Other ✫ Share music that helps you tell a story ✫

[Dreamtique]

Hello! This is the place for you to share some music that helped you tell a story! Think about songs that inspire you, character theme songs, music that motivates you, anything of that kind will do. Basically a nice excuse to share some songs!

I'll start things off with a few here,

This helped me to tell the story of a child who had nightmares and grew insomniac after being traumatized by a flash fire that woke him up but swallowed his mother. The child was tormented until a dream wonderer playing a flute visited his dream and gave him the serenity he longed for. The child grew to be a flute playing dream wonderer as well. Unfortunately, I do not know what the lyrics mean!


About a fun interaction between a clueless protagonist falling out of reality and stumbling upon a depressed boy that was punishing himself in the interdimensional 'backroom'. The protagonist then decided to convince said person to leave before he ever do so himself!


Moon River is one of my favorite songs. It is related to a Pokemon RP about a Zoroark hiding in a forgotten land that trapped himself in his own perfect illusory world after the trauma of losing his home and his astronomer human friend to a natural disaster, dragging in the consciousness of unsuspecting passerby that will ultimately have to shatter his illusory world to escape. I imagined the Zoroark remembering and coming to terms with what happened, finally stepping out of the limbo that was his own illusory world and bade goodbye to the shadows of his loved ones when I listen to this song, it really does break my heart......

Spoiler: <X3

Urggggg, I wanna hug them so badly, I always imagined the Zoroark to be all bleached and tattered when he woke up from his long slumber, when the Hisuan form was out I died a little inside. I don't play favorites but this quickly becomes one of my favorite mon.

 

[minigunmax]

It depends on what the rp is about, what time period its set in, what situation the characters find themselves in, how they're feeling, what time it is in the scene, what events prior lead to the current moment, etc...

For example: Say a group of characters gather to discuss or setup a plan, the mood of that would be slow, melancholic and maybe even carry a hint of danger.
I would play a slow song preferably at a quiet volume, as the scene is already slowed down and made to evoke a sense of peace and calm.
Something i'd play in a past setting:

End of the night - The Doors
the slow strums of the guitar and gentle rhythm of the piano, along with the dream-like mixing of the final production evokes a peaceful yet slightly unsettling feeling that winds down the atmosphere of the scene. The same goes for Planet caravan by Black Sabbath

The original quake soundtrack would be something id use in a medieval horror/old historical setting with a very dark, creepy and foreboding atmosphere. Though the music is also slower paced in some tracks, the sense of unease and discomfort is greatly amplified with the distorted and creepy production of each track.
Damnation is a particular favorite, reminding me of crawling through ancient catacombs with nothing but a lantern as a source of light and safety.

For more modern settings, I try and think to myself what a character would choose as music for the given situations they find themselves in. What would a character be listening to when walking home from school? Did they have a good or bad day? What's their favorite genre? music is so easily accessible in the modern age that more people listen to music for free than actually paying for it, and music throughout the ages can still be heard to this day.

I could add a plethora of music to this message but my general idea is finding the appropriate atmosphere and mood in a song that matches with the setting and characters is always a good place to start, you wouldn't play classical music during the final fight in a story (although you can, and I would imagine hearing something along the lines of Carl Orff - O Fortuna ~ Carmina Burana towards the end), and you wouldn't want to hear EDM tracks at a characters funeral.

... Though I've been proven wrong before!

 

[GojiBean]

At the risk of sounding vain, I usually write my own music for the RP's I want to run since most of them are my original ideas.

However, for the RP's I do which are fandom I will typically rely on the established music of the franchise to help generate ideas or establish the appropriate mood for whatever's going on in the RP at the time if I feel it's necessary. Otherwise I won't use music at all in an RP and will rely more on my ability to establish the tone, circumstances, and display my character's emotional and mental responses to what's going on in order to convey the scene as best I can.

Cheers!

 

[minigunmax]

By the powers that be, bless this thread and bringeth the gift of replies and cookie reactions

This thread absolutely hooked me and drove me through quite the nostalgia trip, so thank you Dreamtique for changing my week and making me happy and excited to talk about one of my most favorite subjects of all: Music!

You rekindled my love for analyzing music and creating playlists, and inadvertently sent me scrambling through one of my old playlists on spotify: Cyber Doom.
I'd feel like an asshole if I posted my thread on your thread, but I'll say you inspired me to make a focused search, show and tell thread that took up nearly 2 hours of my day making and sharing!

I can only hope that the same effect is created with other people who view this thread, as I whole heartedly believe music is a language everyone can understand, feel and love. And I desperately want to hear more! I wanna hear what people find interesting, what gets people up and dancing or singing at the top of their lungs and re-writing lyrics on their school or work papers. The more the better!

Okay so I didn't want to waste a message just thanking you (though I insist it was totally worth it), I dug some tracks from said playlist and wanted to post them here aswell, hopefully they find a way into one of your playlists, or atleast keep their beat playing in your head for a little while, enjoy!



I'm not particularly sure how I found this track originally, though it remains a great story-telling synth track I enjoy having played in the background while writing. Something about the mysterious atmosphere and vocal samples (from the 1985 movie; Legend) really put me in a dreamy, thoughtful mood. Definitely some good main-character music!



Maniac was one of the first tracks that got me into synthwave / electronic music, and will always be a track I recommend to those looking to dip their toes into that genre for the first time. Although I've never sat down and wrote a story with this song playing, I've had many ideas creep into my head with this track playing, its hard not to think of a scene from an 80s slasher flick with this playing nearby!



although probably not suitable for writing, I cant help but recommend Carpenter brut as an artist for this kind of stuff, and no other track is better to be shared than Hairspray hurricane! I for one cant sit still and focus with this playing, but I can always picture it being playing in a dramatic, action filled or otherwise exciting scene in a story. If you're struggling to pack as much action into a scene as possible, this will certainly help you get some thoughts going!


Alright I'm done! No more replies clogging this thread with my music and thoughts, promise!
Thanks again for posting this thread, you really pulled me out of a tough spot this week and brought me tons of joy and wonder when I needed it the most.

Thank you, over and over again. On repeat!

 

[Dreamtique]

You are too sweet, thank you as well!
I think what led me to create this begins with:

Music - RpNation Song Recommendations - Public Submissions

Welcome! Let’s show off some of your musical tastes in the newsletter this month! We want to know the song that you hear in a coffee shop. 🎶 All entries must be submitted to this thread. Music submissions must be no longer than seven minutes long and must be viewable from YouTube.com. Please do...

www.rpnation.com

It's just my way to engage with the forum in some way, since I no longer have the time to do rping here like I used to. I find myself enjoying and looking forward to sharing song suggestions there monthly, so I thought I should create something like that too. It makes me happy to know that this outlet gives you joy as well!

And funny enough that's exactly what got me into creating playlists as well!!! Somehow I never thought about doing that before, but now I got a very tiny collection.

 

[Motherlode]

I'm not particularly sure how I found this track originally, though it remains a great story-telling synth track I enjoy having played in the background while writing. Something about the mysterious atmosphere and vocal samples (from the 1985 movie; Legend) really put me in a dreamy, thoughtful mood. Definitely some good main-character music!

Oh boy! I used to love this track so much! Thank you for reminding me of it! Still remember I used it a lot during a Role-play some year ago. I've not seen Legend, but I do know that the U.S. release of the film had the soundtrack produced by the German electronic group Tangerine Dream, which is a perfect segue into my own frequently listened to tracks that I use when writing/planning.

Tangerine Dream is my favourite music group of all time. Though my interest in their music quickly dwindles after the mid-eighties, I still believe that nothing can top their and many other contemporary German electronic artists' works of the 70s such as Kraftwerk and Klaus Schulze.


There are many albums from TD that I love, but when it comes to setting the mood and inspiring me for my role-plays, I think that Rubycon takes the cake, especially its second part. Whenever I happen to listen to it, I'm immediately whisked into daydreams of strange and desolate lands. Sometimes the images that the music conjures are something I'd expect to see in one of Jean Giraud's artworks. I always feel inspired by this music, especially if I'm doing a sci-fi role-play, or something involving wild and fantastical elements. In this regard, I also really love Phaedra, Ricochet and the soundtrack to Sorcerer.


This is also another track of the Berlin School line of music that creates just the perfect atmosphere for me in many cases, but this one is made a lot more recently. I use this one and more tracks from Redshift for more tense and/or action-filled scenes.


Vangelis. Always have some Vangelis for the personal and tender moments involving my characters. His music has helped me out immensely ever since I discovered him. The emotions that one Greek man with a synth can fill me with are just immeasurable. So many good tracks, so many memories I've got out of them. There's no genre-boundary for this music, so I just listen to Vangelis whenever I feel like it. This track is my favourite for these moments.

That's all I had to say about that lol. Y'all have lovely music choices, too!

 

[markawolfman]

This helps monologues and it can provide some comedy if people have seen Jojo part 4


Idk why I really like this song it just has a vibe and around 3:10 it really picks up.
I use this for anthems of countries, dramatic stuff and anything else cause it’s cool

 

[80pb]

I like old Minecraft music from 2 15

 

[SpazTheButcher]

Why did you have to make this thread? Now I have to post here. Music is my lifeline, and it is all I am inspired by. It helps me tell a story, set a mood, or bring flashbacks. First, I will put the only two songs that I've ever cried to and how they've helped.



This song was the inspiration for a 1x1 rp where the basis was on a deployed soldier and his special someone back home writing letters to each other. I almost cried at the very end of the rp. It wasn't a letter, but it was a scene where she was visited by two officers...

Spoiler: The Visit

The yellow taxi cab drove down the road towards the farm house. The Major hated jobs like this, and the sergeant next to him didn't seem like the type he would pin for this duty. It was emotionally exhausting, depressing, and hard. You had to be the rock for crying widows and parents.

The vehicle stopped right in front of the farm house. The Major had gone over the file a dozen times, and committed it to memory. It had been exactly two weeks since this particular incident, and the US Army had officially written it off. The Major and the Sergeant walked up the porch and knocked on the wooden door with two raps.

Collette had not received a letter in sometime as her stomach only swelled more with the life inside of her. She already had a feeling for the worst and was trying to help her parents manage the farm while having a watermelon strapped to her. Distractions were all she had until she would know for sure.

As she heard the knock on the door she rose from the kitchen table when she opened it to uniformed men her heart sunk. The pit of her stomach twisted into a knot and she could barely speak. The worst part is that she had three people out there. Too brothers and Ray and she had not heard from any of them. The tears welled up in her eyes but she didn't let them fall. She waited for them to speak not being able to find the right words herself.

"Are you Collette Murphy?" The Major asked.

"I am," Collette responded hesitantly.

The Major felt the emotion, but his exterior didn't show it. He removed his cover and spoke in a monotone. "Ma'am I must regretfully inform you that exactly 13 days ago, Warrant Officer James Ray Person of the 9th Air Cavlary, was declared Missing In Action by United States Army Command Vietnam. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. After multiple helicopters were shot down, Warrant Officer Person selflessly risked his own life to help those on the ground, evacuating approximately 198 men. Warrant Officer Person was flying the last group back to base when his helicopter was shot down by a rocket propelled grenade fired by an NVA Soldier. His crew and passengers were soon located by a passing helicopter, but Warrant Officer Person was not. A search was conducted but he has not been found. I must regretfully inform you that he has left you as his sole relative, and as such has left his entire estate, to you. I am sorry for your loss." The Major bowed his head.

Collette swallowed hard, she listened to the words that were coming out of the man's mouth but she felt hazy like she wasn't really aware of where she was. It was tunnel vision and nausea. "I don't-i don't feel well," she stumbled a bit as her hand went to her stomach.

"My loss?" She felt nauseaous. "No no no find him. You said missing not dead." She was in denial she knew how these things worked and the timelines. Her father came up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder shakily.

"Thank you officers," he interjected and steadied Collette. He was old and not all with it but for that moment he was as silent tears streamed down Collette's face. "Let's get your off of your feet Cole," her father insisted while her mother stood idly nervous on the back ground.

The Major began to walk away, but the Sergeant stayed. "Ma'am, if I may." He said, cutting in. "My name is Sergeant Ramirez. I don't think you know me, but I know you. I was with Ray when the chopper went down, and he pulled me out. If it weren't for him, I'd be dead. I want you to know that he was the bravest SOB I ever met." With that, Ramirez made his way down the porch after the Major, who was surprised.

Collette's heart tugged as Ramirez redirected her attention. "He wrote about you, fairly often. Thank you for coming by, thank you for being with him." Collette spoke, her father patting her shoulder as the twars continued to stream.

Ramirez just nodded and kept walking. He and the Major entered the taxi and it drove down the dusty road, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake.

Number two was I was Only 19. My mum served overseas, and when I hear it, it gets me every time. The song details PTSD from the Australian side of the Vietnam war. Everytime I think about writing a character who is a veteran, this song enters my mind.



Last but not least is not one song, but a series of videos on youtube. They are a strange miz of music and ambiance, and they quite literally make you feel like you're there. I'll include a few of my favorite below, but be advised they are pretty intense(I'll put them from most intense to least). Other than that, thanks for your time and cheers!

Spoiler: History Feels

 

[GloomySage]

The Harry Potter Soundtrack really has something for every single mood for writing.
I go back to listen to it a lot.