What music do you play to set moods?

I'm wondering what music you play during your game sessions to set the moods for your exploration, battle, etc scenes. I'm mostly referring to classical or instrumental music, but if you have had luck with with lyrics, go ahead and speak up.

Given that I haven't actually run my first game of LUG ST, I only have one song that I know I want associated with the campaign. That song is my 'official' theme song for the game, it's Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland. I'm also thinking of using the classic Holst's the Planets - Mars.

Byron

I use the music from the first movie and the First Contact flick (like the sweeping, gentle kind of feel of the main theme.) The Chris Franke stuff from B5 does well, too. Heavy action and dramatic stuff is always well served by Wagner.

Also, think about what the characters listen to. The captain of one of out vessels is an R&B fan. It's even playing on the bridge during her watch. That kind of touch helps define the characters.

Anything from Holtz's The Planets is good...there's a whole range of useful music from that album.

Some music from the Apollo 13 soundtrack can be good...as can music from the Bladreunner soundtrack.

Of course, you can use almost any music from Star Trek soundtracks... http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/wink.gif

For simple, non-intrusive background music, you can use anything from Kitaro's Silk Road series.

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How do I set a Laser Printer to stun?

This has been done before in another thread perhaps trekchat?

Search for music and ya might find it!

As for music, well no but a computer with a lot of trek sounds to add to the atmosphere!

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SIR SIG a Aussie TREK Narrator

I never used music (I prefer to concentrate on what is said, and I rarely have the equipment in the same room). I'll have to try.

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Hoping You'll understand all of this :)

For a TOS campaign, find a recording of Telstar, by the Tornadoes. It's ideal for that retro-futuristic 60's ambience, and it even sounds sort of like the theme from TOS.

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:) <<<<

LUGTrek isn't really dead. Not as long as we remember it.

Actually, I've found that most movie scores can set the mood, if you're willing to take the time to research a little. For ground battles, Gladiator (track 3) works nice. Adventures on a more "primitive" world could be represented by Braveheart. Hell, like my sig says, the first Trek game i ran was to Stabbing Westward, and it was fine. Music should be a subtle touch in the background, not a separate player.

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Is it a good thing if our Narrator is listening to Stabbing Westward while plotting our game?

Lockhart,

You should definitely consider using Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3, then; becasue the thematic material is taken from his _Fanfare_.

Robert

I use the Star Trek Soundtrack CD's from the movies and the series. It depents on the episode which I play. Last time it was the music from Best of both World because it was a mistery/fighting episode.Next time i will use the TOS score from Trouble with Tribbles because it will be a funny episode. Sometimes I use non Star Trek orchestral music. We've played a Holodeck adventure and I used the Conan Soundtrack.
From my experience I can say, that Star Trek Music in the background is a good method to bring the players into the right Star Trek mood. I think music with lyrics is to distracting.

How do those of you who play music blend it with roleplaying? Meaning, don't the players or you (the Narrator) find it distracting?

MJ

I've become an Enya fan, and there are quite a few of her instrumentals that lend themselves to certain moods.

"The Celts" is cheery and adventurous.
"Boadicea" is kind of 'getting ready for doom' music.
"Cursum Perficio" is energetic and also ominous.
et cetera.

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"Guchk *Cough* muu ougtgha hrrgh!" -- Cmdr. An-tule Lemayan, USS Boadicea
"I'd have to say that's the worst case of smuush I've ever seen." -- Dr. Sonachai Smith, CMO, USS Boadicea

Ahhhh!
First of Two has been assimilated into the Enya Collective. http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/biggrin.gif

Well as said, you don't use lyrics unless it's thematic. For instance, if the PCs are going to be in Ten Forward and there is a jazz performance, play some jazz. I once did a scene in a night club where the PCs had a confrontation with gangsters. i played Nine Inch Nails so loud they could barely hear me speak in character, but that was the right mood so it worked for that one scene.

Usually you want instrumentals that evoke the mood but aren't intrusive, so if you choose symphony pieces don't use Mozart. Theme songs or image songs are different matters. If you have a CD burner and feel like making copies for your group you can enhance the story in the back of their minds by picking songs that fit the personalities of the NPCs you're using. That's what an image song is. While I've thought about image songs before, I've never made a disk of them for an rpg campaign before.

Hope this helps,
Byron

Collective??
Eeyaah, I'm PROUD to be a Celt!

I gleefully remember all those 'celebrate your heritage' days on campus...

"MY Heritage? MY Heritage is to paint half me flace blue, and rampage around with a big honkin' sword, cuttin' other people's 'eads off an takin' alla their stuff! While playing bagpipes an eatin' sheep's stomach!"
http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/smile.gif

Sounds fun! How do you get one of these? http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/smile.gif

More related to the topic, I'm having a game this week-end and I intend to use my laptop to select the music I need at the right moment. I'll try to arrange the music so that it fits into several directories (one "standard", one "epic", one "scary", one "uh oh, we have a problem there", and so on ...). Some of them will only contain one or two songs (for specific moments in the game), others will contain a lot more for standard or long lasting scenes. Then I'll just have to drag and drop the right directory at the right moment ... should be simple enough to use while GMing ... couldn't find simpler actually.
I'll tell you how it went.