More Ambient Music to Game by - John Carpenter

It has been an obnoxiously long time since I posted (almost a year?? I am filled with shame), and my overly-long list of "to-do list" has the next series "real" articles coming up, but in the meantime, here's something that compelled me to write.

In addition to being "Master of Late 20th Century Horror", movie director John Carpenter composed a lot of the soundtracks to his movies.

They had a minimalistic feel and are very successful at conveying a mood. Come to think of it, that was a point I made the last time I wrote about gaming music...

Keeping to another point from my prior entry: unless you (the DM) want the music to specifically prompt a connection in the players to a particular movie, say like...

• The Theme from Halloween
• Main Theme Reprise from The Fog

...You'd do well to look at some of his less recognizable work. You find A LOT of his work here John Carpenter's Music on Spotify

My Spotify Picks for John Carpenter Soundtrack Music

• Matthew Ghost Story from "The Fog"
• Wrong Flavor from "Assault on Precinct 13"
• Myer's House from "Halloween"
• Better Check the Kids from "Halloween"
• New Mexico from "Vampires"
• Valek's Portrait from "Vampires"
• Main Theme from "Escape from New York"
• The Bank Robbery from "Escape from New York"
• Descent Into New York
• Back to the Pod (version 2) / Crazies Come Out from "Escape from New York"

Beyond the Soundtracks

Though he hasn't directed a film since 2001, he released an album of original tracks called "Lost Themes" in 2015. Though it recalls his movie soundtrack work, I believe it's all original tracks. Some favorites for gaming....

• Night
• Vortex
• Wraith

Why Now?

The genesis of this writeup was learning that John Carpenter has a new album of original music due out April 15, 2016. But NPR has the entire album available for streaming right NOW. And it is GREAT for gaming.

John Carpenter - Lost Themes II

Ambient Music Suggestions

So it was the summer of 1982, and the first Champions game I ever ran was not going well. It was a new group of guys at the table that I had met from a 3x5" card that had been posted at the hobby store.

That was how we did it in old days, kids.

The feel at the table was very tentative--everybody was used to dungeon crawls (in 1982, Supers games were still something of a novelty in the RPG world). I was getting nervous that maybe this wasn't going to work. Then I tried something different: I put my cassette with the theme song to "Raiders of the Lost Ark" into the boom box and hit Play.

...That's right: a cassette in a boom box. Old School.

And all of a sudden, the mood changed. The "heroes" came alive. Players were physically punctuating their character's moves with a Superman-ish "fist in the air" takeoff. It was awesome.

Ever since then I have been a huge fan of ambient music. Whether it's at the table or even play-by-email, ambient music can be a really useful tool.

So in between SoG articles, I'll share some suggestions for ambient music that's available through Spotify, that might provide some oomph to your games.

My current preference is to look for tracks that are somewhat recognizeable, but aren't well known. I think that makes it easier to slot a particular piece of music into more varied circumstances. In other words, if you're playing Boot Hill, having The Imperial March in the background is probably more a hindrance than a help when it comes to providing a more immersive feel.

I also have been leaning towards music that has a "smaller" feel from an orchestration perspective, although that may be more due to the type of games I've been running / stories I've been telling lately.

For this first installment, I'll set the bar high with one of the more prolific composers of the 20th century.

Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975)

A Hollywood film score composer who worked a lot with Hitchcock and wrote the scores for the following movies (this is only a small sampling):

• Psycho
• Vertigo
• Citizen Kane
• The Day the Earth Stood Still
• Journey to the Center of the Earth

...And while he was at it, he also wrote a few things for The Twilight Zone. Here's a few samples of his work to whet your appetite:

Journey to the Center of the Earth Lost / Bridge / Gas Cave / Vines
If that's not a dungeon-delve track, I don't know what is.

The Day the Earth Stood Still Outer Space / Radar
Theremin in just the right amount.

The Day the Earth Stood Still Klaatu
Great background "tension" track.

Mysterious Island Escape to the Clouds
Steampunk.

Mysterious Island The Island

The Egyptian The Nile and Temple
Exotic without being distracting.

The Twilight Zone episode Where Is Everybody?:The Door

The Twilight Zone Where Is Everybody?:The Plea

Citizen Kane Rain
...Skulking!

Jason and Argonauts The Feast
The party started off so nicely...

Jason and Argonauts The Vase
Good "prepping for the finale" or the Big Reveal before it all goes crazy.

North by Northwest The Wild Ride

Note About the Links

If you have Spotify, you can paste these links into the search window in the Spotify app and go right to them.