Shadowdancer
September 24th, 2002, 02:25 AM
I know this subject comes up frequently on the various D&D boards, so I was wondering, does anyone have any favorite music they use to help set the mood while playing Traveller?
It's been a while since my gaming group has played Traveller, but last time we did I would use Michael Oldfield for travel music. When it came time for combat, I would use the three M's: Metallica, Megadeath and Ministry. For bars, I would use music that I felt was appropriate for the bar/starport/world they were visiting -- this varied greatly.
When playing D&D, we use a lot of movie soundtracks. Anyone have any movie soundtrack suggestions for Traveller? The ones I would use were the soundtrack albums from The X-Files, both the movie and the TV series. These were great for building suspense.
Nurd_boy
September 24th, 2002, 02:30 AM
steppenwolf comes to mind.....yah, you know the song I'm thinking....
on a classical note...'flight of the valkrie', 'mars, god of war'(see this one as the sound track for a nasa computer animation passover of the mars surface once and loved it)
western...willie nelson
trader jim
September 24th, 2002, 02:40 AM
After a massive Striker battle and the Sun has gone down and the fog is rising, and a town is burning off in the distance and there are hundreds of dead Traveller bodies laying around --
out of the mist comes a....Piper....Bag Pipes...
What does he play.....Ill let you Brits handle this one......
Shadowdancer
September 24th, 2002, 02:40 AM
Originally posted by Nurd_boy:
steppenwolf comes to mind.....yah, you know the song I'm thinkingYeah, but that's soooo "Star Trek: The Next Generation." ;)
trader jim
September 24th, 2002, 01:29 PM
Hey - howa bout a grav tank with BIG speakers on it playing - i been working on the railroad!!! it comes thru a railroad tunnel playing this song....
then peoceeds to blow the rail yard apart while playing....hey - daja voo- this sound kinda familiar..... ;)
Vargas
September 24th, 2002, 02:03 PM
Haven't done it yet but I've always wanted to use Judas Priest's "You've Got Another Thing Coming" myself :cool:
Tarn
September 24th, 2002, 02:46 PM
Queen - "Another one bites the dust"
and
Leonard Cohen "Everybody Knows"
GBoyett
September 24th, 2002, 03:52 PM
Almost anything from Babylon 5 would work for any Traveller Session. :cool:
Or is that too commercialised? :(
I mean you have every situation covered with that music.
</font> Regular background music - Just about any used during a nonaction scene.</font> Ship combat - The first combat sequence during the episode when B5 declared independence.</font> Big Ship Combat - The big fight between B5 and Clark's forces in the episode mentioned in item two.</font> A fleet emerging from jump/ambush - The Narn Fleet as it launch the attack on the Centauri supply depot, and the Shadows destroy them.</font> Orbital Bombardment - The bombing of Narn.</font> Narration of a hopeless cause - From the movie In the Beginning which start "The Earthers knew there were doom, but they fought on"</font> Last Stand - any of the Requim of the Line theme variants.</font> BIG Mistake- From the movie In the Beginning when the Prometheous fired upon the Minbari and killing thier leader.</font> Planetary Liberation and Salvation - the scene where all the League and Earthforce ship were fighting to prevent the battlesat from vaping the Earth.</font>The last one would be perfect in the any recreation of the liberation of Capital, as it seems to be suggested in the TNE line MJD is heading. smile.gif :cool:
Hey, the one reason I fell in love with B5 was the music! :D :cool:
Nearside
September 24th, 2002, 03:57 PM
I just bought Peter Gabriel's album, Long Walk Home, which is a soundtrack from a movie called Rabbit Proof Fence, set in Australia. I've not see the film.
The music is sort of ethnic/tribal, yet it has a technological feel to it that seems to me to be a good mix for Traveller.
I like soundtracks, as songs with lyrics can be very distracting...
Uncle Bob
September 24th, 2002, 04:09 PM
It seems like a good idea, but every time we tried it ended in, "What? Later. Did he just say...? Who is that? WHAT did you do? How much time is left? I said, HOW MUCH TIME IS LEFT? Murph, turn off that damn noise!"
GBoyett
September 24th, 2002, 04:41 PM
Originally posted by Stephen Herron:
I like soundtracks, as songs with lyrics can be very distracting...Quite right. And if you play low enough to be heard in the background.
T. Foster
September 24th, 2002, 05:00 PM
I've never used music in a tabletop rpg, just as I've never used dramatic lighting, costumes, or props (other than an occasional paper handout). It's distracting, fouls up the organic flow and pacing of the session, and strikes me as just plain, well, extremely cheesy. Tastes vary, of course, and I can see how well-chosen and -placed musical cues might help build moods for 'drama club' type groups, but that was *never* the style of any game I ever ran.
lisagb
September 24th, 2002, 05:29 PM
I kinda agree with Mr Foster but.....
Smack my bitch up by the prodigy for combat scenes.
Most of the Blade Runner sound track...Vangelis is a god.
For those creepy build ups...Angel by Massive Attack
Or Dirge by Death in Vegas.
An if ya playing with me...There she goes by the La's:P
Hikaru Ichijo
September 24th, 2002, 11:00 PM
Star Trek: Generations, despite its plot, has some really epic sci-fi music. I'd recommend that, especially for tense space battles.
doomhunk
September 25th, 2002, 12:29 AM
I like faded snatches of things, similar to the ambient background noise in the XCOM series of games, especially Interceptor (worst game but best sounds).
I use 'Rainforest Requiem' for alien planet jungles :)
The soundtrack to the film 'Pi' is good for urban mysteries.
I use elegant choral/operatic music for space battles.... Philip Glass' 'Satyagraya', Yehudi Menuhin conducting on Handel's 'Messiah', good old standby Holst's 'The Planets', Mozart's 'Requiem Mass' is great too. The best is Ricjard Wagner's 'Ring' cycle... 13 hours of epic soundtrack :) Blue Danube Waltz for tongue in cheek space encounters (come out all you Elite players... )
What do you use for alien planets? I use stuff like Ozric Tentacles, Peter Gabriel's soundtrack to the film 'The Passion'etc . I'm interested to know what you might use.
djg_p
September 25th, 2002, 08:07 AM
Hi Steve,
Originally posted by Stephen Herron:
I just bought Peter Gabriel's album, Long Walk Home, which is a soundtrack from a movie called Rabbit Proof Fence, set in Australia. I've not see the film.
The music is sort of ethnic/tribal, yet it has a technological feel to it that seems to me to be a good mix for Traveller.
I like soundtracks, as songs with lyrics can be very distracting...If you ever get the opprtunity to see the movie "Rabbit Proof Fence" I very much recoommend it. Especially if one has an understanding of indiginous Australians. Basically a story of children finding their way home to their native family using the RPF as their only guide.
Nearside
September 25th, 2002, 09:21 AM
It does sound like an interesting film. I'll probably have to order it via Amazon at some point, I can't see my local Blockbuster getting it...
T. Foster
September 25th, 2002, 12:48 PM
Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em:
For music to create a vaguely futuristic/sci-fi feel while not overpowering the play (Wagner? The Planets? Who can talk over that?!), try Ambient music -- best bets for starters being probably Brian Eno's Ambient 1: Music for Airports or the Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (which sounds like it would be a greatest hits CD, but isn't).
Another fun place to look: Crippled Dick Hot Wax records. They're a German company that reissues soundtracks from long-forgotten 'Eurosleaze' movies from the 60s & 70s -- horror, erotica, spy-movies. Lots of very groovy, very spacey stuff, almost all instrumental. Bonus points for not being immediately familiar to your players (except for a couple tracks that have shown up in recent tv commercials). Titles to look for: Vampyros Lesbos, Beat at Cinecitta, vol. 1.
tenntrav
September 25th, 2002, 01:11 PM
Some long forgotten and likely to cause players to pause,
Johnny Cash- I walked the line, The train is coming,
Junior Brown- Highway patrol, My wife thinks your dead,
????-Drive by shooting (a funky punk song from my college days a decade+ ago)
Arron Copeland- Ode to the common man
N.I.C.E. Labs
September 25th, 2002, 04:01 PM
Get hold of the ablum "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis. If you remember the PBS show COSMOS, parts of it was used throughout. Past that, speaking of game musics, the soundtrack to MYST and Deus Ex are also really good choices.
soloprobe
September 25th, 2002, 09:56 PM
Wow......And all this time I've been playing Jeff Beck's "Bolero"........
doomhunk
September 25th, 2002, 10:13 PM
Originally posted by T. Foster:
[SNIP]
For music to create a vaguely futuristic/sci-fi feel while not overpowering the play (Wagner? The Planets? Who can talk over that?!), try Ambient music -- best bets for starters being probably Brian Eno's Ambient 1: Music for Airports or the Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (which sounds like it would be a greatest hits CD, but isn't).
[SNIP] Vampyros Lesbos, Beat at Cinecitta, vol. 1.Oh its not overpowering, just play in the background under the players' voices.
I forgot to add that I usually stick a tv in the room and loop the Earthlight Special Edition DVD continuously too for atmosphere, sort of that busy futuristic information everywhere kind of thing... I run a screensaver on my PC of space and SciFi pictures too and turn the screen towards the players. For those moments when the old imagination just lets ya down....
Eno is spot on, and Aphex Twin & the Orb too, I forgot to include all of them. Vampyros Lesbos! Some truly great music from those films :) Good call.
Shadowdancer
September 26th, 2002, 12:59 AM
Originally posted by doomhunk:
What do you use for alien planets? I use stuff like Ozric Tentacles, Peter Gabriel's soundtrack to the film 'The Passion'etc . I'm interested to know what you might use.Japanese taiko drum music: Kodo Drums, Ondekoza, Eitetsu Hayashi
Peruvian flute music: Wayanay, Inkuyo, Echoes of Incas
Synthesizer and keyboard music: Isao Tomita, Keiko Matsui, Mike Oldfield, Vangelis, Kitaro, Angelo Badalamenti
American Indian music: R. Carlos Nakai
Indian and Middle Eastern music: Sheila Chandra, Vas, Rasa
Others: Enigma, Adiemus, Deep Forest, Loreena McKennitt, Moby, Gipsy Kings, Dead Can Dance, Lisa Gerrard, Laurie Anderson, Fatboy Slim
doomhunk
September 26th, 2002, 07:13 AM
Yes Sheila Chandra's 'A Bone Crone Drone' is fabulous.
trader jim
September 29th, 2002, 04:35 AM
Trader Jims favorite music to play Traveller by
PINK FLOYD-------DARK SIDE OF THE MOON-------
MONEY - KEEP YOUR HANDS OF OF MY STACK _
KA-CHING KA-CHING KA-CHING!!!!!!!
DrSkull
September 29th, 2002, 08:55 AM
Star Trek: TOS sound track volume two: The Doomsday Machine and Amok Time
These are perfect for two themes on them:
1) The "Here comes the giant space monster theme"
2) The Captain Kirk fight song
It is the single best thing I've ever bought, ever.
IronCzar
October 18th, 2002, 10:24 AM
Originally posted by DrSkull:
Star Trek: TOS sound track volume two: The Doomsday Machine and Amok Time
These are perfect for two themes on them:
1) The "Here comes the giant space monster theme"
2) The Captain Kirk fight song
It is the single best thing I've ever bought, ever.Man, I gotta have that.
I've gotten lots of milage out of the Conan soundtrack, for fantasy games. For SF I've never really used music but may do so someday. I would probably lean towards techno and ambient, with more specialized stuff (like the Gabriel soundtrack mentioned above) used for specific situations.
For the "Primitive Feast" scene, I'd love to use Japanese Daiko drumming, if I could find a CD of it.
Antares Administration
October 18th, 2002, 11:28 AM
If you want a whole range on a single album, try Massive Attack's disc Mezzanine. Instrumental, vocals, with electro-hip-hop-dub-rock-jazz flavor and a rythym that never stops. It's like the music from the club at the beginning of the Matrix, or what would have been playing in the Mos Eisley cantina if it had been a Cyberpunk story.... graemlins/file_22.gif
It has hard sci-fi written all over it!
Paul Nemeth
AA
GregFoster63
October 18th, 2002, 11:46 AM
Originally posted by Antares Administration:
If you want a whole range on a single album, try Massive Attack's disc Mezzanine. Instrumental, vocals, with electro-hip-hop-dub-rock-jazz flavor and a rythym that never stops. It's like the music from the club at the beginning of the Matrix, or what would have been playing in the Mos Eisley cantina if it had been a Cyberpunk story.... graemlins/file_22.gif
It has hard sci-fi written all over it!
Paul Nemeth
AAThat same Massive Attack CD (Mezzanine) has the song that is playing when Neo is asleep at his computer near the beginning of the movie. And that Massive Attack song is not on the Matrix soundtrack CD that I have, just the Massive Attack Mezzanine CD.
The song name is "Dissolved Girl" if anyone is interested. Amazon.com's webpage an excerpt of this and some of the other songs from that CD:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000006045/qid=1034955845/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-1782211-9046212
SilverMarble
October 18th, 2002, 12:21 PM
Personally, I am partial to having a strong classical music background, nothing too baroque. Also, I was toying with the idea of having a "Ship's theme" that could be played at the appropriate points in the session. The crew can decide, making music selection fun for all! I also like the idea of having movie soundtracks, but some of them tend to crescendo just at the inappropriate times. John Williams will be banned from my stereo, since almost everything he does harkens to SW. But that is just one Captain's opinion. :D
Bruce
October 18th, 2002, 12:28 PM
I like to play Peter Gabriels "Last Temptation of Christ" it has some nice haunting melodies on it and blends nicely into the background.
Worked well for my CoC game.
But I also noted it worked well with several other genre's as well.
Also, it's out of print, but the soundtrack to "kafka" worked well for CoC and actually did'nt do bad with other genre's either.
Best battle musis is "anvil of crom" even if it is a tad short.
Bruce
The Man Behind the Curtain
Father Fletch
October 18th, 2002, 12:28 PM
For years now I have been using the soundtrack/score from "Full Metal Jacket." The first 8 tracks are stuff from the 60’s and not really very good as game stuff goes, but, when you get to the last tracks it is full of subtle percussive beats, haunting reeds and woodwinds and sudden screeching strings with a touch of feedback. For those of you who own the movie think of the final fight scene in the burnt out building between the Marines and the Girl sniper. Turn the lights down low and play this stuff and the players will be freaking.
I first used it in a Morrow Project game where the characters were in a swamp with 30’ foot long zombie crocodiles and magnesium parachute flares starkly illuminating the moss bedecked scene. My players really got into what was happening. Ever since whenever I pull out that CD my players now we are in for some s**t.
I recently have been introduced to Prokofiev’s "Alexander Nevsky" it was written as a soundtrack for a Russian film about fighting the Germans in the 14th century. The tracks are variously light and playful and dark and ominous. My favorite track of all is the 6-minute "Fight on the Ice." Every time I hear it I wonder where John Williams really got his inspiration. I have yet to hear other Prokofiev but he was a 20th century composer who scored and composed many Russian films, often with Eisenstein, the father of modern film.
Other than that I like the opening music to Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Any of the V’ger music is kinda creepy. The Klingon music has great percussives that spice up a battle scene.
Any of the Star Wars albums can be played in the background and usually just set the scene perfectly.
Vangelis, Patrick O’Hearne, Tangerine Dream "Through Metamorphic Rock."
For those of you with streaming audio on the computer I really like Astreaux World.
http://wwwastreauxworld.com
They play a mix that you can let run in the background and not have to buy the albums.
PapaGolfWhiskey
October 18th, 2002, 01:12 PM
I've got a case of 'Deja Vu' saying this but
Jean Michelle Jarre's 'Equinox'.
I bought that tape the same time I bought my boxed set with the distress call from Free Trader Beowulf. and played the heck out of it while devouring the books etc for that first set.
For me, that vaguely eerie sometimes jazzy synth music has always BEEN traveler.
Shadowdancer
October 18th, 2002, 06:46 PM
Originally posted by IronCzar:
[QUOTE]For the "Primitive Feast" scene, I'd love to use Japanese Daiko drumming, if I could find a CD of it.Kodo is the most widely known and most popular daiko drum group. They sell their CDs on Amazon.com -- that's where I bought them. Many record stores also have them, if they have a World Music section.
s-feige
October 19th, 2002, 05:58 AM
We intensively used background music. Every campaign had it's own recognizable 'Main Theme', and certain situations (Battle, a specific NPC, ...) had their sub-themes.
By the time, this was inflational, it was difficult to find 'new' music.
So we cut it down to a few well-placed pieces of music here and there (every two sessions or so).
I mainly use Soundtracks (am a collector...) e.g. Wing Commander , Stargate, Starship Troopers, Blade Runner, ... but no Star Wars or Star Trek, because it's too associated with the original.
