GMing Makes You a Better Person: Music Supervisor
A music supervisor oversees all the music used in a film, TV show, or other visual media. They ensure that the music fits the overall theme and invokes the correct emotional response from the viewer.
Music is the hidden driving force in my games and I think it's one of the most under utilized tools in a Game Master's toolkit. Most GM's I've seen, will take the easy way out and throw on a playlist of dozens of songs that all loosely fit the theme of the campaign. I don't do this, and suggest you don't as well.
Instead, I craft my game likes scenes from a show or movie, with some liberties of course, because you can't predict everything. But you do know where the players might go and what they might do. And that's plenty to go off of. Here's an example:
Lets say your players are entering a dark wood, chasing down a band of evil druids. I'd start by playing some somber or tense orchestral piece, or maybe a dark woods sound effect song if you want to submerse them in realism. Once they find the druids and combat start, switch to a tribal warfare song or maybe something out of a video game you and your friends enjoy that fits the nature of the fight. Then once the fight takes a turn, pump up the intensity with an even faster paced song. Once everything is settled, have one final respite song that will sooth over the tension.
Put all of these songs in a single playlist for that area, then give it a listen. A lot of my sparks of inspiration come from listening to the playlist I've created for my next session or from a new song I found that I want to use.
Two more prerequisites I have for picking music are:
- No lyrics (exceptions include things like Latin choral verses or Polish folk from that time I had my group fight a witch coven)
- Loops smoothly (if there are long breaks or short cuts at the end of the song, it will distract players)
This style of using music is very much like video games, where one piece of music will loop until you progress the story. It has also led me to absolutely muddle my suggestion algorithm.
Expanding your Repertoire
Using this style of musical prepping has lead to some really cool outcomes and even a musical session believe it or not. I get suggested some of the craziest and amazing music I never would have listened to otherwise.
Some examples include:
- A song I knew of but not by name: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach
- Czarodzielnica by Zywiolak (that I used for a fight with a coven of witches)
- Gypsy Jazz Caravan
- To the Stars by Max Richter
- Turbo Killer by Carpenter Brut
- many many more...
It also got me into using free tools like Audacity to mesh songs and sound effects together to make something really special for my players.
Quick shout out to Kevin MacLeod, the GOAT of royalty free music. He's described as "arguably the most prolific composer you’ve never heard of" by the New York Times and I'd bet you've heard a few of his songs on Tik Tok.