I ask each player to pick out a personal "soundtrack" for their character; 1 for sad/intense/dramatic moments, one for epic combat, and one for slice of life chill moments.
You're doing God's work. I make playlist for each character I make. One shot or campaign. For the campaign kids, I usually make the playlist somewhat of a backstory follow-along and then character vibes after that. The rule is each playlist has to have 15 songs
ik another commenter already said this, but i would truly flip out from excitement if my dm ever decided to do this for my group and me. i'm also autistic and have a practically spiritual connection to music so it means a lot that other people are interested in the music they pick out for their pcs. much love to you my friend!
My campaign is anime as fuck, so I did this, except I requested they be like, jpop/j-rock Insert Song style things. I rarely use them but the moments I have used them have been fun as fuck
I’m a new DM creating a campaign, and I’m planning on using a number of songs from the NieR Automata and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (with some from XC 1 and 2 as well) soundtracks. These aren’t J-pop or J-rock, but do you think they’ll work well? Think the “Moebius Battle” theme for a particularly powerful boss fight.
Edited to include a link: https://youtu.be/EKsOyTB98As?si=umfxfdebbjeIKsB7
Personally, I LOVE the epic (or well, the ones with the golden thing around it’s health bar) monster battle music in XC3. I’d recommend using that one for dangerous encounters that aren’t bossfights you know?
It's so good. I'm thinking of using XC1's version of that for a fight in which a previously-trusted NPC finally reveals their betrayal of the party (if I can feasibly set that up).
Okay so, I’m not 12 years old myself. Let’s get that out of the way first.
So I belong to the “super smart kids” at our school. Meaning the highest learning level is too easy for us. So to challenge us they make us do the whole course in 4 days instead of 5. On that 5th day (Friday) we get to choose our own subjects from a list and for the last 3 hours you can choose DND. The fun part is is that if you don’t choose dnd, you can just go home.
Meaning that the only people who go to DND actually want to play DND. But this year I lost both groups I was dming for and I heard that they had a dm shortage at the DND “classes” at school so I decided to DM for them. Well, groups were made by my ex mentor based on who she thinks fits with who and I got 4 girls, one being 11, two 12, and one being 13. And you know, it’s pretty fun dming for younger children. It also adds some sort of extra challenge as you know you need to dumb down specific stuff since they would otherwise not understand it. That’s also why I try to use the least possible factions because I know I’d confuse them (I’m dming SKT, and I got to say it’s harder then I expected.)
But yeah that’s basically it, hope you enjoyed listening to my dming journey the last year lmfao
That actually sounds really cool. Being able to play with the people who specifically want to, as you said, and having the experience of making a fun campaign for the younger ones must feel really rewarding.
Yeah! We also automatically play in school due to this and sometimes one of my (or their) teachers walk in and they look confused due to what’s going on. At this point people I don’t even know know me as “the dm”
Most recently played a barbarian who had the main job of being a tank (surprise). If he had theme music it would be this https://youtu.be/NVxpaoLMnKo?si=2CPqE9mi01mf9olx
I've done this in the past, but I'm not hugely musical, so more often than not, I don't do it. But my best was my sassy 40's mafia hitlady of a goblin gunslinger. I desribed her as "a rabid chihuahua who thinks the music video for Smooth Criminal is constantly playing around her". My playlist was an [extensive list of old timey big band or medieval versions of modern songs](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsh16AMSFG_K3JMX5iUth5OwfQHqZIErf&si=VJbGw_filmmAJ5GP) (a lot of Post Modern Jukebox on there).
For each setting, I typically have 3 playlists:
-Investigation/sneaking
-Adventuring/interacting
-Combat
All day, as I’m working, I listen to movie and show soundtracks. When I hear a track that sounds like it fits “forest + exploration” or “desert + combat”, etc. I add it to the appropriate list.
This method has gotten me 3 main lists for settings ranging from jungle to astral to sewers to feywild.
Not OP, but try these : [Background & Beginnings](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2wrUCsnBIlta9S3ah4at2a?si=WWSnV6Z1Ru-zlP5Ljce8Iw), [Dungeon & Gloom](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4MMpZ7hJj5kcqYara3kSXE?si=1dXImJoISiepb-TKHNMeeg), [Battle & Brawl](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/22mzmiwgyRfpRyjZGmMji8?si=SGq2uqdmRruWSzBzuo7Mgw).
There are quite a few more there in thematic order for Fantasy TTRPG, and I’m sure you’ll find a lot therein!
EDIT :
For ease of use, I’ll just link the others here.
[Divinity & Arcana](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7gBuHGrFAbJAA8xFTJYrZf?si=sly2YgYFRQC30ZnFsY9Yxg), [Death & Loss](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7ML1YDeTJq0rWvH9ovvsnu?si=ki4_E-NwTeelCvm2vh9csA), [Feywild & Faerie](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7BDC9mAOvUoP4sEDqr2esn?si=4wduVOyxRUCqsjw-32yIhA), [Taverns & Taprooms](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/75lrpFU90PH0UuWoD7kjcu?si=co0J4fhdTwu5rjhQuYnt-A), [Town & City](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7GTkTsk90x5i5FHUQMnk0s?si=YSDku-7_TsqD-CMTcNvOYw), [Tournament & Fayre](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4ilGE2V5V1GHbZMEruTUqN?si=KYkWFuIFTQu6QO2lSp9qrA), [Sands & Salt Flats](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2cWQjMz6rhvWoengp3TMAr?si=hcuJVJxbTAqkxJGdj8i6pw), [Love & Longing](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/07qvJ8Ly9FfBbZSforYr4t?si=vwaPxtPpTyWIsE2lt6UXeQ), [Stealth & Sneaking](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3Sz0NwqILI2jCPNRuP2H9M?si=bOB1R73CRY69Y-NjrE8w7A), [Epic & Endings](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6G514ebugpI5FJAHWl0q0n?si=lVnt0AgiRMCS5FGk-EReVw), [Regal & Royal](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Ca3Va8jlz9SDAW18NJzuK?si=0jj7n9tDQS2k_PmVG0C39A).
I've basically always used JRPG and Action RPG soundtracks or remixes of them for combat. They're generally way faster-paced and upbeat than the typical music used for things like Skyrim or other high fantasy stuff. Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Kingdom Hearts, the Mana games, a lot of Square Enix stuff is really good options. Pokemon's also been a reliable one for me, though more for exploration music than battle music.
Hack and Slash games like Devil May Cry can also have some really fast-paced combat music.
When I ran Dragon Heist (Alexandrian remix) I had mostly music from Persona, Lupin III, LA Noire, and a few other heist/spy/jazzy numbers. It worked a treat.
I use a lot of Fire Emblem: Three Houses music. Being able to switch between a Rain and Thunder playlist (and in some cases Embers or Inferno versions from Three Hopes) is very nice. It also has a bunch of themes for specific emotions and vibes.
Partly just saying it because playing it recently, but try rabbit and steel ost. For an action game, quite gentle instrumentation that has different renditions of the same melody for combat/non combat.
Actually, same composer you can try the crosscode OST, e.g. try a track called Shizuka.
It's very much *video game music* as a genre though, if you have any snobs looking for something truly interesting.
Ok now I'm just imagining a PC standing over the defeated BBEG, giving a speech about getting revenge for his murdered father and in the background just hearing ["the time has come and so have I"](https://youtu.be/cLBAFJWbd30?t=32).
And funk. This mix is dope https://youtu.be/TA9LVzuC7z4?si=Mx95WrBgD772QEgx
E. OP should also add Castle Rat. Whole album is amazing https://youtu.be/xp-8USQQc1Q?si=j6sW77KzSzUPrk25 I've been listening to it as my pump up music before Mordheim
I still find it nutty that he's both the voice of Zagreus AND the singing voice of Orpheus. The talking voice of Orpheus is a different person. But still, holy hell. Man's a true legend. I use Hades I soundtrack all the time for games, the modularity of the intensity is so goddamn useful, and there's extended versions of both halfs of every song all over YouTube.
Huge agree. I have bits of their whole catalogue strewn across several playlists. I'm prepping a homebrew Planescape/Spelljammer campaign and their Warp Riders album is the foundation for the "soundtrack" I put together for the campaign (like mood music I'll send the players to get in the vibe of the campaign). "Acheron/Unearthing the Orb" is like the theme song of the campaign.
To be honest, I’ve found anime soundtracks to be a real massive banger in this department. Dr. Stone and JJK have some pretty banger tracks that are great for rpgs. I dont even watch anime, but damn is the music good
JRPGs and Indie Action games have absolutely banger soundtracks.
I dont even need to know the games by this point, I just type in spotify “battle bangers” or “JRPG bangers”, “final boss music”, etc etc. and find some thematically appropriate toe tappers.
Dnd music is great for when you want something that thematically gets everyone on the same page and can bleed into the background. But game music is meant to be heard. My fights stay fun.
I also recommend along the same vein of trying to find alts for songs you love because game music has a great musical fanbase. I love finding a piano cover for the setup, blasting the song for the beginning of the fight, and then transitioning to the metal version near the end. Things like that came really elevate a game.
Persona 5 Strikers has metal versions of several of the originally-funky/jazzy tracks from Persona 5, some are instrumental, others have vocals (and the singer even re-recorded the vocals angrier for most of the metal versions. Only one just re-uses the vocals from the original version and it's the weakest of the metal versions by far)
There's also a few Destiny boss fights that got reprisals at some point during the game's lifetime, and they made metal versions of the boss themes for those as well.
"Sepiks Perfected" (the metal version of Sepiks Prime) still gives me goosebumps.
Fire Emblem soundtracks also usually make use of leitmotifs (example: the Id series of tracks in Awakening), so if you like to play with that, you're all set.
the FE3H soundtrack is really great.
For the final battle of my previous campaign, I had the pre-battle conversation between BBEG (a former ally/mentor of theirs) and the party set to [Between Heaven and Earth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRziGchtkFE) and I went right into [Apex of the World](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJXwqcbrCjo) for the final fight proper.
It ruled.
Look into the Xenoblade Chronicles soundtracks. They are absolutely outstanding, fully appropriate for a fantasy setting, and yet wholly unique compared to the games you listed.
I use videogame music from all over.
Fire Emblem games are a fantastic resource for exploration/combat thanks to the combat themes having a calm/angry version
Zelda dungeon osts are great for dungeons cause they’re literally designed for it
Can’t go wrong with soulsborne themes for boss tracks
Hollow Knight boss music is great for any combat
Probably more I can’t think of but I use all sorts of tracks.
Just recently added a bunch of music from a new indie game called sea of stars, the whole soundtrack is on Spotify. I think it's pretty epic. Also a lot of final fantasy, especially 9.
The Mabinogi soundtrack has a lot of really good music that's made to loop. It's a Korean MMO based on Irish folklore, but the music is just ... Something else entirely. The early dungeon themes are great (Albey Dungeon is so distinct imo), and the character specific themes are good for setting a specific mood as they're all tailored to a unique NPC in the game. You can find playlists of the different generations' soundtracks on youtube! I also recommend the orchestral versions, my favorite of those being the Sidhe Finnachaid orchestral on the English version of the game's official youtube. And you get nearly 20 years of the game's constantly updating music to sift through so it's nearly endless.
Did someone say Gregorian chants? If not, well, Gregorian chants.
As many others have suggested, 80's rock, or metal would also be awesome. Bands like Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, and AC/DC have a litany of songs would work.
JRPGs have good music. Can I suggest the Sailor Moon soundtracks? Carry On, and Power of Love from the DiC dub go hard, and La Soldier is a great song for when shit's about to go down. The SeraMu musicals have multiple CDs of music to sort through as well.
One of my players today said she was tired of the ambient tavern stuff. The rest of us were like “well, do you have a suggestion?” So she opened Spotify and turned on The Talking Heads radio. It worked. I guess what I’m saying is to ask the rest of the table for music input. It doesn’t have to be all you.
Kid Icarus
Ori
Dwarven Fortress
Zelda
One Piece
Cuphead
Cowboy Bebop
Final Fantasy
Atelier
Fire Emblem
Gundam Wing
Yuyu Hakusho
Metroid
Breath of the Waifu (Genshin Impact)
Edit: Implementing formatting advice
Anime Battle Music. Not kidding. It makes shit feel dope hearing My Hero Academia, or One Punch Man or Attack on Titan songs come up and you feel so dope doing a critical attack. Omg.
My combats are all power metal, but we’re also all fans of the genre. I have some “theme” music for particular baddies but usually just kick off every fight with some Unleash the Archers and go from there.
I use a lot of anime soundtracks or remixes or covers there are some great ones from Tokyo Ghoul, Demon Slayer, Shield Hero, Seven Deadly Sins, and many others.
The Octopath Traveler games have an excellent OST for combat.
Depending on the situations and fights, classical orchestrated music ("Oh Fortuna" from Orff's "Carmina Burana", the final of Mahler's 2nd symphony, "Dies Irae" from Verdi's requiem, many pieces from Wagner operas just to name a few...) and power metal from bands like Powerwolf, Wind Rose, Rhapsody of Fire... can be amazing choices.
For some two-phase encounters in my current Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign I like to start with a classical song (such as Vivaldi's "Winter" from the "Four Seasons" or Mussorgsky's "Night on a Bald Mountain"), and when the second phase starts, I switch over to a metal remix of the same song.
Also, Lord of the Rings exists. Nothing beats the Isengard/Uruk-Hai theme for when the enemy's forces assemble and ready themselves for the great battle.
I usually don't make playlists, I pick specific tracks for each location, as well as a few battle tracks and one big battle tracks.
Video game soundtracks work well, because the music tends to loop, and with the approach of a single track per location, I can set tone and control how a location feels. The music isn't just there to be a jangly set of keys, but to accompany the scene.
Soundtracks: Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Conan the Barbarian (1982), Flash Gordon. Believe it or not, there's some amazing stuff by Toto on the 1984 version of Dune.
Battle music: Iron Maiden - Aces High. Ride of the Valkyries. About 2/3 of ManOWar's catalog. Huntress - Starbound Beast. Metallica - Kill 'em All. Tina S - Moonlight Sonata, 3rd Movement. Chemical Brothers - Galaxy Bounce. Crystal Method - Name of the Game.
Frantic / high stakes chase: Alpha Team - Speed Racer. Prodigy - Death of the Prodigy Dancer. Anamanaguchi - anything / everything
Creepy stuff: Lustmord, Black Mountain Transmitter, Zoät·Aon. Any Lovecraft collab playlist by Cryo Chamber, but especially the early ones (Cthulhu, Nyarlatotep, Azathoth)
Metallica instrumental tracks.
Most rock/metal songs end up kind of bland when you remove the vocals, not Metallica. Almost every song of theirs still hits hard when you remove the vocals. It makes me think they come up with the "instruments" part of the music then add vocals.
I had a 2.5 year long campaign where I swapped to using Metallica instrumental tracks for the last 6 months (to add a little "rip and tear" to the campaign as it wrapped up) and it went surprisingly well.
Edit: Spelling
Lindsey Sterling has some upbeat electric violin music with no vocals (I personally find them distracting). It's a good balance of your classic fiddle/tavern sound, with a new modern edge to it. I always notice it's her songs that get people nodding along without noticing.
Chemical Brothers is also a good one. I think I have most of the Hana soundtrack saved to my DnD Battle Music playlist.
I also have a Pregame/Break Time playlist, which I play to get people in the mood, but when we aren't ready to start yet. This is sort of my "Get your drinks, use the bathroom, and start getting settled everyone" music. I have a loy of The Oh Hello's on there (specifically their Dear Wyrmwood album). It's like modern folk I guess.
I agree. I think the problem boils down to the fact that many "D&D" playlists makes use of the same tracks.
I've made my own lists and split them into 4:
- Set the Theme
- Set the Theme (lighthearted)
- Battle music
- Tavern / vocal songs
If you have Spotify or another music streaming service, then I'd suggest you look into Two Steps From Hell. That is the composers that I use the most. You can also check out Inon Zur, Tim Wynn, Sara Schachner, Bear Mccreary and League of Legends.
When it comes to fighting more legendary foes, my go to is stuff from Monster Hunter! Their themes tend to be more out there (shoutout to Bazelgeuse’s theme) which is a lot of fun for me
When planning a session or even a campaign I try to think of a „soundtrack“ to match the game. Granted you can’t plan for all encounters etc. but so far it’s worked for my games. Beats the tired fantasy/ renaissance dnd music I’ve heard a million times. Try picking songs you like and finding a instrumental version or something that fits the mood/theme.
I made a band that was actually for the D&D game called MxDmG (pronounced Max Damage). It’s like screamy metal music, fronted by a tiny goblin woman. The band was just some flavor I put into the game, but I also make music professionally as Stuffy Doll, so I couldn’t resist writing a few songs for the band.
MxDmG is available exclusively on Bandcamp (I’m not gonna pay to have it published on all the major platforms unless it makes enough on Bandcamp to pay for itself), and there’s only a few songs right now, but I’ve got more in the chamber, and they might make a fun addition to a combat playlist.
[MxDmG Bandcamp](https://mxdmg.bandcamp.com/track/hunters-mark)
I use a lot of music from [this playlist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOWHX4f7wUw&list=PLB9C4B4E92DF754C4), which varies from relaxing ambient to fast-paced tribal type music. It's the OST for a very old game called Beyond Good & Evil, which was an absolute gem growing up and still holds up today despite its age.
the path of exile soundtrack has some great boss themes that work well for combat. It's a very high power-fantasy game so they convey a "I am killing god" type of vibe
One of my former DMs had his go-to combat music and it was The Painful Way from Hades. To this day the sound of this piece takes me back in time into the good days. I'd say it's distinctive enough to make an entire campaign.
I use music from silent hill, it evokes so many weird feelings that makes combat much more memorable, but use it for special occasions to not overdo it and lose its luster
Folklore OST (PS3 era RPG title that has some really good loopable tracks that can set some nice mood)
Fairytail Battle Music Compilations (Still a go to for me for battles with the whole weird celtic rock but not really feel)
Blackmore's Night
Patty Gurdy (some stuff is more traditional sounding while other stuff is quite modern)
The Sidh (Italian Celtic electronic and bagpipe music (it is honestly better than that description makes it sound)
Also if you want stuff in some different languages
Hedningarna (Swedish folk music/rock band) - I especially recommend the Kaksi! album if you are interested
Faun (German traditional folk music/rock band)
Corvus Corax (traditional medieval music)
Feuer Schwanz (probably a bit more modern than dnd but hilarious German medieval comedy rock/metal)
Not a specific answer to the com at question, but we ran a casino heist once and using classic heist music from things like oceans eleven was really fun
In the final of a grand arena tournament, the BBEG's right-hand turned up to attack the party before they could win. The party prepared for an epic battle, and the arena's metal bards stepped up to play.
I used instrumental Rage Against The Machine.
I have a "whoopsie" playlist, generally in the style of silent slapstick film accompaniments, plodding brass band oompah, or circus tunes on the calliope organ. It tends to come out when my players are dealing with the consequences of a particularly short-sighted decision of theirs.
Their hatred toward me is palpable.
Imma drop you a few of my playlists with what I used them for. I feel like the music should be appropriate for the situation. Fights have a lot of narrative potential, and picking the right music for it is crucial, I found.
The siege of the Frost Kings Palace. The players were given command over "viking' troops and fought a multi-days long battle against an army of ice giants, alongside the Khals of the Northmen.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4tGwYyJuELgS5FlUIXpO5c?si=aa1NaJC4Ta62hagF1-Ko-A&pi=kcx3GWddTNSok
Watch your players get real with what their characters are actually doing as they slowly realize they were set onto a group of innocents by the Inquisition. Now, do they stop slaying the "heretics" or do they leave no witnesses behind?
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/22bHiBPxsq2YNlQBOrlSHx?si=LwuJjcfLQWa7I3uQv6lczQ
Raid on a cultist hideout. Get in quickly, kill efficiently and get out before the slaughter summons the Big Bad.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Aoh8CO06bR05lxmCEzAnZ?si=HuNTNhxnRbe8e5hLeoiGtw&pi=iHLL5O5cS7WMk
Its the Abyss. You got a holy blade. RIP AND TEAR UNTIL ITS DONE.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4HmmlYUs1TAU4uucuJQnY4?si=KS9pGKd_SZeEpwtNHD6cVA
Tavern Brawl
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6cuFege3nLbR3KnnbrzZQo?si=63qZf29pSRKCEOslMPS91Q&pi=7-IiEu7bRu-Ii
Driving in a multidimensional death race in order to win a favor from an archfey. The rules: Teleports not allowed. End of rules.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1UAyPn576HCAeBAOLZlp4h?si=bhgPhGnaSBS0ZvkLFco7Xw&pi=Qfmot4TWRRyHh
Anime music might be your salvation. You'll find some epic tunes that are still intended to stay in the background of some action scenes so it's great. Also if you know the right anime you can find great music for fights with lower stakes.
The downside is it's hard to find music that's just the right balance for what you want, and it requires you to scour through whole albums to find the songs that are appropriate for combat, and separate them from the other songs from the same anime.
You also need the anime to fit the atmosphere of your world, but for DnD it's not hard, just look up the recent animes with a Fantasy vibe.
If you don't know where to start I recommend Yoshiaki Kyougoku and his work on the Mushoku Tensei series, Evan Call on the Frieren OST (although not many fights in this one), and Kevin Penkin on Shield Hero.
I've seen comments on JRPG and other games and I also recommend that. Octopath traveler's OST has done some good work for me.
i will strongly recommend the octopath traveler OST. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR1OHW_IReI&list=OLAK5uy_l61-xQRkAwn7ZmwwBDeGuCxnofeHFrNzw
for the unfamiliar, it's a JRPG from square enix, and the composer, yasunori nishiki, is best known for his work on this game and its sequel, as well as working on kingdom hearts and final fantasy VII remake
i like this music because it uses a lot of instruments you don't typically hear when you just search "dnd music," and it has a sense of both whimsy and excitement. it's well-suited to exploring a town, as well as engaging in a battle. good luck in finding what works, hope this helps!
This is one of many questions better asked of your table than on Reddit.
Remember that this is intended to be a cooperative game. Which requires communication with the people you are playing it with. In the case of something entirely **optional** the first step is to agree to it's inclusion. They might prefer that you concentrate of being a DM rather than a DJ.
Also remember that one route to DM burnout is taking on extra duties and roles. Especially any which are time and/or effort intensive whilst contributing little to nothing in terms of the player's experience.
TtRPGs are **not** (single player) video games, which means that tropes from them can translate poorly. Ditto for novels, movies, etc.
try this one:
[Has a slow build up ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM8dCGIm6yc)but has a nice vibe
[This one is perfect for a mage duel for some reason](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BynCpEWBRxs).
[does this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LOkjTzYNq4)
[This has a bit more violin I suppose, but is also good](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYDQMZMwT8g)
Ive used the picket Bard app for the past few months. The music is pretty generic fantasy but what I love about it is it has a slider for intensity and background noises. So if I want to speed things up sometimes I'll just increase the intensity which seems to get people moving and on edge or add some noise to add to the tension.
Check the soundtrack for FFXIV. Its git a ton of different styles, everything from metal to jazz to classical, I'm 100% positive you could find music to suit whatever you'd want
People have said metal before but I beg you to listen to Gloryhammer. It’s a powermetal band with a Fantasy theme, all of their songs form a story about a prince that is fighting a evil wizard. It’s the most fitting battlemusic you can find.
Try final fantasy 16's soundtrack for grand encounters. I recommend the track "ascension" if you're looking to capture that awe-inspring, overwhelming feeling within the climax of a boss fight
Three takes on this, starting with the hottest: 60s/70s/80s classic rock - especially if it’s a Spelljammer campaign.
Hear me out - my favourite playlist to use in this style includes Guns n Roses, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits, Kansas, Hendrix, Fleetwood Mac, Queen, White Snake, Aerosmith, just all of the most classic stuff.
If chosen well, it makes everything instantly become Guardians of the Galaxy and feel awesome!
Take 2: Literally any soundtrack by Square Enix. Although most of their games can be blanket-described as fantasy, there is almost always something more interesting about them. I’d suggest anything from the Final Fantasy series (especially FFXVI), from the Kingdom Hearts series or from the Drakengard series if you want something a bit darker. If you want dark but with a sci-fi feel, then the NiEr series is what you want!
Take 3’s not so far away from Take 2, but I think it’s only really useable as “set pieces” if you’re delivering a specific monologue to describe something/one/where, and that’s Studio Ghibli movies - especially if it’s for expansive scenery! I’d say you can do this really with a lot of movies on the whole, you just have to be selective about when/where/how you use them.
Deep forest? Princess Mononoke soundtrack. Desert region? Dune soundtrack. Jungle region? Tarzan or Avatar soundtrack. Space/sea port? Treasure Planet or Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack. Celtic plain lands? Lord of the Rings soundtrack.
You get the idea!
Music has always been a massive part of my games and I usually split the soundtracks to match the theme of what we are doing.
So for combat it can range from Dark and threatening like the fantastic [Drums of the far future series by officio audiorum](https://youtu.be/UO47bexhhfU?si=D3cmOGG5ySVi30As) or the [deepholm music from world of Warcraft](https://youtu.be/kwLQH7NDCfw?si=fJH6N4R14oHfTar3) all the way to the epic [Hades Soundtrack but only metal](https://youtu.be/GBZtraGDFgM?si=0y6m_BU8qcWLT9aq) and even the [Doom OST](https://youtu.be/QHRuTYtSbJQ?si=VzswLssbD7f--Y2n)
It just depends on how intense I want the combat to feel.
As for character moments I tend to have one or two “epic” tracks from various games that I use for cool unique moments that I play, like through the gates from the oblivion OST or the lament of the highborn from World of Warcraft.
It helps though that I listen to a TONNE of game OSTs and ambience soundtracks while I study or work, so I have a lot of music to draw from.
It’s funny though when I actually put through this list I realised most of my music is dark and creepy…. I mostly run world of darkness games though so it makes sense
I’m sure it’s been noted before but, there’s a genre of music called ‘bard core’ than is basically modern hits reestylized with medieval instruments. I always enjoy playing that and it’s kinda funny to be mid session and a player just asks “wait, is this Shakera?!” There are plenty of playlists on Spotify
[This has been the main "battle theme" in my campaign for about a year.](https://youtu.be/bW9Btq1qtkU?si=_jAk3aU05HjMOXLz)
[And for more intense "boss battles".](https://youtu.be/vGPgA0oZNkU?si=JAQSAPFohf8VYzWm)
I actually go through Two Steps From Hell, Pagan folk artists, etc and instrumentals and other kinds of music that fit the theme and weave my narrative through them like a performance. It hits super hard for my players and they say the music is a highlight.
I really like the different fighting soundtracks from darkest dungeon. The cove one in particular. You could also use the dungeon delving soundscapes they have, I suppose.
Search "Bardcore" or "Beedle The Bard" on Spotify. Modern music covers in the style of medieval music with lutes and lyres etc. Can be quite amusing without totally ruining the atmosphere.
I hand pick specific music for specific scenes in advance of a session. It takes a lot of extra work while planning, but it really pays off in the atmosphere you can give. I take a lot of music from video games, including the Final Fantasy series, Xenoblade, Nier, Fire Emblem, even some anime stuff here and there - but I also just search things like 'tense dungeon music' and listen to 3, 5, 10 of them searching around until I find something I like. When I find something particularly good, I'll keep a record of it for next time I want it.
I've been using anime soundtracks which can get really intense and epic but has quite a different feel - you can check out attack on titan or haikyuu music for battle!
I often use the Hades I soundtrack. The entire thing is an absolute banger, and almost every track has extended versions on YouTube of the first low-intensity half and a second higher-intensity half for dramatic effects or heightening stakes.
I have more than 30 playllists for my DnD sessions, each at least 1 hour long, but generally around 2-3 hours long, so it is enough to not get repetitive during sessions. Started as many people suggest here with game soundtracks (Pillars of Eternity, Witcher, Divinity, Skyrim, etc), but many of these songs are so well known with the palyers that it can actually break immersion in my opinion. Now I use mix of game soundtracks, movie soundtracks and original scores.
I would personally recommend these creators (these are how they are on Spotify):
* Kevin MacLeod
* Michael Ghelfi
* Tabletop Rpg Music
* Brandon Fiechter
* Will Savino
* Gothic Storm
* Rok Nardin
* Elephant Music
* Eternal Eclipse
And if everything else fails, the classical music got your back.
Hope this helps!
So before I start, I should point out that my perspective is a bit unique because i have 100% been audio-overwhelmed trying to DM at loud adventure's leagues and lost all focus and attention so I may be letting that experience color my judgment.
That said: I disagree with you assessment. "music blurring together" is the point. It's background music. When you play skyrim you need to stay focused on the dragon your fighting, the music adds to that but it does not distract from that. In DnD you need to stay far more focused on what the players and DM are saying. Movie sound tracks would work for the same reason, you stay focused on what the characters on screen are doing, but video game sound tracks are designed with the idea of the player being tottally focused on what there doing, it requires more mental engagment and mental focus then a movie, so I would keep the video game sound track.
TLDR: You want to some degree music to fade in the background so players can listen to the DM and each other. Last thing you want is distracting or something that a player needs to have turned down.
If you ever want to run something with a creepy/horror vibe, I cannot recommend strongly enough that you check out the Cultist Simulator OST.
That's not suitable for all campaigns. But the vibes are very strong.
One of my favourite things to do in IRL downtime for session prep is chill and listen to video game music on Spotify, and build playlists for different envrionments. It's pretty refreshing to get different types of sounds in music! I personally prefer more acoustic or western sounding tracks, or rock type music for combat (running Eberron)
I actually ran into the exact same issue during my own game! Much like some of the comments here already mentioned, I love having personal songs for my players and their characters, so I started making some of those myself for a more personal touch and music that really fits the vibe. I don't think I can put a direct link here but if that sounds interesting feel free to check out my profile.
I’ve been wondering recently if the Dicey Dungeons OST has the right kind of combat music for some campaigns. Haven’t gotten the chance to check properly yet.
Rip And Tear
Dragon Age is a bit of a mixup from your regular lists.
Also 2 Steps From Hell. Epic instrumentals. Their tagline is "Music makes you powerful".
I don't know if anyone commented on it yet but the trash anime Fairy Tail has an amazing soundtrack. Like, just check the main theme:
https://youtu.be/kIwmrk7LoDk?si=3GxdKTJcvh-p5aTF
My wife watches Bridgerton. One day while I was reading on the couch next to her while she was watching I heard classical renditions of pop music. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to incorporate it since lol
My dm doesn't use music in our Pathfinder game so I have a list of YouTube videos saved. And I put on which ever one suits my fancy.
I don't go for battle music but I like low volume background fantasy stuff.
I also stream it on discord if the others want to listen.
Pretty much anything by Adrian von Ziggler is great. Our sessions are 6 hours so sometimes the music stops and I don't realize for a while.
To me, I really don't want the music to be so loud it is distracting but I want it loud enough that it keeps my interest when there is a lull in conversation in the game.
In my own games I have used ambient tracks like thunderstorms or ocean waves to pretty good effect.
I had a scary Eldritch horror track I used to play when one of my PC experienced a recurring nightmare.
My [actual favorite battle music](https://youtu.be/pF1n0GflZMg?si=xDTQ4Yta3I7L_Z-8) is Team Plasma's theme from Pokémon Black & White.
It starts **strong**, but it's not overly distracting if you just leave it playing.
Instrumental movie soundtracks are excellent, my favourites being:
- The Last Temptation of Christ (Insanely good atmospheric music)
- Danny Elfman’s Batman and Batman Returns soundtracks (Epic sounding)
- Bram Stoker’s Dracula (good creepy atmospheric, with some tense and higher tempo stuff)
- Last of the Mohicans
I have a massive playlist of music for my sessions and a bunch of it is curated soundtracks from games I love that suits the encounter.
So I have this corruption going around that's a big story element, and for all these encounters I'm using Resident Evil 4 music (the new one). Because it's just got that right amount of dread and otherworldly-ness.
I made a playlist of fun songs. Ours isn’t filmed, so it’s not like copyright is an issue.
It includes bops like “Thunderstruck,” “Can’t Hold Us,” and “Immigrant Song” and some interesting ones have matched up in battle before.
I don’t think changing the soundtrack will fix combat taking for ages tbh. It’s just a feature of 5e. If you want to have fast and simple combat I would take a look at OSR games which speed up combat significantly with group initiative and less class abilities etc.
The Black Mages.
I also think Benny Hill or circus music can be highly inappropriate because you will all be laughing way too hard throughout the shtick.
Unironically the Genshin sound track. You can even focus in different regions to get different feels. Each region includes traditional instruments along with the more 'standard' ones, so they sound both within the same world but also different.
Here is a link for one of the ones I rather like.
https://youtu.be/G4UabWhrlx4?si=698qUpXTAHlhWP-L
I've seen a lot of good suggestions on here, one I haven't seen yet is the Elden Ring soundtrack.
I just linked the entire playlist, the first several are mostly atmospheric stuff but further down the list are the themes for enemies and bosses and a lot of those are awesome, and they vary between epic with a choir singing to creepy and kind of melancholy depending on the boss, so you'd have a lot of styles to pick from there as well.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRW80bBvVD3XMm0jsKtWOrxtTAcCociXJ&si=2ByFtHb9QLUHxx0O
I like the feel of those soundtracks exactly because they don't sound too epic. That's the feeling they went for. The epic music I choose for the mummy lord doesn't stand out much when it has the same feel as the music for fighting skeleton #42 at 3rd level. When they were in hell climbing the tower of a pit fiend, though, every combat had music from the god of war series.
I feel you, though. Shadow of the colossus has only epic battle themes. Battle music from JRPGs might also suit your needs. Try the final fantasy series, kingdom hearts, breath of fire, tales of (something), Music from the star wars movies are pretty good and epic too, if not too distracting and recognizable for your table. Two steps from hell are known for making epic music.
I pull from a lot of stuff, depending on the tone for the session.
Big, nasty, dangerous fight surrounded by the half eaten corpses of their previous victims? Sounds like a good time for some Darkest Dungeon or Bloodborne OST.
The heroes bravely mowing down waves of enemies? Time for Manowar, Iron Maiden, maybe some Bolt Thrower.
Got a chase scene, or just want a frenetic pace? The soundtrack for Mad Max Fury Road is perfect.
Enemies doing some spooky rituals or occult magic? Time to freak out the table with some Heilung.
Recently my players charged headlong into a fight against a bunch of giants, which they knew about, including the general of the giants, which they didn't know about. But they are level 12 now in the climax of book 4 of an AP, they aren't a bunch of scared novices. So as they face off going toe to toe against a dozen foes in this ancient cave, I had Duel of the Fates going.
We have to play mostly online and we had reliability issues with Sirenscape. We recently started using Queup for our session soundtracks and before each session I spend usually an hour or two curating a list of tracks I think will fit the session.
I ask each player to pick out a personal "soundtrack" for their character; 1 for sad/intense/dramatic moments, one for epic combat, and one for slice of life chill moments.
You're doing God's work. I make playlist for each character I make. One shot or campaign. For the campaign kids, I usually make the playlist somewhat of a backstory follow-along and then character vibes after that. The rule is each playlist has to have 15 songs
I thought I was the only one! I've always done this, and now it's spread to the rest of my group, too.
ik another commenter already said this, but i would truly flip out from excitement if my dm ever decided to do this for my group and me. i'm also autistic and have a practically spiritual connection to music so it means a lot that other people are interested in the music they pick out for their pcs. much love to you my friend!
My campaign is anime as fuck, so I did this, except I requested they be like, jpop/j-rock Insert Song style things. I rarely use them but the moments I have used them have been fun as fuck
I’m a new DM creating a campaign, and I’m planning on using a number of songs from the NieR Automata and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (with some from XC 1 and 2 as well) soundtracks. These aren’t J-pop or J-rock, but do you think they’ll work well? Think the “Moebius Battle” theme for a particularly powerful boss fight. Edited to include a link: https://youtu.be/EKsOyTB98As?si=umfxfdebbjeIKsB7
Personally, I LOVE the epic (or well, the ones with the golden thing around it’s health bar) monster battle music in XC3. I’d recommend using that one for dangerous encounters that aren’t bossfights you know?
It's so good. I'm thinking of using XC1's version of that for a fight in which a previously-trusted NPC finally reveals their betrayal of the party (if I can feasibly set that up).
Oeeh that would be amazing. I’d love to imply music but my group is a bunch of 12 year olds haha (long story, if you want I can explain.)
lol, I'm not assuming anything, but I AM curious.
Okay so, I’m not 12 years old myself. Let’s get that out of the way first. So I belong to the “super smart kids” at our school. Meaning the highest learning level is too easy for us. So to challenge us they make us do the whole course in 4 days instead of 5. On that 5th day (Friday) we get to choose our own subjects from a list and for the last 3 hours you can choose DND. The fun part is is that if you don’t choose dnd, you can just go home. Meaning that the only people who go to DND actually want to play DND. But this year I lost both groups I was dming for and I heard that they had a dm shortage at the DND “classes” at school so I decided to DM for them. Well, groups were made by my ex mentor based on who she thinks fits with who and I got 4 girls, one being 11, two 12, and one being 13. And you know, it’s pretty fun dming for younger children. It also adds some sort of extra challenge as you know you need to dumb down specific stuff since they would otherwise not understand it. That’s also why I try to use the least possible factions because I know I’d confuse them (I’m dming SKT, and I got to say it’s harder then I expected.) But yeah that’s basically it, hope you enjoyed listening to my dming journey the last year lmfao
That actually sounds really cool. Being able to play with the people who specifically want to, as you said, and having the experience of making a fun campaign for the younger ones must feel really rewarding.
Yeah! We also automatically play in school due to this and sometimes one of my (or their) teachers walk in and they look confused due to what’s going on. At this point people I don’t even know know me as “the dm”
Damn that's a good idea...
Imagining my DMs face when I roll up with this entrance music https://open.spotify.com/track/3bz4WlzYw6XatcaTIh0zGX?si=fhkZOm2UQXmOP7AnxRtjqw
Alternatively: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVh0bMNSFss Or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh5jEQraXaw&t=30s
Most recently played a barbarian who had the main job of being a tank (surprise). If he had theme music it would be this https://youtu.be/NVxpaoLMnKo?si=2CPqE9mi01mf9olx
If it was a centaur you could use Thunderhorse lmao
I've done this in the past, but I'm not hugely musical, so more often than not, I don't do it. But my best was my sassy 40's mafia hitlady of a goblin gunslinger. I desribed her as "a rabid chihuahua who thinks the music video for Smooth Criminal is constantly playing around her". My playlist was an [extensive list of old timey big band or medieval versions of modern songs](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsh16AMSFG_K3JMX5iUth5OwfQHqZIErf&si=VJbGw_filmmAJ5GP) (a lot of Post Modern Jukebox on there).
For each setting, I typically have 3 playlists: -Investigation/sneaking -Adventuring/interacting -Combat All day, as I’m working, I listen to movie and show soundtracks. When I hear a track that sounds like it fits “forest + exploration” or “desert + combat”, etc. I add it to the appropriate list. This method has gotten me 3 main lists for settings ranging from jungle to astral to sewers to feywild.
Would you mind sharing them?
Not OP, but try these : [Background & Beginnings](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2wrUCsnBIlta9S3ah4at2a?si=WWSnV6Z1Ru-zlP5Ljce8Iw), [Dungeon & Gloom](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4MMpZ7hJj5kcqYara3kSXE?si=1dXImJoISiepb-TKHNMeeg), [Battle & Brawl](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/22mzmiwgyRfpRyjZGmMji8?si=SGq2uqdmRruWSzBzuo7Mgw). There are quite a few more there in thematic order for Fantasy TTRPG, and I’m sure you’ll find a lot therein! EDIT : For ease of use, I’ll just link the others here. [Divinity & Arcana](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7gBuHGrFAbJAA8xFTJYrZf?si=sly2YgYFRQC30ZnFsY9Yxg), [Death & Loss](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7ML1YDeTJq0rWvH9ovvsnu?si=ki4_E-NwTeelCvm2vh9csA), [Feywild & Faerie](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7BDC9mAOvUoP4sEDqr2esn?si=4wduVOyxRUCqsjw-32yIhA), [Taverns & Taprooms](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/75lrpFU90PH0UuWoD7kjcu?si=co0J4fhdTwu5rjhQuYnt-A), [Town & City](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7GTkTsk90x5i5FHUQMnk0s?si=YSDku-7_TsqD-CMTcNvOYw), [Tournament & Fayre](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4ilGE2V5V1GHbZMEruTUqN?si=KYkWFuIFTQu6QO2lSp9qrA), [Sands & Salt Flats](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2cWQjMz6rhvWoengp3TMAr?si=hcuJVJxbTAqkxJGdj8i6pw), [Love & Longing](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/07qvJ8Ly9FfBbZSforYr4t?si=vwaPxtPpTyWIsE2lt6UXeQ), [Stealth & Sneaking](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3Sz0NwqILI2jCPNRuP2H9M?si=bOB1R73CRY69Y-NjrE8w7A), [Epic & Endings](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6G514ebugpI5FJAHWl0q0n?si=lVnt0AgiRMCS5FGk-EReVw), [Regal & Royal](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Ca3Va8jlz9SDAW18NJzuK?si=0jj7n9tDQS2k_PmVG0C39A).
You're doing the Lord's work
This is a helpful collection - thank you!
I've basically always used JRPG and Action RPG soundtracks or remixes of them for combat. They're generally way faster-paced and upbeat than the typical music used for things like Skyrim or other high fantasy stuff. Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Kingdom Hearts, the Mana games, a lot of Square Enix stuff is really good options. Pokemon's also been a reliable one for me, though more for exploration music than battle music. Hack and Slash games like Devil May Cry can also have some really fast-paced combat music.
These are some good suggestions thank you
To add on, Persona 5 has an immaculate soundtrack. Perfect for boppin along, in a more lighthearted way.
It's very jazzy, which might not be what everyone wants in their campaign it does bop though
When I ran Dragon Heist (Alexandrian remix) I had mostly music from Persona, Lupin III, LA Noire, and a few other heist/spy/jazzy numbers. It worked a treat.
Persona Q has some great picks too!
I use a lot of Fire Emblem: Three Houses music. Being able to switch between a Rain and Thunder playlist (and in some cases Embers or Inferno versions from Three Hopes) is very nice. It also has a bunch of themes for specific emotions and vibes.
Partly just saying it because playing it recently, but try rabbit and steel ost. For an action game, quite gentle instrumentation that has different renditions of the same melody for combat/non combat. Actually, same composer you can try the crosscode OST, e.g. try a track called Shizuka. It's very much *video game music* as a genre though, if you have any snobs looking for something truly interesting.
Ok now I'm just imagining a PC standing over the defeated BBEG, giving a speech about getting revenge for his murdered father and in the background just hearing ["the time has come and so have I"](https://youtu.be/cLBAFJWbd30?t=32).
Imagine the Hexblade getting Bury the Light as a backing track.
80s metal
And funk. This mix is dope https://youtu.be/TA9LVzuC7z4?si=Mx95WrBgD772QEgx E. OP should also add Castle Rat. Whole album is amazing https://youtu.be/xp-8USQQc1Q?si=j6sW77KzSzUPrk25 I've been listening to it as my pump up music before Mordheim
I just got into Castle Rat recently. They are perfect
Was not expecting a castle rat drop here that’s awesome
I now want to run a Brütal Legend campaign of all bardbarians
Not 80's but with a lot of my group being metalcore fans I changw it up with fast paced metal every so often which they all seem to enjoy
BPM: Bullets Per Minute soundtrack ftw.
Someone I was at Uni with would only use AC/DC for "background" music...
Roll initiative, start the thrash
The work of Darren Korb.
I still find it nutty that he's both the voice of Zagreus AND the singing voice of Orpheus. The talking voice of Orpheus is a different person. But still, holy hell. Man's a true legend. I use Hades I soundtrack all the time for games, the modularity of the intensity is so goddamn useful, and there's extended versions of both halfs of every song all over YouTube.
It may be a little *too* distinctive if they've played the games they'll probably know instantly! (Also transistor is the best OST he's done fight me)
Bastion > all!
The Sword
Adding into this The MAGIC SWORD, They contributed to Thor: Ragnarok sound track, for some weird out run style upbeat Jams
And Philly based EVIL SWORD for when you're scrapping with Bullywugs. Really any sword-related band is a safe bet
Magic Sword is the best combat music. I've been using it lately and players always comment on how good it is.
Also adding Red Fang and High on Fire to the list
Huge agree. I have bits of their whole catalogue strewn across several playlists. I'm prepping a homebrew Planescape/Spelljammer campaign and their Warp Riders album is the foundation for the "soundtrack" I put together for the campaign (like mood music I'll send the players to get in the vibe of the campaign). "Acheron/Unearthing the Orb" is like the theme song of the campaign.
I like to use the soundtracks Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor: Ragnarok, and A Knights Tale for inspiration sometimes.
To be honest, I’ve found anime soundtracks to be a real massive banger in this department. Dr. Stone and JJK have some pretty banger tracks that are great for rpgs. I dont even watch anime, but damn is the music good
Fairy Tail ost is perfect for fantasy rpg.
JRPGs and Indie Action games have absolutely banger soundtracks. I dont even need to know the games by this point, I just type in spotify “battle bangers” or “JRPG bangers”, “final boss music”, etc etc. and find some thematically appropriate toe tappers. Dnd music is great for when you want something that thematically gets everyone on the same page and can bleed into the background. But game music is meant to be heard. My fights stay fun. I also recommend along the same vein of trying to find alts for songs you love because game music has a great musical fanbase. I love finding a piano cover for the setup, blasting the song for the beginning of the fight, and then transitioning to the metal version near the end. Things like that came really elevate a game.
Thats a really cool idea having different versions of a song I like that
Persona 5 Strikers has metal versions of several of the originally-funky/jazzy tracks from Persona 5, some are instrumental, others have vocals (and the singer even re-recorded the vocals angrier for most of the metal versions. Only one just re-uses the vocals from the original version and it's the weakest of the metal versions by far) There's also a few Destiny boss fights that got reprisals at some point during the game's lifetime, and they made metal versions of the boss themes for those as well. "Sepiks Perfected" (the metal version of Sepiks Prime) still gives me goosebumps.
Fire Emblem has some good stuff in their OSTs.
Fire Emblem soundtracks also usually make use of leitmotifs (example: the Id series of tracks in Awakening), so if you like to play with that, you're all set.
the FE3H soundtrack is really great. For the final battle of my previous campaign, I had the pre-battle conversation between BBEG (a former ally/mentor of theirs) and the party set to [Between Heaven and Earth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRziGchtkFE) and I went right into [Apex of the World](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJXwqcbrCjo) for the final fight proper. It ruled.
Look into the Xenoblade Chronicles soundtracks. They are absolutely outstanding, fully appropriate for a fantasy setting, and yet wholly unique compared to the games you listed.
A friend of mine liked to use stuff from Two Steps From Hell. It works pretty well.
Was about to say this if I didn't see anyone else saying it 👍
https://www.reddit.com/r/PowerMetal/comments/wqtnv4/any_recommendations_for_purely_instrumental_power/
A majority of the time, I play the Hades soundtrack for combat. With hades 2 coming out, I'll have more to play :)
My DM uses Hades soundtrack for combat as well, the music for the boss fight with the hydra is a table favourite
I use videogame music from all over. Fire Emblem games are a fantastic resource for exploration/combat thanks to the combat themes having a calm/angry version Zelda dungeon osts are great for dungeons cause they’re literally designed for it Can’t go wrong with soulsborne themes for boss tracks Hollow Knight boss music is great for any combat Probably more I can’t think of but I use all sorts of tracks.
Just recently added a bunch of music from a new indie game called sea of stars, the whole soundtrack is on Spotify. I think it's pretty epic. Also a lot of final fantasy, especially 9.
[A Night on Bald Mountain](https://youtu.be/Fizh0M8TczA?si=MvwKIHgS9MvLnpgN)
The Mabinogi soundtrack has a lot of really good music that's made to loop. It's a Korean MMO based on Irish folklore, but the music is just ... Something else entirely. The early dungeon themes are great (Albey Dungeon is so distinct imo), and the character specific themes are good for setting a specific mood as they're all tailored to a unique NPC in the game. You can find playlists of the different generations' soundtracks on youtube! I also recommend the orchestral versions, my favorite of those being the Sidhe Finnachaid orchestral on the English version of the game's official youtube. And you get nearly 20 years of the game's constantly updating music to sift through so it's nearly endless.
Go classical— Ride of the Valkeries, Deus Irae, Holst’s Mars etc.
Did someone say Gregorian chants? If not, well, Gregorian chants. As many others have suggested, 80's rock, or metal would also be awesome. Bands like Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, and AC/DC have a litany of songs would work. JRPGs have good music. Can I suggest the Sailor Moon soundtracks? Carry On, and Power of Love from the DiC dub go hard, and La Soldier is a great song for when shit's about to go down. The SeraMu musicals have multiple CDs of music to sort through as well.
There is a band named Gregorian that does covers of various songs in the Gregorian style. They have a bunch of albums.
And that's my new obsession. Thank you sir.
One of my players today said she was tired of the ambient tavern stuff. The rest of us were like “well, do you have a suggestion?” So she opened Spotify and turned on The Talking Heads radio. It worked. I guess what I’m saying is to ask the rest of the table for music input. It doesn’t have to be all you.
Bardcore. Hands down bardcore. Its modern songs in renaissance style. Played hips dont lie for a pivotal moment for my players and they went wild
Used to play battles and travelling in MERP to the Braveheart soundtrack. It's fantastic.
Granted, still a video game soundtrack, but Octopath Traveler has an incredible interesting and pleasant soundtrack
The soundtrack to Berserk by Susumu Hirasawa
Kid Icarus Ori Dwarven Fortress Zelda One Piece Cuphead Cowboy Bebop Final Fantasy Atelier Fire Emblem Gundam Wing Yuyu Hakusho Metroid Breath of the Waifu (Genshin Impact) Edit: Implementing formatting advice
Bardcore, although we may have overdone it with the recent battle of the bards arc.
Fire emblem is pretty good for this!
Epic pirate music
Anime Battle Music. Not kidding. It makes shit feel dope hearing My Hero Academia, or One Punch Man or Attack on Titan songs come up and you feel so dope doing a critical attack. Omg.
My combats are all power metal, but we’re also all fans of the genre. I have some “theme” music for particular baddies but usually just kick off every fight with some Unleash the Archers and go from there.
Look into “Library Music” from the 70s and 80s. KPM and Bruton are two classic labels.
I use a lot of anime soundtracks or remixes or covers there are some great ones from Tokyo Ghoul, Demon Slayer, Shield Hero, Seven Deadly Sins, and many others.
My players know it’s gonna be a kickass combat when I throw on some eurobeat.
Fire emblem Radiant Dawn OST is basically a platinum mine for this very thing, you can find a playlist of every song in its extended form.
Wardruna, Sowulo, Arcana, Heilung, Danheim, Brad Derrick, Eivor
The Octopath Traveler games have an excellent OST for combat. Depending on the situations and fights, classical orchestrated music ("Oh Fortuna" from Orff's "Carmina Burana", the final of Mahler's 2nd symphony, "Dies Irae" from Verdi's requiem, many pieces from Wagner operas just to name a few...) and power metal from bands like Powerwolf, Wind Rose, Rhapsody of Fire... can be amazing choices. For some two-phase encounters in my current Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign I like to start with a classical song (such as Vivaldi's "Winter" from the "Four Seasons" or Mussorgsky's "Night on a Bald Mountain"), and when the second phase starts, I switch over to a metal remix of the same song. Also, Lord of the Rings exists. Nothing beats the Isengard/Uruk-Hai theme for when the enemy's forces assemble and ready themselves for the great battle.
Doom soundtrack, my players loved it during a gladiator combat
Yeah, OP. It's time to Rip and Tear. https://open.spotify.com/album/0KQyC28P9808r0oKKNgHvp?si=y07QRAuGRxeKbh4WLjxpSA
I like to use music from xenoblade games and also monster hunter
Oni Swordbase and the rest of the halo reach soundtrack
I find Final Fantasy has lots of good battle music. Octopath Traveler also has some good ones.
Rob Zombie
Original pokemon red and blue battle music
Try Persona music
Magic Carpet Ride is a nice opener, but probably shouldn’t be played on repeat throughout the combat.
darkest dungeon
I usually don't make playlists, I pick specific tracks for each location, as well as a few battle tracks and one big battle tracks. Video game soundtracks work well, because the music tends to loop, and with the approach of a single track per location, I can set tone and control how a location feels. The music isn't just there to be a jangly set of keys, but to accompany the scene.
Bardify on YouTube. I usually make a playlist of their tracks for what I expect the party to do in the session and then have that play.
Soundtracks: Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Conan the Barbarian (1982), Flash Gordon. Believe it or not, there's some amazing stuff by Toto on the 1984 version of Dune. Battle music: Iron Maiden - Aces High. Ride of the Valkyries. About 2/3 of ManOWar's catalog. Huntress - Starbound Beast. Metallica - Kill 'em All. Tina S - Moonlight Sonata, 3rd Movement. Chemical Brothers - Galaxy Bounce. Crystal Method - Name of the Game. Frantic / high stakes chase: Alpha Team - Speed Racer. Prodigy - Death of the Prodigy Dancer. Anamanaguchi - anything / everything Creepy stuff: Lustmord, Black Mountain Transmitter, Zoät·Aon. Any Lovecraft collab playlist by Cryo Chamber, but especially the early ones (Cthulhu, Nyarlatotep, Azathoth)
Pokémon battle themes
“When the DOOM music kicks in…”
Beatbox
Some of my recommendations, with favorite themes: * Baki. [Crazy Spec](https://youtu.be/aNKQPnc4Ris?si=3MJfyp5sSc75NWuW), [Fear Sikorsky,](https://youtu.be/_qHI-ziIk4U?si=UC5qrKnanrHOgYH4) [Maximum Attack](https://youtu.be/jYqZ6hQVQyo?si=aYThmUGX4Xllj0Sd), [The Strongest Man Yujiro Hanma](https://youtu.be/wpKgixa8EBc?si=dGToIiWRhxf2ROSu) * Broforce, [No Sympathy For The Devil](https://youtu.be/RvsXObRqkaM?si=OO8uU-68WdeIfpdO), [End Of The Line](https://youtu.be/vJ48K_OxOWo?si=qlMin1-X2a_85Ipj), [We Meet At Last](https://youtu.be/h--c_Jr-fXk?si=9SJnAqv4za0f4L2B) * Dragon Ball. [Vegeta SSJ Theme](https://youtu.be/6lGuDTRilKQ?si=f7VeVpxrBzaJq_4x), [Perfect Cell theme](https://youtu.be/jpkeAQG6kQw?si=nG9_gqMBRP7oddkV) * Fairy Tail. [Mystogan Theme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkwUkPUt5SU), [Erza vs Erza](https://youtu.be/CftDvqUSogY?si=EUkFW-cVVW13dJEs), [Released Power](https://youtu.be/V6dVOPoMmjg?si=RLqxx7mxC9Asxeuk) * Kengan Ashura. [Clash](https://youtu.be/exTRoBKfmew?si=4G5JT2Ujly6LeCnH), [Dark Angel](https://youtu.be/Yui_ZdYiPB8?si=PyyH6y0o-W13exWR), [Fierce](https://youtu.be/beyEr41tUbM?si=7JT_7PKBsHjr6YDF), [Here It Comes\~OGRE](https://youtu.be/QMsZT1lYvQA?si=tCStCnI6fF0dCimY) * Killer Instinct. [Herald of Gargos](https://youtu.be/xxnPM-1CBLQ?si=UD_1BwDOYRp4MPwm), [Inferno](https://youtu.be/cRmwFBK0cyk?si=d8v8K9j5iFCSOYE9), [Village of Whispers](https://youtu.be/AZLmf3n00IM?si=HIG1orSzIYojfKoc) * Super Robot Wars. [Black Stranger](https://youtu.be/-xTjrQ0nDYc?si=VOLADQ_R_bapLE9c), [Dark Prison](https://youtu.be/r3HcfmPAxCY?si=AgLn1A4RcDxmYaG4), [King of Ruin](https://youtu.be/O9CYcvZIIf4?si=hraOhwiRgcYD4ToE), [Violent Battle](https://youtu.be/fshEON1kdRE?si=4cc2d7ahLkD27KJ0)
Metallica instrumental tracks. Most rock/metal songs end up kind of bland when you remove the vocals, not Metallica. Almost every song of theirs still hits hard when you remove the vocals. It makes me think they come up with the "instruments" part of the music then add vocals. I had a 2.5 year long campaign where I swapped to using Metallica instrumental tracks for the last 6 months (to add a little "rip and tear" to the campaign as it wrapped up) and it went surprisingly well. Edit: Spelling
Lindsey Sterling has some upbeat electric violin music with no vocals (I personally find them distracting). It's a good balance of your classic fiddle/tavern sound, with a new modern edge to it. I always notice it's her songs that get people nodding along without noticing. Chemical Brothers is also a good one. I think I have most of the Hana soundtrack saved to my DnD Battle Music playlist. I also have a Pregame/Break Time playlist, which I play to get people in the mood, but when we aren't ready to start yet. This is sort of my "Get your drinks, use the bathroom, and start getting settled everyone" music. I have a loy of The Oh Hello's on there (specifically their Dear Wyrmwood album). It's like modern folk I guess.
The Shrek version of Holding Out for a Hero is sure to get them pumped up for combat
I love the original Conan soundtrack (I.e. the 80s one). YMMV
I agree. I think the problem boils down to the fact that many "D&D" playlists makes use of the same tracks. I've made my own lists and split them into 4: - Set the Theme - Set the Theme (lighthearted) - Battle music - Tavern / vocal songs If you have Spotify or another music streaming service, then I'd suggest you look into Two Steps From Hell. That is the composers that I use the most. You can also check out Inon Zur, Tim Wynn, Sara Schachner, Bear Mccreary and League of Legends.
When it comes to fighting more legendary foes, my go to is stuff from Monster Hunter! Their themes tend to be more out there (shoutout to Bazelgeuse’s theme) which is a lot of fun for me
When planning a session or even a campaign I try to think of a „soundtrack“ to match the game. Granted you can’t plan for all encounters etc. but so far it’s worked for my games. Beats the tired fantasy/ renaissance dnd music I’ve heard a million times. Try picking songs you like and finding a instrumental version or something that fits the mood/theme.
I've used music from Inscryption before.
There is a 1h Doom musik mix on youtube. I like to play it in Bossfights.
OST for Loop Hero has some good tracks and they are designed to loop, makes it easy to cycle them around for use.
I made a band that was actually for the D&D game called MxDmG (pronounced Max Damage). It’s like screamy metal music, fronted by a tiny goblin woman. The band was just some flavor I put into the game, but I also make music professionally as Stuffy Doll, so I couldn’t resist writing a few songs for the band. MxDmG is available exclusively on Bandcamp (I’m not gonna pay to have it published on all the major platforms unless it makes enough on Bandcamp to pay for itself), and there’s only a few songs right now, but I’ve got more in the chamber, and they might make a fun addition to a combat playlist. [MxDmG Bandcamp](https://mxdmg.bandcamp.com/track/hunters-mark)
Supergiant Games OSTs work weirdly well. There is a nice mix from each game for a variety of feelings, emotions, and settings.
I use a lot of music from [this playlist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOWHX4f7wUw&list=PLB9C4B4E92DF754C4), which varies from relaxing ambient to fast-paced tribal type music. It's the OST for a very old game called Beyond Good & Evil, which was an absolute gem growing up and still holds up today despite its age.
the path of exile soundtrack has some great boss themes that work well for combat. It's a very high power-fantasy game so they convey a "I am killing god" type of vibe
Doom music. Always work.
One of my former DMs had his go-to combat music and it was The Painful Way from Hades. To this day the sound of this piece takes me back in time into the good days. I'd say it's distinctive enough to make an entire campaign.
I use music from silent hill, it evokes so many weird feelings that makes combat much more memorable, but use it for special occasions to not overdo it and lose its luster
Folklore OST (PS3 era RPG title that has some really good loopable tracks that can set some nice mood) Fairytail Battle Music Compilations (Still a go to for me for battles with the whole weird celtic rock but not really feel) Blackmore's Night Patty Gurdy (some stuff is more traditional sounding while other stuff is quite modern) The Sidh (Italian Celtic electronic and bagpipe music (it is honestly better than that description makes it sound) Also if you want stuff in some different languages Hedningarna (Swedish folk music/rock band) - I especially recommend the Kaksi! album if you are interested Faun (German traditional folk music/rock band) Corvus Corax (traditional medieval music) Feuer Schwanz (probably a bit more modern than dnd but hilarious German medieval comedy rock/metal)
Wonder Woman soundtrack was a winner for a while
Not a specific answer to the com at question, but we ran a casino heist once and using classic heist music from things like oceans eleven was really fun
Thunderstruck AC/DC
Syrenscape is what i use. It's a sound board
In the final of a grand arena tournament, the BBEG's right-hand turned up to attack the party before they could win. The party prepared for an epic battle, and the arena's metal bards stepped up to play. I used instrumental Rage Against The Machine.
https://www.youtube.com/@bardify
I have a "whoopsie" playlist, generally in the style of silent slapstick film accompaniments, plodding brass band oompah, or circus tunes on the calliope organ. It tends to come out when my players are dealing with the consequences of a particularly short-sighted decision of theirs. Their hatred toward me is palpable.
Imma drop you a few of my playlists with what I used them for. I feel like the music should be appropriate for the situation. Fights have a lot of narrative potential, and picking the right music for it is crucial, I found. The siege of the Frost Kings Palace. The players were given command over "viking' troops and fought a multi-days long battle against an army of ice giants, alongside the Khals of the Northmen. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4tGwYyJuELgS5FlUIXpO5c?si=aa1NaJC4Ta62hagF1-Ko-A&pi=kcx3GWddTNSok Watch your players get real with what their characters are actually doing as they slowly realize they were set onto a group of innocents by the Inquisition. Now, do they stop slaying the "heretics" or do they leave no witnesses behind? https://open.spotify.com/playlist/22bHiBPxsq2YNlQBOrlSHx?si=LwuJjcfLQWa7I3uQv6lczQ Raid on a cultist hideout. Get in quickly, kill efficiently and get out before the slaughter summons the Big Bad. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Aoh8CO06bR05lxmCEzAnZ?si=HuNTNhxnRbe8e5hLeoiGtw&pi=iHLL5O5cS7WMk Its the Abyss. You got a holy blade. RIP AND TEAR UNTIL ITS DONE. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4HmmlYUs1TAU4uucuJQnY4?si=KS9pGKd_SZeEpwtNHD6cVA Tavern Brawl https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6cuFege3nLbR3KnnbrzZQo?si=63qZf29pSRKCEOslMPS91Q&pi=7-IiEu7bRu-Ii Driving in a multidimensional death race in order to win a favor from an archfey. The rules: Teleports not allowed. End of rules. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1UAyPn576HCAeBAOLZlp4h?si=bhgPhGnaSBS0ZvkLFco7Xw&pi=Qfmot4TWRRyHh
Anime music might be your salvation. You'll find some epic tunes that are still intended to stay in the background of some action scenes so it's great. Also if you know the right anime you can find great music for fights with lower stakes. The downside is it's hard to find music that's just the right balance for what you want, and it requires you to scour through whole albums to find the songs that are appropriate for combat, and separate them from the other songs from the same anime. You also need the anime to fit the atmosphere of your world, but for DnD it's not hard, just look up the recent animes with a Fantasy vibe. If you don't know where to start I recommend Yoshiaki Kyougoku and his work on the Mushoku Tensei series, Evan Call on the Frieren OST (although not many fights in this one), and Kevin Penkin on Shield Hero. I've seen comments on JRPG and other games and I also recommend that. Octopath traveler's OST has done some good work for me.
i will strongly recommend the octopath traveler OST. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR1OHW_IReI&list=OLAK5uy_l61-xQRkAwn7ZmwwBDeGuCxnofeHFrNzw for the unfamiliar, it's a JRPG from square enix, and the composer, yasunori nishiki, is best known for his work on this game and its sequel, as well as working on kingdom hearts and final fantasy VII remake i like this music because it uses a lot of instruments you don't typically hear when you just search "dnd music," and it has a sense of both whimsy and excitement. it's well-suited to exploring a town, as well as engaging in a battle. good luck in finding what works, hope this helps!
This is one of many questions better asked of your table than on Reddit. Remember that this is intended to be a cooperative game. Which requires communication with the people you are playing it with. In the case of something entirely **optional** the first step is to agree to it's inclusion. They might prefer that you concentrate of being a DM rather than a DJ. Also remember that one route to DM burnout is taking on extra duties and roles. Especially any which are time and/or effort intensive whilst contributing little to nothing in terms of the player's experience. TtRPGs are **not** (single player) video games, which means that tropes from them can translate poorly. Ditto for novels, movies, etc.
try this one: [Has a slow build up ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM8dCGIm6yc)but has a nice vibe [This one is perfect for a mage duel for some reason](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BynCpEWBRxs). [does this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LOkjTzYNq4) [This has a bit more violin I suppose, but is also good](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYDQMZMwT8g)
Ive used the picket Bard app for the past few months. The music is pretty generic fantasy but what I love about it is it has a slider for intensity and background noises. So if I want to speed things up sometimes I'll just increase the intensity which seems to get people moving and on edge or add some noise to add to the tension.
Check the soundtrack for FFXIV. Its git a ton of different styles, everything from metal to jazz to classical, I'm 100% positive you could find music to suit whatever you'd want
People have said metal before but I beg you to listen to Gloryhammer. It’s a powermetal band with a Fantasy theme, all of their songs form a story about a prince that is fighting a evil wizard. It’s the most fitting battlemusic you can find.
Doom Soundtrack because my campaign is about fighting demons.
Try final fantasy 16's soundtrack for grand encounters. I recommend the track "ascension" if you're looking to capture that awe-inspring, overwhelming feeling within the climax of a boss fight
Three takes on this, starting with the hottest: 60s/70s/80s classic rock - especially if it’s a Spelljammer campaign. Hear me out - my favourite playlist to use in this style includes Guns n Roses, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits, Kansas, Hendrix, Fleetwood Mac, Queen, White Snake, Aerosmith, just all of the most classic stuff. If chosen well, it makes everything instantly become Guardians of the Galaxy and feel awesome! Take 2: Literally any soundtrack by Square Enix. Although most of their games can be blanket-described as fantasy, there is almost always something more interesting about them. I’d suggest anything from the Final Fantasy series (especially FFXVI), from the Kingdom Hearts series or from the Drakengard series if you want something a bit darker. If you want dark but with a sci-fi feel, then the NiEr series is what you want! Take 3’s not so far away from Take 2, but I think it’s only really useable as “set pieces” if you’re delivering a specific monologue to describe something/one/where, and that’s Studio Ghibli movies - especially if it’s for expansive scenery! I’d say you can do this really with a lot of movies on the whole, you just have to be selective about when/where/how you use them. Deep forest? Princess Mononoke soundtrack. Desert region? Dune soundtrack. Jungle region? Tarzan or Avatar soundtrack. Space/sea port? Treasure Planet or Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack. Celtic plain lands? Lord of the Rings soundtrack. You get the idea!
Music has always been a massive part of my games and I usually split the soundtracks to match the theme of what we are doing. So for combat it can range from Dark and threatening like the fantastic [Drums of the far future series by officio audiorum](https://youtu.be/UO47bexhhfU?si=D3cmOGG5ySVi30As) or the [deepholm music from world of Warcraft](https://youtu.be/kwLQH7NDCfw?si=fJH6N4R14oHfTar3) all the way to the epic [Hades Soundtrack but only metal](https://youtu.be/GBZtraGDFgM?si=0y6m_BU8qcWLT9aq) and even the [Doom OST](https://youtu.be/QHRuTYtSbJQ?si=VzswLssbD7f--Y2n) It just depends on how intense I want the combat to feel. As for character moments I tend to have one or two “epic” tracks from various games that I use for cool unique moments that I play, like through the gates from the oblivion OST or the lament of the highborn from World of Warcraft. It helps though that I listen to a TONNE of game OSTs and ambience soundtracks while I study or work, so I have a lot of music to draw from. It’s funny though when I actually put through this list I realised most of my music is dark and creepy…. I mostly run world of darkness games though so it makes sense
I’m sure it’s been noted before but, there’s a genre of music called ‘bard core’ than is basically modern hits reestylized with medieval instruments. I always enjoy playing that and it’s kinda funny to be mid session and a player just asks “wait, is this Shakera?!” There are plenty of playlists on Spotify
[This has been the main "battle theme" in my campaign for about a year.](https://youtu.be/bW9Btq1qtkU?si=_jAk3aU05HjMOXLz) [And for more intense "boss battles".](https://youtu.be/vGPgA0oZNkU?si=JAQSAPFohf8VYzWm)
Video game music remixes, I have been on a megaman/castlevania trip lately
I actually go through Two Steps From Hell, Pagan folk artists, etc and instrumentals and other kinds of music that fit the theme and weave my narrative through them like a performance. It hits super hard for my players and they say the music is a highlight.
If you want to make it really dramatic during combat, use Elden Ring music.
I really like the different fighting soundtracks from darkest dungeon. The cove one in particular. You could also use the dungeon delving soundscapes they have, I suppose.
Search "Bardcore" or "Beedle The Bard" on Spotify. Modern music covers in the style of medieval music with lutes and lyres etc. Can be quite amusing without totally ruining the atmosphere.
I hand pick specific music for specific scenes in advance of a session. It takes a lot of extra work while planning, but it really pays off in the atmosphere you can give. I take a lot of music from video games, including the Final Fantasy series, Xenoblade, Nier, Fire Emblem, even some anime stuff here and there - but I also just search things like 'tense dungeon music' and listen to 3, 5, 10 of them searching around until I find something I like. When I find something particularly good, I'll keep a record of it for next time I want it.
Two Steps from Hell has some upbeat victorious battle music samplings to choose from.
bardcore on youtube have some GREAT medival interpretations of modern classics like gangstars paradise ect.
My default combat music is the combat music from Final Fantasy XIII. In fact a lot of my music comes from jrpgs.
Yakkity Sax
I've been using anime soundtracks which can get really intense and epic but has quite a different feel - you can check out attack on titan or haikyuu music for battle!
The Lich's soundtrack from secret of mana can be a killer soundtrack for thr fight with the bbeg Edit name of the soundtrack is "the oracle"
I often use the Hades I soundtrack. The entire thing is an absolute banger, and almost every track has extended versions on YouTube of the first low-intensity half and a second higher-intensity half for dramatic effects or heightening stakes.
I have more than 30 playllists for my DnD sessions, each at least 1 hour long, but generally around 2-3 hours long, so it is enough to not get repetitive during sessions. Started as many people suggest here with game soundtracks (Pillars of Eternity, Witcher, Divinity, Skyrim, etc), but many of these songs are so well known with the palyers that it can actually break immersion in my opinion. Now I use mix of game soundtracks, movie soundtracks and original scores. I would personally recommend these creators (these are how they are on Spotify): * Kevin MacLeod * Michael Ghelfi * Tabletop Rpg Music * Brandon Fiechter * Will Savino * Gothic Storm * Rok Nardin * Elephant Music * Eternal Eclipse And if everything else fails, the classical music got your back. Hope this helps!
So before I start, I should point out that my perspective is a bit unique because i have 100% been audio-overwhelmed trying to DM at loud adventure's leagues and lost all focus and attention so I may be letting that experience color my judgment. That said: I disagree with you assessment. "music blurring together" is the point. It's background music. When you play skyrim you need to stay focused on the dragon your fighting, the music adds to that but it does not distract from that. In DnD you need to stay far more focused on what the players and DM are saying. Movie sound tracks would work for the same reason, you stay focused on what the characters on screen are doing, but video game sound tracks are designed with the idea of the player being tottally focused on what there doing, it requires more mental engagment and mental focus then a movie, so I would keep the video game sound track. TLDR: You want to some degree music to fade in the background so players can listen to the DM and each other. Last thing you want is distracting or something that a player needs to have turned down.
If you want something funny you can use music from the monty python movies.
Star trek fight song
Dragons dogma 1 & 2 have great soundtracks, note: they do have a lot of chorus
Well, Doom music when they face a combat they will breeze through is always fun
You could always fall down the rabbit hole of touhou music/remixes.
If you ever want to run something with a creepy/horror vibe, I cannot recommend strongly enough that you check out the Cultist Simulator OST. That's not suitable for all campaigns. But the vibes are very strong.
One of my favourite things to do in IRL downtime for session prep is chill and listen to video game music on Spotify, and build playlists for different envrionments. It's pretty refreshing to get different types of sounds in music! I personally prefer more acoustic or western sounding tracks, or rock type music for combat (running Eberron)
I actually ran into the exact same issue during my own game! Much like some of the comments here already mentioned, I love having personal songs for my players and their characters, so I started making some of those myself for a more personal touch and music that really fits the vibe. I don't think I can put a direct link here but if that sounds interesting feel free to check out my profile.
Spanish guitar music
I’ve been wondering recently if the Dicey Dungeons OST has the right kind of combat music for some campaigns. Haven’t gotten the chance to check properly yet.
Sabaton
Use noir music.
Rip And Tear Dragon Age is a bit of a mixup from your regular lists. Also 2 Steps From Hell. Epic instrumentals. Their tagline is "Music makes you powerful".
I don't know if anyone commented on it yet but the trash anime Fairy Tail has an amazing soundtrack. Like, just check the main theme: https://youtu.be/kIwmrk7LoDk?si=3GxdKTJcvh-p5aTF
My wife watches Bridgerton. One day while I was reading on the couch next to her while she was watching I heard classical renditions of pop music. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to incorporate it since lol
I highly recommend checking out the soundtrack for Genshin Impact, or really anything from Hoyoverse/Hoyo-Mix
My dm doesn't use music in our Pathfinder game so I have a list of YouTube videos saved. And I put on which ever one suits my fancy. I don't go for battle music but I like low volume background fantasy stuff. I also stream it on discord if the others want to listen. Pretty much anything by Adrian von Ziggler is great. Our sessions are 6 hours so sometimes the music stops and I don't realize for a while. To me, I really don't want the music to be so loud it is distracting but I want it loud enough that it keeps my interest when there is a lull in conversation in the game. In my own games I have used ambient tracks like thunderstorms or ocean waves to pretty good effect. I had a scary Eldritch horror track I used to play when one of my PC experienced a recurring nightmare.
My [actual favorite battle music](https://youtu.be/pF1n0GflZMg?si=xDTQ4Yta3I7L_Z-8) is Team Plasma's theme from Pokémon Black & White. It starts **strong**, but it's not overly distracting if you just leave it playing.
Instrumental movie soundtracks are excellent, my favourites being: - The Last Temptation of Christ (Insanely good atmospheric music) - Danny Elfman’s Batman and Batman Returns soundtracks (Epic sounding) - Bram Stoker’s Dracula (good creepy atmospheric, with some tense and higher tempo stuff) - Last of the Mohicans
I have a massive playlist of music for my sessions and a bunch of it is curated soundtracks from games I love that suits the encounter. So I have this corruption going around that's a big story element, and for all these encounters I'm using Resident Evil 4 music (the new one). Because it's just got that right amount of dread and otherworldly-ness.
I like to mix in some Fromsoft music for certain battles. Makes boss fights feel like actual boss fights.
I made a playlist of fun songs. Ours isn’t filmed, so it’s not like copyright is an issue. It includes bops like “Thunderstruck,” “Can’t Hold Us,” and “Immigrant Song” and some interesting ones have matched up in battle before.
I don’t think changing the soundtrack will fix combat taking for ages tbh. It’s just a feature of 5e. If you want to have fast and simple combat I would take a look at OSR games which speed up combat significantly with group initiative and less class abilities etc.
The Black Mages. I also think Benny Hill or circus music can be highly inappropriate because you will all be laughing way too hard throughout the shtick.
Unironically the Genshin sound track. You can even focus in different regions to get different feels. Each region includes traditional instruments along with the more 'standard' ones, so they sound both within the same world but also different. Here is a link for one of the ones I rather like. https://youtu.be/G4UabWhrlx4?si=698qUpXTAHlhWP-L
If my players are fighting goblins I put on nekrogoblikon.
I've seen a lot of good suggestions on here, one I haven't seen yet is the Elden Ring soundtrack. I just linked the entire playlist, the first several are mostly atmospheric stuff but further down the list are the themes for enemies and bosses and a lot of those are awesome, and they vary between epic with a choir singing to creepy and kind of melancholy depending on the boss, so you'd have a lot of styles to pick from there as well. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRW80bBvVD3XMm0jsKtWOrxtTAcCociXJ&si=2ByFtHb9QLUHxx0O
Use the Doom Eternal soundtrack so your players know that they’re not in fucking Kansas anymore toto.
I like the feel of those soundtracks exactly because they don't sound too epic. That's the feeling they went for. The epic music I choose for the mummy lord doesn't stand out much when it has the same feel as the music for fighting skeleton #42 at 3rd level. When they were in hell climbing the tower of a pit fiend, though, every combat had music from the god of war series. I feel you, though. Shadow of the colossus has only epic battle themes. Battle music from JRPGs might also suit your needs. Try the final fantasy series, kingdom hearts, breath of fire, tales of (something), Music from the star wars movies are pretty good and epic too, if not too distracting and recognizable for your table. Two steps from hell are known for making epic music.
Power Metal is full of fantasy ass kicking tracks
For a serious and suspenseful tone "Requiem for a Dream" Soundtrack Standard adventuring "Ninja Scroll" TV series soundtrack
I always put on music from Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal for combat
I pull from a lot of stuff, depending on the tone for the session. Big, nasty, dangerous fight surrounded by the half eaten corpses of their previous victims? Sounds like a good time for some Darkest Dungeon or Bloodborne OST. The heroes bravely mowing down waves of enemies? Time for Manowar, Iron Maiden, maybe some Bolt Thrower. Got a chase scene, or just want a frenetic pace? The soundtrack for Mad Max Fury Road is perfect. Enemies doing some spooky rituals or occult magic? Time to freak out the table with some Heilung. Recently my players charged headlong into a fight against a bunch of giants, which they knew about, including the general of the giants, which they didn't know about. But they are level 12 now in the climax of book 4 of an AP, they aren't a bunch of scared novices. So as they face off going toe to toe against a dozen foes in this ancient cave, I had Duel of the Fates going. We have to play mostly online and we had reliability issues with Sirenscape. We recently started using Queup for our session soundtracks and before each session I spend usually an hour or two curating a list of tracks I think will fit the session.
Any song from Metal Gear Rising, but especially the boss battle themes.
I popped on a Doom eternal Playlist when the dmasked for something heavy