The question was posed on Talislanta FB page regarding how we use music in our gaming sessions.
I understood that this would be a post way to long for FB, so I am putting my reply here.
The questions presented:
1) a) how many of you use music when you run a game? and; b) if you do use music, do you mainly play it in the background, or do you use certain pieces/albums/artists for specific purposes or moments in a game?
2)what CDs/bands/composers do you listen to either while gaming, or for inspiration before gaming?
I have used music in the past at the gaming table. The second part of the question, and question #2 I want to elaborate on.
While running WEG Star Wars the main theme would be used to get the players on track, and while it was playing I would recap previous events, much like the beginning of the movie with the synopsis scroll.
Since 1993, the game I have run the most often was SLA Industries, a gritty sci-fi urban horror game.
For inspiration in SLA Industries I would use anything that brought to mind corruption, rain, city life, dreams of money and fame, etc. Some of the music I had on my driving CD at the time:
Faster Pussycat - Ship Rolls In, City has no Heart
Metallica - Master of Puppets, Disposable Heroes, Damage Inc
Duran Duran - Girls on Film, A View to a Kill, Skin Trade
And many others.
During the sessions I was able to play music for background it was important to match the music with the game.
Star Wars soundtrack while running Star Wars, a given.
While playtesting Midnight Realms for Talislanta, and a few Cannibal Sector missions for SLA Industries, I had the Black Angels CD from Kronos Quartet playing, just at the audible level. Some of the violin strikes were startling, and completely appropriately timed (players and GM alike jumped at one point, lol).
Music definitely brings a new dimension to the gaming table, even if low in the background.
The main problem I ever had with using music for specific scenes was having to stop the game to get the correct track playing, or you might be stuck running a dramatic, dark scene with something upbeat.
Not sure Alien would have had the same feel with the Indiana Jones Soundtrack, lol
Showing posts with label Shadowrun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shadowrun. Show all posts
Monday, April 21, 2014
Friday, August 16, 2013
GM Notes SPECIAL!: Russian Sleep Experiment Orange Soda
Read this and it really got my mind going.
To sum up, this piece of fiction tells about a Russian experiment in the 1940s regarding sleep deprivation that goes horribly awry.
Depending on the game, there are a few different ways this story can be handled at the gaming table.
SLA Industries: Operatives are sent to investigate a Soft Company and the lab is found a) intact while the experiment is in progress, b) after the experiment is over and they have to investigate what happened (hope someone turned off the gas...) or c) again, after the experiment is over, but the subjects are running loose...
Star Wars: What have the Imperials done with some of the people on a remote frontier planet? Well, lets check out the Imperial outpost and find out!
Rapture: The PCs are sent to rescue people from a prison camp that has been set up, only to find that some of the people have been taken for experimentation. What will the do when they discover the subjects have been possessed by demons?
D6 Adventure: duh...Russian (or Nazi) lab raid.
Asylum: Either the characters stumble across the lab...or have volunteered to be test subjects!
Talislanta: Rumors that the Rajan, or Kang, or Quan, or Farad, or Ur (after discovering some long-lost Alchemical texts on chemical warfare), or even possibly a Quaranian Necromancer-King, have reached more civilized lands and the PCs are hired to rescue the test subjects and destroy the lab if possible.
DnD: A Necromancer has been using a new kind of undead to kidnap people in the middle of the night. But the new undead is actually the people being experimented on and turned into nightmarish creatures to be controlled by the Necromancer. These creatures are then used to kidnap more victims for the Necromancers deformed army.
Vampire: Hunting out test subjects for Pentex to experiment on
Werewolf: The tribal shaman or Ragabash has met one of the test subjects while traversing the Umbra and they pleaded with him for help, to save him from a Pentex lab. The PCs are instructed to do so. This would also explain what happens when the test subjects brainwaves flatline.
Hunter: Vampires are out kidnapping people, Werewolves are creeping through the forest...time to get to work boys!
Mage: The Progenitors and New World Order have teamed up with this new way to control the populace, at least that is the idea. When word hits the Traditions, something must be done to stop it.
Cyberpunk/Shadowrun: A contact, or friend, or family member, tells the PCs about this great job they found, it sounds a bit fishy so the PCs did some rooting, only to find out the lab hiring the guinea pigs manufactures toxins for warzones! The PCs have to save their friend before it is too late!
Obviously, this story can be adapted to just about any RPG (Toon might be an issue...) and would make for a great creepy night of role-playing, or a fun night of killing baddies depending on play style of the group.
Me, I prefer to go with the creepy.
To sum up, this piece of fiction tells about a Russian experiment in the 1940s regarding sleep deprivation that goes horribly awry.
Depending on the game, there are a few different ways this story can be handled at the gaming table.
SLA Industries: Operatives are sent to investigate a Soft Company and the lab is found a) intact while the experiment is in progress, b) after the experiment is over and they have to investigate what happened (hope someone turned off the gas...) or c) again, after the experiment is over, but the subjects are running loose...
Star Wars: What have the Imperials done with some of the people on a remote frontier planet? Well, lets check out the Imperial outpost and find out!
Rapture: The PCs are sent to rescue people from a prison camp that has been set up, only to find that some of the people have been taken for experimentation. What will the do when they discover the subjects have been possessed by demons?
D6 Adventure: duh...Russian (or Nazi) lab raid.
Asylum: Either the characters stumble across the lab...or have volunteered to be test subjects!
Talislanta: Rumors that the Rajan, or Kang, or Quan, or Farad, or Ur (after discovering some long-lost Alchemical texts on chemical warfare), or even possibly a Quaranian Necromancer-King, have reached more civilized lands and the PCs are hired to rescue the test subjects and destroy the lab if possible.
DnD: A Necromancer has been using a new kind of undead to kidnap people in the middle of the night. But the new undead is actually the people being experimented on and turned into nightmarish creatures to be controlled by the Necromancer. These creatures are then used to kidnap more victims for the Necromancers deformed army.
Vampire: Hunting out test subjects for Pentex to experiment on
Werewolf: The tribal shaman or Ragabash has met one of the test subjects while traversing the Umbra and they pleaded with him for help, to save him from a Pentex lab. The PCs are instructed to do so. This would also explain what happens when the test subjects brainwaves flatline.
Hunter: Vampires are out kidnapping people, Werewolves are creeping through the forest...time to get to work boys!
Mage: The Progenitors and New World Order have teamed up with this new way to control the populace, at least that is the idea. When word hits the Traditions, something must be done to stop it.
Cyberpunk/Shadowrun: A contact, or friend, or family member, tells the PCs about this great job they found, it sounds a bit fishy so the PCs did some rooting, only to find out the lab hiring the guinea pigs manufactures toxins for warzones! The PCs have to save their friend before it is too late!
Obviously, this story can be adapted to just about any RPG (Toon might be an issue...) and would make for a great creepy night of role-playing, or a fun night of killing baddies depending on play style of the group.
Me, I prefer to go with the creepy.
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