voice and then usually blathers on a completely fabricated series of daring dos that absolutely did not happen the previous session.
When I run Night's Black agents, I use tracks from the Night's Black Agents: Blood and Shadows soundrack. There's an intro theme I use when we are sitting down, and a briefing theme I use while recapping.
I don't have a theme for Mutants & Masterminds, but like some trendy modern TV series, I have a tone-setting quote at the beginning of each session.
Quote from: Dumarest;979921It's about 100 years too recent, though, isn't it?
I'm looking for 1600 to 1650ish.
That is generally considered the Baroque period so Monteverdi and the like. But that is all court music, the folk music is lost to the mists of time I believe.
To me the music that best captures the spirit of Flashing Blades would be the gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt.
Not sure about the music. A couple of quick YouTube listens sounds far too modern to my ear for anything before the Jazz Age, but Django Reinhardt would be a pretty cool name for a Flashing Blades rogue character.
I have though used music to get across a tavern or more nightclub's style.
For text chat and Play By Post games the GM (usually me) and players will often provide links to suitable music. They key thing here is it's optional - you're not being forced to listen. Eg in my White Star game a couple days ago the PCs were having the crap kicked out of them by the Assimilants (Borg expy), so with the Assimilants about to board their crippled ship, and the heroes getting ready to go down fighting, I gave them:
[video=youtube;KIsv1YOFNys]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIsv1YOFNys[/youtube] :D
For tabletop games, I have players who like to play stuff, but personally I tend to find it distracting and am not generally a fan. A 5 minute track is ok, but as GM I've had to ask people to turn off endless music and as player I tend to suffer in silence.
My Classic Traveller game has a title song ("Galactic Nomad" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usknoPiXH90) by Slough Feg), but the players only heard it as part of the pitch -- it doesn't get played during sessions. For years I liked running games with low-volume dark ambient music (Lustmord, Robert Rich, Voice of Eye, et al) running continuously, but it's not really convenient to do that at the places I play these days.
Quote from: S'mon;980056[video=youtube;KIsv1YOFNys]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIsv1YOFNys[/youtube] :D
That cracked me up. Thanks!
Quote from: Voros;979997To me the music that best captures the spirit of Flashing Blades would be the gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt.
I have a lot of his recordings but can't see why you would connect the two. I don't hear it at all.
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I am deleting my content.
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Quote from: Warthur;851235Not tried it yet, but when I get around to running The One Ring I'm tempted to use the intro and outro music and narration from the 1977 BBC radio adaptation to put people in the mood.
Funny - I used that intro music when I ran my TOR campaign. :)
The closest I came was writing a song for a character. The game fizzled but I still have the song.
Quote from: Dumarest;980314I have a lot of his recordings but can't see why you would connect the two. I don't hear it at all.
I think it captures the spirit of the genre, not the era. It is light and fleet, with an underlying romantic melancholy that fits the tone and feel of the genre to me. I understand the time era throwing one off but sometimes it is a bit arbitrary, we watch period films with orchestration that in no way match the era all the time. I find Sophia Coppola's use of 80s music in Marie Antoinnette unbearable but love the use of psychedelic metal in Valhalla Rising or Popol Vuh's music for Aguirre: Wrath of God.