Theme Music for the Tabletop

Why Music?

At my job, we have this room called the Clean Room. It’s basically a closed off room, separated from the rest of the dusty shop, and primarily used for deep cleaning and preparing parts which will be used with liquid oxygen or nitrogen. It’s quiet in there, air-conditioned, and there are generally only one or two people in there at a time. Mindlessly scrubbing pump parts with isopropyl alcohol could make for a very long day. So I like to pop in my earbuds and turn on some music.

Music helps me focus. But at the same time it also provides just enough of a distraction so that I don’t have to think about how long the day is or how mind-numbing the work I’m doing can get. It’s almost like grease on a machine. It helps remove the friction of what I’m doing and allows me to do the job easier. Music during a task has a tendency to heighten one’s awareness of the task. It also provides just enough entertainment to keep the task from becoming monotonous while not being overly distracting.

It would make sense, then, that providing music for gaming would make the experience better. Music can help pass the time between turns, it can help one focus better on strategizing and planning, it can make one more aware of the game state and what other players are doing, and it just makes the atmosphere more inviting and enjoyable. However, believe me when I say that  as someone who loves theme and story more than most other things in gaming, just providing music isn’t good enough. It needs to go one step further. It needs to immerse the player in the atmosphere of the game.

The Choice

When choosing theme music for a game, I really judge the book by its cover. What feelings do I get when I look at the cover art? What ideas are being conveyed by the artwork in game and the look of the components? Before I even read the rules of the game or know what it’s about, I look at the art and pictures and components and I ask myself what the designer and artists are trying to say using the production.

The next thing I consider is the atmosphere of the game. If I were dropped into the world presented for me, what types of music might I hear? Would I hear music at all? Maybe I would hear sounds instead. As much as I enjoy 90’s alternative, I don’t think that would be the music of choice for some adventurers trying to sneak quietly through a dungeon while collecting treasure.

Lastly, I think about immersion. The worlds represented in the games we love are so unique and creative. I want to feel like I’m part of that universe. When I’m deceiving and plotting as a famous pirate in Tortuga 1667, I want to hear pirate shanties being sung by the crew. When I’m trying to survive as the Final Girl, I want to hear the music from some of my favorite slasher flicks. I want to hear the music that best puts me in the shoes of the character I’m playing as.

All that said, let’s dive into some of my favorite themes and theme music!

Cyberpunk

I’m not necessarily talking about the tabletop RPG, Cyberpunk 2020, or the recently released board game based on the video game, Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City. I’m talking here about the cyberpunk theme – neon lights, electric and/or flying cars, cybernetic implants, corrupt megacorporations. This is one of my favorite themes in gaming, and I think it’s because in a lot of ways, we’re almost there in the real world, but I won’t go into details about all that.

One other reason I love the cyberpunk theme is the retro vibe it gives off. For all its futuristic nuances, it also feels, in a lot of ways, like it would fit just right plopped into the 1980’s. Not many TV shows scream 1980’s more than Miami Vice. That opening theme music immediately makes me want to grab my loose-fitting Italian style suit. That style of music has seen a resurgence these days, known as synthwave.

Synthwave, also known as retrowave, falls under the umbrella genre of electronic music, or techno. It’s typically characterized by heavy use of synthesizers and fast tempos, usually accented with a driving, steady beat. Some artists also feature vocals, and some feature saxophones, drum machines, or other characteristic 1980’s instruments. The music really drives home that retro feel, and it accents a cyberpunk theme very, very well. Combined with games like Android: Netrunner, it makes the artwork pop and really immerses you in the world.

Top Three:

1. Gunship – Gunship uses a very smooth mix of synthesizer, drum machine, vocals, and some saxophone. I would describe the music as “chill”.
2. Vector Seven – This artist falls more on the dark side of synthwave in a subgenre called darksynth. Heavy use of synthesizers and drum machines, both of which are more driving and distorted.
3. Mega Drive – Mega Drive is more of a typical synthwave artist, but the relaxed tempos give this artist a very “cool” feel to the music.

Germanic / Nordic / Celtic

My own last name is originally Prussian. The area that was once Prussia is now Germany, Poland, and some of The Netherlands. This is why “Schoonover” became more well known as a Dutch surname.This also means that, in the early middle ages, the people who were my ancestors would have been amongst the many Germanic tribes spread across the area. That may very well be why I feel something deeply spiritual in those cultures.

Often called “Barbarians” by the Romans, the variety of different tribes and cultures stretching from eastern Europe to Ireland and as far north as Scandinavia were very close knit, home-oriented groups. Much like native tribes in the Americas, they were farmers and hunters, they made offerings to their gods, they loved their families, and they took pride in their lands. These groups of people have been featured in several games, including Hadrian’s Wall, Raiders of the North Sea, and Caesar: Rome vs. Gaul.

When I dive into a game featuring these tribes, like Blood Rage, for example, I really want that experience to be accented by the sounds of those tribes. Enter Nordic, Germanic, and Celtic Folk Music. The music in this genre is about as close, I imagine, as we could get to hearing the old music from ancient times. It has a steady, war drum rhythm, often produced by drums made from actual deer skins. The artists use bone rattles and other traditional instruments, such as the lur, the jaw harp, and the talharpa. The music is incredibly earthy and spiritual, and it has a power to it that is unmatched in any other music I’ve ever experienced.

Top Three:

1. Heilung – Heilung delivers a mix of both Nordic and traditional Germanic music, singing in multiple languages, including German, Old Norse, Dutch, and even English. Their guttural throat singing will have your hairs standing on end.
2. Wardruna – Focusing much of their music on Norwegian Folk, Wardruna has a rich, cultural sound. Their music is incredibly spiritual, and even if you don’t understand the words (and I don’t), you feel fed, and like they’re telling you an ancient story.
3. Skáld – This group even has the look. Their music is very vocal, and their sound is more cheery than the other groups. Side note: they also do a very interesting cover of “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes, as well as a very, VERY good cover of “Du Hast” by Rammstein.

Space

I love outer space. I’ve loved it since I was a kid. From the pictures of the planets I’d look at in my grandfather’s encyclopedia to practically everything the James Webb Telescope is taking pictures of. It has a sense of wonder and imagination and creativity and size that I would challenge someone to find anywhere else.

For all these reasons, I absolutely love games that have to do with space exploration of some kind. Games such as Twilight Imperium and Impulse fill me with that same kind of wonder as I explore the cosmos. Why, then, wouldn’t I want my music to give me the same feelings?

Space-themed music, to me, needs to have an almost atmospheric or ambient sound to it. No one genre nails this down perfectly, so it can be a mix of different genres of music. If the song has lyrics, it’s important they’re focused on the journey through the stars, such as “Space Oddity” by David Bowie. Soundtracks work real well here, too, but I don’t want them to be on the Star Wars level of being recognizable.

Top Three:

1. 65daysofstatic – A driving mix of alternative rock riffs and electronic music bring this instrumental quartet to the forefront. It definitely helps that they supplied the soundtrack for No Man’s Sky, which is a perfect example of the sound I look for.
2. “Interstellar Soundtrack” by Hans Zimmer – The organs in this give me chills every time. This soundtrack is the best thing to happen to science fiction since the soundtrack for 2001: A Space Odyssey. Even if you’re just looking for casual listening, give this album a spin.
3. “Elite Dangerous Soundtrack” by Erasmus Talbot – When it comes to video games based on space exploration, nothing compares in authenticity, immersiveness, and scope, to Elite Dangerous. The game map is a 1/1 scale Milky Way galaxy, with all known stars in their correct places. It’s only fitting that the soundtrack provide as much of a sense of wonder as the game.

Horror

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear…” – Howard Phillips Lovecraft

I have a real love/hate relationship with horror. On the love side, horror brings emotions out of me that nothing else can, and it feels primal and tangible. Horror heightens my awareness of my own surroundings, and can be a very intense good time. However, I also get a lot of anxiety with certain kinds of horror. And while I love horror that makes me feel anxious, squeamish, violated, or uncomfortable in some fashion, I also find that it’s difficult for me to spend too much time in that state of mind. I won’t play certain video games, not because I’m too “scared”, but quite literally because my heart and breathing patterns can only take so much of that overload.

Horror board games aren’t incredibly common, because it’s difficult to translate that visceral emotion into something made of cardboard on your kitchen table. While they can be fun, you’re missing out on a lot of the visuals, effects, jump scares, and tense moments found in other media. That’s where the right use of music can really grab hold and take people for a ride.

When choosing music for a horror-themed game night, I know going in that the game isn’t going to make people feel uncomfortable, so I want the music to do that for me. But because horror has so many sub-categories and tropes, it’s difficult to settle on one kind of music to cover all the games. I try to take the horror sub-category I’m dealing with into account before building a playlist. I’d mentioned before about wanting some old slasher film soundtracks to accompany Final Girl, but what about the Alien soundtrack for Nemesis, or maybe The Witch soundtrack for Horrified: American Monsters?

One other category of music that I’m not even sure how to categorize is something I’d call dark, atmospheric horror. I’m going to explain it as best as I can, and I realize the explanation is going to sound like the soundtrack to some garage-dwelling, Halloween, walk-through spook house. This category isn’t really music so much as it is emotion-evoking soundscapes that focus on dread. It has a sound of being recorded in a cave, and there are sometimes random wails and voices thrown in. Sometimes there are sounds that don’t even sound human, which gives me chills. It’s all very unsettling, and I’m definitely here for it.

Top Three:

1. “Doom (2016) Soundtrack” by Mick Gordon – This album is every bit as aggressive as an album needs to be for a sci-fi/horror soundtrack. Mick Gordon’s syncopated rhythms and metal drive are heavy and mean enough to give a stroll through an alien infested…anything…a real sense of urgency.
2. Kammarheit – This artist falls into that vague, dark category. The subtle voices hidden behind the drone of what sounds like an earthquake give me chills on a level I was unaware I had. The music makes me feel extremely uncomfortable, and fits very, very well in one of my Kingdom Death: Monster campaigns to give it an almost violating vibe.
3. Apocryphos – Don’t let this artist blow your speakers out, because this music rumbles. The only word I can think to describe this, almost evil sounding, atmospheric journey is ominous. It feels like the music is watching you through your headset, and that makes it feel violating. Definitely a mood setter.

Soundtracks

While I do love creating my own soundtracks for games, some games have soundtracks already made. Nothing puts me into a universe more than the existing soundtrack made for the game. These soundtracks can often be as small or as vast as you prefer them to be, too. And there are some really great soundtracks out there.

One thing I’m talking about here is board games based on existing IP’s, such as God of War the Card Game and Bloodborne the Board Game. But did you know there are also games where the developers have included a soundtrack, specifically for the game? Nemesis: Lockdown and Machina Arcana have available soundtracks you can actually listen to on Spotify.

Soundtracks tailored for the IP your game is using is a great way to really set the mood. There’s not much that compares to battling it out with the Dancer of the Boreal Valley while the song for that battle plays in the background in Dark Souls the Board Game, or the goosebumps you’ll inevitably get when that low brass section kicks in during the main theme for Fallout while you play through Fantasy Flight’s board game adaptation of it.

Top Three:

1. The Lord of the Rings – I love these books. I love these movies. And I really, really love playing War of the Ring. I can’t think of a better way to accent this game than with the soundtracks for the movies (definitely the extended versions).
2. Game of Thrones – This soundtrack hits hard, and it brings all the ferocity and dramatic moments for two of my favorite games: A Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire.
3. Star Wars – If you’re a fan of Star Wars, and you’re a fan of board games, you should be playing Star Wars: Rebellion. It’s part of the agreement when you signed up for those passions. And while you’re at it, throw down some Original Trilogy music, too. Thank me later.

Honorable Mentions

In the interest of not making this go on and on, and it very well could, I wanted to take the time to throw in a few other artists or albums that have really put some spice into my gaming.

“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Soundtrack” by Jeremy Soule – Super fan? Average fan? Never heard of Skyrim? Give this album a solid listen. There are many reasons why the game has stood the test of time, and this soundtrack is one of them. It’s the quintessential fantasy soundtrack that works perfect for tabletop.

“The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Original Game Soundtrack” by Marcin Przbyłowicz and Mikolai Stroinski – A more unconventional, almost Celtic, fantasy sound make this soundtrack a pleasure to invite along to a Gloomhaven night.

Cradle of Filth – Wait. Say again? “What is a death metal opera doing in this article,” you ask? Well, it so happens that while I haven’t gotten a group together for it, Mörk Borg is a very dark, VERY metal, fantasy tabletop RPG that I’ve been dying to sink my greasy appendages into. Every piece of art I see from this game simply screams dramatic death metal, and it doesn’t get more dramatic than Cradle of Filth. Parental discretion is advised.

So many more I could mention, but I have to end this sometime. Hopefully this gave you a glimpse into how I like to add flavor to gaming. Finding music for game nights is one of my favorite things. Do you enjoy music for your game nights? What do you like to listen to, and how do you make your choices? Leave a comment below and let me know! Thanks for reading!