Music and ambience can immerse players into an RPG session. Spooky, dripping water in a cave will amplify the party's wariness against a creeping goblin horde, dissonant chords can tighten the claustrophobic pressure of a cargo spaceship soaring through a storm-filled nebula, and raucous chatter layered with crackling fires will illuminate the lively tavern and its rowdy patrons.
Even popular RPG gaming sites, such as Roll20.net, have a way to incorporate music and sound effects into the game. Many a times I've sat behind the DM's screen on Roll20.net only to drop a pants-poopingly scary monster growl when the party least expects it!
So it's no surprise that some DM's out there put together music/noise playlists for some of the RPG adventures that I've written...
BECAUSE I SEEN 'EM!
I worked with Jeff C. Stevens to create The Madhouse of Tasha's Kiss, which has a lot more madness and a lot less kissing than the name implies. As a creator, sometimes I search for liveplays/podcasts/reviews of the adventures I write. Inevitably for some searches, music playlists show up as well!
And it's kind of adorable!
Like, "I see you there, Sammi and midget1599, putting together your quaint little spooky nightmare songs to my adventure! Gosh it's just the darned cutest!"
And these things are all over YouTube!
Even Happy Jack's Funhouse, another adventure I wrote with Jeff C. Stevens, is getting a few playlists popping up of circus music:
So this got me thinking...
What is the ultimate The Madhouse of Tasha's Kiss tune? Is there one that's popping up on several playlists? Does she have a theme song that none of us know about?
Time to investigate!
BRING OUT THE USERS WITH PLAYLISTS!
After enough sleuthing, here are the top musical entries that were included on more than one playlist from the above listing:
(3) Ambient Creepy Music | Road Through The Dark Forest | Sad & Somber Background Music
So the winner goes to Creepy Circus & Carnival Music - Night at the Carnival! I can practically imagine the search keywords used to find that one! Heck, it works for me. But the honorable mention for the most unique video inclusion goes to Sophie Gonzalez, who included a 10 minute sound clip of some bastard chowing down on mac-and cheese:
Runner up for the honorable mention: what tone-setting, mood-filled playlist of background noise and battle music would call itself complete without the soothing timbre of Ted from Nerd Immersion reviewing the Bloodhunter 2020 update for an hour?
But the playlists don't end with my content. Other DMs Guild authors (and I guess some other people pffffft...) have playlists popping up as well. There's Goblin Stone's Banquet of the Damned:
And also The Haunt by PB Publishing:
So yeah, keep making these playlists! We love picking through them. I've noticed them several times in the past, and I've never seen anybody write an article or shoutout about this fine little phenomenon.
Kudos to all! And keep setting those moods!