Greetings,

Last weekend I came in contact with Descent: Journey in the Dark . A friend of mine, who has a huge collection of 999-games and other board games, bought the game and gave it to me to read and understand it, so I could explain it to him (and his girlfriend, both haven't even opend the box, let alone read it rules/meaning) so we can start playing next weekend.

Now, I wan't to be a good overlord and prepare the whole room where we'll be playing Descent. I'm going to give it a complete makeover so it resembles a dark - dungeon/castle like room. But I'm still puzzeld with what music I should play in the background.

--> So, what music would fit the atmosphere of Descent the most? If possible, pure insturmental (singing might make the music "pop out", so only instruments to keep it on the background).

(I didn't came across any topic in the search, so forgive if it's a duplicate O_o)

I would probably choose a soundtrack CD to a RPG, if you have one. For example, a CD came with the enhanced edition of The Witcher.

When we play D&D our DM usually has some mood music in the background. He uses soundtracks from lots of fantasy movies. Conan, 300, Lord of the Rings, Excalibur, etc.

I like those ideas.

I personally have some Final Fantasy soundtracks or the Diablo 2 soundtrack that I would use, among other things.

Many thanks ^^

Curse me for not thinking about game OST's
Luckily I'm one of those guys who likes to buy collector editions of PC games, guess I'll start browsing through my collection.
(movie OST's will be a bit harder, but the our city librabry might have some cd's, guess I'll pay it a visit soon).

If any other suggestions pop up in your mind, feel free to post them, I'm going to need allot of music

If you take the already mentioned LotR OST of all three movies (extended edtiton), this should give you quite a lot of time.

Pirates of the Caribbean is also a great OST for RPG`s, it should fit in here as well, but perhaps this will start to shine when SoB is available.

One of the ST that comes to mind immediately for me concerning Descent is any good Castlevania set, even some of that good ol' 8-bit music was pretty decent! However with the new versions out there's some great RPG music that's done with a full orchestra, worth adding to any game.

Game OST's are the obvious ones for me, particularly JRPG's and some older FPS's, but I also use some Anime OST's. Some of the Anime OST's out there have some great ambient BGM and/or battle themes, such as obvious ones like Nanoha, Petit Cossette, and Slayers. However, sometimes you find the best pieces in Anime you would not expect to...examples of these strange finds...

Yes! PreCure 5! - "Cute" anime, with wicked battle BGM! Strange?

Tenchi Muyo - Even though this is a romantic comedy anime, the "Autumn of Life" BGM track makes for a great "eerie - explore the cave" piece.

Saki - Yes, this is an Anime about Riichi Mahjong played by high-school girls and YES it has awesome, high intensity, battle music. (see end of Ep. 1 or throughout Eps. 11 and 13)

And Many More Anime!

Mix that in with game OST's and some epic film OST tracks and you have a winning playlist for Descent! (IMHO)

P.S. On that note, where's my Anime-themed Boardgame, FFG?

I have the music from Might and Magic 6 and we listen to that, or some Led Zepplin

If words are not that big of an issue and you are into that kind of music, Blind Guardian and Nightwish are also great choices. As are Subway to Sally, In Extremo, Corvus Corax and similar. Of course, all these are German bands (except Nightwish), as I only know those quite well, but perhaps one can contribute bands similar to those from other countries.

Argur said:

I think they're perfect for this kind of game!

Another OST that can work well is Braveheart: the main theme is really epic and the whole music is so immersive...

Parasitic Entity said:

I normally put on Soundtracks from various video games and movies to fill in the silence when I am the Overlord (which is like always LOL!)... but whenever I do play as a hero...

I choose Brother Glyr, the little dwarf man of steel, and due to my recklessness in one adventure (which turned out to work itself out in the enf) I earned my own little theme song Bonni Taylor's I Need a Hero!... which everyone seemingly puts on their PSPs/Cellphones/ Ipods as soon as its my turn.

EAT YOUR HEART OUT GIMLI!

When I was putting some of the dungeons together for Sea of Blood I listened to a lot of Led Zeppelin and the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack. Hope this helps!

For a darker tune, Summoning and Falkenbach can be good, to psych out players you can go for Qntal (electro/medieval) and darkwave/gothic sound works too. Also worth recommending are Gotien, Omnia, Schandmaul, Schelmish...

The Dungeons and Dragons soundtrack from Midnight Syndicate would be perfect I think.

You might be able to find it in some Halloween stores or on their website. I pretty much like all of their music.

I've been slowly putting together a playlist for dungeon-bash gaming. I tried to keep it accoustic and with clean vocals, a lot of it is acoustic:

* Ad Victorium by Ensiferum
* Ferrum Aeternum by Ensiferum
* Tears by Ensiferum
* The Prodigal Son by Iron Maiden
* A Past and Future Secret by Blind Guardian
* The Bards Song (In the Forrest) by Blind Guardian
* Solitude by Black Sabbath
* Don't Start (Too Late) by Black Sabbath
* Fluff by Black Sabbath
* Embrio by Black Sabbath
* Lothlorien by Orange Goblin

Argur said:

Ravenage, Mael Mordha, Anwyn, Battlelore, Moonsorrow, Elvenking, Ensiferum, Ashtar, Pythia, Hanging Doll, Knights of Tethys, Backmoor's Night, Rhapsody of Fire, latter Cathedral, early Orange Goblin, Alestorm, Skyclad, Hawkwind...

I've found that the Jurassic Park soundtracks go very well with RtL. My group also enjoys the soundtracks that are included in Last Night on Earth and A Touch of Evil, but we're weird like that.

How about "The Monster Mash?" =P

Hi There. This is my first post so... lets try to tackle this isue cause i am eager to play my first game with good music, after i saw whats in the box my imagination went wild , apologize for spelling cause i am not native english.

So lets start with the best i know and been fan for a long time

There are many games we can take music from like :

Look at

and some musicans like

Dark ambient : 4 albums Nox Arcana (Necronomicon, Transylvania, Blood of the Dragon, Winter's Knight)

maybe some folk? :

Check Dead Can Dance (serpents egg album) , and Lisa Gerrard.

"Monster Mash" - that's awesome.

My group uses some soundtracks, "Indiana Jones" fits the bill nicely. Danny Elfman's Batman "Score" works, but make sure you get the "Score" and not that-artist-we-called-Prince-but-no-longer-care-about's "Soundtrack."

I also use a lot of classical music. Respighi's "Pines of Rome" is good stuff, particularly "Pines near a Catacomb" and "Pines of the Appian Way." Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana." Wagner is a must! Turn your party loose with "Ride of the Valkyries" and have at it. Holst's "The Planets" works well.

And you can never go wrong with AC/DC.