I’ve certainly spent ages tracking down some background music for a key scene or battle and then left it on my laptop running in loop while I GM the scene. I think three things happened; firstly my scene was improved, secondly I forgot it was running until a few scenes later and thirdly my Last.fm history looked weird.
I do believe that custom sound effects add to the tabletop experience. I think you need to use them carefully as the hobby is about imagination, letting the mind fill in the gaps and not trying to recreate experiences. I also think the ways and means by which a busy GM can access and play music is important. It needs to be easy. That’s why the Realmsound project interests me. It seems to have cracked both challenges.
This is a funed campaign. There are 35+ days to run and of their $5,000 request the team has raised nearly $8,000 already. The pledge tiers make sense, leaping up by the right amount and offering the right amount with each leap.
As it happens this is Realmsound Project 2. The first attempt at this was in July 2013 when the Orange County Gaming Group asked for $10,000 and only raised $5,500 or so. A great example of the campaign learning the lessons and making sure gamers will be interested this time.
