Tabletop Audio - Such a Tool
Greetings all. I guess it was time for me to finally be a team player and add something to this blog. Though, unlike my fellow Drunkards and Dragons, I don’t believe I have a knack for this kind of thing. But what hey. What is the worst that could happen besides boring you lot to death. Get ready for the death saving throws m’friends.
First, a little about me. My name is Mike, but I go by “Pav” . Only a few know how I got that nickname, bestowed on me by none other than Drunkards and Dragons own Ed and Mike. Of course, there is a story behind how I got it, but now is not the time. In all truth it probably did make things easier since already had a Mike in the group, although there is no such thing as having enough Mikes in any group.
Someday….we will rise….to take our rightful place as supreme rulers of the multiverse! Bwhahahahaha!…..ahem.
But enough about me, yes there is more,….on to the blog post.
So let us talk about tools.
But not the ones you find in the DMG and the other source books, although that could also make an interesting post. I’m talking about those tools that DMs and players alike use to enhance gameplay, and there are a slew of different ones to choose from.
Anything from map making (see DM Ed’s posts “Let’s Build a Random Dungeon” Part 1 and Part 2 as well as Brian's (TMSyndicate) Worlds Building 101 - Oh What a Wonderful World!), campaign managers, virtual tabletops, token creators, communications (Discord)…I could go on. And let’s not forget the ever faithful pen and paper items such as 3x5 cards, post it notes, dice, note pads, graph paper (flashback!), etc. However, this tool post is about Ambience and Music and the tool I use is called Tabletop Audio.
I’m sure most of you who read this will already know of Tabletop Audio, but there is a chance someone will not have heard of this great tool, so hopefully this is informative to someone.
Like many others, I like to add music and sounds when running a game. I find it further sparks the players and DM’s imagination when a scene is being described or provides a sudden rush of excitement when battle music suddenly begins to play after the roar of a dragon. And Tabletop Audio provides that spark for me and my players.
Music and general sounds can provide a dazzling way to supply just the right atmosphere and oomph for your session. And there are many ways and tools to make this happen. I just prefer Tabletop Audio. And those reasons are as follows.
First, it’s free. DMs already spend enough on source books, adventures, miniatures, dice, and so on and so on. So it’s very much appreciated to use a quality tool without paying for it, although I recently decided to become a Patreon supporter to show my thanks to the creator for this fantastic resource. There is also an option to donate via PayPal if you don’t want to become a Patreon supporter. And there are benefits to do both, but the biggest one is helping to keep Tabletop Audio ad free. ME….HATES…..ADS! ARRRRGH!
Secondly, the quality. You really need to listen for yourself. The mixture and use of ambience music is astounding. Movie worthy in my opinion. Again, you should really listen to some of the tracks to fully appreciate it. Any words I could provide would not do it justice.
Thirdly, the variety and ease of use. Not all games are fantasy based. This tool also has tracks for SciFi, historical, Modern, Nature, Horror, and Music. And there is a filter search where you can easily look for the right track. If I type in “Dwarf” these four tracks appear: “Forge of Fury, Dwarven City, Lost Mine, and Dungeon II: Mechanical”. Typing “Swamp” provide “Shuttle Crash, Swamp Thing, Blastfire Bog, Swamp Planet, Swamplandia”. Heck typing “Battle” provides 37 tracks. Just so many choices with the typing of a single word.
Lastly, and I use this term loosely as there are so many other reasons I love this tool, is the SoundPad. This is where the creator took the Ambience and Music tracks and broke it down to single Backgrounds, Events, Tones, and Music to allow you to pick and choose what you want to use. There are two versions of this tool, one that is based by Theme (i.e. Vikings, Cthulu, DM tools, etc) and a SoundPad Custom Tool which allows you to pick and choose from all of the sound and music themes so you can mix it up a bit. Add some fantasy weapon sounds to your SciFi suspense music. Add some creaking ship masts to your desert campaign. I think you get the idea.
So those are a few reasons why I truly enjoy TableTop Audio and I hope you will as well. And you don’t even have to use it just for gaming. I’ve been listening to “Adventure Begins” while drafting this post.
Cheers!
Pav
DM Ed Note - You can follow along with Pav on his Instagram Account.
