As well as movies music can be of huge influence and inspiration when it comes to role-playing games. And it needs not to be only for inspiration. I’ve gained some of my best gaming experiences with appropriate music. It could be as simple as choosing “Mountain of Power” from Conan for a fight scene or choosing some classical music for a longer scene. As WFRP3 discusses gaming in terms of live action movies I’m actually surprised that there hasn’t been ideas how to add atmosphere with right kind of sounds.
But let’s forget these ramblings and move to a couple of example. I’ll be making a similar list for music as with movies. A never-ending list at best. But if I could have only two albums to use as background music for my games they would be:
Nine Inch Nails: Quake – Simply the best soundtrack. Industrials noises could seem a little weird for Warhammer but actually the music keeps in the background so well that you’ll only notice it when the album stops and the feeling flattens.
Jeremy Soule: Dawn of War OST – Again a somewhat weird choice for fantasy but at least it’s Warhammer!
The main thing here is to choose music that feels familiar but isn’t. Using the soundtrack of Conan can work from time to time but most gamers know it by heart and it takes them to a certain place. And if that isn’t what the GM wants it will mostly likely only ruin the feeling of the game.
One of the albums I keep on playing for my players if the soundtrack from Van Helsing. My players hate the movie so no-one recognized it when they heard it for the first time. They only commented that it was excellent choice for a fight scene in a windmill.
