Music in Ravenloft

[Snake]

The music from the Legacy of Kain video game series is extremely good. Here is it all for free.

http://www.lokmusic.com/

Pick BO1 BO2 SR1 or SR2 at the top of the page for that game's music, unzip them, and there ya go. Hours of good background music for free. It works very well in the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft Campaign I've noticed too.

[InVinoVeritas]

Here's a playlist I've developed for my PbP Paridon game:

1. "Lost Carol" by Akira Yamaoka, Silent Hill 3 Soundtrack (An introspective moment)
2. "Totentanz" by Maksim, Variations Parts I and II (Theme from Paridon)
3. "St. Jarna" by Depeche Mode, Little 15 Single (Ada's Song)
4. "Vampire Hunters" by Wojciech Kilar, Bram Stoker's Dracula Soundtrack (The Paridon Constabulary)
5. "Edward Scissorhands: Suburbia Barber" by Danny Elfman, Music for a Darkened Theater, vol. 2 (The Gnomish New Year)
6. "Mission Impossible: Trouble" by Danny Elfman, MfaDT2 (The Careening Carriage)
7. "Sickness unto Foolish Death" by Akira Yamaoka, SH3 (Investigation)
8. "Edward Scissorhands: Main Titles" by Danny Elfman, MfaDT2 (Kindness of Strangers, Sasha's Kiss)
9. "Lucy's Party" by Wojciech Kilar, BSD (The Mind of a Pet)
10. "To Die For: Main Titles" by Danny Elfman, MfaDT2 (Alek's Suite)
11. "Gave Up" by Nine Inch Nails, Broken/Fixed (Edditomas' Song)
12. "Batman Returns: Trouble Suite" by Danny Elfman, MfaDT2 (Stop! Police!)
13. "Freeway: Main Titles" by Danny Elfman, MfaDT2 (The World Makes Less Sense Now)
14. "Flower Crown of Poppy" by Akira Yamaoka, SH3 (Clocktower)
15. "Self Destruction, Part Two" by Nine Inch Nails, Further Down the Spiral (Ending Credits... and the song strangely covers a lot of what has happened)

Akira Yamaoka and the Silent Hill series has some interesting gems. Danny Elfman is a must-have composer for Ravenloft. And yes, I do use Nine Inch Nails. At the right times, it totally works.

And Maksim's take on Liszt's Totentanz is so Ravenloft I could play it on infinite repeat. (Oh, all right, and do.)

[vipera aspis]

Music can work very well to announce entering into a new domain or a return to a mood.

dementlieu- the city of lost children score or Requiem for a dream score

darkon- russian string or something "doomy" like a supsense score(ALIEN works well), matrina bay- reanimator score, nartok- Enemy At the Gates score

barovia- dracula score or random black metal instumental

nova vassa- Ravenous score

lamordia- Frankenstien score(the one with robert d.)
or the score to silent hill 2

falkovia- bulgarian national symphony or something imperial like feindflug or a military march. Unless in Leker, then it is the Interview With the Vampire score


Verbrek Forest- Selected tracks from the Ravenous score or selected tracks from nature comps like wind blowing or wolves howling.

Near any of the seas or coastal areas with Reavers or Sea Devils i play the Dagon score.

otherwise danny elfman, charles band, arcana and most gothy video games.





...though before game; i force them to listen to Power Noize with me. That or my lord and master Doctor Steel.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

At first I was hesitant, but now I use music all the time during play to add to the mood.

It really doesn't matter the style you use so much, as long as it fits the mood you're going for and is acceptable to your players. (As much as I love metal, I would use it very sparingly unless I knew my players loved it too.)

The keys I think are:
- No lyrics. (or very very few lyrics.) Unless the lyrics are in a different language than you and your players use.
- Not recognizable. (I avoid soundtracks that are too popular, at least among my group. That means no Star Wars, and only the lesser-known tracks from Lord of the Rings. This rule can be broken occasionally for humor value, or if the reference it calls up helps set the mood)
- Have enough different music that it doesn't become repetitive. (Nothing is worse than preparing only a 2 song track list for a scene that lasts hours)
- Have different moods of music. (Even in Ravenloft, hours of dark, moody music can lose their impact.)
- Use well-organized mp3s on a laptop. (Breaking the mood to switch CD's , dig through folders to find a file, or fumble with your ipod is a no-no).

That said, here are some favorite groups, albums, composers, and singers:
Apocalyptica, Midnight Syndicate, Nox Arcana, Medieval Baebes, Barrage, Vas, Castevania, Final Fanstasy, Silent Hill, Lee Blaske, Blackmore's Night, Carmina Burana, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Current 93, Count of Monte Cristo, A Simple Plan, Howard Shore, Graeme Revell, Wojciech Kilar, Nickel Creek, Enya, James Horner, James Newton Howard, Vangelis, Black Aria, La Legende de Gaucelm.

[Lost Heretic]

Nox Arcana

Thank God someone mentioned them, I was about to cry.

Nox Arcana has a collection of very cool gothic instrumentals. Their album Darklore Manor can work amazingly for anything from Mordent to Darkon. Winter's Knight works very well for Barovia and the Frozen Reaches Cluster.

Definately worth checking out their site, since you can download entire songs. (Although they are 32 kbps...)

[Guardian of Twilight]

You know, the Van Helsing soundtrack is really good in my opinion. Especially the track "All Hallow's Eve Ball" for those nights when you want to run a masquerade ball. And honestly, who doesn't want to run one of those?

[Guardian of Twilight]

Oh, and who can forget about Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' in C#? Ok, I think that I've pretty much listed all of my favorite Gothic audio files now.

[LordGodefroi]

You know, the Van Helsing soundtrack is really good in my opinion.

For a split second there, I thought you were talking about Dee Snider's Van Helsing's Curse.

[HuManBing]

Chopin's Nocturnes are wonderful. Most are gentle and slow, with at least one change in tonality from major to minor or vice versa and back again. Chopin's left hand notes also were infamously irregular - the right hand carried the tune, but the left hand didn't quite carry the tempo as rigidly as other composers like Beethoven and Brahms.

The end result is a piece that is charming in its main voice, but there are shifting subtleties in the tempo, with slightly disquieting starts and slowdowns.

Also, if you have the music from the old video game Blood, that's very good for audio spookiness.

[InVinoVeritas]

Blood?

(Sorry, I know, not funny.)

[HuManBing]

More video game soundtracks that are awesome (and downloadable for free online):

Undying

Bioshock

Both feature orchestral pieces that alternately thrill and chill.

[Georg Kristianokov]

I'm going to get shot for saying this, but the High-Schooler in me thinks of MCR.

Not for mood setting, but some of their songs remind me different domains. Ex:

House of Wolves=Verbrek

[Catman Jim]

I'm going to get shot for saying this, but the High-Schooler in me thinks of MCR.

The grand-father in me had to Google who that was.

[Guzrath]

I always used the same music when I started a Ravenloft session. The players immediately knew it was time to start and the atmosphere adjusted to that.

I used Subtrata - by Biosphere. The track has been played over and over again, but it is now intimitely connected to Ravenloft. So to start to mood I put that cd on. Unfortunately I lost it. I need to buy a new one I think, since I will be starting soon.

Others include:
Lustmord - any cd
The Cell - Soundtrack
Feeney's Dracula

Sometimes no music is just best.

What I once did is used the music for somthing else.
I had a simple cabinet where all my glasses were in. I put all the glasses close together (left them in the cabinet). Put the bass on max, but the sound not to high. The ambient music of Biospshere and Lustmort use a lot of bass for low sounds.
I turned the lights down and lighted 1 candle in the middle and put the music on. They could faintly hear the music, but whenever the bass came up, the glasses (and other parts of the house ) would tremble, which would create quite a nice effect.

Didn't use it to often though, seeing I had neighbors

[JinnTolser]

I'm going to get shot for saying this, but the High-Schooler in me thinks of MCR.

Not for mood setting, but some of their songs remind me different domains. Ex:

House of Wolves=Verbrek

*Shoots Georg Kristianokov with a shotgun.*

Wouldn't want to make a liar out of ya.