RPG Tools: Tabletop Audio

Let's try this again... The modern GameMaster is always looking for online tools to help make their campaign more immersive. After all, many of us have been relegated to playing online - the pandemic pushed it, but so did adulting, now parents can take a short break to put their kids to bed, etc. in the middle of a session, no problem - and GMs have to create the immediacy of the in-person experience somehow. A lot of online tools are subscription-based, and that interests me less. Over the course of a few articles, I want to look at a few, neat, online tools that can make a difference in keeping the players engaged, the equivalent of the props and hand-outs you might have crafted and passed around in the old days.

This week: Tabletop Audio

Do you use music at the table? I do. I like to build soundtracks, with theme songs and everything. But music and sound effects can also be used to create an atmosphere. Is the scene creepy, pastoral, or exciting? A thrumming soundscape can add intention to a scene and give the players a vibe that's otherwise difficult to replicate with simple description, especially when the outside world intrudes with its usual distractions. A sudden switch between jungle sounds and weird airy crystals as one enters a strange ruin can make players stand at attention, while the big bombastic booms of action music, when they somehow land exactly on a great dice roll makes the scene more memorable and fun.

But where are you going to get those atmospheres? Tabletop Audio has you covered. Over 400 10-minute, loopable, searchable beds that you can listen to on the site with a handy built-in player and then download for free, without limits. Each track is clearly marked as to whether it contains ambience (sound effects, like a rowdy tavern), music (with a difference made for minimal music), or both. The tracks skew toward Fantasy, naturally, but Sci-fi, Historical, Modern and Horror are all covered. Nature and Music are other labels you can search through, but write anything in the search bar and see if it comes up with some hits.

Just looking through the tracks (each accompanied by a pleasing image) might give you an idea for a scene - The Drowned Tower, Whispering Caverns, Rise of the Golem... very evocative - and guess what, the scene comes with ready-made music. No one says you can't start with the soundtrack. If it's good enough for Quentin Tarantino...

You might already be doing this kind of thing with YouTube or Spotify, possibly recording the music/sounds using software so that your session doesn't get interrupted by ads. Getting a long enough loop is tedious, believe me. There are still environments I can't find music for since I play a multi-genre game that can't be entirely covered by clicking spider dens and cyberpunk speakeasies. But your first stop really should be Tabletop Audio. Big loops, ready made for adventure, at the click of a button.

The site has a new feature called SoundPad that allows you to customize your soundscapes, but I've yet to fiddle with it much. So we'll talk about it next week!