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    • CommentAuthorMogens
    • CommentTimeDec 3rd 2007 edited
    Okay.. as promised a topic for this. I'll be back shortly with an edit to this post to explain further.

    Okay.. the secret it out (if it wasn't already) - I'm a gamer. As in I play roleplaying games. So yeah, basically I'm an even huger nerd than otherwise known biggrin

    Anyway, as a sometime game master (or whatever that function is called the various games), I regularly use film music as background music (as do my friends when they GM).

    Basically I have two ways to use scores: either I find a number of appropriate scores (i.e. without themes that my players would recognize, or with themes that actually add in an appropriate way to the athmosphere of the particular game or scenario) and cycle through them during a game session.

    Or I actually sit down and pick out specific cues to be used in specific sequences during the session. I've even worked as a "musical director" for one of my friends when he was running a ShadowRun-campaign I was playing. This worked excellently by the way.

    I'll need to go through my old files to actually find the tracklist for the ShadowRun CD I made, but scores we have used - either regularly or for specific scenarios - have been:

    Full Metal Jacket (Abigail Mead) - tracks 11, 12, 15. Excellent eerie athmosphere for Call of Cthulhu.

    Alien3 (Elliot Goldenthal) - the entire album. Used to great effect when one of my friends ran the sinister Castle Drachenfels for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

    Braveheart (James Horner) - the entire album. Used to fine effect when playing Ars Magica.

    Twilight (Elmer Bernstein) (entire album), Cop Land (Howard Shore) (entire album), The Devil's Advocate (James Newton Howard) (most of album, source cues edited out) - used for a mini Call of Cthulhu campaign, taking place in modern day New York. Excellent moodsetters, particularly Cop Land which really added an oppressive athmosphere.

    Anyway, these are just a few. Hopefully any other gamers will weigh in, and I'll try and come up with my ShadowRun tracklist (and try to explain what we used the cues for), as well as other albums, I or my friends, have used over the years. Actually, I also have a small number of specific cues I used for a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay-campaign, which worked excellently. I'll try and dig those up too. smile
    Luminous beings are we.. Not this crude matter.
    •  
      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2007 edited
    You know: John Williams always worked amazingly well in my West End Games Star Wars campaign back in the day. shocked
    (Even though I seriously jolted some less stable team members by inserting a bit of The Terminator during a particularly nasty Dark Side adventure, and the title theme to Red Dwarf during a Han Solo-esque scoundrel/tramp freighter sor of campaign.
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
    • CommentAuthorMogens
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2007 edited
    Martijn wrote
    You know: John Williams always worked amazingly well in my West End Games Star Wars campaign back in the day. shocked
    (Even though I seriously jolted some less stable team members by inserting a bit of The Terminator during a particularly nasty Dark Side adventure, and the title theme to Red Dwarf during a Han Solo-esque scoundrel/tramp freighter sor of campaign.


    You gamed?! You GAMED?! Way cool, man! I always felt a slight tremor in The Force when I read one of your posts biggrin punk

    Rather shamefacedly I must admit I never got around to running any SW in the WEG D6-system. Using the Wizards of the Coast D20-system, a friend and I are working on a mini-campaign taking place just before the beginning of Episode 2, and obviously the prequel-scores will feature prominently!

    Must have really messed with your players' heads when you used The Terminator-theme - and also the Red Dwarf-theme. Although The Terminator is the most recognizable.
    Luminous beings are we.. Not this crude matter.
    •  
      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2007 edited
    Mogens wrote
    You gamed?! You GAMED?!


    I was youthful.
    I was innocent.
    I was a Panther assault canon wielding biodermal troll with way too many cyberimplants.
    I was a clone called Rob-R-Cop.
    I was a private investigator amateur archeologist called Dakota Brown.

    Ah...to be young, otherworldy and antisocial again!

    Rather shamefacedly I must admit I never got around to running any SW in the WEG D6-system. Using the Wizards of the Coast D20-system

    vomit
    Bloody heretic! Suck my E-web heavy repeating blaster cannon!

    Although The Terminator is the most recognizable.


    Not the atonal metallic screeching synthesizer parts... Quite effective when trying to convey a suggestion of soemthing most untowards happening while the story is reaching its zenith at around 2 AM...
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
    • CommentAuthorMogens
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2007
    Martijn wrote
    Mogens wrote
    You gamed?! You GAMED?!


    I was youthful.

    You still are.


    I was innocent.

    Can't vouch for that, though.


    I was a Panther assault canon wielding biodermal troll with way too many cyberimplants.

    Ah, this must've been in ShadowRun, eh?


    I was a clone called Rob-R-Cop.

    Really? What game?


    I was a private investigator amateur archeologist called Dakota Brown.

    West End's Indiana Jones? Or perhaps Call of Cthulhu?


    Ah...to be young, otherworldy and antisocial again!


    Yes, gaming is quite fun times. Not that I think it's antisocial, though. Not in the least, in fact. Compared with online games such as World of Warcraft actual RPG is quite social in fact. Well, IMO anyway.


    Rather shamefacedly I must admit I never got around to running any SW in the WEG D6-system. Using the Wizards of the Coast D20-system

    vomit
    Bloody heretic! Suck my E-web heavy repeating blaster cannon!


    Yeah, I had a feeling that'd be the reponse biggrin While I was (and am) attracted by the relative simplicity of the D6 system in the WEG-version, I must admit I quite like the basic system underlying the D20-engine of the revamped Star Wars RPG.


    Although The Terminator is the most recognizable.


    Not the atonal metallic screeching synthesizer parts... Quite effective when trying to convey a suggestion of soemthing most untowards happening while the story is reaching its zenith at around 2 AM...


    Ah, right you are good sir. Now THAT must've been a real ear-opener.
    Luminous beings are we.. Not this crude matter.
    •  
      CommentAuthorRalph Kruhm
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2007 edited
    Oh my... this topic is destined to cost me DAYS of lifetime, but who cares...?

    I game nearly as long (since 1984) as I collect scores (since 1980), so of course combining those two passions came quite naturally to me. I think I´ve never ever done a gaming session without scoring it, so I think my experiences are quite complex and long. I could write pagelong entries to comment on your conversation up to now, but let´s keep things slow and cozy, because, honestly, there is too much for me to write and do... smile

    Let´s do a nice starter first. I began with that famous "Red Box" (D&D of course) and stayed with that game for years to come, changing to AD&D 2nd Edition and DMing that bastard up to the late Nineties. I think I used hundreds of different scores during that time, but some of the more prominent have been RH - Prince of Thieves as a Main Title Theme for one of my longest running campaigns, and Cyrano de Bergerac as my theme for Waterdeep.

    Since I always try to unsettle my players, I´ve been known to use some strange scores, too. There was a nice investigation campaign set in Waterdeep, which I used A Few Good Men, and it worked fantastically.

    I GMed a couple of non Fantasy-games, too, most prominently Star Trek (the old FASA one), where I started a rather strange campaign that involved scores like The Serpent and the Rainbow and songs like Bad from Michael Jackson (when the ship´s crew went crazy and one of them started to blurr that song through the ship´s speakers for hours, not unlike Riley in that famous TOS episode "The Naked Time"). I did a couple of Star Wars (WEG) sessions, too, but only three or so.

    Since 1989, however, I´ve become a Warhammer RPG addict. At first I was only a player, but after that, I went into full mode and started my own campaign in 1993. We did The Enemy Within o course, but due to the fact that I included tons of subplots, that we couldn´t meet as often as I had wished, had to stop playing for months due to players going abroad for some time or me trying desperately how to do the next part of the campaign, the campaign went on and on and finally came to a complete stop two years ago, shortly after "Power behind the Throne", when some enmities between members of our group escalated. Thirteen years Real Time for not even one year game time took its toll, I suppose. I started another campaign three years ago, based on Death´s Dark Shadow, which ended more successfully last year. I intended to take the group through Doomstones after that, but two of my players moved to another part of the country, so that campaign is dead, too.

    Since then, I´ve started to play very irregularly with my wife, our daughter and her best friend. Since WFRP is too dark for the kids, we play Das Schwarze Auge (The Black Eye/Aventuria, as it is known elsewhere, I think). We use the old rules from 1984 when the game first came out, just to keep it simple and easier to handle for the kids.

    I´m waiting for opportunities to continue TEW with my wife, but I´ve come to really enjoy the more quiet life without the regular pressure of "must prepare session next weekend" after all those years of continuous gaming. I don´t know when or if I´m ever going to continue in my full-scale gaming mode; I rather doubt it, but of course, I´ve a very intense experience with the use of scores in gaming and would love to talk with you guys about it.

    For WFRP´s TEW campaing, there can only by one fitting Main Theme, and that´s The Last Valley by John Barry. Set during a similar time period and more than similar circumstances, this movies´ score is creating the perfect atmosphere for the campaign´s canvas. I used quite different scores throughout the years, of course, most prominently Kilars König der letzten Tage for "Shadows over Bögenhafen", JNH´s Wyatt Earp for "Death on the Reik" (not the Main Title Theme of course), Doyle´s Frankenstein for DotR´s "Wittgenstein" finale, and The Rock / The Man in the Iron Mask / Restoration for "Power behind the Throne". I used a lot more, of course, most prominently Needful Things for everything regarding The Inqusition and its infamous member, Fabergus Heinzdork.

    For the "Death´s Dark Shadow" campaign, which is set in a small rural village, I chose a combinated score made completely of JNH scores. As Main Theme I used Signs, but you can imagine how successful the use of The Village, and Sixth Sense has been. King Kong came out just in time for the the final parts of the campaign, which I was very thankful for. wink

    For my "Das Schwarze Auge" campaign I use Goldsmith only to keep the sound for that campaign in a specific style. His Rambo Theme is the campaigns Main Theme, because there are so many wonderful versions of it, heroic, romantic, dramatic, and, of course, man action tracks, that it works absolutely great.

    Recently, I´ve started an experimental campaing with the kids based on my own rules and setting, for which I use Horner´s scores only. Its beginning is set in another quiet, rural village, so I use Patriot Games´ Main & End Title for the Theme, and Legends of the Fall for background most of the time. Patriot Games and Clear and present danger have great action stuff.

    So, that´s it for now. Please feel free to ask questions.

    With regards to the d20 discussion: I really tried to take a grip on D&D 3rd Edition, but since I´m a loser with complex rules systems, this wasn´t for me. I LOVE some of its basic concepts, and I use some of them in my own rule system now, but I´m really so absoultely not into that powergamer mode that D&D obviously supports these days that i turned away from D&D completely.

    I love my campaigns to consist of great storylines, long and complicated plots which develop over dozens of sessions, and with fast and easy to manage action scenes. A simple system like WFRP (1!) is totally able to deal with duels, mass combat, coach chases, and spectacular fights in inns as well as on those lifts in Kemperbad, 150 feet above the ground.

    Now, to end this my first of probably many posts in this topic, let me thank you, Mogens, for creating it, and thank you, Martijn, for raising your very own geeky hand.

    To celebrate the founding of Maintitles.net´s own gamers circle, watch these:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP3GYdrW450
    • CommentAuthorMogens
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2007
    A very interesting read Ralph - I particularly noted with fondness your love for WFRP; also one of my favourite games of all time. We never made it through TEW, though. In fact, we only ever made it through Shadows over Bögenhafen since we started playing it immediately after Hogshead released their reprint. It was ages before Death on the Reik came out, and by then we'd all moved away from home to study. The then GM didn't have DotR, Power Behind the Throne and Something Rotten in Kislev, although he did - for some strange reason - have Empire in Flames.

    I still feel sorry we never got on with the campaign, but then again Hogshead never managed to finish the campaign due to James Wallis' infamous computer crash, so it would have left us with only the original version of EiF, which supposedly is a rather unsatisfactory conclusion.

    Anyway, I've toyed with the idea of re-booting the campaign, but never gotten around to it. Yet, anyway.

    Frankly it's been some time since I played last, primarily due to time constraints and the fact that in the past year or two a lot of my friends have finished studying and moved all across the country for jobs. We're still a small group in Ã…rhus that could assemble for some gaming, but for the time being, it's at a stand still.

    I did run the Doomstones-campaign for a group of friends a few years back. I think it took us 3 years to complete, and of course it's not a "real" WFRP-campaign, in the sense that it's a whole lot of dungeon-bashing and very little of WFRP's sinister athmosphere. We had a lot of fun, though, and I improvised a lot, and changed a great deal in order to better fit the story to my group. Playing that I used a number of different scores, and I particularly remember using parts of The Fellowship of the Ring (carefully avoiding known thematic stuff) and "Vampire Hunters" from Kilar's Bram Stoker's Dracula.

    I don't remember us using music back when we originally played Shadows over Bögenhafen, but I definitely need to check out some of the scores you used for TEW. I'd like to hear how they fit with my own idea of WFRP's musical side.

    Anyway, I too could keep on writing for a long time here, but for now I'll just give a quick list of what games I've actually played. I think I'm one of the very few gamers who's actually never played D&D!

    I started out playing Drager og Dæmoner - a Swedish D&D-ripoff. That was back in primary school

    In high school I got to know some rather better role players, and we played Call of Cthulhu, later Ars Magica, a bit of Vampire: The Masquerade, and finally Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

    In university we played a long ShadowRun-campaign, more Call of Cthulhu and more WFRP. We also dabbled in a bit of EarthDawn (not a favourite of mine), some more Ars Magica and most recently a little bit of Deadlands.

    Favourites remain: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Call of Cthulhu and Ars Magica.
    Luminous beings are we.. Not this crude matter.
    •  
      CommentAuthorplindboe
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2007
    Mogens wrote
    I started out playing Drager og Dæmoner - a Swedish D&D-ripoff. That was back in primary school


    I used to play that too as a kid. I still have the books somewhere.

    Peter biggrin
    •  
      CommentAuthorRalph Kruhm
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2007 edited
    There has been a fanwritten new final part for TEW on the net, "Empire at War", that eliminated the need for "Empire in Flames" and got the whole storyline closer to the new WFRP V2 universe. It was written by some more or less known VIPs from the WFRP fandom and met with some very positive reviews. So it would be worth checking it out should you ever consider doing TEW, which you should, because it was and still is the best RPG campaign EVER. If I ever come close to doing the end of TEW, I will probably be mixing elements from EiF and EaW (and if any non-gamer followed this conversation up to this point, they will be convinced I´m a geek now).

    When you did Doomstones, did you include the new final book from Hogshead, "Heart of Chaos"? I think it had much more roleplay than dungeon crawling and gave the campaign a nice ending.

    I have some fond memories of playing Call of Cthulhu (as a player). It became one of my first really great RPG experiences and paved my way for WFRP.
    • CommentAuthorMogens
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2007 edited
    Ralph Kruhm wrote
    There has been a fanwritten new final part for TEW on the net, "Empire at War", that eliminated the need for "Empire in Flames" and got the whole storyline closer to the new WFRP V2 universe. It was written by some more or less known VIPs from the WFRP fandom and met with some very positive reviews. So it would be worth checking it out should you ever consider doing TEW, which you should, because it was and still is the best RPG campaign EVER. If I ever come close to doing the end of TEW, I will probably be mixing elements from EiF and EaW (and if any non-gamer followed this conversation up to this point, they will be convinced I´m a geek now).


    Ah, that sounds great. I'll have to check this out. I have all the other installments in the campaign but the last one. But yeah, you're right - TEW is indeed really, really cool, and probably the best fantasy campaign ever. Under any circumstances SoB is the best dark fantasy/investigation scenario ever written!


    When you did Doomstones, did you include the new final book from Hogshead, "Heart of Chaos"? I think it had much more roleplay than dungeon crawling and gave the campaign a nice ending.


    Yup, I used Heart of Chaos by Robin D. Laws. It was a very nice addition to the old-school dungeon bash-scenarios that made up most of the other volumes, although it added a flying ship (complete with hot air balloon and all), which to my mind is a bit too steampunk for WFRP. However it provides with a nice opportunity to kill off your PC's biggrin (Not that I did, though.. I was much too nice for that.)


    I have some fond memories of playing Call of Cthulhu (as a player). It became one of my first really great RPG experiences and paved my way for WFRP.


    And not surprisingly - the Chaos Gods in WFRP owe much to the lovecraftian deities of CoC, and as you probably know, Shadows over Bögenhafen was commisioned as a Call of Cthulhu-scenario in the Old World.
    Luminous beings are we.. Not this crude matter.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2007
    I started out playing Drager og Dæmoner - a Swedish D&D-ripoff


    Ha ha, so did I. smile Oh, my, the memories. Actually, I never liked it that much, but I had certain... uhm, nerd-tendencies, and equally nerdy friends, so NOT playing was never an option. biggrin
    Cookie monster
    •  
      CommentAuthorNautilus
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2007
    I play Secret of the Nimh ,Willor or Return of the King when Im playing to Zelda the twilight Princess.

    Much better than this Midi music!!! it even has the Zelda's theme!
    •  
      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeDec 5th 2007
    Mogens wrote

    I was a Panther assault canon wielding biodermal troll with way too many cyberimplants.

    Ah, this must've been in ShadowRun, eh?


    Quite. biggrin


    I was a clone called Rob-R-Cop.

    Really? What game?


    West End Games' Paranoia, the game so lethal you start off with six clones of yourself.
    It's a bit of a one-joke game (and as the cover blurb says: "but you have to admit it's a pretty good one!"). Fun for a change of pace, but it does play like Loony Toons on acid...


    I was a private investigator amateur archeologist called Dakota Brown.

    West End's Indiana Jones? Or perhaps Call of Cthulhu?


    Good guess! Call of Cthulhu indeed!
    That was quite fun, even though I only played thrice I think before our gamemaster was sent overseas, apparently having gone over the edge when he stumbled over some lurker on the threshold...


    Ah...to be young, otherworldy and antisocial again!


    Yes, gaming is quite fun times. Not that I think it's antisocial, though. Not in the least, in fact. Compared with online games such as World of Warcraft actual RPG is quite social in fact. Well, IMO anyway.


    Well, it's not an antisocial activity in and of itself.
    In fact, it's highly sociable, what with inviting friends round, having a bit to eat, to drink, and a larf, but the thing is more that the sort of people generally attracted to this sort of passtime (Í'm treading carefully here!) are not the ones most adjusted to what is generally considered sociable behaviour towards others (i.e. like actually using deodorant now and again, or maybe changing that Twisted Sister T-shirt now that the band's been dead for thirty years). That sort of thing.

    In my experience it was often a group of like-minded people cliquing together to the exclusion of other passtimes. Hence my slightly off-the-cuff "anti-social" remark. These tendencies may be present in a person or the group as a whole, but probably "geeky" would have covered it better.

    I'm glad though we all found socially much more acceptable and explainable hobbies. Such as score collect.... oh. SHIT. rolleyes
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
    • CommentAuthorMogens
    • CommentTimeDec 5th 2007
    Martijn wrote
    Mogens wrote
    Yes, gaming is quite fun times. Not that I think it's antisocial, though. Not in the least, in fact. Compared with online games such as World of Warcraft actual RPG is quite social in fact. Well, IMO anyway.


    Well, it's not an antisocial activity in and of itself.
    In fact, it's highly sociable, what with inviting friends round, having a bit to eat, to drink, and a larf, but the thing is more that the sort of people generally attracted to this sort of passtime (Í'm treading carefully here!) are not the ones most adjusted to what is generally considered sociable behaviour towards others (i.e. like actually using deodorant now and again, or maybe changing that Twisted Sister T-shirt now that the band's been dead for thirty years). That sort of thing.

    In my experience it was often a group of like-minded people cliquing together to the exclusion of other passtimes. Hence my slightly off-the-cuff "anti-social" remark. These tendencies may be present in a person or the group as a whole, but probably "geeky" would have covered it better.


    Okay, then I completely get what you mean, and agree completely. biggrin
    Luminous beings are we.. Not this crude matter.
    •  
      CommentAuthorRalph Kruhm
    • CommentTimeDec 5th 2007 edited
    Mogens wrote
    But yeah, you're right - TEW is indeed really, really cool, and probably the best fantasy campaign ever. Under any circumstances SoB is the best dark fantasy/investigation scenario ever written!
    You´re probably right. With DotR being the perfect "Treasure" Hunt, and PbtT being the megaperfect political intrigue plot I´ve ever seen in RPGs, the campaign really, really rocks.

    I also found the village from Death´s Dark Shadow to be a very nice setting with loads of ideas and hooks for a short campaign. I combined them all, had some plots developing over time and its threads running through the whole campaign before finally coming to fruition, and included loads of own ideas and plots for each character. I did it with three players and one more or less involved NPC friend, and it worked perfectly. Each PC got involved with different people, and we had a lot of different things going on in each session. It was a lot of fun and a great campaign, totally different from the huge monster that is TEW. It is, BTW, absolutely perfect to introduce new players, and with JNH´s scores its atmosphere became even more dense and great. If you don´t find the time to shoulder the long-running TEW, DDS might be a nice and perfect thing to play in between.

    Yup, I used Heart of Chaos by Robin D. Laws. It was a very nice addition to the old-school dungeon bash-scenarios that made up most of the other volumes, although it added a flying ship (complete with hot air balloon and all), which to my mind is a bit too steampunk for WFRP. However it provides with a nice opportunity to kill off your PC's biggrin (Not that I did, though.. I was much too nice for that.)
    Yeah, initially, I was not too fond of all those steampunk stuff either, but in the end, it makes for an exciting finale, and I certainly would have used it.

    And not surprisingly - the Chaos Gods in WFRP owe much to the lovecraftian deities of CoC, and as you probably know, Shadows over Bögenhafen was commisioned as a Call of Cthulhu-scenario in the Old World.
    Yeah, I think it have been these similarities which attracted my former CoC-Master to WFRP, which was how I came into contact with it, too. The guy was a genius with horror atmosphere, and those two games fit his style perfectly. He just had some harsh way to deal with character deaths. In the CoC campaign, he had no problem to kill off my character in the penultimate session and denying me a new character for the great finale. I can see why he did that, but as you can guess I was no less pissed for that.
  1. Martijn wrote
    In my experience it was often a group of like-minded people cliquing together to the exclusion of other passtimes. Hence my slightly off-the-cuff "anti-social" remark. These tendencies may be present in a person or the group as a whole, but probably "geeky" would have covered it better.


    I totally get what you mean. When I was in school, during the massive growth of RPGs in Germany during the Mid-80ies, we had a rather large group of gamers. Most of us were geeks, for sure, but I always tried to get us into other stuff. I remember quite fondly one perfect day in late summer when I organized a tour with the whole group to a close-by medieval fair & tournament. It was a beautiful day, we had lots of fun, and finished it with going back to town and watching a special presentation of the animated LOTR in a small movie theatre. Well, one could count all this as very geeky, but at least we tried to get some fresh air from time to time. biggrin These days, activities like those are quite common for RPG nerds, but during those times, they certainly were not.
    •  
      CommentAuthorMWRuger
    • CommentTimeDec 5th 2007
    Interesting thread. I have been role playing since 1974 with the original white box and have played so many different ones over the years I doubt I could name them all. I’ve played all the major ones at least once and fair amount of obscure ones.

    I have used film scores and games scores on and off for years now. Sometimes the music can be distracting but I have seen it used to create effect to evoke mood. This is especially true with music that can evoke a mood without recalling a specific image. Like the music from Master and Commander to evoke ocean journey.

    Probably the best use of sound I recall was a Twilight 2000 campaign I played in. The GM had a tape loop of sporadic gunfire and distant explosions that really sold the idea that we were on or near a battlefield.
    I think probably the best music to use for gaming though is Video Game score. These cues are written to underscore a scene of indeterminate length so the music can be looped. Since it is seldom written to a specific action it doesn’t carry much association with it. Plus there are tons of atmospheric tracks since it is up to the music to convey mood as most games don’t good or any voice acting and rely on visuals and the music to carry the scene.

    Here’s a link to a free score download of Bioshock’s score. This is completely legal as the right’s owner posted for download. Very cool little score:

    http://games.softpedia.com/get/Mods-Add … rack.shtml
    •  
      CommentAuthorDemetris
    • CommentTimeDec 5th 2007 edited
    Ralph Kruhm wrote
    Mid-80ies,


    I am sick shame You know what i initially read ? MD-80 shame
    Love Maintitles. It's full of Wanders.
  2. MWRuger wrote
    Interesting thread. I have been role playing since 1974 with the original white box and have played so many different ones over the years I doubt I could name them all. I’ve played all the major ones at least once and fair amount of obscure ones.
    So you´re one of those people with more RPG books on their shelf as they can ever play, too? Welcome to the club! beer

    I have used film scores and games scores on and off for years now. Sometimes the music can be distracting but I have seen it used to create effect to evoke mood. This is especially true with music that can evoke a mood without recalling a specific image. Like the music from Master and Commander to evoke ocean journey.
    Yeah, I always tried to avoid using scores that would be known too well or evoke different images. So I never used scores from the famous franchises, unless it was the actual game (like Trek for Trek, for example). On the other hand, I often used famous scores to evoke specific images and ideas when it fit my idea of a certain scene or session. In WFRP, at one game the party´s halfling became mistaken for a rather infamous agent of the Emperor´s Secret Service and was thrown into a totally unbelievable plot full of conspiracy, intrigue, and mind-blowing action scenes. She was more than once saved by another famous human agent of the ESS who actually looked like Pierce Brosnan, and was captured by two bosses of different Middenheim Mafia Clans (one after another, of course), looking like Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton (I actually found a picture of the latter one where he played Hamlet, so his outfit was alright!). I should mention that Sean Connery had been established as the Graf of Middenheim two or three sessions ago. So, of course, I used a lot of Bond music for that adventure, which, of course, was never intended to be taken for real, but was actually a birthday gift for the player of that halfling. She had no idea beforehand, of course. We had lots of fun that day. Ehm... well, became a little sidetracked, I suppose... so, yes, from time to time I use unusual or easily identifiable scores too, but you´re right of course that scores shouldn´t distract from the game.

    Probably the best use of sound I recall was a Twilight 2000 campaign I played in. The GM had a tape loop of sporadic gunfire and distant explosions that really sold the idea that we were on or near a battlefield.
    That sounds like a really great idea. I can imagine its effect. I used some rain and thudnerstorm effects a couple of times, and once, while the party travelled on a dark road through a much darker forest, I had mixed the whining of a man under the score that started absolutely quiet and then became louder and louder, over the course of ten mintues. When they finaly realized someone was crying loud the crying had already taken a grip of their unconscious being and they were ready to wet their pants when they realised they heard something real.

    I think probably the best music to use for gaming though is Video Game score. These cues are written to underscore a scene of indeterminate length so the music can be looped. Since it is seldom written to a specific action it doesn’t carry much association with it. Plus there are tons of atmospheric tracks since it is up to the music to convey mood as most games don’t good or any voice acting and rely on visuals and the music to carry the scene.
    Since I didn´t own a lot of gaming scores, I´ve never used them, but I might in future gaming sessions, since you´re right of course. Up til now, most fantasy stuff was too much synthsized, but with Lair, for example, things certainly seem to change.

    Here’s a link to a free score download of Bioshock’s score. This is completely legal as the right’s owner posted for download. Very cool little score:

    http://games.softpedia.com/get/Mods-Add … rack.shtml
    Many thanks. I´ll check it out.
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      CommentAuthorSirCaledor
    • CommentTimeDec 5th 2007
    I admit that I have been persuaded to participate in a Forgotten Realms campaign in the Dungeons & Dragons universe. And I think it's still going on, though come to think of it, we haven't played in about 2 months. All the other members are either Gothic people/fans or very Gothic interested people, which I'm sooo NOT. So when they play music, they play some Gothic rock or "medieval" rock and I crinch. Luckily, this doesn't happen too often. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with playing soundtracks to a game session...none of these sessions have been well done to an extent, that music could be used effectively, meaning exciting, movie like storytelling...the DM must be an absolute pro to pull it off. Also, I often have troubles putting a score of a specific film into another context. I guess I'm too puristic that way.
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      CommentAuthorSirCaledor
    • CommentTimeDec 5th 2007
    Here’s a link to a free score download of Bioshock’s score. This is completely legal as the right’s owner posted for download. Very cool little score:

    http://games.softpedia.com/get/Mods-Add … rack.shtml
    Many thanks. I´ll check it out.


    Duh! I completely forgot to review it!
  3. SirCaledor wrote
    I admit that I have been persuaded to participate in a Forgotten Realms campaign in the Dungeons & Dragons universe. And I think it's still going on, though come to think of it, we haven't played in about 2 months. All the other members are either Gothic people/fans or very Gothic interested people, which I'm sooo NOT. So when they play music, they play some Gothic rock or "medieval" rock and I crinch. Luckily, this doesn't happen too often. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with playing soundtracks to a game session...none of these sessions have been well done to an extent, that music could be used effectively, meaning exciting, movie like storytelling...the DM must be an absolute pro to pull it off. Also, I often have troubles putting a score of a specific film into another context. I guess I'm too puristic that way.

    Well, it is, of course, not easy, but there are many levels in mastering perfect gaming session scoring, from using atmospheric background material on repeat to full-fledged selected scores that fit each scene perfectly. I´ve done it all to full extend and can say that it works brilliantly IF well done. Now I would call myself a good narrator and plotter, so that might have helped, as you guessed. I´ve been to enough bad to worse master´s sessions to admit that there are massive differences in mastering quality, and that, of course, could never be undone by a good score. For the use of songs or rock or things like that, I always avoided that as much as I could. I have been known to use some of the more dramatic Manowar ballads as a kind of End Title sond at the end of a campaign, and I must admit that I use "It´s a long road" as the end title song for my DSA campaign (since I use Rambo as the Main Theme there), but I would go no further. Ever.
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      CommentAuthorMWRuger
    • CommentTimeDec 6th 2007
    Well, I think that there is a definite art to roleplaying. A good GM or even a great player can really take it to new heights and make an ok session great. Props and music and effects can certainly help, but if the game ain’t in the GM or the players, it can only be good, not great.

    BTW, your story about your COC adventure was really interesting. In my opinion, he broke the cardinal rule of GMing. It’s about having fun. I’m not saying loss or dying isn’t part of it, but denying you a chance to participate in the finale wasn’t cool. However good an experience you had up to that point, he spoiled it. I understand integrity to a story, but gaming is a shared experience. The players are just a much a part of the story as the GM. GM’s should write novels if they want complete control of a tale.

    This goes back to my old chestnut that rules system doesn’t matter. A good GM can tell a tale using any rule system and the system should be chosen based on what kind of gaming the players like and the level of complexity the GM is comfortable with. It is about having fun, as long as that is happening you can play Tunnels and Trolls or TWERP or Gurps or even (shudder) Rolemaster.
  4. There is absolutely no line in your text I wouldn´t sign.
    -----
    Secretary of Signed Lines
    • CommentAuthorMogens
    • CommentTimeDec 6th 2007
    MWRuger wrote
    This goes back to my old chestnut that rules system doesn’t matter. A good GM can tell a tale using any rule system and the system should be chosen based on what kind of gaming the players like and the level of complexity the GM is comfortable with. It is about having fun, as long as that is happening you can play Tunnels and Trolls or TWERP or Gurps or even (shudder) Rolemaster.


    Amen. Not that systems can't be fun, but they sure as hell have to augment the game, not bog it down. Otherwise - to hell with 'em. One of the best CoC campaigns I ever played was a short CoC modern time campaign, where we made standard (modern) CoC characters, complete with character sheets and all. I think I remember using dice a total of between five and ten times total during the entire campaign. It was bloody excellent.
    Luminous beings are we.. Not this crude matter.
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      CommentAuthorRalph Kruhm
    • CommentTimeDec 6th 2007 edited
    I absolutely believe you. Some of our best sessions had nothing but intense dialogue.

    I once had a Forgotten Realms session with two players only, where the (male) Lawful Good Paladin from Cormyr entered (uninvited) the chamber of the (female) Chaotic Neutral Assassin from Calimshan (Entreri´s daughter, if that means anything to you) and found her happily lost in a trip accomplished by rather expensive drugs. Guess what he did? He healed her. The effects, worth a fortune, wore off immediately, and the last thing you wanted was Entreri´s hysterical but beautiful daughter on your neck for costing her a fortune. What happened then was one of the most intense experiences I´ve ever had. After a lot of actual (and very real) screaming they got to talk. You know what happens if an assassin and a paladin really start talking? Well, let´s just say it was a very long night I spent with leaning back and listening to two oscar-worthy performances...

    I just love it when players really play their roles to full extend...
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      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeDec 7th 2007
    I never could get into that whole allignment thing.
    Chaotic Neutral Assasin. What's that all about? Is that like "I'm gonna stab you to death if I can find my knives which I have misplaced. Oops. Got you in the left shin instead, but at least it isn't a negative experience. Or positive."

    Sorry.
    Seinfeld moment.
    shame
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
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      CommentAuthorMWRuger
    • CommentTimeDec 7th 2007
    It's really two separate things.

    Law, Neutrality and Chaos refer to an individual's outlook on the role of the individual in society. A Lawful person believes that rules must be followed and the society as a whole is more important than the rights of any individual. “The good of the many outweighs the needs of a few”

    Chaotics believe in the rights of the individuals above all else. The believe that society only flourishes when all individuals are free to make their own rules.

    Neutrals walk path between the two, recognizing that society has to have some rules to function but should not be stultifying. People should be free but not to the detriment of everyone.

    Good, Evil and Neutral is actually the trickier of the two in my opinion. Evil is essentially selfish and will to do whatever is required to accomplish its goal. No one is above being used and there is little an evil person will not do.

    Good puts the welfare of other above self fulfillment. They do what they think is right and try to do no harm.

    Neutrals walk a path between the two, choosing the battle that bests suits their goals.

    So a powerful lawful evil is likely to be in charge of a totalitarian state. It will have strict rules and will brutally punish those that transgress.

    A lawful good state has many rules in place to protect its citizens and will likely deal with transgressors in a way that involves “helping” them see the error of their ways.

    So a chaotic neutral assassin would be someone who is willing to do anything to achieve his goals. As an assassin, his job is to kill people, good, evil it makes no difference to him. He is likely to work alone because working in groups doesn’t suit him. He hates all the rules and procedure that come with belonging to a guild, let alone being in charge.
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      CommentAuthorRalph Kruhm
    • CommentTimeDec 7th 2007 edited
    We have never been too deep into alignment stuff, too, but I mentioned them just to get a slight hold on the characters´ world view for you. biggrin

    But you hit the nail, MW! Perfect explanations!

    Just to get back to topic, the score I used for that night (I remember it dearly) was Peter Gabriel´s Passion (The Last Temptation of Christ). wink
    • CommentAuthorMogens
    • CommentTimeDec 11th 2007
    Nah, we never really used alignment either. The one time I've played a game where we actually tried to use it (I think it was EarthDawn), it really didn't do anything for me at all. I find alignments more constraining than useful. Much prefer to roleplay it out and have the "alignments" written in as a part of a character's background.
    Luminous beings are we.. Not this crude matter.