Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Farnsworth]

Just as the topic suggests, what music and soundtracks do you use for your Deadlands games?

Specifically I'm looking for music to set the mood that does not contain lyrics. Ideally I'd like several options so if the players are in a tense situation exploring say a gangs hideout, something a little more mundane for doing stuff around town, etc.

Any suggestions? What do you folks use?

[Cutter XXIII]

A few threads of particular interest here, here, and here. And don't forget the Ultimate Deadlands Music List, amigo.

Personally, I like the 3:10 to Yuma soundtrack a lot.
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Matthew Cutter
Deadlands Big Bug (Brand Manager)
Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc.

[GranFalloon]

Generally, I skip movie soundtracks, because a lot of them vary mood within the individual songs. It works when you have a sound engineer matching the rises and falls to the scene, not so much when you don't. Video game scores are much more reliable, changing tracks based on level, scene, or whether combat has begun.

My current Deadlands soundtrack contains:

The soundtrack for Outlaws, an old LucasArts game I've never played. It's fantastic. The main theme is at the top of my Ambient shuffled playlist, so it always starts the session off.

Red Dead Redemption - Also good
Instrumental tracks from O Brother, Where Art Thou?
A couple tracks from Firefly/Serenity. I would use a lot more, but they change mood a lot (see above)
The big chase medley from Rango. "Flight of the Valkyries" on the banjo and gutbucket? How could I not?
The MacGyver theme - This is critical when the Mad Scientists have to quickly engineer some day-saving new device.
Rome: Total War - This has quite a few goodies, especially for chases, battle, and tension scenes.

I organize it thus:
Three primary playlists, "Ambient," "Tension," and "Action." Each track gets dropped into one of those. Put the ol' Sansa Fuze on "Shuffle" and "Repeat All," and jack it into the speakers. Then I can just let it run without thinking until the mood changes significantly. Each playlist has at least an hour of shuffled music, so there's not a lot of repeat, and they're not usually noticed.

I do also keep a short list called "Scenes." This is for when I have a specific event planned, and a specific track picked out for it. It usually comes up for the post-game wrap-up, and can have lyrics and such. Old timey-gospel, folk, and country songs are found here.

I also have the Shan Fan Kumite (a big martial arts tournament) coming up, so I have a separate playlist full of montage songs like "Eye of the Tiger," "You're the Best Around," and "Now you're a Man." Round it out with a bunch of tracks from the Street Fighter and Tekken games, and I think I'm ready to rock.

[Farnsworth]

Cutter, thanks for the links! I picked up 3:10 to Yuma, Red Dead Redemption OST, and the Firefly sound track. That should be good for now, and I may pick up a few more if the game really takes off.

GranFalloon, your method is very similar to what I do, however I don't mind the movie soundtracks. I agree that the crescendo's aren't always in the right place, but if a track has a consistent theme to it then it will work just find for a scene.

I totally hear you about songs that change mood/feel in mid song. That is really frustrating.

Generally I'll organize my music into Combat, Places and Special. I sub divide each song into a few other categories, Combat for example get Bosses, Goons and Duals. So on and so forth. I'll also add notes if a song fits a particular type of scene.

Finally, I like to throw in some more modern/classic rock stuff when appropriate. Johnny Cash, or some of the tunes from O' Brother are on my list.

Thanks again for the help!

[catalac]

[Erifnogard]

[Thunderforge]

There's also two official Deadlands soundtracks (Weird Wailin's and Aces & Eights) along with Toxic Tunes for the Wasted West. They're generally good, but playing the CD at the table can get a bit weird, especially with the first one in which you'll have a haunting melody that is suddenly followed by saloon music.
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