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Music in a role playing game can be helpful to achieve the desired mood, but used incorrectly it could be quite detrimental to game play. This could occur for several reasons, most prominent of which being the taste of the players. Perhaps one of your party enjoys something subtle and calm, while another would prefer intense electric-guitar-filled music, and may find other background music silly. Also, someone may find background music of any type "nerdy", in which case background music would cause them to take it less seriously.

Another problem would be that the mood may change suddenly, while the music would stay the same. For example, having a peaceful quiet tune playing while the party is attacked by a hoard of zombies would not be fitting. You could deal with this by changing the music whenever appropriate, but this would be time-consuming and possibly distracting, unless a particular play list is made ahead of time to fit the map.

Last, if the music is done right, you may have a very well developed atmosphere, which might be a bad thing. For certain people, RPG's are just games, not to be taken too seriously. They may be turned off by such serious game play. Others may feel more drawn in and obsessed, which is not healthy.

On the other hand, if you look at most video games, music is usually a main component. This shows that music is an important part of gaming, and that many people find it beneficial.

Music could be good for your adventurers, or it might cause your game to be less attractive. Every group is different. It is a good idea to test it and find out. If you do use background music, try to make sure that it is music which everyone enjoys, and which fits well into the game. It is usually good to avoid compositions with much lyrical focus, however this is not always true, if a song can be found with fitting lyrics, it can further add to the ambiance. Unfortunately, it is hard to find songs which have lyrics about hacking apart legions of goblins or blowing zombies into oblivion. The important thing to remember is that people are there to play a game, not listen to music. Perhaps music will be welcomed as a pleasant background, or maybe it will be seen as a distraction. In the end, careful observation of your participants is the only way to determine weather or not you should have background music.

Learn more about this author, Phil Mar.
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