Hi there experienced GMs!

I've been out of the RPG hobby for close to twenty years, but EotE has rekindled my desire to get back in to it. Since I last played, computers were invented, and so was iTunes*

I'd like to make use of atmospheric music during play, to enhance the experience for my players, and I'm trying to set up playlists that will make it quick and easy for me to DJ on the fly (I'm experienced in improvisational theatre, so I'm drawing heavily on that skill-set).

I have acquired a large collection of musical scores and movie soundtracks over the years, so I have lots to draw on. I started with a "Star wars rpg" playlist, and then began breaking that down into sub-lists so I can quickly select appropriate pieces for a given scene.
My lists so far feel inadequate though, which is why I'm asking for help.
So far I have begun adding music to the following playlists - "Combat", "Introduction", "Social", "Background" and "Suspense".

What I'd like to know is what tricks you use to incorporate music in a (more or less) seamless way into sessions you run. Any advice is welcome, though I'm especially interested in what playlists or categories you use to streamline the use of soundscapes and music into your sessions.
Maybe you have a simpler solution than what I'm cobbling together?

Perhaps you've tried this method or something similar?

Looking forward to your input, thanks.
Chris


*yes, I use iTunes. Yes it's bloatware, but it plays nice with my iPod so it's what I've got So unless you have some amazing alternative, I don't wanna hear the Apple-hate. I'm a recovering Apple fanboi, so I've heard it all

Hey Chris!

So what I do (also in iTunes) is create a playlist folder for my adventure, and then a separate playlist for each adventure Scene/Seed in that folder. For example, in the Age of Rebellion Beginner Game and Operation: Shadowpoint, I created playlists as follows:

0 The Adventure Begins (some mood-setting music, nothing too heavy

1 Infiltration (suspenseful music; you're coming out of a dangerous jungle into a dark garage to setup an ambush. Maybe something from a spy movie, or the Republic Commando soundtrack)

2 Springing the Trap (Battle music! I like the Total Annihilation soundtrack, among many other things like fight scenes from the SW films)

3 Bargaining (some light, perhaps slightly comedic music to reflect the light-heartedness of the situation and to allay any trigger-happy tendencies)

4 Of Course We Have Clearance (again, a bit of suspense here. If it breaks out into fighting, have some battle music ready!)

4.5 Interlude: Experience & Destiny (something airy, like the Skywalker theme or The Reunion of Juno & Starkiller from TFU 2 soundtrack)

5 Firefight (duh)

and etc.

So this way, any time my players jump to a specific scene or set piece I have prepared, I have music ready to go for it.

It also doesn't hurt to have those preset categories you've got, like "Combat," "Suspence," and so forth. I always make sure to have "Cantina" as one of my playlists, so anytime my players walk into a cantina or bar they might hear some Modal Nodes, or something from the KotOR soundtracks

I just run Pandora with either my Star Wars station or my Glenn Miller station playing.

Thanks awayput, sounds solid! I'm adding a "Cantina" playlist now

2P51 - what's a Glenn Miller station?

Hahaha. Just Google Glenn Miller. It's a table favorite, not necessarily Star Warsy, but very Indiana Jones.

2P51, do you not tailor the music to specific situations, then? More a background ambiance than incidental music?

Oh, it depends. Occasionally I'll bring something iconic up when we kick off a particular fight, or scene, or something. I also use the crawl creator on the Star Wars site to begin each session.

I just have a ton of star wars (from games, movies, clone wars, etc.) and similar music (mass effect, assassin's creed 3, Call of Duty, Serenity/Firefly, Starhawk, Wing Commander, X-men, etc) in a single playlist and I just set it on random. It doesn't always match what is happening, but it tends to play mood appropriate things more often than you might think. When it does, the players all take notice and say, "this music is perfect for what is happening right now!" When it doesn't, it tends to fall into background noise.

Just don't play it too loud or too softly. You have to find the right volume so players can hear it without it being too distracting.

I considered switching playlists as things happen but that is just another thing I would have to keep track of and manage so I just let my friend "Random" do it for me

I run from my laptop and it's pretty easy to run all my Star Wars music from iTunes. I have a decent collection of soundtracks that I have taken the time to add to playlists like "Combat" and "Intrigue" and "Cantina" so that I can quickly shift moods. I keep the music volume to a minimum so it doesn't get distracting. It's coming out of laptop speakers after all....

I start EVERY session with the official theme and a crawl.

I too use iTunes. I just have a playlist folder with all my music init. I also have sound effects like blasters or droids. I just set it on random and let it go. I have my iPad set up to control the music on my PC. I can control the songs and the volume, which is great as not all songs play at the same volume. I can also pick songs to fit the scene if I need to. It does happen more than more would think possible, but a lot of the times it feels as if the music happens to play just at the rights time though. I have also downloaded songs from youtube to use. I use a free youtube to mp3 converter.

I have the complete Saga soundtrack, The Clone Wars, Shadows of the Empire, TOR, KOTOR 1 & 2. I have a ton of Star Wars metal too.

While I am old, and not up on all the latest music trends, I do use a lot of Star Wars Techno and Dubsteb in my games. I think it feels very Edge-ish. I think the Techno/Dub/Metal really gives my games that more modern feel, and an industrial gritty quality.

Here is a link to some great modern Star Wars songs. I hope you enjoy!

https://soundcloud.com/korriband This guy is Fracking AWESOME!!!!

https://soundcloud.com/a-j-e/trap-star-wars-dubstep/s-pIgCy?in=thump/sets/the-greatest-star-wars-remixes One of my Favorites!

http://www.undernyc.com/the-best-dubstep-remixes-of-star-wars-dubstep/

http://thump.vice.com/words/star-wars-remixes-playlist-soundcloud-thump

https://soundcloud.com/dubstep/imperial-strike-by-liquid-stranger Another one of my favs .

I have been wanting to do a really cool speeder chase. I think this would go great with a really cool speeder chase. But all the PCs have to be wearing plaid bell bottoms! This just screams cool chase scene with crashing fruit stands and exploding fire hydrants!

I've been wanting to try using music in our games. I run my campaign from an iPad where I've pulled up our Obsidian Portal page, and I have all my notes and stat blocks on there.

I might use my phone to connect to our Apple TV and play music over the speakers.

I like the idea of creating different playlists for different moods.

I stopped using actual songs, and started using other programs for "Ambiance"

My one problem with using songs is sometimes a cresendo becomes rather inappropriate and kind of breaks up the game, not to mention combats can last longer then some albums. If there is a particular sort of song that is appropriate, i will using it. Duel of fates and Asteroid chase are used a lot.

I started using Darkraven games audio for ambiance or Syrinscape (but they are not free) as I have my laptop with me when I run games

In my game I have one major NPC that i use a real bands songs for to play in the background when they are at a bar where she performs. Her name is Neena (played by Lynn Collins) and the music is very similar to the group Ladytron . " Destroy everything you touch " is a great, yet subtle, Anti-imperial song IMHO

Tho honestly, I would really like to get some ideas from other people in a real band they think would fit in the star wars universe and you might find performing at a local cantina.

I play mostly online via voice chat, and we do not use music in those sessions.

But when my friends and I meet in person to play, I pull out all the stops. I have the entire original trilogy soundtrack queued up and ready to go, along with a Star Wars soundboard for sound effects here and there.

When new situations occur in-game, I usually immediately play a bit of the soundtrack before I even start talking. I then turn it down a bit once I begin explaining their situation and the surroundings. Then, when it comes to them taking actions and explaining what they are doing, I turn the music down so it is just background noise. By the time the track ends, we are usually pretty involved in the scene/encounter and do not even notice that the music has stopped.

I use music to establish the mood of scenes, but once the song has run its course, I simply leave it alone as to not bog down my ability to run the game smoothly. I use to try and keep music continuously playing throughout scenes, but having to stop what I was doing to change the song slowed things down too much.

Getting the soundtrack to the movies would be my advice. Without John Williams, Star Wars would not have been half of what it is today. Once you become familiar with the titles of the tracks, grabbing a track that fits the scene becomes an easy step to make your scenes more atmospheric and memorable.

Whenever I'm running a game, I make a playlist (in Google Play) for each "mood." Generally, these are Ambient, Tension, and Action. I try to have at least an hour or two of music for each, and I set them all on "Shuffle" and "Repeat all." When game time rolls around, I plug my phone into the little speakers behind me, fire up the music, an then i only have three playlists I have to worry about. I used to try to set up certain songs for certain situations, but I spent too much time juggling the music. Now I only do that if I have really involved scenes in mind, like when a Deadlands character was gunned down, only to claw his way out of his coffin to Johnny Cash's "Ain't No Grave."

Speaking of using ambient soundscapes, I neglected to mention http://www.ambient-mixer.com/ as a place you can go make your own ambient mixes. I have made a couple but they haven't found their way into the game yet.

For my games I generally start with the typical star wars entry music, but I generally avoid music during the adventure. I use Syrinscape ( www.syrinscape.com ). It is an ambient sound program created for gamers. They have 2 sound packs right now focused on science fiction, but they are a creating a dedicated sci fi player that should be out soon. It allows me to make blaster sounds, explosions, noisy bars, etc.

Salcor

they are a creating a dedicated sci fi player that should be out soon. It allows me to make blaster sounds, explosions, noisy bars, etc.

Salcor

The Sci-FI themed one, and 6 sets of soundscapes are now available

they are a creating a dedicated sci fi player that should be out soon. It allows me to make blaster sounds, explosions, noisy bars, etc.

Salcor

The Sci-FI themed one, and 6 sets of soundscapes are now available

Just about to 38 SoundSets in the Sci-Fi Player now! Including a 'Light Sword' Battle Set that I'm REALLY proud of! :-)

For me personally I use music only in cantinas and firefights, and the majority of the music I use is mass effect. I feel like the tone of that soundtrack works well in edge of the empire, giving the theme of a darker sci fi that I feel like edge encapsulates

After going back through this, I think I need to change up my playlists. It's currently pretty sci-fi themed, with a lot of tracks from Mass Effect and Deus Ex. I think I need to hit the '70s a bit harder, to get that proper feel. Time to find out if Funk ever took off in Eastern Europe. Something tells me Romanian Soul Train would feel pretty alien.

EDIT: 10 minutes in, and this is already a glorious journey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ARNyB96O6U

My music tends to be more spur-of-the-moment than any actual playlists, but theres some good ones that I use fairly regularly.

Exploring a jedi/sith ruin? The Map Room from 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'.

Exploring a jungle-type world, a la 'Beyond the Rim'? The Chopper (NOT Long Tall Sally) from 'Predator'

Chase scene or Fast Getaway? Futile Escape from 'Aliens'.

Now, the music doesn't have to be loud. In fact, just barely audible is usually best. Players can still hear each other, but they can hear the music and get a little pick-me-up from it.

Oh, and end of the session? The Real Folk Blues from 'Cowboy Bebop'.