Do you use background music?
I’ve seen this topic discussed many times and typically the conversations are aimed at the music used and methods of organizing it but the question I have is do you use music at all?
Has your group agreed to have it or not? Is it up to the current GM or maybe the host? Do you use background music only for certain things or game systems and not at other times?
I’d like to hear what other groups out there are doing along with whether this is an area you’d like to see delved into deeper here.
May your dice roll well.
I use music for the whole session. I have lots of music that fits the fantasy genre we play. So I have my music categorized into several moods or scene-types. So I’ll just go to the appropriate playlist for what the players are doing and have it play through on shuffle.
I have some small speakers connected to my laptop that I set out in front of me. The music provides a little extra atmosphere for the players. When I play, I like the GM to use music. Anything to enhance the mood is sweet, IMO. As long as the music fits, mind you.
I don’t use it in my games because it doesn’t time well.
In a movie, the music is timed to highlight the tension or emphasize a thoughtful scene. The composer took the time to line the hits up.
While gaming, things tend to move slower even in (especially in) battle… so you can have an exciting piece of music going, but the game is actually in “let’s think mode”… can tend to get distracting.
I had a DM that used songs themed very well to what was on the table, BUT he was using modern songs (Depeche Mode, NiN, etc…) Didn’t quite work.
In my group’s case we tend to the “no music” side of things. We have on occasion had background music, usually to pull in some atmosphere and only in modern and future settings.
I do think that trying to time music to action though is definitely harder, not sure I would even want to attempt it.