When I first released "Above the Southern Rim," I thought it was one of the best tracks I had recorded up to that point. Turns out, it decidedly not one of my more popular tunes! I think the main reason for that the tune doesn't have any obvious uses. Probably too cheery for combat, too bombastic for exploration, too distracting for conversations. Hmm!
Well, Discord user Fusion...
2020-11-17 14:33:01 +0000 UTC View PostIn the Hero's Journey there's a moment when a fresh adventurer crosses a threshold from the known to the unknown. I always think of this moment as when Samwise says "If I take one more step, I'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been." From this point on, their home becomes more and more foreign to the adventurer. Inevitably, there's a point where you can't really go home again. In RP...
2020-11-17 14:23:33 +0000 UTC View PostThose of you who play my music via mp3s might not realize that by far my most popular track on Spotify is "Shelter at Last," a sort of slow and meditative tavern tune. I guess it's popularity stems from the fact that it ends up on a lot of "medieval village" style playlists. It's pretty far from my favorite tune that I've written, but I think there's something to the simplicity!&nb...
2020-11-11 15:04:48 +0000 UTC View PostY'all have been asking for a while for some genuinely sad and emotional music, and I think I've finally got something with genuine melancholy. A well-executed sad moment in an RPG can be a really satisfying gut-punch! The death of a PC, death of an NPC, a failed mission, a battle lost. Hell, even recognizing a betrayal can be a pretty noteworthy blow. As long as you can manage your players' emotions in real life, there's nothing wrong with some well-executed loss to raise the s...
2020-11-11 14:59:03 +0000 UTC View PostI've been so enjoying doing all of these ambient versions of tracks lately. I've found that there really is a lot of great sonic material underneath all the melody and activity I usually having going in my tracks.
This ambient version of "A Moment of Focus" is even more slow and methodical than the original version. It's got a kind of dreamy feel to it, perfect for magical environs: enchanted caves, the Outer Planes, or even just a Fey grove.
Of course, the mo...
2020-11-05 20:43:26 +0000 UTC View PostThe notion of "focus" is of crucial importance to a number of different classes across RPGs. Wizards learn complicated spells and practice create the effects with through arcane knowledge. Monks harness ki to channel energy through their body. Hell, even a ranger has to remain hyper-focused when they lie in wait while tracking prey. Often in RPGs, we focus on the most active portions of an adventuring day: dungeoneering, combat, bargaining, feats of athleticism and heroism.
... 2020-11-05 20:35:52 +0000 UTC View PostTruly the most important thing that will happen this week: the November track request poll! Remember, it is your duty to vote for track requests. It is in your inalienable right as patron of Music d20 to make your voice heard. Democracy is a team sport, and your participation matters.
October was great I think! 6 tracks released, roughly 4 of which were extremely challenging to write (looking at you, "Divinity Unshackled"). Plus, if you're the type to dig into my other wo...
2020-11-01 21:07:42 +0000 UTC View PostOne of the fun things about writing a tune like "Divinity Unshackled" is that with a late classical structural skeleton, you can really strip it for parts and rearrange it for any instruments you want. I decide to (perhaps) take the obvious route and score it for solo piano, and guess what! It's... very moody. This piano version has all of the melodrama of the original with none of the scale and bombast.
Potential uses: first and foremost, this is great for the pre-boss battle "le...
2020-10-30 13:13:05 +0000 UTC View PostOkay, this one was a bit of a challenge! It's hard to imagine a more epic moment than a God being freed from something that could imprison a God. Thanks for your patience as I refined the massive scale of this track. Big organs, brass, strings, pounding drums, choirs, with some light bells for that unmistakable hint of divinity. All of that takes a while to write and produce!
Anyway, here is "Divinity Unshackled," a track for only the most epic moment...
2020-10-30 13:01:18 +0000 UTC View Post
October is coming to a close! You know what that means: first and foremost, get those dang track requests in! We'll be doing a new poll on the first of November, and the best case scenario is that you'll get basically a free commission. Rad! Maximum 2 requests per patron.
Next up, our massive Halloween module The Secret of the Porvenir is now available as a free ready-ma...
2020-10-28 18:02:19 +0000 UTC View Post
It’s that time of year again. The air grows cooler and the greens of summer burst into hues of gold and red. The harvest is reaped and the children stir as if manifesting the restless spirits they mimic in their costumes. The Festival of Souls is upon us, and while th...
2020-10-25 21:38:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Look, I know that not all of you are solely here for Dungeons and Dragons content. Yes I know it's "the world's greatest roleplaying game," but there are plenty of other systems you can and should be using. Aaaand over the next... say... 30 days, I suspect a lot of folks will be testing out some particularly futuristic tabletop systems.
When the folks behind PlayQuest approached me about potentially doing some music for their new season, they made sure that I knew I had a lot of freedom to explore Asian themes at my own discretion, though they made clear that the theme song ought to be some sort of "fusion." At first, I figured I'd do some Japanese-inspired rock and roll, but they floated the idea of hip-hop to me, and I was instantly sold. I bring you Ja...
2020-10-19 16:04:30 +0000 UTC View PostSome of you have been clamoring for more Eastern-flavored music since I started Music d20 over a year ago. Today, thanks to a collaboration with the PlayQuest podcast, I bring you "Ako," a sparse Japanese-inspired track to score your Bushidō adventure arcs. This track will be used to score plenty of moments in the upcoming season of PlayQuest, and the variant of this track (available at the Artist tier and up) will serve ...
2020-10-19 15:55:09 +0000 UTC View Post
DID YOU KNOW: In addition to making music for tabletop games, I also score video games! My biggest release to date is the dungeon-crawling metroidvania Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials which released today on PC and Switch. Scoring th...
2020-10-15 13:19:58 +0000 UTC View PostI hope you enjoyed "Lost Whaler's Love" in the main post for today's collaboration. It was a tune I originally wrote months ago for a collaboration I had planned with Jelke of Tavern of Trinkets. When Luke aka Limithron proposed a haunted pirate...
2020-10-10 20:08:15 +0000 UTC View PostI really love pirate adventures. That's why I was so hyped to join with Limithron for the massive free collaboration I just released. Well, I think the version of "She Lives" that I posted over there was just not quite appropriate as a "standard" Music d20 track. The wacky synth wave crunch is dope for the a...
2020-10-10 19:59:55 +0000 UTC View Post
I've been really enjoying stripping apart my tracks lately to find an ebbing-and-flowing ambient soundscape underneath. This extremely sparse rendition of "Midvale Moonrise" has the same sort of nocturnal vibe as the original, but with even less activity. Throw it on for a late-night rendezvous, a slow trudge through a dark wood, or a calm walk on a moonlit evening.
Let me know what you think of these "sparse" or "ambient" tracks! I think they're very useful for moments of low-act...
2020-10-02 12:33:45 +0000 UTC View PostI don't know about you, but I've never met a God irl. To my knowledge, that's a fairly rare occurrence here on good ol' planet Earth. In my D&D campaigns however, encountering a God, a deva, or some other celestial entity is noteworthy, but not entirely unheard of. For those moments, you need a score that highlights the uniqueness of the event.
Enter "Vela's Blessing." I don't think I've released a solo piano track on the main feed here, so for that reason alone this will l...
2020-10-02 12:24:03 +0000 UTC View PostSomebody wake up Billy Joe Armstrong, because September has ended! October is here, and that means spooky rules are in play. I'm glad no one requested "creepy skeleton tune" because... I mean, I obviously have that planned for this month anyway.
I think September was a lot of fun! I was surprised that "Generic Tracks" won, but it was good to just bang out some standard fantasy tracks to help round out your collection. "Hordebreaker," "Fest of the Alignment," "Midval...
2020-10-01 12:29:47 +0000 UTC View PostGreetings patrons! Another big month here at Music d20. I released 8 tracks, which I think is tied for my most ever. Woo! Also, I totally blanked but September 19th was my one year anniversary! I probably should have done some celebratory post about it, but I was too busy making RPG music. To get a little cheesy, this Patreon has been nothing short of wonderful for me. It's creatively fulfilling, it's led to some very fruitful colla...
2020-09-29 13:02:56 +0000 UTC View PostSometimes an epic confrontation calls for a bit of cheese. War drums, sure. Giant choirs, yeah okay. '80s hair metal guitars? Hell yes.
This variant of "In the Court of Anise and Lavender" should be reserved for special moments. This is not standard goblin slaying music, but final boss music. The party finally decides to challenge the wicked king, the prince of hell, or the thousand man army. It is not subtle, and y'know, sometimes that's fine.
Loops attached bel...
2020-09-26 14:19:56 +0000 UTC View PostAdventurers don't belong in dignified courts. They ought to be adventuring, not cavorting with dastardly politickers. Geralt feels uncomfortable in Vizima Palace, Tormund sticks out like a sore thumb in Winterfell, and your murder hobo Khajit spamming dragon shouts in Dragonsreach is certainly... out of place. There's a certain ominous vibe that's appropriate when a man of the sword has to endure the ritual etiquette of fancy halls, and yet to broker peace, they are often called to d...
2020-09-26 14:13:42 +0000 UTC View PostAt the heart of most of my dungeon tracks is a carefully crafted bed of synths, spacey strings, and filtered noise. Sometimes my method of writing a track like "Nakkas Khath" involves first way oversaturating the piece with crunchy ambient pads, before carving out an actual tune from the cacophony. That was certainly the case here... not exactly the most efficient way to write a track, but it meant there was a rich bed of options when slicing out an ambient variant.
"Nakk...
2020-09-22 15:56:04 +0000 UTC View PostI quite like running weird dungeons. Crypts, crumbling fortresses, and spider-filled caves are all well and good, but I like to spice things up with at least one or two bizarre details. In one of my campaigns "Nakkas Khath" was the name of a long-abandoned underground city, now functioning as a hourglass-shaped astronomical focus, a black dragon lair, and the home to scores of bioluminescent jellyfish stonemasons. My players knew that there was danger, but the very nature and signifi...
2020-09-22 15:48:23 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey all, I'm very stoked to announce the release of my newest album!
If you're a patron of mine, you already have access to these tracks, but I know lots of folks lurk in the free posts on this Patreon. To you all, I say: enjoy! While I'm very happy with the service I provide here on Patreon, I also understand that lots of folks simply don't like bothering with downloading mp3s and paying monthly fees. That said, if you dig my work, I would really appreciate if you consid...
2020-09-18 13:34:10 +0000 UTC View PostHey folks!
I hope you enjoyed that giant new collaboration. It was really fun to release so much music all in one go. I also hope you check out friends of Music d20: Ela Morana, Adventure Music, and Boy King of Idaho are all releasing some stellar tun...
2020-09-16 15:17:36 +0000 UTC View Post
In celebration of the release of Rime of the Frostmaiden and the (hopefully) cooling weather as we move into the fall and winter seasons of the year, a collection of 36 (!) TTRPG content creators have come together to create a massive 150x180 grid map with new monsters, music, miniatures, and magic items to all complement one another!
You'll find everything from frozen dragons to igloo camps on...
2020-09-16 15:04:25 +0000 UTC View PostI really hope you enjoyed reading through the Silverspring Mine adventure I just published! It was a lot of fun to work on with the rest of the team. I really enjoy making weird and spooky dungeon music that's musical but still evocative of the physical space itself. For those of you looking for something more purely ambient, I've got a spaaaaarse version of that track for you below. It's been picked dry, and only the weird wooshes of noise and crackly basses stand out now.&...
2020-09-13 15:52:59 +0000 UTC View Post