Finding Great Background Music

Theodor Rombouts - The Lutte Player

 If you're anything like me, you can appreciate the ambiance and mood created by good background music. Music adds a layer to any adventure as it stimulates the imagination of the players and assists you as DM in conveying the emotions you want your setting to have. Despite it's crucial role, good background music is hard to find. Normally, when looking for background music I try to find music that satisfies as many of the following criteria as possible.  

1) It shouldn't be recognizable. Your Player Characters should not be able to recognize the music from a popular video game, movie or other. Not to say that this music isn't well done, but your PC will immediately picture the setting this music comes from.

2) Cannot be overpowering.  The music you use should be as ambient as possible. This will prevent the PCs from being distracted and drawn away from in game conversations and storytelling. It is background music after all.

3)Loopable. You want to find music that remains as constant and consistent in theme as possible to allow you to play the music on a loop.

4)Find music from many artist. Most artist tend to have the same "feel" to their music. This isn't always the case, but by using music from a wide array of sources (through out your campaign) you prevent the possibilities of style overlap. However, overlap can be used to your advantage. Keeping the same style of play can keep a kind of "theme" going throughout a quest or dungeon.


There could be other things, but for the time being this is all I can think of :)

Lastly I would like to show you all some music that I have been using in my campaigns. Some I just discovered and others I have loved for quite a while. In all honesty, it was these musicians who inspired me to write this post.

The first is Brandon Fiechter's . Despite his youtube page being a bit hard to navigate from theme to theme, his music definitely seems to score well in all the above mentioned categories. It is low key and covers a wide range of themes; Forest, cave, desert, city and village music. His brother (?) Derek is equally talented.

No epic battle would quite feel the same without music from Two Steps From Hell. Although I must say that their music can sometimes be a little too epic. I try playing their music only during large fight scenes, like epic castle storming or large scale combat.

Joshua Buck Music also presents really smooth ambient music that I find can be used on numerous occasions. There aren't as many songs to choose from here, but the few are gems in my opinion. 

Doug Beyer's: Half the Man

As I was searching for some interesting hook ideas, I came across Doug Beyer's Unusual Jobs article. His article talks about a few fun and unusual hooks that can easily be taken and used in any setting. Here is one of my favorites that he mentions: 

Half the Man

The PCs meet with a possible employer who has a "retrieval" mission for them. You can read aloud or paraphrase the following text:

"Thank you for meeting with me. I represent a wealthy entrepreneur who seeks recovery of a lost item. My client was exploring in the Vile Marsh area of the Shadow Marches when a creature known as a bulette surprised him and made off with the item in question. Your job is to hunt the creature and to recover the item. My client will pay handsomely for its return. Any questions?"

At this point, the PCs will probably ask about the item and other details. Use the following information to carry on the conversation:

"The item? The item to be recovered is my client's lower body. The bulette's bite severed him at the waist. The legs and pelvis should still be intact in its second stomach by now, but of course time is of the essence. Identifying characteristics for the item include the hair and muscle patterns of an adult male shifter, a curving scar on the left thigh, and a pair of dinosaur-leather riding boots with silver buckles. Should the boots be returned as well, you may expect an extra reward. Shall we discuss terms?"

If the PCs ask more questions, they receive nothing more than responses that time is of the essence and that other details concerning the client are not relevant to the task at hand.

For a few more interesting hooks, you are referred to Doug's article. It can be accessed by clicking on the article's name located just above.

Another Bulette by BenWootten