Music to Game to: Harvestman - Music for Megaliths

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

HARVESTMAN - MUSIC FOR MEGALITHS

Steve Von Till of metal stalwarts Neurosis is the force behind this moniker, but this album is not one of furious riffs and rock. Instead, synths and acoustic instrumentation mix together wonderfully, create a dark and ghostly palate conjuring moonlight forests where ancient standing stones wait for sacrifices to be offered up once again. This rich and resonant music will fit right in place as the soundtrack to many a fantasy game, especially those with a slightly darker edge.

• Vocals?...Yes, on the closer “White Horse” only.
• Music Genre(s)… Avantgarde, Ethereal, Experimental, Drone
• Perfect for… Any game where you want to add a subtle and dark foreboding atmosphere, like dark mist banks rolling through an ancient forest.
• If you only grab one track, make it... The haunting opener “The Forest is Our Temple” which brings an ancient Celtic feel with droning pipes and psychedelic guitar.

Music to Game to: SUNN O))) - Black One

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

SUNN O))) – BLACK ONE

The purveyors of sonic doom took a decidedly bleak direction with Black One, resulting in an album that drips with hopelessness, claustrophobia and terror—this, of course, makes it a fantastic album to have as the soundtrack for any number of horror RPGs. The droning riffs of base and guitar give the songs a sense of implacability… these are not tracks to play when the party faces down a ferocious dragon but rather for when they have to stay one step ahead of an immensely ancient and potent vampire who will surely slay them unless they can remain just outside his grasp until the coming of dawn. This can be unsettling and anxiety inducing music, perfect for putting your players on edge as their characters cope with terrifyingly patient adversaries.

• Vocals?...Yes, heavily distorted
• Music Genre(s)… Black Metal, Doom Metal, Drone, Experimental, Dark Ambient
• Perfect for…Dark horror games where the PCs are relentlessly pursued by implacable horrors given the shape of humans across wind blasted stony stretches or deep below the earth in forgotten caverns.
• If you only grab one track, make it... the epic subterranean “Báthory Erzsébet”. The vocals for the track were recorded inside of a casket, which sounds like a gimmick but lends the vocals a desperate, desiccated sound that underline the ominous and claustrophobic dread of the song.

Music to Game to: Walker Harris English - Walker Harris English [OF013]

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

WALKER HARRIS ENGLISH – WALKER HARRIS ENGLISH [OF013]

Few things are finer in life than listening to Thor Harris playing the dulcimer, which makes this album a delight, but the archaic feel that a dulcimer evokes for most players will also make this album great for gaming too. In addition to the dulcimer (both acoustic and electric), Thor plays bass clarinet and is joined by field recordings from Conor Walker with bass drum and electronic treatments by Lawrence English. The sparse instrumentation lends the album an eerie feel, suspenseful without relying on intense spikes in dynamics and the lack of traditional rock instruments gives the music a ghostly timeless feel. This music would fit right in for a more subdued session of Call of Cthulhu or Ravenloft.

• Vocals?...No
• Music Genre(s)… Drone, Experimental
• Perfect for…Any game that could benefit from etherealness and low-key eerie suspense.
• If you only grab one track, make it... “The House Part II”, which opens with a haunting electric dulcimer melody, that then splits and divides like an amoeba, cleaving apart and back again.

Music to Game to: Ensemble Pearl - Ensemble Pearl

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

ENSEMBLE PEARL – ENSEMBLE PEARL
Ethereal and haunting, this one off featuring members of Boris and Sunn O))) is much more restrained and subdued than you might expect. Guitar drones weave amongst patient, methodical drumming, with bass notes hitting like water drops falling from stalactites in some deep cave. Where Belatedly felt like the underground music of a lost dwarven civilization, Ensemble Pearl is the music of empty underground ruins. Whatever once was here, all that remains is ghosts.

• Vocals?...None
• Music Genre(s)…Experimental, Drone, Dark Ambient
• Perfect for…A soundtrack for deep and abandoned caverns or the emptier and melancholy places of the lower planes, like the prisons of Carceri or the plains of the Grey Waste.
• If you only grab one track, make it…“Sexy Angle”, a lugubrious march of echoing drums, droning guitar lines and ghostly bass with a wailing viola guiding it to a slow and patient climax.

Music to Game to: Belatedly

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

ORE – BELATEDLY

Full disclosure, I only heard about this album through the magic of The Quietus, an online music publication I’m proud to support, which pitched it partly as the work of “a half-man, half-tuba cyborg.” Recorded after the death of the composer’s father, veins of melancholy and grief run deep in this album but never overwhelm it. As a high school tuba player, I might have an extra fondness for the instrument, but its dark, rich tones give it a feel unlike modern rock instruments. Belatedly can be as droning and heavy as a SUNN O))) album in places, but feels less anachronistic for a fantasy game. You can easily imagine the songs echoing through the dimly lit tunnels of a dwarven mine.

• Vocals?... None.
• Music Genre(s)...Drone, Brass Band
• Perfect for...Bringing a bone deep and droning sense of melancholy or plunging your players deep underground.
• If you only grab one track, make it ..."Antimony”, where the tuba is backed by a thudding bass drum and could easily work as a dwarven dirge resonating in far below the surface in a deep mine shaft.