How to Prep Music for a Tabletop Session

Each GM has their own idiosyncratic methods for preparing before a tabletop sesh. I review my notes, go for a walk, brainstorm big-picture plot ideas, and then dump a bunch of info into a spreadsheet. I make sure I have access to any necessary stat blocks, maps, and auxiliary content. I pour myself a drink and get my dice ready 10 minutes before it’s game time, and I review my notes again while players trickle into the Discord call. I’ve streamlined this process over the years, and you have likely got methods of your own. 

But what about music?

That is: what can/should you do before a session to make sure that your music selection will be its best? How do you ensure you always have the right tunes to play throughout any given session? The answer largely depends on how exactly you use music in your games, so I’ll answer this question a few ways while also going over some broader best practices.

As with all topics in GMing, the answer does ultimately boil down to some version of “whatever works, man!” but if you’re struggling, this post is a great place to start!

Consider Which Scenes Are Likely

Regardless of whether you put playlists on shuffle, select dedicated tracks for each scene, or use more complex digital tools, the first thing every GM should do is consider what varieties of scenes and encounters are likely to occur in the upcoming session. If you know that a session is going to be starting with combat right away, that’ll be a massive help when planning the music.

I would never advocate for you to railroad your players, but I do think most GMs have a general sense of the types of content players will engage with for each given session. After all: what else have you prepped? Have you sketched out a dungeon? Then you better start thinking about dungeon music! Is this the first session of a campaign? Then you’ll need some sort of music to put on as your players introduce their characters. You probably have some idea of what your players are going to do. 

It may sound obvious, but this is the single most important takeaway: 

The music you play during you session should in some way reflect what is happening in the game. If you have some sense of what is going to be happening—any sense at all!—that will help you to prep the music. 

Of course, there are entire styles of GMing where this is not possible. Any system that relies heavily on random rolls to determine encounters or locations will make it difficult to plan ahead at all. Likewise, the DJ for a session is occasionally not the GM, and thus such DJs may be in the dark when it comes to what music will end up being appropriate. 

For everyone else, though, start by cataloging the primary locations, encounters, and modes of play that are likely for a given session.

Test Your Tools

Are you using an app like Syrinscape, Soncraft, or Opus? Will you be hooking up your phone to a bluetooth speaker? Want to try synchronizing Spotify playback for all your players? You gotta test your tech ahead of time. It’s always a nightmare to begin a session and immediately start fumbling with your tools. Your friends only have so much time in a week to dedicate to gaming, and you don’t want to waste 15 minutes trying to figure out how to connect to bluetooth. 

Even if it’s just a quick test on a dummy Discord call, you owe it to yourself to make sure your tools work before your session starts.

Consider Vibes and Genre

The highest level questions you might ask yourself when planning music is what sort of vibe you want the music to possess. For example, say you’re in a grimdark OSR game. Do you want traditional fantasy music? Or would moody dungeon synth be better? Alternatively, consider just using ambiences (e.g. diegetic sounds of crowds, creaky ships, and nature calls). Or no music at all! Not every campaign needs music. 

Are you okay with lyrics in the music? I often advocate against having any comprehensible lyrics, as it can make it hard to focus on listening to each other, but some folks don’t mind it!

What about more modern genres? Do jazz, metal, or country fit under the aesthetic umbrella of your worldbuilding? Or do you want to keep things in the realm of cinematic fantasy? How much does diegesis matter to you?

Hell, I’m acting like you’re playing D&D or an equivalent, but your bread-and-butter tracks are going to be totally different if you’re playing Shadowrun, Call of Cthulhu, Lancer, or Vampire: The Masquerade. Consider a sci-fi palette, or a horror palette, or whatever else might feel appropriate. Start broad before you begin narrowing in. It’s far easier to pick specific tracks, albums, and playlists once you know the overarching aesthetic of a campaign.

Ask Pals

I have spent the past 6 years thinking about music for TTRPGs in a full-time professional capacity. If you’re struggling, ask me. The Borough Bound discord is open to anyone, so comment below and I’ll send you an invite. I will absolutely give you pointers for what tunes, playlists, or albums to use in your campaigns. On many many occasions, I have recommended a handful of tracks for GMs to throw on during critical moments in their campaigns. For better or worse, I’m extremely easy to reach.

Alternatively, ask other GMs and players! Start a dang Reddit thread. Check out /r/musicforrpg or /r/dndplaylist. Get people talking about it on Bluesky. Tabletop nerds always want to talk about their hobby. They will tell you which soundtracks they like most, which tracks always strike a chord in their campaigns, and which 3rd-party creators they like most. 

Write Stuff Down

This is not a requirement, but it does help to have some notes. Write down “when the players enter location x, I’m going to put song y on repeat, or I’m going to shuffle playlist z.” The more you do this, the less you’ll need to do it. You’ll start getting used to the process, you’ll get better at improvising during sessions, and you’ll generally build fluency with your own library and audio tools. When you’re starting, though, it absolutely helps to keep track of what you decided before the session started.

Putting the Pieces Together

Let’s do an example. 

I’m prepping for a session. I know this session will involve a bit of dungeoneering, followed by a boss fight. If the players defeat the boss—and they almost certainly will—the boss will use their dying words to deliver a lore dump.

First I consider what scenes are likely. The dungeon will mostly consist of two varieties of encounters: there will be fights with assorted enemies, and then also some light puzzle solving / trap navigation. The boss fight will definitely require its own music, and then I’ll need something for that climactic lore dump.

I’m playing in person, and I know I’m going to be using my laptop and Spotify. My Spotify is already linked to my external speakers, but I give everything a test just to make sure it’s still working. 

This is a fantasy campaign, so I’ll stick to mostly typical fantasy music. That said, I’m quite comfortable grabbing tunes from outside that sphere if they feel particularly appropriate.

For the general dungeon combat, I’ll rely on whatever comes up in this Spotify playlist. I know it’s mostly generic skirmishes, so whatever tunes are on that playlist will be fine. I'm not too picky. I’ll put it on shuffle, knowing full well the playlist is long enough that I won’t have any repeat tracks.

For the traps and puzzle music, though, I’m not quite sure what to use. I ask some friends who are great GMs, and they recommend the album Obscura by ASKII. Wow, this album is dope. I can just put this on shuffle, and it’ll be great. I’ll still play it via Spotify, but I buy the album on Bandcamp to support a great composer.

The boss combat will be tricky. I want it to evoke the right vibe, and I want it to feel climactic. Honestly, the fight has a sort of JRPG energy to it, so I build my own playlist with a bunch of boss tracks from Final Fantasy games. It’ll be a bit cheesy with all of the electric guitars and epic choirs, but that’s fine. The added energy is worth the slight genre dissonance.

The lore dump shouldn’t be more than 5 minutes, but it’s got some pretty pivotal info for the campaign. I decide I really ought to find the one perfect song for these big lore revelations. If it’s long enough, I can loop it without the track getting annoying. I browse a bit before finding “Bay of Meandering Souls” by Élise in the Clouds. This track is great! I’ll make a note of it and press play the moment the monologue starts, ensuring that "Loop 1" is selected in Spotify. I should listen to more work by this artist, so I give her a follow on Spotify and make a note to check out her socials.

I know there’s a chance I’ll need some other music for scenes I haven’t expected, but I trust that I can find a playlist that’s appropriate enough if I browse for a quick second. Worse comes to worst, it’s okay to have no music.

With all of that written down, I feel comfortable with the amount of prep I’ve done. 

Other Notes

• The most time-intensive prep is if you plan out a dedicated track to loop for every given encounter, and/or you build unique playlists for each location. The least time-intensive prep is if you just press play on a general “all-purpose” tabletop playlist. Both options are fine. Most parties will welcome any music at all.
• If you plan on looping any tracks, please consider reading my comprehensive and authoritative advice on best practices for looping tracks. It’s a simple topic, but a few tweaks to how you loop music will make a huge difference.
• Spotify is an unambiguously evil company, but buying hundreds of soundtracks is also prohibitively expensive for most GMs. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. Just do your best to have a good time, and throw your favorite composers a few bones if you can. Also, use my Spotify playlists! They are very good.
• If you’re having trouble finding the right song, try employing my (perhaps needlessly complicated) RPG Music Matrix technique.
• If you just need more total music at your disposal, I’ve released almost 600 tracks at time of writing. Grab my tunes anywhere you listen by searching Will Savino and Borough Bound.