Mood Music for Games: Three Lists and Personal Themes

I am out of town on a business trip this week, and so have decided to post something a little easy from my hotel room.

Jay Cartwright of Lemming Malloy
In my game world, the kiitar is a traditional gnomish instrument

This is not the first time I have posted about music at the gaming table. In fact, a search for "music" on this blog turns up about half a dozen posts. Over the years, I have played around with several methods for incorporating music into my game, and have also played in other game groups that used music to set the mood. When I first started running my game, my music use, like much of my DM technique was very much in flux. I sampled, I dabbled, I flitted from system to system, never quite satisfied. During the past year, however, the oscillations between musical systems began to settle into something which I actually feel pretty good calling "useful" and "effective".

See, if done improperly, music has the potential to detract from a game as much as proper use can add to it. In order to be effective, a gaming music system should be simple, yet evocative and should not take over the session, either by forcing the DM to constantly fiddle with it, or by overwhelming the play audibly, or emotionally.

The system I came up with... or heard somewhere and settled on... involves three basic playlists:

• Atmosphere: Basic, non intrusive background music for all your town 'splorin, travel scenin' tavern drinkin' needs.
• Spooky: Music to build a sense of tension while exploring dank dungeons or other evil locales.
• Battle: High energy music to underscore the epicness of the players' actions in combat.

 It doesn't really matter what you use to build these lists. I use YouTube, because I have a program on my Surface that will play them commercial free. I also have a backup set of lists on Spotify in the event that YouTube is being obnoxious, or if I need a dose of something epic at work.

Within the battle list, I also have personal themes for each of the player characters. Just for fun, I provide a minor circumstantial bonus to a player's rolls, if their turn comes up while their song is playing. Clearly, Indiana Jones is more effective when HIS theme is going, so why shouldn't it work for everyone!? The game as a whole also has a theme, which I use to begin each session. When my players hear the music start, they know to wrap up their conversations, because we are about to get rolling.

This system has worked quite well for me since I finally settled on it, and other than possibly porting it off of YouTube, I don't see it changing a whole lot. If you are interested in checking out some of the music I use, click on the linked playlists above, and/or check out my lists on Spotify. I even add to them on occasion, so the epic doesn't get old.

Name that Tune

As I have said before, I have a particular fondness for movie soundtracks, and instrumental scores in particular. My personal music collection is laden with the works of Williams, Zimmer, Edelman and Shore, and this pleases me. Unfortunately, my intimate familiarity with movie music can lead to some interesting brain farts from time to time.

One such moment of mental flatulence occurred recently when I saw the teaser for the new Superman movie that is currently in the works. Being an early teaser, rather than a later trailer, the clip does something many teasers do: it uses already existing music from another movie. This makes sense given that the actual score for the film likely isn't written yet.

Usually, however, when filmmakers borrow previously used music, they take it from something relatively obscure. For instance, when AMC Theaters created a trailer based on AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies, they used the music from Dragonheart. It's a fantastic piece from a movie nobody saw! That's the key... If someone released a teaser for an adventure movie that used the theme from Indiana Jones, it just wouldn't sit right because Indy's theme is iconic. It has a clear association with those movies, and using it otherwise would create confusion and other unintended reactions on the part of people who saw it.

This brings me back to the new Superman teaser. It makes the mistake of using a piece that many people in the film's target demographic (nerds) already associate with another movie. The music under the teaser was originally used in Fellowship of the Rings just after Gandalf fell battling the Balrog. The emotional intensity of the scene, enhanced by the fact that it was just music and no dialogue, created an inseparable association between that piece and that moment in that film. It does not belong in or near Superman! Superman has his own music, and it too is awesome! Don't take Gandalf's!

Unfortunately, someone did just that. They took Gandalf's music, and thus caused my brain to do weird things when I beheld the mashup. I have composed a work of parody illustrating the way my brain perceived this trailer and I share it with you now.

The Sound of Awesome!

Yesterday, Xbox LIVE activated several new features that were promised as part of their recent software update. Included in these features is the ability to sync the Xbox to your YouTube account. Beyond the added potential for watching all sorts of nonsense in epic HD surround sound clarity, the new YouTube connectivity has wonderful implications for my tabletop game.

All sorts of nonsense

You see, I have been using YouTube playlists for a while to provide a game night soundtrack. My campaign even has a theme track that I roll when it is time to stop the chitchat and start rolling. Unfortunately, until now, I have been limited to piping my game night music through a pair of piddly computer speakers plugged into my lappy... well, no more! With YouTube on the Xbox, I can access my playlists from my home theater system and give the music the amplitude it deserves.

And this all came out just in time for game night tonight!

In other news, I love the Oatmeal. If you are unfamiliar, be sure to check it out. The site posted some new Bobcats comics today, one of which illustrates the natural roleplaying prowess of our feline friends. As a cat owner, I can attest to the veracity of this depiction.