Time for another addition to my Online Gaming Tools series. This time, we’re taking a look at different options for incorporating background music into your RPG campaigns!
YouTube
Cost/Plans: Free ($0) / YouTube Premium ($15/month)
Pros: Huge selection of content and playlists, cross-platform
Cons: Distracting video component, ads can break immersion, mobile app requires Premium to play content with the screen off
Best For: Gamers who want a large selection of music to choose from
I can’t make a list about finding background music without including YouTube. The platform is used by literally billions of people, and so it has an unparalleled number of options for background music. I’ve found tracks and playlists for dungeons, castles, swamps, forests, snowy mountains, forgotten mines, etc. – whatever you’re looking for, YouTube probably has it. Many videos are compilations of various music/sounds that last for hours, or you can limit your search to playlists and find collections of individual tracks. ust type in a few keywords based on the type of music/sound you’re looking for, and you’re good to go.
One of the biggest issues with YouTube is the ads, which tend to pop up every few videos. Ads can really break the group’s immersion – imagine everyone’s reaction when the epic battle music suddenly transitions to an ad for body wash. The music also is going to have some kind of video component. On a PC you can new tab or minimize the browser to avoid visual distractions, but on mobile YouTube won’t play content when the screen is off. You’ll either have to plug in your phone or waste a lot of battery to play the music. A premium account lets you avoid ads and play music with your screen off, but it will cost you $15/month, which is nothing to sneeze at.
In case you’re interested, I’ve compiled a few YouTube music playlists of my own for fantasy RPG campaigns that you’re welcome to use for your own games:
Tabletop Audio
Cost/Plans: Free ($0)
Pros: Professionally-designed RPG playlists, can sort by genre
Cons: No mobile app
Best For: Gamers who want to find background music quickly and painlessly
Tabletop Audio’s biggest draw is the quality and dedication behind it. This site is run by one guy who loves creating RPG music just for the fun of it. Not only does he professionally design the tracks, but it’s always free for the consumer; he does include a donate button in case you want to show appreciation with some financial support, however. The collection currently stands (as of this article’s publication date) at 218 tracks, sorted across genres like Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Historical, and Horror. There’s also a search function that lets you search for a track by keyword(s). You can add individual tracks to the main playlist, and repeat or switch between them as needed.
The only real downside to Tabletop Audio is the fact that it doesn’t have a mobile app. Instead, you’ll have to use a browser app; there’s no guarantee the site will be optimized for mobile at any given time.
Ambient Mixer
Cost/Plans: Free ($0) / Ambient Mixer Premium ($10/year)
Pros: Large selection of samples, cross-platform, can combine multiple tracks together
Cons: Ads in free version, free version can’t play sounds offline, requires some fiddling
Best For: Gamers who want to tweak, tailor, and perfect their playlist for their own campaigns
Ambient mixer isn’t an RPG-specific site like Tabletop Audio is, but it does have an RPG category that you can use to find music and sounds easily. Ambient Mixer can be accessed through their site or through their mobile app, providing some flexibility of use. Probably the coolest thing about Ambient Mixer is that you can take many different music tracks and sounds and lay them over one another in order to create your own custom ambience. Out of all three options presented in this article, Ambient Mixer is by far the most customizable. You want background music for your forest battle? Just take a “forest sounds” track, combine it with some monster and/or sword fighting sounds, and maybe add some battle music for flavor. Voila! Your own custom forest battle ambient track!
There are a couple disappointing aspects of the free version of Ambient Mixer that you should keep in mind, however. Like YouTube, the free version of the product comes with ads, and all the annoyances they entail. If you want to get rid of ads, you’ll have to pay what I find to be a very reasonable $10/year. The other downside of the free version is that you can’t download tracks to play offline; you have to stream them through an internet connection. This can limit its usability and/or become expensive if you don’t have a reliable WiFi or cell network. You’ll thus need to pay for the premium version to unlock this feature as well.
As always, I hope you found this guide helpful. If you give any of these options a try, please let me know how they performed in the comments. I’d also be happy to hear suggestions for other prominent sources of RPG background music that I may have missed. See you next week!
Do you have thoughts or questions about the article or suggestions for future content? Leave a comment below or drop me a line at jtdimino@d20radio.com.
J.T. Dimino
Latest posts by J.T. Dimino (see all)
- The PC Factory: Aedan the Druid (Old School Essentials) - January 26, 2021
