Continuing with the music theme...

Just following up on my previous post about music in RPGs, I just thought I would point out that Pelgrane Press, who publish the exceedingly awesome Trail of Cthulhu, are putting together a classic, large scale campaign for Trail called Eternal Lies which includes its very own music suite, complete with opening and closing tracks, ambient music and short scene specific 'stingers'.

This is an awesome idea, especially as the music will be written directly into the fabric of the campaign, and is what I have come to expect from the innovative folks at Pelgrane. I totally can't wait to get my greasy mitts on it when it comes out, probably later this year sometime.

Why I play...

A Game for Grown-Ups

"It's for this reason that Ken Hite, for example, has called CoC the only adult roleplaying game ever made, because it presumes that your characters aren't venal, self-interested rogues interested in lining their pockets and increasing their fame. Instead, they're men and women who labor, almost certainly unknown, to fight against the Dark that threatens to consume us all, in the full knowledge that they may not only fail but lose all that they value in the process of their fight. That's some heavy stuff right there and it's why I still love Call of Cthulhu despite its flaws."

The always interesting RPG blog Grognardia sums up for me pretty well my continued fascination and enjoyment of Cthulhu based games despite the inherent bleakness of the subject matter. It's probably the most heroic RPG I can think of!

RPG Soundtracks

I have been thinking a bit recently between the relationship between music (including sound effects) and tabletop RPGs. Over the years I have been both a passionate advocate and skeptical user of music in role playing games. While I think when done well, even just as background 'white noise', it can make a good game great and adds to the players' immersion in the game, it can also result in the GM fiddling around with a computer or CD player to the detriment of the game's flow.

Another issue is the amount of prep time it can take to listen to music, cue it up to the right scenes, organise the special effects and bring it all together in one package. All this can sometimes be to the detriment of the quality of the game itself when it takes precedence over the GM's familiarity with the story or character involvement. I have been involved in games when the GM was so intent on us getting the 'meaning' of the music, that I felt more like an audience than an active participant in a story.

Part of the reason I have been thinking about this was that I was originally wasn't going to bother with any music for my new Trail of Cthulhu Campaign, preferring to use the limited time I had on streamlining the plots and making really nice handouts, but two things have made me revisit the decision. The first was some of my players expressing a preference for it, which kind of surprised me as last time I used it I thought it didn't go too well, and the other was the discovery of the  Scene Sound programme which allows you to more easily manage music and effects by overlaying tracks, looping them and the use of hotkeys. It is not the most user friendly programme out there, as I'm still figuring everything out, but it's free, so I can't really complain.

I think I'll start small with the music and effects, and see how it goes, partly so I'm not listening to creepy music all day, and partly because I think the integrity of the plot is more important, but I will be interested to see how it plays out. I'm quietly excited I guess, as I tend to view the games I run quite cinematically, and the score is obviously an important part of any movie.

I'm also interested to hear how you all feel about music in RPGs. How do you use it? Is it an integral part or a last minute add on? Is it worth the time and effort? What about effects? Any thoughts welcome. 

So what is all this then?

First post. For the checking!