Soundtracks?

[jkwleisemann]

Does anybody have any particular songs/bands/albums they'd recommend for a typical Supers campaign, or just the feel of superheroes in general?

 

John Williams' score for Superman generally goes without saying, but beyond that?

 

Personally, my recommend list is as follows:

 

Green Day's "Wake Me Up (When September Ends)" works for some specific types of characters

 

Poets of the Fall's "Fire," "Locking Up the Sun," "Carnival of Rust" and "Someone Special" all have some utility

 

And, believe it or not, I've actually got an active character who was inspired by Bon Jovi's "Wanted, Dead or Alive" who's just waiting for his XP to catch up with standard superheroic levels before I post him to the boards.

 

Anybody else's thoughts though? I've got iTunes and a hankering to put together a Supers playlist....

[Balabanto]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

There is only one band for incidental music for supers games IMHO.

 

Other than villain specific music (How to be a Millionaire, ABC, for a villain named Millionaire, etc), that band is Juno Reactor.

 

There's also an interesting band called Celldweller who has some interesting instrumentals that are useful.

 

I try not to use music specifically themed for movie supers.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

I would guess most superhero movie soundtracks would be pretty good. The Batman movies had some nice ominous stuff. And I always liked that Nickelback song they played at the end of Spiderman.

[Cold Steel]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

The X-Men trilogy soundtracks are good too.

[Sketchpad]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

I actually enjoy using anime music ... there's a track off from the first Cowboy Bebop OST called "Bad Dog No Biscut" that's become Foxbat's theme in our games Other OSTs to consider:

Read or Die

Bubblegum Crisis

Macross Plus

Fullmetal Alchemist

Cowboy Bebop

Spriggan/Striker

Akira

Ghost in the Shell

Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets OVA OST

Eureka 7

Samurai Champloo

Armitage the Third

 

There are others I'm sure. I also use some John Willams for various things, as well as Elfman, Horner, Polidaris and Ottman. It all depends on the mood you want

[Flames]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

Hey, head on over to http://www.freeplaymusic.com and go nuts!

 

They've got music for every mood... even tv news theme music to play when the local anchorperson is announcing the latest heroic deeds of your PCs.

 

Also, check out the album "Summon the Heroes," possibly available to borrow for free from your local public library.

[Hermit]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

Bionicle hero song was one I didn't know about until relatively recently, but it has become one of my favorites

 

All this from Lego, color me shocked.

[StGrimblefig]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

The music from City of Heroes (and City of Villains) can be found at ftp://ftp.coh.com/music/.

 

It is mostly short pieces used to introduce various sections of the city, but they could be useful.

[mvoncannon]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Autumn-Thunder-Years-Films-Music/dp/B0002VERQA/ref=sr_1_2/103-7320286-1481435?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1186601907&sr=1-2

This is rather good music for the super hero setting. I know it sounds weird, but it is.

[BNakagawa]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

I'm a big fan of Yoko Kanno and of course her work on the soundtrack for Cowboy Bebop has already been listed. To that, I would add the soundtrack for Escaflowne. At least parts of it.

 

Another source of some great background music is NFL films.

[Cancer]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

We've got a couple of GMs in our group who assemble collage disks for their campaigns. In fact, in a couple such, part of the character generation process includes the player picking one or more theme songs for their character, which end up going on the campaign's "soundtrack" compilation disk.

[StGrimblefig]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

We've got a couple of GMs in our group who assemble collage disks for their campaigns. In fact' date=' in a couple such, part of the character generation process includes the player picking one or more theme songs for their character, which end up going on the campaign's "soundtrack" compilation disk.[/quote']

That's a good idea. I'll have to steal that one.

 

I have put together a soundtrack disk for one of my characters before (not a Hero-based game though). He was quite paranoid, so I had to include Weird Al Yankovic's "Everything You Know Is Wrong," Rush's "Fear" trilogy, and Pink Floyd's "Welcome To the Machine," among other, more personal (to the character) songs.

 

There's a thought, how about using the music to give the players clues? What would they think if they were off on a dead-end tangent and suddenly heard "Everything You Know Is Wrong," playing?

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

There's a thought, how about using the music to give the players clues? What would they think if they were off on a dead-end tangent and suddenly heard "Everything You Know Is Wrong," playing?

 

Or Dr. John's "Right Place Wrong Time"...

[Sketchpad]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

One of my favorite vocal songs to use when my Hulk-like NPC shows up is "I won't become the thing I hate" by Stabbing Westward

[Thag13]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

For supers, I like the music from Necropolis the game.

 

If you can find the early copies, the music is playable ona cd player

[Tech]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

You can always create your own compiliation of songs for your players; sort of your own soundtrack. Some of us on on these boards have already done that in a thread, myself included:

WIYCT: What is your character's Theme?

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

You can always create your own compiliation of songs for your players; sort of your own soundtrack. Some of us on on these boards have already done that in a thread, myself included:

WIYCT: What is your character's Theme?

 

I remember putting up that thread.

[PhantomGM2602]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

You might want to try "Sailor War" and "La Soldier" from the Sailor Moon Musicals.

Here's the URL: http://www.sailormusic.net

[Pariah]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

You can always create your own compiliation of songs for your players; sort of your own soundtrack. Some of us on on these boards have already done that in a thread, myself included:

WIYCT: What is your character's Theme?

 

I remember putting up that thread.

I was just thinking of doing something like that. Gotta find that thread....

 

And for the curious, I personally enjoy a CD titled "Classical Music for Home Improvements" for gaming. It's got a lot of loud, boisterous classical pieces. Great music for when Phase 12 rolls around.

[Blackwulf]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

My group uses a large selection of songs over the years to the point where we're now just burning our own soundtracks. *snicker*

 

I personally have found that a few of the "Soundtracks" that are put out by the WWF/E have some pretty effective songs. On the other hand, my team's main theme is an instrumental version of the Beastie Boys "No Sleep till Brooklyn"

[Weldun]

Re: Soundtracks?

 

You might want to try "Sailor War" and "La Soldier" from the Sailor Moon Musicals.

Here's the URL: http://www.sailormusic.net

Great! Now I have to go listen to all my Stan Bush.

 

Some I like for supers

The End Is The Beginning Is The End by The Smashing Pumkins

Have You Ever by The Offspring

Lost In Space by Apollo440

Clone by Ash

Duel of Fates by John Williams

and strangely, My Heart Will Go On by Brittany Miller/Janice Karman(The Chipette)