I know St. Patty's Day was last week, but I couldn't help myself jumping back into "The Riddle of Peadar O'Heyne." This variant turns up the amplitude, the speed, and the chaos. If you thought the first one was a fun dance, this should be perfect for once fists start swinging.
Obvious uses would be a tavern brawl (a classic scenario during a party's first session), or perhaps a duel...
2020-03-25 23:43:28 +0000 UTC View PostIt's been a few weeks since I've given you something that's just calm. Especially if your party isn't just the "dungeon plundering" type, you're going to need a lot of relaxed, ambient soundscapes to fill the time when you're doing "stuff," but it's not super intense. Even when there are stakes, a lot of times in my campaign, my players will spend a long time feeling out a location and...
2020-03-23 22:35:05 +0000 UTC View Post
No new track this Sunday, but I've got a bunch of stuff from my Patreon collaborator friends. I'll have a new track tomorrow and a bunch more later in the week.
First up: another gorgeous time lapse from Jog Brogzin! This is a map he recently drew for one of DM Dave's adventures (which is featured below). I l...
2020-03-22 20:44:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey y'all! Here's something new: I posted a little walkthrough of how I made my track "A Fey Presence" up on YouTube. I've never done something like this before, but it was a lot of fun, and if you guys like it, I'd love to do more videos like this. Let me know what kind of stuff you'd want to see. An...
2020-03-19 18:06:30 +0000 UTC View Post
Got another new playlist for you: DnD Intense! This playlist is all about those high-stakes, blood pumping moments that aren't combat focused. Some examples for good times to throw this on would be chase sequences (regardless of whether your party is pursuing or pursued), heists and other clandestin...
2020-03-18 14:23:10 +0000 UTC View Post
The Riddle of Peader O'Heyne | New 15th-Level Side Trek for Fifth Edition featuring a brand new track!
Note: The download links are below at the bottom of the page.
Leprechauns are small fey creatures who delight in pranks, mischief, and sometimes even the torture of unsuspecting humanoids whom they come into contact with. Some stories tell tales of...
2020-03-17 15:26:06 +0000 UTC View PostHappy Sunday, y'all! I did one of these "grab bags" last week, and I think I'm going to start doing them more often. A lot of times, I'll have a little bit of music, and a bunch of little goodies and updates to provide, so this seems like the perfect way to get it out all at once.
First up: new track! "Ambush Zencorin" is pure cinematic intensity, replete with Zimmer-esque "bwaaamps," inc...
2020-03-15 18:30:55 +0000 UTC View Post
I've got another big ol' Spotify playlist for all of you: DnD Villains! I had two specific uses in mind for this: non-combat confrontations with villains and exploring villainous lairs.
In my campaigns, I like to dangle bad guys in front of my players without th...
2020-03-11 12:54:59 +0000 UTC View PostThis variant of "Blood War Conscript" trims all the fat. This is just that juicy organ that you all clamor for. There's a bunch of different organ layers playing throughout, and I think it creates the vibe of an evil cathedral quite well. In general, you might want to treat this like a villainous theme song. The BBEG in one of my campaigns is an amnizu with a sort-of "Refined Southern Gentleman...
2020-03-10 12:33:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Look, sometimes you just gotta go to hell and slay some devils. I don't make the rules! I've been a big fan of all the lore surrounding the Blood War since I was first introduced to it in Planescape: Torment. Endless battles between demons and devils on the first layer of literal hell? Yeah, that rules. For those of you enjoying Descent Into Avernus: you're welcome.
This track is perfect ...
2020-03-10 12:33:31 +0000 UTC View PostLots of little updates today.
First and foremost: I recently did a fun partnership with Matt over at Fantasy Atlas. He just released a gorgeous city market map inspired by my track "With Garners Full of Grain." I've attached the map (gridded and ungridded) to this post, and 2020-03-09 01:56:41 +0000 UTC View Post
This is the variant of my "Session Recap" tune. I believe the original is suitable for the vast majority of session recaps, but sometimes the failures of the past are still quite salient when starting up your current gameplay. Perhaps the party botched a quest, failed to save a dying a PC, or simply witnessed a dark plot hook that will be driving the story forward from this point forward.
Session recaps are key. Whether the DM handles the retelling herself, or if the players collaborate to remember the various details of the previous adventure, recaps set the stage for the events of the upcoming gameplay. It's an opportunity for everybody to get into the right headspace as well as establish the key FACTS that will be underpinning the story moving forward.
This tra...
2020-03-06 19:38:30 +0000 UTC View PostNew month, new poll! I was very pleased with the results of last month's track request ("Permafrost Wasteland") so I'm excited to see what y'all decide this time. I've had a few suggestions for potential tracks, but I'm still mostly coming up with these myself. If you have any options you'd like to see...
2020-03-03 14:54:12 +0000 UTC View PostIf my last track was silly, this is very much an about-face. This track is slow and understated... admittedly a rarity in my catalog! It will surprise no one for me to say I was inspired by the Skyrim soundtrack here. There's something really magical about wandering moonlit plains and gazing at the glorious skybox above Whiterun.
Of course, TTRPGs occur mostly in the mind, so we don't get...
2020-02-28 00:37:48 +0000 UTC View Post
My friend DM Dave just released an adventure titled "Those Who Writhe Below," an intentional nod to my track of the same name. He suggests that folks listen to that tune while they play, and he is also letting me share the adventure with all of you! This is a goopy one-shot for three to seven characters of 11th to 16...
2020-02-26 17:07:20 +0000 UTC View PostIf you thought the track I just posted on the normal feed was zany, get ready for this. Yeah, I definitely went overboard with this track, and I think that's fine! I've been listening to the fabulous Shadowrun podcast Fun City, so I've had sci-fi on the brain as of late.
This track would be perfect for those of you wi...
2020-02-25 20:43:53 +0000 UTC View PostOkay, yeah, this is a goofy one. I know I keep a fairly consistent tone from track to track, but every once in a while it's fun to just let things go off the rails a bit. This circus / funhouse tune is perfect for ludicrous scenes: wild goose chases (perhaps literal?), farcical skill checks, or any moment of complete an...
2020-02-25 20:36:30 +0000 UTC View Post
You all seemed to like the playlists I posted last week, so I figured I'd post another one! This here is DnD Voyage, a collection of music to help score scenes of travel: long boat rides, airship journeys, or horseback treks.
I used to struggle with these moment...
2020-02-21 18:50:44 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey all, here's an exciting new adventure brought to you as a collaboration with some of the biggest names in RPG content creation. As always, I provided the music, but this adventure has so so much more. Dig in!
Pst! Scroll to the bottom for the files!
This is the combat version of "Shipwrecked on the Skeleton Key," written to accompany the thrilling Skeleton Key adventure that I'm posting along side this. You can find two separate versions (Calm and Adventure) in the original post, that should help you round out that journey perfectly. More percussion! More guitar...
2020-02-19 16:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey all! As you know, my goal is to make sure you have every sort of track you could possibly need to score your fantasy RPG adventures. However, even with a catalog as large as mine, I'd lose my damn mind if Music d20 was all I listened to during my play sessions. As such, I've created some big ol' playlists to help score all basic sorts of encounters.
I love desert towns! They're a really convenient plot hook in RPGs because the moment a desert is introduced, the town becomes both a respite and a prison. Want to leave the desert town? Well guess what, you have to go through the desert. From Mos Eisley to Gerudo Town, sandy outposts allow you to introduce Wild West themes or exotic pseudo-Egyptian adventures. You can jump back and fo...
2020-02-13 22:42:27 +0000 UTC View PostLast week I gave you dire tundra music, and this week it's arid desert! In my mind, this tune is that late voyage struggle with exhaustion and dehydration, but it could just as easily be a desert outpost with some none too savory denizens. You'll recognize all the trappings of cinematic "Arabian Nights" style folk music, but I'm particularly happy with how the melodica turned out! I play this t...
2020-02-12 21:59:11 +0000 UTC View PostThis is a city-themed variant of "Permafrost Wasteland." I feel like every RPG has that sort of majestic, royal, snowy city. Winterhold, Kaer Trolde, Bryn Shande, Imil, Flanoir, Narshe, Irithyll of the Boreal Valley etc. This is the music for that town. Perfect for frigid castles, icy city streets, and sub-zero trade routes. This could also pass for a dwarven mountainhome or just a bit...
2020-02-06 22:15:55 +0000 UTC View PostOne thing I want to experiment more with in my own campaigns is survival elements. I'm often waaay too generous with rations, exhaustion, weather, etc... favoring my pre-written stories over actual consequences of trying to live in dire conditions.
With that in mind, here's track specifically for the moments when you're out in the frigid tundra just trying to make it through! I buil...
2020-02-06 22:03:27 +0000 UTC View PostPower to the people! You asked for it, you've got it. I'll now be doing monthly polls to determine at least one of the tracks I'll release in the coming weeks. If you have ideas that you want me to include in next month's poll, throw it in the comments!
2020-02-02 17:41:39 +0000 UTC View PostI don't know about you, but in my campaigns, I have a hard time portraying kings and queens as anything but shady despots. Luckily, a modern take on medieval fantasy allows us to paint a nuanced picture of how despicable a lot of those governments actually were! And yet, sometimes my players are still surprised to discover the level of depravity to which royal figures were so happily stoop. Her...
2020-02-01 20:06:08 +0000 UTC View PostThis is a non-combat variant of "Renouncing The Oath." I actually made this version prior to the standard combat version, so who's to say which one is the variant. I think this track is great for tense, raw, dark moments for your players. These are perfect for those gut punch moments... maybe your player is confronting a character from their past, or maybe a beloved NPC just died. In fact, this...
2020-01-23 21:26:13 +0000 UTC View PostIt's been a minute since I've given you all some straight-up combat music so I've finally rectified that! The idea behind this track is a Paladin having to confront another knight of his order, but that was just my inspiration. You could use this for all sorts of meaningful combat encounters: attacking the mage who killed your father, laying siege to your sworn enemy's strongho...
2020-01-23 21:21:02 +0000 UTC View Post