The parlor is packed with nobles, entertainers, and servants. Stage magicians throw small fireworks between their hands and summon birds that dissolve into confetti as they fly. Musicians in the corner keep the air alive with sound. Finally, the host of the party appears at the top of the stairs. As he descends, the music swells grandly and a bit ominously. The minor key makes the party a bit uneasy.
Music has strong ties to our feelings. Songs in the minor key often make us sad or on edge. Fast music in a major key makes us feel energetic and excited. As DM and master of the table, this is another tool at your disposal.
There are two schools of playlist creation (in my mind, at least, it is an epic and bloody war where ne’er the twain shall meet). Something that I often see is a song set aside for a specific situation. One song is labeled ‘boss music’, a different one is ‘tavern music’, and another is labeled ‘sneaking into the building music’. This ensures that every action is backed by an appropriate soundtrack.
Here’s why I don’t like that: It’s a lot of work and it’s lazy. You may ask, how are those possibly critiques of the same thing?
During the game, a playlist with specific music for every action requires a DM to be fiddling with the music at every turn. You decided to sneak? Better change tracks. Your encountered goblins? New track! It takes attention away from what it going on at the table and it means one more thing that a DM has to be thinking about. Too much work.
On the other hand, a playlist like this tells me that the DM didn’t put much time into creating it. Why is a tavern in the creepy, abandoned city the same as the tavern in the busy port town? It’s not. If the music is based on the action, and not on the atmosphere, it’s not doing its job. Rather than setting the scene for the players, it’s telling them what they already know which is the action that they’re taking.
Maybe it’s just a personal quibble, but it is what it is. My preferred method: create a playlist of thematically/atmospherically/emotionally similar music that jives with the theme/atmosphere/emotion of the adventure. This music should be able to be shuffled and still sound like it all goes together. Highs and lows in the music are okay. Sometimes it will line up with the action and other times it won’t. For the most part, you won’t notice the missteps. Then, at just the right moment, the perfect song will play and the players will notice that. Best of all, the DM can have their full attention on the game at all times.
I won’t go in depth about the reasons for making an adventure playlist. Any movie watcher can attest to the power of a well-placed song. But respecting a good instrumental and finding one are two vastly different challenges. A run-down slum is no place for a waltz. A medieval ballroom is likely not the best venue for a steampunk pirate anthem. Variety is the spice of life, and it is for your tabletop repertoire as well.
The classics are a good starting point. While the waltz has no place in your gang-ridden slums, it does have a place in a romantic ballroom. Pad your playlist with Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, and Bach. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons can be used for almost every occasion. The Dark Side of Classical album is my personal favorite for shifty and mysterious situations. (Nerd Alert: Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans may recognize the first song on this album, Danse Macabre.)
Steampunk is your friend. It combines modern rock and electronic aspects with older style violin and other instrumental sounds. There is a great variety for piratical adventures and creepy mansions (think porcelain dolls and murder). My playlist at the moment includes Ian Cecil Scott, KK & The Steampunk Orchestra, and Clocks & Clouds.
Sometimes, if you can’t quite name the style of an adventure, it helps to look up the soundtrack to a movie, game, or anime that feels the same to you or shares an element.
My one-shot, Alcinia in Wonderland, is obviously movie inspired. I turned up the majority of the playlist music by searching for the albums to the various movies and looking at user-made playlists (Spotify, you should try it) that had the name ‘Alice in Wonderland’. This turned up the Tim Burton film, the video game ‘Alice: Madness Returns’, and a variety of playlists including some of the above mentioned Steampunk artists.
My current task is to make a master list of acceptable tabletop music from which I can build new playlists for each adventure. To find new music, search forums and listen to Pandora or Spotify radio using the name of a song you already like or by listening to the instrumental or classical genre stations.
Creating a playlist is often time consuming but the reward is the goosebumps that spring up on your players’ spines when the perfect note hits in time with the action and they feel the epicness of that moment.
Go forth and playlist!
Baby DM out.
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