Since my first game mastering experience, I’ve tried to achieve a depth in my storytelling that equates with the emotive quality of film. I longed to tug at my player’s heart strings with character driven plots that would be remembered for years to come. Some games have been less than stellar, while others have, luckily, been engrained into my player’s heads, filling me with delight when the phrase “Do you remember in your game…” passes through their lips. One major tool I use for plot driven games is music. Playing music during role-playing games tends to be a controversial subject, that I have seen players and game masters wail about to no end. This article will detail some common missteps that game master’s run into when attempting to add music to their games.
Know your Music.
About six years ago, at a local convention, I stumbled across a man running a home-brewed science fiction game. Next to his chair was a large early nineties boom box and a folder of CD’s. He described his game as a mishmash of War of the Worlds, Star Wars, Equilibrium, and Dune. Being a super fan of most of those properties, I decided to give his game a try. I sat down and was handed a character. The game master put in a CD and pressed play.“We know now that in the early years of the twentieth century this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man’s.” The literal beginning of War of the Worlds. After the intro played, the game master awkwardly changed CDs to the Imperial March from Star Wars. The soundtrack ran continuously through the game. The game was literally a mishmash of all of the science fictions put together and the mishmash of the music annoyed the players throughout the game.
The game master must completely know every song he uses, where the crescendos and high points exist. Music, like storytelling, achieves a much greater effect when it starts out slow and builds up to a greater ending. Simply playing similar music, as that game master did, achieves no effect other than that of background noise. I recommend that for each song, the game master notes exactly when the music changes and keeps an eye on the timer as it plays, waiting to hit play until you are ready for that big moment in the game.
I use a laptop that is hooked up to a small sound system for my games. I put all of the music for the game in one folder and can conveniently pick and choose songs based on what happens during the game. Using music is a part, learning how to feel what your players are feeling and emphasize on that. I recommend never setting a rigid script of what songs to play, as the players can add new moments that could have greater impact.
Avoid Recognizable Music.
When we hear the sound tracks of Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, most people think of those stories. Unless you are playing a Lord of the Rings or Star Wars game, avoid using the music from those properties. Sure, the song might achieve the effect that you want, but once a player associates a song with anything other than your game, the effect is lost.
Look up lesser known soundtracks to movies, and pick and choose songs that suit your needs. Find a song that you think encapsulates the group, or certain key players; and play that, subtly at first, to form a cohesion to your sound track. Theme sounds can have an amazing effect, a long as they aren’t obnoxious.
Music with lyrics presents a different challenge. Obviously a game master would choose a song with lyrics relevant to the plot, but to get the full effect this song must be played at the correct moment. I put Simon and Garfunkel’s Song of Silence to good use during a game. Having found a couple of different versions of the song: a Gregorian chant, just piano, heavier rock and a blues version. In a Changeling the Lost game, I played the various versions. Every session ended with a different version of the song. At the climax of the story each player had a brief vignette on what their characters were going through, with a different version of the song playing for each player. At the very end, the actual Simon and Garfunkel version played, bringing everyone in the game together for a memorable moment.
Music can add a great dimension to your game, but like the game master screen, music is a tool that can often be misused.
That a GM needs to know his or her music cannot be stressed enough. In fact, I’d even go so far as to add “moods” or descriptions in the Comments section of the song’s ID3 tags and then displaying them prominently in your library of choice. For instance, when reading left to right, I see “Samai Husseini-Danziger,” the title, “Thieves Guild Front,” and then the Artist (Raquy and the Cavemen), Time, and Plays after that. That way I can work with a larger playlist but still be sure I’m hitting the right song for the scene.
@lindevi That’s a great idea. That will help me organize a lot better, Thanks!
I would actually disagree here. I do not worry to much about the details of the music. I mean, I take care that the mood and themes fit but i do not know every beat or even every song by heart. I do not first pick the music and then shape my GMing around it. Preparation is not something I like and I really do not have the time to catalog and tag all my music in detail. I may pick out a general album to use or 2-3 special songs but not more. I tend to wing a lot at the table so I never know what I need in advance anyway. I had to learn the hard way if I worry to much about what music to play it hinders my storytelling. What I do however is let the music that plays influence my Storytelling. I let the Music hat runs by chance take the lead so to speak and I match my description to the music I hear.
Regularly this creates these special almost magical moments at the table where people are really touched and you can feel the emotions at he table in a way almost nothing rehearsed can do. Or at least I cannot deliver if its reharsed. I am not a great actor or storyteller. I need the Music to inspire me to tell the story.
@ChaoticGM
There definitely is a fluid impromptu nature to using music as well. In my experience, sometimes the greatest emotive moments with music have been unplanned. I’ve kept the music down low enough to barely be heard. If I feel that an important moment is coming up in the role playing, I’ll keep repeating the song just before a crescendo. The music is soft enough that the players don’t notice, and when the moment happens I turn it up to encapsulate the moment.
Ah, then I misunderstood you a bit. I tend to really get sidetracked if I try to Match the Music to the Flow instead of the flow to the music. If I had to loop part of a track or something like that it would not work for me. I have given up on tagging my music and mapping it out and learning it all. Five minutes at the table its all down the drain anyway
I just get better results if I let it simply run. Maybe its the definitive sounding sentence “The game master must completely know every song he uses, where the crescendos and high points exist. ” I disagree with. I find Game Mastering is hard enough and a lot of work even without doing that and I do not like the suggestion this should be arequired skill fora good GM. Granted, I did more tweaking of Music and such when I was in School and spend around three hours prep for one hour game. Today it has to be fifteen minutes for an hour of game tops.
@ChaoticGM
I understand what you are saying. My sentence is a little absolute. I intended it to portray that a Game Master who uses music, should know their music enough to avoid any unwarranted major changes in tempo or feel. I’ve experienced the sudden change in a song that snaps the players out, and that’s what I meant for GMs to avoid.
No way, whatsoever, did I mean that this is a prerequisite for a good Game Master. Music is a tool and can be used, nor not used to great effect.