Score Your Tabletop Sessions with Playlists
It's easy to bring music to your TTRPG campaigns using pre-built playlists on Spotify and similar streaming services
Music improves tabletop gaming. No matter how evocatively you describe a scene, how epic it feels to crit on a boss, or how dramatically a scene might resonate, there is no moment in a TTRPG campaign that cannot be improved with the right music. I think a lot of GMs knows this—hell, it's why I've been able to build a career writing music for tabletop games—but many think that scoring a session necessarily requires uncommon expertise or unreasonable prep work.
I am here to tell you that this is false. Adding music to your tabletop sessions can be trivially easy. There are many ways to score your tabletop gaming, but today I'll explain the easiest method: taking advantage of pre-built playlists.
The Method
First and foremost, this strategy requires literally no prep work whatsoever. Here's how it works.
- As you're GMing, consider the overarching essence of a scene. Is the mood calm? Intense? Or is the prevailing vibe more setting-specific? Are you in outer space? Deep underwater? Are you traveling? Closing out the day?
- Once you select a key "vibe" of this scene, you simply navigate to a relevant playlist (on Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) and press play, ideally with shuffle turned on.
- Do not touch the playlist.
- When the vibe of the scene changes—e.g. combat ends, the players move to a new location, or the mood of the scene shifts—return to step 1.
And that's it! You don't need to preselect individual tracks, fiddle with seamless loops, or juggle files on your computer. In fact, there's a good chance you already subscribe to a streaming service with oodles of playlists. You can act entirely reactively, switching playlists on the fly as you and your players collaborate to shape the narrative.
Choosing Playlists
The one hurdle you'll have to overcome is selecting the playlists you'll use. In practice, it's usually fine to just search DnD, RPG, or tabletop+ [vibe] and clicking whatever looks good. I've had plenty of luck selecting a public playlist from some stranger at random when in a pinch.
THAT SAID... I wouldn't have written this article if I didn't already have you covered.
Yes, that's right. I've already compiled 20+ Spotify playlists to help you score your sessions. These playlists are:
- entirely instrumental—i.e. no distracting lyrics
- each at least 4 hours longs
- filled with ideal selections from video games, films, quirky independent artists, and dedicated tabletop composers
- painstakingly curated over the course of 5 years by a guy who knows a thing or two about TTRPG music
In practice, I can score 100% of the moments in my own campaigns using these playlists. There may still be times when I'd rather choose a specific track or build a playlist for scratch for some unique encounter, but I never need to.
For combat, I put on DnD Combat. If the players are riding across dry plains on horseback, I put on DnD Western. When an NPC betrays the party, I whip out DnD Villains or DnD Emotional depending on how dastardly the NPC is or how hurt the players feel. For sleuthing, it's DnD Intrigue until they confront the criminals, at which point I switch to DnD Crime. See what I mean? These playlists give you everything you need.
You can grab links to all of my playlists via the Playlists tab on my website or my public Spotify profile.
DnD such-and-such, the playlists are decidedly not restricted to use in Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. I chose that naming convention solely to ensure they're more likely to come up when people search for playlists. That said, most of these playlists have something of a "traditional fantasy" bent to them. If you'd prefer a zanier selection of music (nu-metal? free jazz? twelve-tone orchestral?), you may have to craft those playlists yourself!
DnD Calm is my most popular playlist, saved by over 13,000 listeners.
FAQ
How do I actually play this music?
If you're in person, all you need is speakers. When GMing in person, I always have a laptop with Spotify open in addition to my session notes. I've got decent wireless speakers rigged up in my house, but playing music from built-in computer speakers, a bluetooth speaker, or even a phone is totally acceptable.
If you're playing online, you're still in luck. If everyone has Spotify Premium, you can use the Spotify Jam feature. You can also stream your computer audio directly via Discord or Zoom, or you can try fiddling with the (shockingly confusing) Voicemeeter application. Of course, if you're using a VTT like Foundry or Alchemy, you'll probably want to use its built-in functionality instead of playlists.
I don't use Spotify. Can I still use your playlists?
Yes! Just grab the playlist of mine you want, and use a service like Soundiiz or Tune My Music to immediately build a replica of my playlists in your streaming service of choice.
What if I don't like the tracks I hear?
Skip them. No one will care about a tune cutting off short. You'll probably occasionally hear a tune that doesn't quite work for a given scene. Just skip to the next and you'll probably be happier. If you keep hearing tracks that don't fit the vibe, you may need to reconsider a given playlist. Maybe you thought of a scene as Intense, but it's really more Intrigue or something like that.
Should I be scoring every single scene?
It's up to you. Most folks keep the music running all the time, but there's definitely an argument in favor of moments of silence. A reprieve from the music during a tense decision, a heartfelt goodbye, or a moment of rest might be particularly impactful. There's a bit of artistry to knowing when to cut the music, but I think you can trust your gut.
I make fantasy music. Can I send it to you to put on your playlists?
Sure! I can't promise I'll add it to the playlists, but I will certainly give whatever you send me a listen. Shoot me an email at will@wsavino.com.
Spotify is an evil corporation that steals from musicians while platforming racists and fascists, and its CEO invests over $100 in the military industrial complex.
Yeah, man. I know. It really sucks. I would love for you all to support artists directly via Patreon or Bandcamp or at the very least switch to Tidal. At the end of the day, though, my job is to help you play RPGs, and I know that statistically the largest proportion of you listen to music on Spotify. I am quite open and honest about the fact that I make a nontrivial part of my revenue from Spotify streams, and while I hate how much they're still shortchanging me, I have to acknowledge that I have personally benefited from the listenership I've accrued on the platform. If you personally don't feel comfortable using Spotify, I absolutely applaud that. Hopefully, you can find a more meaningful way to support the artists you enjoy.
