Episode

Episode #146: Using music in your D&D game
Purchase Michael Ghelfi's Music: michaelghelfi....
promo code: dungeoncraft
Michael Ghelfi's KZbin channel : / michaelghelfi
Patreon: / dungeoncraftyoutube
Dungeoncraft Facebook : / 1620296361377654
Music:
"Fury of the Dragon's Breath" by Peter Crowley
Bandcamp : petercrowley.ba...
By Kevin Macleod: "Sneaky Snitch," et al. All tracks are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)

[@MichaelGhelfiStudios]

Greetings dear professor. I sincerely thank you for your very supportive words. It's really heartwarming. I'm only a self-taught sound designer, and being backed by you really means a lot. You can count on me if you ever need more audio for your videos! Happy adventuring !

[@swaghauler8334]

You make good stuff.

[@fredericgates6621]

i love your work Michael!!! definitely the best ambiences on internet!!!

[@MichaelGhelfiStudios]

Thank you. Stay tuned, I got 3 new ambiences per week ;)

[@PersonMan1234]

Honestly, being not self taught doesn't count for anything. Your work is fabulous, and priceless to us poor dms. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you aren't as good or better than any of the pro sound designers out there.

[@Evilc00kies]

Been using your music in my games since Iv'e seen this video, Great stuff!

[@inkh-su]

Knowing that Professor Dungeon Master also uses Darkest Dungeon OST makes me feel like a real Dungeon Master

[@mandodelorian4668]

Way back (in the 2e era) our DM would frequently make use of the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack. The orchestral music is pretty timeless and if there was a big battle planned, we'd know it was "settle down and go time" when the big drumbeats started booming out.

[@ericgrider7593]

Great suggestions. Try Wardruna for your Viking moments. Also Mortiis has some very cool, atmospheric songs. Makes you feel like you are in a dark castle.

[@DUNGEONCRAFT1]

Eric Grider Love Warduna!

[@marcelogenesis23]

i play dragonlance... and made nordmaar a total viking conversion....wardruna is good... but i use "danheim" and "ost and the jupiter"... look it up

[@morrius0757]

I use ambient sound effects, not music most of the time. When I do use music, it's historical music that fits the world and situation.

[@elgatochurro]

I find ambience fits the situation most the time while music doesn't Music is more specific for a feeling than a setting

[@gigantisaurusrex6647]

I LOVE Michael Ghelfi! I use his ambiences pretty much exclusively since discovering him a while back. Always great stuff.

[@MichaelGhelfiStudios]

Much appreciated dude! Have fun :)

[@TonyJ1776]

For me, one of your best videos to date. I haven't played/dm'ed in over 30 years, would like to get back into it, but with Covid... anyways we didn't use resources like this back in my gaming days and had you not posted this video I would likely have never considered it.

[@swaghauler8334]

TWO CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF DUNGEON CRAFT VIDEOS! My addiction is sated. Thank you, sir! Two Steps From Hell's music is good. Especially Legendary, and Strength Of A Thousand Men. I loved EXCALIBER'S theme too.

[@TabletopWitchCRAFT]

You had me at Willow.... and Conan. I usually have so much going on that a nice long track planing where you don't have to worry about the music for a while is great... and for that special event when you find music that gives you goosebumps as you read to your players... Gold!

[@EmeraldVideosNL]

Extra kudos for the scenery added to the soundtracks!! Wonderful illustration of how miniatures and music compliment eachother. Upside of music is you don't have to set anything up to set the mood.

[@DUNGEONCRAFT1]

Thank you so much 😀

[@dangerdelw]

This video was definitely one of the best! I use Spotify playlists set on shuffle that are divided up by mood/scenario (tense, mysterious, town, battle, scary, etc.). They all start with the tag “RPG” so they’re super easy to find and navigate.

[@remixtheidiot5771]

Been playing music at my table for as long as I can remember. I have a playlist for every situation and always play the music that fits the mood. A playlist for exploration A playlist for dungeon crawling A playlist for combat A playlist for boss battles A playlist for when something comedic happens A playlist for shopping So on and so on.

[@indianajoe9029]

Music really helps draw players and DMs alike into the game. I think the background noises will add ao much more. Great resource. Thank you.

[@ProfessorCharlesPorterfield]

As an old DJ (from back in the days when we actually spun records at radio stations) and an old DM I thoroughly enjoyed this video . I have been using music ( many of the very same pieces named by Prof. DM) at my table for decades and this video spoke directly and correctly to the issues a DM/GM wants to look at. Excellent job Professor!

[@larrygarms7230]

Another amazing video! Thanks, PDM! If you, Wyloch's Armory, & Zipperon Disney ever did a live stream together, you three would break the D&D-internet.

[@DesertBumJerry]

Woah thanks for the recommendations.

[@FooDogDM]

Agreed. These recommendations are pure gold!

[@MichaelGhelfiStudios]

@@Thomasritchard You can use it with www.watch2gether.com if you play online ! Thank you so much for the support also, it really means a lot to me!

[@Aragura]

Thanks for including Deathbringer. I have never used music in my games as it was just one more thing to keep track of and could break the level of immersion for the gamers as I fiddled with some controls. But the music you recommended, with long play times and general background was very intriguing. I will give some a try. Thanks for the content as always, twice in one week feels like a present. I left the cookie with some milk for the metric on the table by the hearth.

[@DUNGEONCRAFT1]

Many thanks!

[@strangershero7207]

So after constant research I’ve come to the conclusion THIS GUY NEVER MISSES. ANOTHER 10

[@peteonretreat2023]

Great recommendations... might have to add Beowulf to my playlist.

[@thecartofvideos4766]

I feaking love From Software game soundtracks

[@WhiskeyPatriot]

Alex Roe’s covers of them are great, too.

[@thecartofvideos4766]

@@WhiskeyPatriot agree

[@duskworkerdron5901]

A little known gem for RPG music is the Battle Brothers soundtrack. The stuff is made for a turn-based game, so I find it fits pretty well. Will have to check out Michael Ghelfi's stuff though.

[@MichaelGhelfiStudios]

I hope you'll like what you'll find ! 😀 Happy adventuring

[@scottbeil2646]

I use to play in a game in the 80's where the DM used 80's pop. He picked songs well and they really tied in really well. I personally like the music from the movie "Name of the Rose" really creepy.

[@FlutesLoot]

Huge thank you. I'm always looking for new music for playlists, and I had not heard of these legends!

[@garrettbradford4791]

It's been my precious little secret for years but the video game series Mount & Blade is a veritable oasis of thematic medieval tunes. Due to the various factions in the game world there exist themes for battle, a lord's hall, a tavern and even villages in various states of decay or prosperity, all in a cacophony of styles. I would highly recommend the Original Soundtrack to Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord.

[@inspirationforge4578]

very cool -never had music with D&D before - loved your music clips and montages - thanks again for another great video

[@ecasas8253]

Captivating sound and imagery.

[@ross.metcalf]

I like the Witcher sound track. Whenever my players hear Silver for Monsters come on, they know its fightin' time!

[@Dinofaustivoro]

This could have been my comment

[@hondawilky]

Great vid! I’m definitely using a bunch of this in my next game. My middle school Pathfinder players are going to love it!

[@PersonMan1234]

Need great action/tension music? Anime soundtracks, yo. Blood plus for fights. Read or Die for funky spy stuff. Eskaflone, Gundam, Sword Art Online, Kabaneri. So much gold just sitting there. Mix in some Two Steps from Hell and you are golden!

[@TheRendar]

Another great video. Absolutely love having music during my games. Keep up the awesome content

[@stephenkotowych8105]

Great video. And great cinematography during the music montage!

[@DuelingDragonAdventures]

I have theme music for each party member that I play whenever they do something incredible in combat. The players love it.

[@aaronj4328]

You might like Graham Plowman for Call of Cthulu style music. I find it sets a nice mood.

[@torino429scj]

Agreed!

[@shadowcat6lives639]

Thanks professor dungeon craft. Saving this video in my dnd gem playlist!

[@Draegn]

Music with lyrics can be hilarious. Once we had a seen where the player was asked what he was going to say to a npc, the background music chimed in with a metal song whose lyrics went ..."You're going to burn in hell"... We all cracked up.

[@andsmith3780]

I remember having a stack of CD's and a portable CD player for every session. I'd go to the thrift store or used book store and just buy every soundtrack/score I could get my hands on.

[@comicfan92]

Glad to see Beowulf get some love. I have the soundtrack in the stack for when I run fantasy again.

[@jaws78]

Really good stuff. Love the length of the tracks.

[@Hdtjdjbszh]

whichever wench most recently went missing from your villiage

[@lionelpil8707]

In my experience, music has to be put wisely during the narrative part of your game. I dont use it anymore while combat because some players said that it is too much noise, and not because of the volume. For example, my last game happened in the Star Wars universe the last scene of the session was a long known npc that died tragically before their eyes without them being able to do anything. I played the music of the order 66 in the background while telling the story. My players cried.

[@roderik4]

2 videos in the same week? awesome!

[@seanpatrick7041]

In the games I run I assign a theme to each character and major villains and when an encounter is focused on one of the Characters then that player's theme will slowly overtakes the background music. If the players are about to encounter a major villain then that Villain's theme slowly overtakes the background music. The Background Music I play is mostly Copyright Free/Royalty free music found on KZbin. With these music files I string 9-10 together on a playlist and that usually covers most combats, but if the combat goes long I just repeat the playlist. I also use Syrinscape for ambient sounds in the background.

[@solsunforgevlogs9837]

I find music near impossible to play with my online group.We use discord for voice and I find with a headset on at any volume I cant hear the party and enjoy the music at the same time because the music overshadows the party or the party overshadows the music but in person I love it.I love setting the mood. As you know back even 10 years ago d&d was more theater of the mind(Still my favorite way to play and dm) and sometimes you would draw out a dungeon on paper or put some parchment in a pot of coffee overnight and let it sun dry to give it that old scroll look. Now So much more is felt like a requirement. I certainly feel there was more room and time for music back in those days. Great Video. I can watch videos of your scenery for hours and not get bored.

[@crosshaireyes]

such an effective tool. I played Samhain Halloween II looped with ambient noise for a desperate last stand battle and I never saw players happier to die a martyrs death! and it wasn't even necessary. yes they were battling an undead abomination on.... you guessed it Halloween

[@antieverything1]

I used to be a DJ so I have a bunch of USB midi controllers and a copy of Ableton Live--a loop-based Digital Audio Workstation. Pre-Covid I was working on an Ableton Live project that would allow me to trigger music and sound effects live with a tap of a drumpad. I haven't figured out a good way to route Ableton Live through Roll20 (either I can't monitor my output without tons of latency or I can't monitor at all and have no way of knowing if things are triggering correctly) but in theory I can apply audio effects like pitch shifting and reverb to my microphone and even create a live soundtrack with midi instruments (just got a midi guitar pickup XD) while the players discuss their next course of action. Anyway, Professor mentioned something about how tracks are too short and how he wants to punctuate certain events with certain pieces or sections--one of my workflows for DJing with Ableton was to have duplicates of the same track in a channel, each copy having a different loop set up (similar to how conventional DJ setups use cue points). This would allow the DM to keep a section of a song on loop until it is time to move to the next movement of the piece...they could even skip ahead to the most dramatic sections if the events in the game warrant it!

[@hoogmonster]

My players cleverly hid their excitement when i told them that our last session would be supported by music from the Jackson Five, but I know they secretly loved it as they slayed the boss to Can you Feel It at the finale.

[@mrlicopoli]

I like to use both background music as well as ambient sounds (some tracks will have both) at the same time. When previewing a module or list of possible scenes in a homebrew campaign, I'll write down a type of ambience and a type of background music. Over the years I've compiled a comprehensive list for each and select accordingly. I will use ambience to enhance the player's senses...i.e. scratching sounds in the background to indicate someone is buried or trapped behind a wall, whispering coming from a back alley, etc. Who ever hears it first may get an inspiration and if no one hears it, maybe a roll is needed if I feel generous.

[@petergreen1875]

This is definitely on my top 5 favorite dungeon craft videos list! Visually awesome, practical, and of course it sounds great. My son and I have been talking about how to do this, so it is also timely. Thanks PDM!

[@dreadmorg]

Great video Professor! Lots of utility in this one.

[@commonweakness9060]

Great video! I can't wait to use some of these tracts in my next campaign.

[@CarlHeyl]

One thing I've considered but not yet attempted is getting an A/B audio access switch and having one source playing combat music and one playing exploration music both hooked up to the a/b switch then to a speaker. This way I simply reach over and flip the switch once combat begins/ends.

[@PeterCrowleysFantasyDream]

Thanks for the shoutout :)

[@jacobhope6164]

I love to use Michael Ghelfi for ambiance. I also add in certain songs from particular artists, if I want to depict specific singers, bards, or groups native to my setting. I like artists like Erutan, Faun, and Patty Gurdy for this. I also sprinkle in a lot of little Easter eggs into my campaigns. I might include passing through a small town named Roxbury, and have a bard playing a medieval style cover of What is Love in the local tavern. I also like to include covers of songs by artists my players really like, or that are thematically appropriate. For this I use Algal the Bard, Bardcore, Early Style, Hildegard von Blingin', Marcus Aurelius, Medievallica, Middle Ages, and Modern Music of the Dark Ages. It usually adds some humor, and a bit of a personal touch. I also sometimes use these songs as subtle clues, but I'm not sure my players have consciously caught on to that yet. In the end though, they really seem to enjoy my soundtracks.

[@MichaelGhelfiStudios]

I'm glad to hear it! Have fun Jacob!

[@sneakyfred]

Damn those alechemists, always mixing different beers!

[@thatoneguy2057]

The real question is, who's Deathbringers girl friend?

[@ronniejdio9411]

Whoever he wants

[@kevingross4141]

Bringda Death - Assassin Path Rogue

[@Titan360]

His own mother, after he killed the warlord whom she served as his "willing comcubine." It was really weird at first but eventually Deathbringer realized..... ...wait. He didn't actually get over the weirdness. Everything about this was a terrible idea and now Deathbringer is DOUBLY traumatized. Don't date your own mom, kids!

[@Barquevious_Jackson]

@@Titan360 Hello Oedipus Department? It's for you.

[@stephenkotowych8105]

Lady Snowblood

[@339blaster]

always excited for these new videos

[@failuretolaunchdrums]

Highly recommend the Battlefield 1 OST. Lots of brass WW1 themes for heroic vibes but the ambient tracks are haunting. Love it.

[@failuretolaunchdrums]

Also, the Dark Souls series OSTs, including Bloodbourne and Elden Ring, are great. The Witcher OSTs are fantastic as well.

[@williambennett7935]

I love the KZbin channel by Graham Plowman for creepy/suspenseful settings.

[@DMRaptorJesus]

Something I do with my games is try and find ambiance tracks without music in them, and to only use "music" when they are in settlements or civilized camp, etc. It really sets this mood of desperation when the group is out in the field, and then once they hit town they get really upbeat and positive.

[@shampoovta]

I like to light the game room. They have fire effects and Dragons flying around or bat lights sometimes at Halloween time. Ice effect lights at Christmas. There great to have.

[@APL314159265]

In person games, I just run Dark AMbient Drift music in a 90 minute loop, low, it keeps the tension up.

[@rbrentw]

Thanks, I'm going to buy his sci-fi volume 1. It only has 12 tracks but will eventually have 50 and won't cost any more later.

[@MichaelGhelfiStudios]

Thanks a lot Brent, I really appreciate your support. As you said, I regularly add new ambiences and all my "volumes" eventually reach 50 ambiences. It may take more time for the Sci-Fi one, but you can trust me. I did that for all the D&D ones and it worked really well!

[@alexfikar7757]

That’s amazing ambient music! Thank you for the suggestions, professor.

[@playlandlocal7849]

We use the Silent Hill games soundtrack in our Chuthulu games. Really fun. Cool vídeo.

[@marceloave30]

Ha I have all these CD albums !!!! My favourite fantasy soundtrack of all time is Jamer Horner's Krull. Very heroic and epic.

[@boguerogue]

Music from baldurs gate games have great tracks for combat and dundeons

[@joshjosh8301]

Ambient music/sound. The sound tacks for World of Warcraft are great for ambience.

[@filmetiquette2409]

I would especially suggest the combat music from the Witcher 3, and from uncharted 4. Both have very distinct and fantastic soundtracks, however it is good to develop and find music types for different kinds of settings, terrain, monsters and type of encounters: boss, wilderness, chase, arena, dungeon, crypt, underdark, gnoll, cult, ork, tundra, dessert, etc.

[@sherizaahd]

We used to get music every game session when we were meeting to play in person, but since we haven't managed to get back together in person it has been spotty with the services that used to serve up music in Discord getting whacked. one of the DMs would send a playlist on KZbin for us to start on our end, and that kind of worked.

[@DUNGEONCRAFT1]

Cool idea.

[@razorchuckles]

Is alechemy when you mix beers? Oh, and great call on Beowulf for opening a gaming session or launching a campaign!

[@RudeGoat]

Ghelfi does an incredible job!

[@MichaelGhelfiStudios]

I really appreciate your kind words. You should rename yourself "Very kind goat" :P

[@jakestaples8498]

I’ll have to check out Michael Ghelfi’s music. A couple weeks ago, I downloaded medieval music and creepy music to play in the background of my Cthulhu Dark Ages game. Unfortunately, my players couldn’t hear it over Skype, but we’ll game in person again some day... It’s not music, but I also ran that game by the light of an LED flame bulb for a visual effect

[@MichaelGhelfiStudios]

Use www.watch2gether(dot)com with my ambiences loaded. It's free and your players will hear it if they join the page :)

[@kilruf]

Awesome! Just bought 3 volumes! Thanks!

[@MichaelGhelfiStudios]

Thanks a lot Michael, I hope it'll improve the immersion by a lot! Have fun

[@metricpwnz]

The Hereditary sound track is perfect for dungeon crawls

[@DUNGEONCRAFT1]

That film scared the living sh-- out of me.

[@josephskiles]

TSR put out 2 awesome CD's for running an adventure in either Planescape or Ravenloft right before they sold the D&D IP to WOTC I believe. They are both awesome but almost impossible to find a physical copy of them, I believe drive through RPG might have digital copies ( or if one uses Google I'm sure you could find them other ways for free if so inclined). The Planescape C.D. is actually a Mimir, which if you haven't played Planescape Torment, or know anything about the IP are a skull that is basically like an encyclopedia ( that's the best way I can sum it up) that tells you all about Sigil the city where the setting takes place mostly. The Ravenloft C.D. is filled with amazing gothic horror sounds you could use in any setting

[@m_d1905]

A CD came with some 2.5 starter kits. It was Forgotten Realms I believe. Too bad CD burners weren't an affordable thing then. My collage roommate had one and I would have copied it in a heartbeat.

[@josephskiles]

@@m_d1905 that sounds awesome, surely someone has downloaded it somewhere on the net, maybe drivethroughrpg.com might have it as well.

[@m_d1905]

@@josephskiles They might. If I could recall the title. It's been a long while. LOL It may have has some special things that went with the adventures in the mini DM guide. It's been so long I can't recall. Be cool to find. Maybe on a torrent somewhere too.

[@josephskiles]

@@m_d1905 hey I understand bud , I started with 2nd ed AD&D and it's tuff to remember a lot of stuff ( though some things I can still quote verbatim with my eyes closed LoL). I'm sure just typing in some relevant words into Google could bring some results, hell I'm very curious about it now so I may look when I get a chance. LoL I'm painting some knockoff sisters of battle right now so it may be a sec but if I find anything I'll be sure to let you know!

[@jnever9768]

if you really want to make your own ambience there's a thing called Ambient Mixer, you can mix your own background sounds.

[@cypherix93]

Stuart Chatwood's Prince of Persia tracks are the best! Warrior Within nostalgia

[@RyuuKageDesu]

Synthwave works well, especially dark synth for tension building.

[@whatareyoudoingyouidiot342]

If your game is in a more modern setting like some of mine have been, of course you've got literally terabytes of modern music to choose from. Set up a couple Spotify playlists that'll set the mood appropriately. For example, I have a game that's set in the mid-1970s, and I have a couple playlists filled with classic rock, pop, and funk. For a Cthulu game set in the 1930s? Jazz is king. Cyberpunk? Synthwave and techno are the rule of the day. And of course, for classic fantasy, symphonic metal isn't a bad choice, either.

[@quiet_calamity]

I use the Darkest Dungeon OST, and it seems to work really well. All the tracks are just a couple minutes, but they tend to loop very well.

[@elgatochurro]

Micheal is great yeah

[@tomyoung9834]

Whoa! Surprise upload is unexpected awesome!

[@Frederic_S]

I was so happy when I found out how to play music over Discord.

[@darthjoel6357]

Graham plowman music for call of Cthulhu, Cryo chamber for DND and Call of Cthulhu, ric Shaffer for vampire the masquerade bloodlines are also good.

[@LJ-gu2dj]

I made the mistake of using an Echo Dot and saying "Alexa play D&D music". That worked... BUT then my players started yelling out various pop music songs and shouting over each other to take control of the music. It was a disaster!! lol

[@DUNGEONCRAFT1]

Ah, players. Those mischievous little scamps. Always causing trouble.

[@justinscott8517]

I use final fantasy, or any old squaresoft rpg soundstracks. They tend to set the mood quite well.

[@kevinkastle612]

thank you!

[@citizen_zer094]

The Witcher franchise has some great soundtracks, I personally gravitate towards the 3rd game's soundtrack for my campaigns

[@benkenning1699]

Swiiiiiiiisheeeee!

[@elgatochurro]

The Witcher is a blatant rip off series

[@jameslove4965]

though i don't use music in my games i do take inspiration for both characters and whole storylines from songs i like to hear

[@strangershero7207]

Again another amazing video I love all your work

[@swaghauler8334]

The other real question is when does a school teacher find the time to paint such intricate minis. Even with speed painting, there's a lot of time in those minis.

[@DUNGEONCRAFT1]

swaghauler we paint once a week & have been doing it for years. Still don’t find enough time, though.

[@jokertim777]

Kevin Macleod of the Clan Macleod? There can be only ONE!

[@francoisdumont4105]

I used the Interview with the Vampire soundtrack back in the day.

[@rubenperez5432]

Hell yeah Profesor i also use The Darkest Dungeon, its dark and somber enough to let the players know that they can and will die if they slip up

[@akashambatwamiller6924]

Another Great option would be the soundtrack for Mary Shelly's Frankenstein by Patrick Doyle

[@Grayald]

Good picks. I really like to use some of Kevin MacLeods stuff. Pretty much the soundtrack of the internet. On the downside, he has so much that it's very hard to find a specific one if you're looking for it. I'm also incorporating Darkest Dungeon into my next campaign. Great soundtrack. Other than that, various video games, and stuff from Peter Crowley, Adrian Von Ziegler, BrunuhVille, and Myuuji. I pretty much stayed away from movies for the most part. Though I did have some Conan, and Krull. But I've never heard of Michael Ghelfi, but now I'm definitely going to see about incorporating his stuff into my game. Thanks for sharing. That ritual chanting was Dead on. Absolutely dripping atmosphere.

[@MichaelGhelfiStudios]

I hope you'll enjoy what you'll hear. My channel is the biggest resource for RPG ambiences in the world, and it's growing very fast ! Also I do collaborate with Adrian VZ, he's an IRL friend 😀

[@ronniejdio9411]

Old Summoning albums. Old Mortis albums These FEEL like d&d and are not as cute as most dungeon synth. If your game has faries and unicorns tons of cute dungeon synth

[@penrod4523]

this was pretty much what i was already using in my d&d games so thanks for the addition!

[@pappabear4977]

Good video. I’m subscribed to Michael Ghelfi’s channel

[@rpglazersharks7045]

Hey Prof. Dungeon Master! Thanx for the suggestions! For nature and dark archaic scenes, you should check out: "Paleowolf" great mysterious music! Keep it up

[@user-bx6wd1yb5s]

There are also free apps at playstore ,with environment soundtracks like the ones the professor sowed in the video, or door sounds , beast sounds etc.

[@linus4d1]

I agree. And I especially like Syrinscape.

[@Dra8er]

Imagine if the Prof used Google and searched for stuff like this. He would be amazed at all the stuff that's out there for this, both professional and amateur.