Music may be the single most important element of ambiance. It is always present during play and has a profound effect
on the mood of the players and the GM. It helps get everyone "in the mood" to play and immerses you into the world that
the GM creates.
I originally used a CD changer to supply the music but found several limitations with this setup:
- You are limited by the number of CDs that your player can hold. This not only limits the amount of music that you can
use but also causes repetition of music tracks during play.
- You either have to play all music in order or wait for the player to change discs every time it changes tracks.
- You may have to load and unload several CDs whenever you want to switch games or moods.
The method that I use now is to "rip" all of my CDs as MP3s and use a computer to play them. There are several benefits
to this method:
- Tracks can be quickly and easily randomized and even cross-faded, if you desire.
- Playlist can be changed to provide different music sets for different games or even different moods.
- Depending on the size of you hard drive, the amount of music that you can use is only limited by what you can find
to play.
- Depending on your setup, you may be able to integrate sound and light effects into your music.
|
