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View Full Version : DM Help Seeking Theme Song for Upcoming Campaign



Gemini Lupus
2017-04-23, 09:01 AM
Greetings fellow Playgrounders,

I am starting a new campaign this week, that is two parts Agents of Shield, one part Indiana Jones, and one part Hell Boy, one part Buffy/Angel, all set in a Renaissance era, low magic fantasy world, and I wanted to find a theme song for the campaign to play at our session zero.

The trouble is, my knowledge of music is rather limited, so I turn to you, the Playground to help brainstorm ideas for a theme song.

If it helps, the Campaign is titled "Agents of Phoenix" totally not a blatant ripoff 😂

Jay R
2017-04-23, 09:40 AM
Agents of Shield.
Indiana Jones.
Hell Boy.
Buffy/Angel.
Renaissance era.
Low magic fantasy world.

I got nothin'.


The first thing that comes to mind is "I Can't Make Up My Mind."

Red Fel
2017-04-23, 09:46 AM
Greetings fellow Playgrounders,

I am starting a new campaign this week, that is two parts Agents of Shield, one part Indiana Jones, and one part Hell Boy, one part Buffy/Angel, all set in a Renaissance era, low magic fantasy world, and I wanted to find a theme song for the campaign to play at our session zero.

The trouble is, my knowledge of music is rather limited, so I turn to you, the Playground to help brainstorm ideas for a theme song.

If it helps, the Campaign is titled "Agents of Phoenix" totally not a blatant ripoff 😂

I think I've got one for you. It combines the sweeping epic grandeur of John Williams (Indiana Jones) with a dark but adventurous feel. It's called "Mars, the Bringer of War (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bcRCCg01I)," from Gustav Holst's The Planets. It has elements for villains, for triumphant army marches, great sweeps and dips.

And if it feels a bit too much like Star Wars, well, guess what inspired John Williams?

Spore
2017-04-23, 10:05 AM
Fantastical creatures and magic set in a modern setting with adventuring, tombs and such?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTHUhRA8wcE

edit: You should really tell us the general mood of the campaign rather than the parts of the story. Heroic? Mysterious? Dark and grim? Uplifting?

Berenger
2017-04-23, 10:44 AM
The soundtrack of the Solomon Kane movie?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdtwPOnE5HU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUDHGBPXfA4&list=PL85FC7C5C6039EA32

Waker
2017-04-23, 11:12 AM
Give that a listen and tell me that you can't see the opening credits in your head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u36IGHpWUgg

curious-puzzle
2017-04-23, 11:31 AM
I quite enjoy this one. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLUj9lFPU6s) There's a little bit of wub-wub and electronic right near the end, but that can also fit depending on the amount of mad "science"/technology you throw in there.

Kol Korran
2017-04-23, 11:32 AM
Music is.... very personal... It may mean one thing to a person, and a totally different thing for another...

I've tried many tracks and sound for my campaigns, and some went well, some far less...

That said, what you describe sounds like high adventure! My favorite music for such is Sky Titans, from Two Steps from Hell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV9VX3PhjwY).

RazorChain
2017-04-23, 01:20 PM
I don't know?

Preliator
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q6skxRLnsI

Gemini Lupus
2017-04-23, 08:40 PM
Fantastical creatures and magic set in a modern setting with adventuring, tombs and such?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTHUhRA8wcE

edit: You should really tell us the general mood of the campaign rather than the parts of the story. Heroic? Mysterious? Dark and grim? Uplifting?

Well, the story really doesn't have much to do with the information I've given, those are just the inspirations for the mood and themes of the story. It's basically an Agents of SHIELD game, with more fantasy elements.


I think I've got one for you. It combines the sweeping epic grandeur of John Williams (Indiana Jones) with a dark but adventurous feel. It's called "Mars, the Bringer of War," from Gustav Holst's The Planets. It has elements for villains, for triumphant army marches, great sweeps and dips.

And if it feels a bit too much like Star Wars, well, guess what inspired John Williams?

"Mars, the Bringer of War" is a bit too space-opera-y for what I want for this campaign, but not a bad suggestion.

These are all great picks, I've got a few days to figure things out, thanks for the start!

- Gemini Lupus

NecroDancer
2017-04-23, 08:49 PM
No rest for the wicked?

D+1
2017-04-23, 11:26 PM
Music is REALLY subjective, but how about:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izNsuTAdiV0


"Mars, the Bringer of War" is a bit too space-opera-y for what I want for this campaign, but not a bad suggestion.
You might sample "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" then, also from Holst's The Planets. It's less well-known and less over-used for spaceoperaish stuff. Also contains a few changes in pace and tone that make the whole thing sound very much like a movie soundtrack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz0b4STz1lo

Red Fel
2017-04-24, 10:19 AM
Hmm... Breaking away from quite-so-classical, then, how about the suite from the original Stargate movie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rybZKK0Wb80)? The opening has the leaping, boisterous themes of adventure (a la Indiana Jones), translating into motifs of mystery and wonder (fitting an Agents of SHIELD / X-Files sort of thing), in turn moving along into something dark and mysterious (a la Hellboy), circling back around to wonder with elements of triumph.

Alternatively, playing off of the idea of Holst's The Planets, you could pick a larger movement, and then a smaller portion thereof. For example, take Mussorgsky - no, not his classic Night on Bald Mountain, but his massive (and also classic) Pictures at an Exposition (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXy50exHjes), which gives you lots of pieces from which to choose.

Lvl 2 Expert
2017-04-24, 11:46 AM
Agents of Shield.
Indiana Jones.
Hell Boy.
Buffy/Angel.
Renaissance era.
Low magic fantasy world.


Sounds almost like an assassins creed game.

Aside from that, poeh, hard one. The first thing that really comes to mind is trying to find something from that rough period (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_music) that's appropriate, to bring across how different the game world is from modern earth. I'm not too well versed in that unfortunately, but maybe the first part of Vivaldi's fourth season (https://youtu.be/GRxofEmo3HA?t=32m48s)? Although there's probably not quite enough Mission Impossible in it...

Red Fel
2017-04-24, 07:31 PM
Another option altogether is to use a song that's just kind of nice, until it makes way too much sense in hindsight.

For example, let's say I'm running a campaign that starts being very slice-of-life mundane realistic. The PCs start by investigating the death, believed to be a suicide, of an artist. The setting gradually unravels at the seams, however, as the quiet community is slowly corrupted by otherworldly horror, starting from the artist's own work and gradually infecting the entire area, as the story goes from realistic investigation into Lovecraftian nightmare.

The theme song? Don McLean's "Vincent (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxHnRfhDmrk)."

Makes sense in hindsight, no?

oudeis
2017-05-03, 09:50 PM
Music is.... very personal... It may mean one thing to a person, and a totally different thing for another...

I've tried many tracks and sound for my campaigns, and some went well, some far less...

That said, what you describe sounds like high adventure! My favorite music for such is Sky Titans, from Two Steps from Hell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV9VX3PhjwY).
I was going to recommend the title track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHGgrb29hj4) from Michael Kaamen's score for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves but yours might be better.

Bohandas
2017-05-28, 07:24 PM
I think I've got one for you. It combines the sweeping epic grandeur of John Williams (Indiana Jones) with a dark but adventurous feel. It's called "Mars, the Bringer of War (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bcRCCg01I)," from Gustav Holst's The Planets. It has elements for villains, for triumphant army marches, great sweeps and dips.

And if it feels a bit too much like Star Wars, well, guess what inspired John Williams?

Was he also inspired by Chopin? The Imperial March, to me, sounds like a mix of Holst's Mars: Bringer of War with Chopin's Funeral March (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28sdV_DXSrU)

Thrudd
2017-05-28, 07:58 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyz_2DEah4o

"If you have a problem, if no one else can help, if there might be vampires or demons, and if you can find them....maybe you can hire the Agents of Phoenix"

Joe the Rat
2017-05-31, 10:33 AM
No rest for the wicked?Cage the Elephant? I can see the chorus working, though it might be a little rustic.


Alternatively, playing off of the idea of Holst's The Planets, you could pick a larger movement, and then a smaller portion thereof. For example, take Mussorgsky - no, not his classic Night on Bald Mountain, but his massive (and also classic) Pictures at an Exposition (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXy50exHjes), which gives you lots of pieces from which to choose.Hut on Fowl's Legs!

Save that one for the actual Baba Yaga encounter.

But going back to Holst, If Mars' "too close to the Star Wars theme because Williams was totally channeling it" is a little to, well, marchy, you could try Uranus, the Magician (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK_QkS6uZeE). You've got phases of grandeur, mystery, action, and a pinch of "sounds like it's going off the rails".



I've thought about getting some grand themes going, but I have yet to find a situation where Entry of the Gladiators or Yakety Sax doesn't describe player antics perfectly.