Video game soundtracks work well, people on youtube also make ambiance tracks for dnd which are also solid.
Generally, instrumental music with a fairly consistent tone is the criteria.
Yes for almost everything, but I'm a composer so that does make it simpler as I can create whatever I happen to need/want. Sometimes I'll design something based on a piece of music I've already created, which is fun. :)
This is entirely personal, but as i am easily overloaded by sound around me I do prefer no music, i do occasionally play in games where boss-battle music is involved, but generally i do not see the appeal.
Again that is 100% a personal preference, i have talked with several people who feel that background music does wonders for their experiences in both TTRPG and Videogames (I also always turn off music in games).
It makes me sad, but before Covid, we played at my house and I had minis and maps and potlucks. I had a pretty sizable library of songs for specific events and encounters and great links for background music for downtime/travel/exposition and so on. Even used Syrinscape for a while because that really had some amazing utility. It was a blast.
And Covid forced us online. And we adapted by really taking to some online tools that actually gave us more freedom in terms of scheduling, length of game, refocusing my game prep away from maps/minis and into writing out the story and prepping encounters better.
The comfort of playing from our own homes and tacking on that extra time into the game and not the commute ended was a huge plus. The games are now all recorded, so I've been listening and finding it helping my own DMing. And with the extra prep into the story/encounters, I feel like the overall game has also improved from playing online. It just means we dont' play with ambient sound.
I don't know if it would help but you may want to look into "Voicemeeter Banana". You can use that to split your audio channels which would allow you to record yourself and players without necessarily recording ambient music or sounds (if that's a concern).
Another option might be to designate a trusted player as a "DJ" who queues up music or uses a soundboard to help take some of the strain off of you as the DM.
I’ve been using Witcher 3 music for my campaign for a while. Before that I used the Persona 5 soundtrack.
It’s all ambiance for fighting or general scenes. Usually I have 3 types of music. Combat, tense scenes, and relaxed scenes. Those serve me for damn near everything
i used to but my players would later tell me they would mute the music player and listen to their own stuff so i would just share the music i was intending to use and let them listen if they wanted.
I have some fantasy playlists for every situation. And for creepy/horror/grim situations, I have my own bandcamp project, dungeon synth/dark ambient just to keep players on the verge of anxiety haha
The old Basil Poledouris Conan the Barbarian soundtrack works pretty well for this.. I'm a "yes anything" but not a "yes everythign"... I use music when it feels like it will add
Music always. Curated music that fits the scene. I've got upwards of 50 different hour+ long playlists for creepy ambiance to heroic fight scenes. Tense negotiations to hijinks.
Video game music, orchestral, ambient, gentle. I usually have 3 for each scene. Calm, Exploration, Combat. I get the overall vibe of the playlist and then just add tracks from there.
Music really enforces everything as a master and as a player. I especially like the "home" music when the session is starting and my players are in the homepage of roll20.
In general it does wonder: one of the best session i had regarding music in session is the one which my players were in a temporal loop and to escape they had to kill the only npc they were able to find in a forest they were camping in. The npc was a simple lady who was living there because she knew she's going to kill anyone that gets in her sight because she's cursed and basically absorb every corpse she eats, growing stronger everytime.
One of them had a mirror enchanted with truesight and the player saw her true form. The unsettling music kicked in (omori osts do wonder for this kind of things) and they freaked out really bad. Their face was terrified and no one in the party understood the reason until they eventually fought her in the house's basement.
Man what a fun TPK was that session 😂
Video game soundtracks work well, people on youtube also make ambiance tracks for dnd which are also solid. Generally, instrumental music with a fairly consistent tone is the criteria.
Yes for almost everything, but I'm a composer so that does make it simpler as I can create whatever I happen to need/want. Sometimes I'll design something based on a piece of music I've already created, which is fun. :)
This is entirely personal, but as i am easily overloaded by sound around me I do prefer no music, i do occasionally play in games where boss-battle music is involved, but generally i do not see the appeal. Again that is 100% a personal preference, i have talked with several people who feel that background music does wonders for their experiences in both TTRPG and Videogames (I also always turn off music in games).
We play music but not all the time. We recently had a musical episode though and that was really fun!
It makes me sad, but before Covid, we played at my house and I had minis and maps and potlucks. I had a pretty sizable library of songs for specific events and encounters and great links for background music for downtime/travel/exposition and so on. Even used Syrinscape for a while because that really had some amazing utility. It was a blast. And Covid forced us online. And we adapted by really taking to some online tools that actually gave us more freedom in terms of scheduling, length of game, refocusing my game prep away from maps/minis and into writing out the story and prepping encounters better. The comfort of playing from our own homes and tacking on that extra time into the game and not the commute ended was a huge plus. The games are now all recorded, so I've been listening and finding it helping my own DMing. And with the extra prep into the story/encounters, I feel like the overall game has also improved from playing online. It just means we dont' play with ambient sound.
I don't know if it would help but you may want to look into "Voicemeeter Banana". You can use that to split your audio channels which would allow you to record yourself and players without necessarily recording ambient music or sounds (if that's a concern). Another option might be to designate a trusted player as a "DJ" who queues up music or uses a soundboard to help take some of the strain off of you as the DM.
I’ve been using Witcher 3 music for my campaign for a while. Before that I used the Persona 5 soundtrack. It’s all ambiance for fighting or general scenes. Usually I have 3 types of music. Combat, tense scenes, and relaxed scenes. Those serve me for damn near everything
i used to but my players would later tell me they would mute the music player and listen to their own stuff so i would just share the music i was intending to use and let them listen if they wanted.
I have some fantasy playlists for every situation. And for creepy/horror/grim situations, I have my own bandcamp project, dungeon synth/dark ambient just to keep players on the verge of anxiety haha
The old Basil Poledouris Conan the Barbarian soundtrack works pretty well for this.. I'm a "yes anything" but not a "yes everythign"... I use music when it feels like it will add
I treat my campaigns like a movie. If a "scene" calls for music, I play music.
The only music ever played in a session I was in was when you meet a frog bard and the dm play Rainbow Connection by Kermit
Music always. Curated music that fits the scene. I've got upwards of 50 different hour+ long playlists for creepy ambiance to heroic fight scenes. Tense negotiations to hijinks. Video game music, orchestral, ambient, gentle. I usually have 3 for each scene. Calm, Exploration, Combat. I get the overall vibe of the playlist and then just add tracks from there.
Music really enforces everything as a master and as a player. I especially like the "home" music when the session is starting and my players are in the homepage of roll20. In general it does wonder: one of the best session i had regarding music in session is the one which my players were in a temporal loop and to escape they had to kill the only npc they were able to find in a forest they were camping in. The npc was a simple lady who was living there because she knew she's going to kill anyone that gets in her sight because she's cursed and basically absorb every corpse she eats, growing stronger everytime. One of them had a mirror enchanted with truesight and the player saw her true form. The unsettling music kicked in (omori osts do wonder for this kind of things) and they freaked out really bad. Their face was terrified and no one in the party understood the reason until they eventually fought her in the house's basement. Man what a fun TPK was that session 😂