Bram Stoker's Dracula
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Bubba Ho-Tep - great movie highly recommended Bruce Campbell rocks!
Constantine
The Fog
Lord of the Rings - works for any d&d really
Sleepy Hollow
Van Helsing - hated the movie, but the music is cool
Creeping Death, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, The Thing That Should Not Be, Welcome Home (Sanatarium)...
Let us not forget Saint Saens' Danse Macarbre...
I'm trying to remember a few more things...
BTW, did you use the Star Wars Imperial March, or the Metallica Imperial March?
New Zealand's Southland Times (Dec. 17, 1999) suggested that Till Lindemann's "booming, sub-sonic voice" would send "the peasants fleeing into their barns and bolting their doors"[wikipedia]-now that's something for Ravenloft!
Of Wolf And Man-a Were-creature anthem!
Ah...good old Metallica...
Creeping Death, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, The Thing That Should Not Be, Welcome Home (Sanatarium)...
Let us not forget Saint Saens' Danse Macarbre...
I'm trying to remember a few more things...
BTW, did you use the Star Wars Imperial March, or the Metallica Imperial March?
Star Wars. Gives the players a moment to realise that it's not because they're meeting the Ravenloft equivelent of Vader, but the Ravenloft equivelent of the Emporer
i.e. how much combat, how much intrigue?
Towards the more-combat/undead-bash end of the spectrum, Metal quickly becomes appropriate. Conversly, at the intrigue end, dark-wave, classical, and a few others become ideal.
I made the experience that a mixed CD or cassette with the best titles from OST or classical music does a good job.
Here are some other good titles:
- X-files Soundtrack
- Arborigines / Dreamtime music
- Carl Orff's Carmina Burana
- Edward Grieg's Peer Gynt
- Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet
- D'accardia
- Malice Mizer (J-Rock)
- Schindler's List OST
- Klezmer music
- Stigmata OST
- Sisters of Mercy
- Ballads of Steeleye Span
- Gregorian chants
- Patricia Kaas (i.e. Fatigue d'attendre)
- The Fearless Vampire Killers or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck or Dance of the Vampires OST (there is a german and polish Musical version with a fantastic soundtrack!)
Great on it's own all the same.
A tribe of gypsies in their own right...
Anything from the Bloody Kisses album forward.
Dark & Melodic.
anything dark really.
I'd avoid anything with a signature sound. It was even mentioned in SW Gamer once, that playing signature music from some movie makes you feel like you're playing a different game entirely. ie, I played Ravenloft with some friends once, and I played the Batman Returns soundtrack. It's dark and gothic, and very Danny Elfman right? Well, as soon as the famous cue-up to the Batman theme came on, one player suddenly piped up: "And suddenly Batman swoops down out of the rafters!!" Everyone laughed and the tension and mood died in 2 seconds flat.
As for contemporary stuff? I'd say it belongs somewhere like d20 Modern. Contemporary music and fantasy RPGs just don't snap together for me. The exception I think, would be Rhapsody. It's the ultimate DnD gaming music. I dunno, Manowar is good DnD music, but it doesn't feel right during DnD gaming.
Choices:
Bram Stoker's Dracula
The Ninth Gate
Van Helsing
Mary Shelly's Frankenstein
Sleepy Hollow
Edward Scissorhands
Lord of the Rings series
Conan 1 and 2
and for classical, I'd definitely recommend Edward Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite. Remember the symphony stuff from the Smurfs? Not the la la la la la la theme, but usually when they were walking through the forest. It was also the music from the old B&W Pied Piper movie, what the piper used to lure the rats out of Hamlin. You'd probably know what I'm talking about.
If u want something gothic give them a try, specially their early albums like Angst, Einsamkeit and Satura (avoid the remix versions of course)... a few from Stille too.
IMO their the best to create a Raveloft atmosphere, from an old temple to a carnival.
For me, music planning is part of my DM planning, like NPC development, choosing miniatures, etc.
Joël
;)
But it is some great stuff for gaming in the Mists!
I tend to use modern stuff more...simply b'cause my players start feeling sleepy when I use classical (Philistines!)...
Some Korn works, some S.O.A.D. ...
In general, keeping to metal (and Dark Wave) is a good idea for modern stuff...
Children of Bodom being a good one... Dargaard is also good.
The only music in my games are the desperate and fearful cries of my players.
;)
Now that I think of it, this would be a splendid phrase to put into my signature... ;)
Forlorn - Celtic and Pipe music (find some really dissonance styles for the goblyns)
Barovia - Romanian and Hungarian folk and brass music (this music is not just gypsy music)
Dementlieu - Classical music from the late Baroque and early Classical period like Rameau, Bach, early Mozart and Haydn, even Vivaldi due to his popularity- this style works for the upper classes, for the lower classes and rabble pla French and Italian folk music.
Richemulot - Classical music from the middle to late Classical period, and early Romantic period, including Rossini, Mozart, Haydn, early Beethoven (pre-Symphony #4), Berlioz etc. This music works for the masses and the upper class.
Mordent - Lighter Celtic and late Baroque like Dementlieu but also include Handel and Byrd.
Souragne - Similiar to Richemulot, but concentrate on Chamber music, you could also stretch to include some Joplin, and add some spirituals and Folk Music from the United States southern States.
Falkovnia Marches, Marches, Marches. Use German and Austrian military marches, in addition even though it is not era specific, Wagner and Beethoven and Brahms are all applicable for Falkovnia due to the nature of the Realm.
Lamordia German and Austrian Classical Music from the Classical and Romantic periods, plus German Folk music.
As you can see this can continue, if anybody else is interested for a specific realm, write me a note and I can see what I can come up with. (I was a music buyer for a major record store chain for 5 years). Also, a good resource for folk music is www.arcmusic.co.uk, and www.naxos.com for classical music. Both of these sources have a history of good music at really fair prices (I have purchased arc and Naxos CD's for less than $5.00 per CD before.
Midnight Syndicate - A band producing goth synth/orchestral music - good for general background music. Though be aware there's some poetry recital and cheesy sound effects which may be too too intrusive. May be a little OTT for some. There are some free samples if you follow the link from their website.
Nox Arcana - Ex-member of Midnight Syndicate Joseph Vargo's new band. A similar style to early Midnight Syndicate less sound effects and more poetry (and Christmas Carols on "Winter's knight"). There are some free samples on their website. More general background flavour.
"Dracula" by Philip Glass - A modern string-quartet soundtrack for the classic 1930's black and white film. Much more subtle dark neo-classical music.
Wojciech Kilar's "Ninth Gate" Soundtrack - By the composer of the "Bram Stoker's Dracula" soundtrack with a similar feel. "Dracula" is good too.
Raison D'Etre's "In Sadness, Silence and Solitude" – Rumblings, Echos, drips, bubbling sounds and Minimalist Gregorian chanting in cave. For those lonely vigils in dark underground places.
Coil's "Unnatural History II" - For the Hellraiser sessions, though it's a bit too industrial it's a good general horror game soundtrack.
Jeff Beal's "Carnivale" soundtrack - Offers a good selection of tracks, would probably work well with a carnival scenario. Individual tracks could be cherry-picked for other uses (i.e. the Brother Justin tracks).
The Diablo 2 soundtrack - This was recommended on another thread I read somewhere (Apologies to the originator), and it's available for free download from the Blizzard site ... http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/mp3/ . It's good for dark generic fantasy.
The Cradle of Filth instrumentals "The Graveyard By Moonlight" and "Carmilla's Masque" - I'm not partial to their regular stuff, but these two are delightfully Ravenloft.
"The Shining Main Theme" and "Rocky Mountains" by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind (from the Kubrick's "Shining" soundtrack) - Nothing, IMHO, captures the feel of the dark woods of Ravenloft better.
Carter Burwell's Score for "Blair Witch 2 : Book of Shadows" (not the rock soundtrack) - Rhythmic natural sounds and percussion for those nocturnal foray's into the outdoors.
They all tend to catch the feel of the setting.
Cheers, D.
There is one movie not yet mentioned, but then to do so really dates me
and that is "The Company of Wolves." Very strange, almost dreamy werewolf movie with a serious touch of nightmare. It was very different than most such movies and thus is today unknown outside horror fans that appreciate more surrealistic or folklore driven films. It's very appropriate to a Ravenloft setting due to it's heavy use of said folklore. It takes many of the actual werewolf legends and stories of France and Germany (a few almost word for word) and shows them as a series of tales told to Red Riding Hood by Grandma (who both are being dreamed by yet a another wolf-obsessed girl). It's definitely adult and the the infamous transformation at the end (almost got the film a X back in the early eighties) still stands up today, and is rather famous among horror effects gurus today. The soundtrack is supremely creepy as well, the landscape true dark fantasy (quietly set the standard for such), and the characters just normal folks that happen to live in a world were fairy tales are very real, and very dangerous.
Another similar film is "Snow White: A Horror Story." It's a strange mix of the original dark folk tale (before the Brothers Grimm stories were sanitized by rewrites in the late 19th cent.) and supposition as to what could have inspired the tale. It puts it accurately in the 16th century and goes from there. It's use of black magic is firmly based on European folklore as are reactions to it. The Stepmother/Queen (played by Sigourny Weaver) is both sympathetic yet supremely evil, strikes down her enemies from afar with ghastly spells, while said heroes strike back with only courage and steel. it also shows how isolated and self sufficient people had to be back then. It's perfect.
The recent "Brothers Grimm" had some seroius flaws, but it's a goldmine of how to weave in real-life folklore into a high fantasy setting. It's scenery and sets are also excellent and atmospheric (filmed on location in Europe). I actually can see such con-artist operating in Ravenloft very seriously and running afoul of a real horror at some point!
http://arcanum.sierra.com/us/media/media-soundtrack.html
Cheers
Daniel.
Supermachiner
as far as music goes,i think bands like Lycia,Mephisto Waltz,and Mortiis( older stuff,not new techno crap) are perfect for a Ravenloft game,but my ALL TIME FAVE. for Ravenloft adventures is anything by Midnight Syndicate.This stuff is all instrumental and sound effects.They even put out an official cd for Dungeons and Dragons...but of their 6 cd's,i'd say that is the least Ravenloft oriented.If you want moody,spooky,eerie music that is great tp rp to,and not too distracting,then you have to give Midnight Syndicate a chance.
Hey Toxic,I was also looking for some nice atmospheric musik and after I saw your post I downloaded some Midnight Syndicate tracks.I wanted to thank you because they F*****G ROCK
It is the best suited dnd background music that I have ever heard
Thanx a lot
That stuff is good for the GM to listen to designing the next game, not during game time.
Once during a Star Wars session (I may have mentioned this on a similar thread here before, but it bears mentioning), a player brought Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Californication" CD and put it in the machine 'cause "It's the new Chili Peppers and it sounds so cool!"
I stooped the game and said "What the hell is this? Your idea of a John Williams score? Turn that ***x off and put in something appropriate". Heroic Jedi battling against impossible odds to the tune of Californication. Unbelievable.
One group I ran with faced a serial killer known as The Thing That Should Not Be. Did he play Metallica's tune to it? No, try Slayer's Dead Skin Mask... With the players singing "Dance with the Dead in my dreams", 'cause we all knew the song.
Especially with DnD, fantasy orchestral arrangements.
And with Star Wars? Toss Chili peppers out, I don't care how cool they are.
In addition, I love stealing the music of PC games. I primarily use what I found in both of the Vampire: the Masquerade video games.