Disturbing soundtrack for your game sessions

[crazybantha]

I always draw from this amazing game's score. The Hollywood and Chinatown theme songs make for great overall background. Sometimes I put straight hours of Creepy Music 1, 2, 3, etc (those are the names in the list), which make the creepiest and most involving things I've heard my entire life. I not only somber my players with this, I also write alone and passionately under these. Seriously, it's crypt music at it's peak, without being scary.

Anyway, I'm pointing out this masterpiece for you guys and gals, and I'd like to know about other sources out there that I could use in my gaming sessions.

What I'm searching for is 'utterly eerie' and 'morbid'. You know, subsiding, low tone. Plain creepy, like The Shining, or the scene where they dig out the demon's cave in Africa in The Exorcist. I want to avoid 'scary' and 'agitated'. Too many tracks try to startle you on a sudden, which is -not- what I want.

PS: seriously, check out that game's soundtrack, it's amazing. There are lots of gameplay videos on youtube
PPS: Insidious has the most panicking music I've felt in a movie, but it also has those creepy subsiding tracks I'm looking for. Definitely a must have for horror soundtrack fans.

[crazybantha]

I forgot how germans mastered the gothic spirit. I just watched Nosferatu: Phantom of The Night, and the opening credits' atmosphere is just the kind that I'm looking for.

[Skyrim]

I for some reason have had good luck with using the Castlevania soundtrack. Video game music works well for gaming as it was designed to loop so you can hit the "repeat" button and forget about it as opposed to stopping to fiddle with a playlist.
some of my favorites are:
Song name/Use:
Alucard theme/Travel music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AS9O-Ak ... re=related
Abandoned castle/Dungeon delving
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1noRLyi_ ... re=related
Bloody tears/Heroic battle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgkxSkF7 ... re=related
Vampire killer/Mystery theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOaPYeLC ... re=related
Simon Belmont theme/Battle theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5xK2EUQ_T0
And as a crowning achievement I found a remix of a Castlevania theme that had a bit of Dracula's dialog in it so I used it when my PC's first battled Strahd just as all parties are ready to fight Strahd says:(click the link to find out) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xuk653nVVI

[Rudolf Weathermay]

is there someone who has a good idea for music in a dark, loomy forest? My players are traveling through a forest, in which they know they don't are allowed in to travel at night.

[Zilfer]

For my "creepy" music or music I like to listen to it's mostly from the Silent Hill track's.

Most of the music from SH 2 (first one I played, I really really enjoyed. One day I will order the CD of it. xD)

[A G Thing]

For the forest do you want pulse pounding, mysterious or more creepy... The level of danger can be important when trying to set music up.

If mysterious I would perhaps go with the theme to the Phantom Forest from FF VI... If you want more along the lines of Pulse Pounding then try FF X Sea of Mist that is also fairly creepy as well. From FF X as well try Ominous - Baaj Temple.

Castlevania Symphony of the Night has the track Abandoned Pit which is perfect creepy background music for a place where animal sounds might be heard often.

Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS is good and creepy as well...

[High Priest Mikhal]

For my "creepy" music or music I like to listen to it's mostly from the Silent Hill track's.

Most of the music from SH 2 (first one I played, I really really enjoyed. One day I will order the CD of it. xD)

Please tell me you've played the others. If not, you're missing out on the creepiest series ever!

And speaking of Silent Hill, SH3 actually comes with its soundtrack in the plastic case. It's been a long time since I listened, but there's some suitably creepy music in there. Fitting, since it's one of the creepiest entries.

[Zilfer]

For my "creepy" music or music I like to listen to it's mostly from the Silent Hill track's.

Most of the music from SH 2 (first one I played, I really really enjoyed. One day I will order the CD of it. xD)

Please tell me you've played the others. If not, you're missing out on the creepiest series ever!

And speaking of Silent Hill, SH3 actually comes with its soundtrack in the plastic case. It's been a long time since I listened, but there's some suitably creepy music in there. Fitting, since it's one of the creepiest entries.

I fear I have not played Silent hill 1, when it was on the PS. (kinda never got a PS and maybe too young to even remember when it came out.)

Anyways, I've watched a good bit of number 3 played, and know most of the story for most of the games of silenthill. If you ask my friends i'm a bit of a silent hill fanatic, and I have played homecoming (Which I know most in the silent hill community do not like. I do however)

That soundtrack also has a few good tracks as well, particularly the one that is "Scarlet's Theme" Believe the title had something to do with blood. I can't wait for Silent Hill: Downpour to come out. It was going to come out 5 days before my birthday but they postponed it. (Halloween being my birthday).

So now I wait for March to come around, and January to get the HD collector's addition of Silent hill 2, and SH3. (I'll enjoy playing number 3 because i've never played it before, and SH2 my sister has taken the Ps2 when she moved out so i let her keep the game.)

Anyways yeah, I agree a very good horror game serise unlike Resident Evil which is now turning more action based. (I'll try not to get into THAT discussion)


Edit: I will mention that SH2 is still my favorite, and probably will forever be. (most people tend to say #2 or #3 are their favorites)

[High Priest Mikhal]

I fear I have not played Silent hill 1, when it was on the PS. (kinda never got a PS and maybe too young to even remember when it came out.)

Thanks for making me feel my age. I just turned 30 on the first and remember quite well when PS1 came out.

Anyways, I've watched a good bit of number 3 played, and know most of the story for most of the games of silenthill. If you ask my friends i'm a bit of a silent hill fanatic, and I have played homecoming (Which I know most in the silent hill community do not like. I do however)

SH fanatic? I own every SH title with the exception of the spin-offs, including Shattered Memories, I've played them through until I got every ending and all the bonus stuff, and I've woven Silent Hill into the Gothic Journals (in the fanfic section). What's more extreme than fanatic? I bought a PSP just to play Origins long before it came out for the PS2 (true story).

The first game is largely my favorite for several reasons: it's the creepiest of all the games made (though 3 is almost as creepy), its bonus weapons are some of the coolest (katana, alien blaster, chainsaw, rock drill), and it inspired so much of the story for the sequels you practically need to play it to know what's going on. Of all the others, I'd have to say The Room is my least favorite because it deviates so much from the original ideas, the ghosts, and because it jars the mythology so much. Origins used the horrid idea of "breakable weapons" (which is being used again in the upcoming Downpour), the guns are weak as water, and ammo is much too scarce. Then again the bonus items (Moon Gauntlets and Alien Blaster) do make up for those shortcomings, as do the night vision goggles for playing the game mostly without the flashlight on (I'd love to see that done again).

Homecoming gets flak more for its ungainly controls than for anything else. That you have to manually aim your attacks makes it unnecessarily difficult to fight back. Then again I've honed my hand-eye coordination on video games since the days of the Atari 2600. Gamers today have it easy when it comes to controls and instantly dislike anything that's remotely frustrating. Back in my day...

Did I really just say "Back in my day?"

Back on topic, one method I found quite useful was to take a song (not necessarily just an instrumental one) and play it in the background when referencing or first traveling a particular domain. Notables include Metallica's Sanitarium (Nightmare Lands) and Master of Puppets (Odiare), Leatherwolf's The Calling (Kartakass), and Blue Murder's Valley of the Kings (Har'Akir, Sebua). The main key is finding a song with the proper tone and lyrics for the domain. Odiare, for example, is one where the mad carionette Maligno and his puppet minions rule and so that song was pretty obvious a choice. It's also a good idea to play the full song in the background once, often during a first visit, and then save snippets to play whenever the domain comes up in dialogue or is visited again. Done right it can leave a lasting association in players' minds that sends chills up their spines. Just prior to my most recent hard drive crash I'd recorded and isolated the "Promotion" songs from Shining Force 1 & 2 for use in my games to signify those in the player group I created of the same name earning their first Exalted feat (SF1) and breaking through the barrier to lvl 21 (SF2) to drive home just how important those milestones are in my campaign.

[Zilfer]

Haha! you sound like someone I would indeed love to talk to about Silent hill if only I knew you IRL. Sorry about your age, I just turned 21 on halloween, not sure if i said that but you got 9 years on me. Sorry. xD

Anyways sounds like you might have interesting fan fics then, and homecoming's controlls are VERY easy. You can go through the whole game with just the combatknife/sacrificial knife and beat most of the monsters. You just need to learn the timing of the "B" button to dodge, which is where most people complain that you shouldn't be able to dodge. Having to manually aim wasn't a downside for me but you know if you have the alien gun in that game you really dont need to aim just shoot away until you hit something. INFINITE AMMO! xD

Regardless, are you one of those fans that are of the oppinion PH should not be used outside of Silent Hill 2? I am not, but a lot of people are. XD I digress from the topic. I still recommend Silent hill music for Ravenloft games however. A lot of Ambience I think in the tracks. (If that's the right word)

[High Priest Mikhal]

Regardless, are you one of those fans that are of the oppinion PH should not be used outside of Silent Hill 2?

PH? I'm sorry but I'm familiar with that.

In going through my music collection (physical and MP3) I realized I don't have that many songs that would fit with Ravenloft. Quite a few that would fit with Gothic Earth 1998 (the setting of the Gothic Journals), but just not that much for the Realm of Dread. Even the GE stuff is kind of out there (the Resident Evil: Apocalypse soundtrack fits better as music actually playing in the background of the scene than as overall ambiance music). I guess my own tastes just don't lean towards the creepy in music.

[Zilfer]

Regardless, are you one of those fans that are of the oppinion PH should not be used outside of Silent Hill 2?

PH? I'm sorry but I'm familiar with that.

In going through my music collection (physical and MP3) I realized I don't have that many songs that would fit with Ravenloft. Quite a few that would fit with Gothic Earth 1998 (the setting of the Gothic Journals), but just not that much for the Realm of Dread. Even the GE stuff is kind of out there (the Resident Evil: Apocalypse soundtrack fits better as music actually playing in the background of the scene than as overall ambiance music). I guess my own tastes just don't lean towards the creepy in music.

My musical tastes are everywhere and PH = Priamid head. Remember that big red thing that chanced you all around silent hill 2? Yeah that. xD

[HuManBing]

Carter Burwell, Blood Trails (end credits music for No Country For Old Men). Chilling, atmospheric - very redolent of being utterly alone in an uncaring deadly landscape, with only luck and your own resourcefulness until... something gets you.

[Blot]

I've always used the Twin Peaks Soundtrack from 1990 by Angelo Badelamenti - both Ravenloft and Twin Peaks were surfacing in their various media during that year, and both seemed to share the idea of a ghostly, haunted quality tied into the landscape.

Laura's theme is always a mood setter!