"Themed Music" Topic

Do you play themed music when hosting games?

No.

I have once or twice. Usually I just listen to it while painting by myself.

Grelber

As Grelber

x42

On occasion sure but not frequently.

No, never.

No

Sometimes. Depends on the game and how many ppl are present.

Soundtracks from movies are good for some games, esp skirmish games where "heroics" are part of the game.

For scale at a larger scale we often use period music, i.e. military music from the period. I have a collection of Napoleonic and 18th century military music.

But you should not have the music too loud. It must be a background thing. Sometimes, the music will suddenly fit the action on the table, and provide a reinforcing effect. But you should not aim for that effect. Let it happen by accident, and it will be memorable!

One of my friends does during our games occasionally, when the Empire Ties appeared from an asteroid field, his tablet played the Imperial march!
The British grenadiers also sounded out when my 7-y-w English company marched down a road to engage the dastardly French!
It was quite amusing, but only for a short time, it would get boring and distracting if it was there all the time, I think.

Only for games at Shows.

When I play solo games I have period music on in the background but not when i play other people.

Sure

Nope

Used to try
But I need a new CD player in the basement of gaming

More likely to put on thematic movie, but sometimes yes.

Frequently.

Nope.

Never properly hosted a game myself. I have helped GM a game with multiple tables,myself GM-ing one table,two more crewing the others

Absolutely!

Yes, most of the time.

Yes

sometimes

No, my gamers find it distracting and I do too. I prefer to listen to the music of the 18th century alone where it can have my undivided attention.

No. I sometimes have classical music that I like playing in the background. Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Wagner, Prokofiev, etc.

Sometimes, but mostly to help set the mood, rarely for the entire length of a game. I have a small collection of military music appropriate for 18th century and Napoleonic periods--and a vintage record of Richard Rogers score for "Victory at Sea."

Phil Dutre +1

TVAG

No.

Frequently.

No

In those Halcyon Days of Wargaming with the Jackson Gamers, whenever we played games in our garage, Dad would try to have subdued background music suitable to the period/game we were playing. At that time we had many soundtrack albums (!) including Zulu, Waterloo (1070) and the soundtracks by composer Erich Korngold from Hollywood's Golden Age (Gunga Din, Robin Hood, Captain Blood, Sea Hawk). Dad also had lots of bagpipe music, fife and drums, and some period ACW tunes.

But for a while, several of us were huge fans of the Big Band music of the 1930's and 1940's. One particular favorite was Glenn Miller's "American Patrol. Eric Teuber and I loved it and insisted on playing it even when it wasn't "period specific" for the game. And everyone was very tolerant but finally, Jay Stribling had enough. In the midst of a Napoleonic game, moving some of his troops at a very critical moment, he turned to Eric and said, "Teuber, I'll put up with a lot but I refuse to have my Old Guard infantry advancing to Big Band music."

But I agree with Phil Dutre.

For RPG's back in the day I did occasionally but for table-top wargames no. I do play music when I paint mini's however. Classical, the Blues, Folk, Folk-rock, Movie Sound-tracks, Punk Rock, Medieval and Rennaissance, Middle Eastern and Slavic music are my faves for painting.

Cheers and good gaming.
Rod Robertson.

Beethoven's third, and the 1812 overture, for Command and Colors French vs Russians. In theory. We haven't actually done it yet!

I like it subdued to set the mood. Especially good now with youtube and no need to change records or CDs.

Although,when I've played Aerodrome,I have hummed,whistled,or even sung "Stand By Your Glasses Steady" from "The Dawn Patrol".