Ambiance
Back in college I did a stint as a TA for freshman English. I figured it would be all personal essay and novels and similar, all the sorts of disciplines that are right up my scholastic alley. You can imagined my shock and horror then when I was assigned to Business Writing. Drafting emails? Developing a professional tone!? TPS Reports!!! My poor little liberal arts heart shrank within my bosom.
Good thing the professor was a mad genius.
I’ve never seen anything like this guy. He was a balding little Italian version of David Sedaris, all bow tie and prim glasses. You couldn’t imagine a more stereotypical looking business professor, and I thought for sure that I was in for some Ben Stein style droning. As it turned out, I couldn’t have been more off-base. His teaching method was the most expertly paced and scripted lecturing I’ve ever seen. As his TA, my only job (and here’s where THE POINT comes in) was to play a series of AV clips when he cued me. He would begin talking about the industrial revolution or whatever, get to his climactic point, and then nod for me to hit play on a perfectly timed tape or film clip. The guy knew his stuff, and all the video and music worked beautifully to dramatize his lectures.
Guess what you can’t replicate in an RPG? Unlike a rehearsed lecture, a carefully edited film, or a traditional play, tabletop RPGs are unruly beasts that refuse to take their musical cues. There’s no way to know how fast or slow you’re going to get through the pre-fight monologue, or whether the PCs will take half an hour or 45 minutes to finish their in-town shopping. And let me tell you, nothing kills the mood faster than listening to some epic Two Steps From Hell whist trying to enjoy a pint in a peaceful tavern.
Instead, I tend to agree with Fighter. A little light ambiance floats my boat, but that’s just a preference. How about you kids? What do you listen to in game?
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“half an hour or 45 minutes” In my experience that’s more like 5 minutes to 2 weeks. (I’m just as guilty about the overly detailed shopping trips in games as any of my players have ever been though, so I don’t really have any right to complain.)
I don’t think I’ve actually ever had a live game where there was music that wasn’t just… random music someone had on their laptop.
The sight you’ve linked is really neat though. I will certainly keep it in mind. You may have brought a whole new enjoyable experience to my…. enjoyable experiences.
Happy to help! The background stuff works best if you have exactly two of them lined up and ready to go. Any more and you begin saying things like, “One second guys. Shit, which tab was it…?” Any less and you lose out on the cool transition from happy traveling music to dangerous underground deathtrap.
Check out the British sitcom IT Crowd. I believe the episode is called, “Jen the Fredo,” in which one of the IT boys tries to entertain out-of-town corporate guests through a role-playing game
I think I know the part you’re referring to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVoK2-4DO7I&t=0m24s
Classic.
I was hoping for ruddy mysterious
Proper music can really help set the mood! I was in a Vampire: The Requiem game, and the GM had a full playlist of songs to run in the background. Sometimes moody, sometimes gothic, sometimes with a slightly upbeat tone to match the fact that action and excitement were factors as well.
So this one time, we captured an outlaw vampire who was making trouble for the city. Helping to organize that ran illegal death fights, ghouled-up stray dogs against freshly vampirized children. Really heinous stuff. So we’re wondering if we should turn her in to the local authority or torch her right there on the spot, and it’s at this moment that the playlist offers a helpful suggestion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIBTg7q9oNc
Sorry, toots. Can’t say no to that.
Is Quentin Tarantino your GM? I can just picture a pale dude in a tailored suit going, “So what do we do with her now?” Everybody looks at one another before the movie smash cuts to this prisoner screaming herself to death while burning alive. The PCs square dance in the background.
I found a IMO really good ambience YT-Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDed9jQ1Y1gKeyjvkyFGkCA
That guy has ambience tracks and music on his channel for almot any RPG envirionment you can imagine. From deserts to forests to a feast in a full inn, campfire in the woods and many more. Most if not all are 1 hour long and really help to set the mood. Of course he has several different weahter “options” too. I found his channel rather late so we have not used it much since the damn pandemic and a generell dislike of playing over videochat in my group we did not have many opportunities to play together this year.
Check his channel out and let me know if you like it or not. 😉