I am a big fan of having background music in my games. I was wondering if anyone else did that, and if so, what music you use with Shadowrun. I have a pretty big playlist now, but I am looking for some more ideas.

Pi soundtrack

My current mix:

1. Delerium (feat. Kirsty Thirk) - "Flowers Become Screens (Deepsky Remix)"
2. Garbage - "Not My Idea"
3. Incubus - "Pardon Me"
4. Juno Reactor - "God Is God"
5. KMFDM - "Brute"
6. Moby - "Machete"
7. Nine Ince Nails - "Starfuckers Inc."
8. Orgy - "Fiction (Dreams In Digital)"
9. Powerman 5000 - "Public Menace, Freak, Human Fly"
10. Faith & the Muse - "Porphyrogene (Laboratory X remix)"
11. The Dust Brothers - "Jack's Smirking Revenge"
12. Genitorturers - "Terrorvision"
13. Zeromancer - "Eurotrash"
14. haujobb - "Perfect Average"
15. Juno Reactor - "Rotorblade"
16. Sneaker Pimps - "Waterbaby"

I'd use just about any of the bands listed (and more) for various facets of Shadowrun, but for general atmosphere, it's hard to go wrong with The Dust Brothers (Fight Club soundtrack), haujobb and Juno Reactor.

I just turn on winamp and let it go. Sometimes I'll cue up specific songs, but for general I just let winamp randomly pick them. Sometimes it's rather funny.

When I do use specifics, I've found the Metal Gear Solid 2 soundtrack to work well, and some songs from the Black Hole soundtrack.

Generally, I like the soundtrack to any sort of techno-y scifi movie. The Matrix soundtrack, a few songs off the 5th Element, etc.

I've lost count of how many times we've had this thread, but my Shadowrun playlist is still right where it's always been. I've added a couple tracks since last time.

P.O.D. vs. Crystal Method - Boom!

I put my copy of Anal Princesses #36 in the VCR and we listen to that.

I custom make soundtracks for each session I run and burn them to CD. I also keep "ambience" tracks in my collection, so if PC's happen to run into a familiar situation, I have mood music on hand.

I use a varied and unsual kinds of music to set moods, and often use music that would be innapporpriate for a scence, just to provide a contrast. Next session, my PC's are going to be visited by a hitman and the gun battle, if there is one, will run to the sound of Dusty Baker's "Son of a Preacherman", mostly because the the name of hitman is the Preacher.

My opening scene featured Beck's "Where it's at". I use Rage Against the Machine for heavy combat, some System of a Down, POD. Bob Dylan Features into my music tracks, along with Pink Floyd, Blue Oyster Cult, Curtis Mayfield, MC 900 Foot Jesus, and several others.

J-Pop, man. Ain't nothing ruins the mood of a gritty, dangerous game like J-Pop. Which is why I listen to it when I play online. That or K-Pop.

When I game RL, though, we listen to the sound of silence. It makes making fun of each other's stupidity that much easier.

I put John Cage's piece 4:33 on continuous loop.

I've always thought playing to music as a Good Thing ™, but most of the people in my group get distracted by it for some reason. Especially when it's music they recognize. So, we usually don' t have anything going on in the background.

However, I've been looking around for much more obscure stuff to try to reintroduce playing to a soundtrack and maybe it'll work this time around...

For scary missions nothing beats the metroid prime soundtrack (and call of cthulhu)

For stealth, also the metroid prime soundtrack

For combat, I use trance music or heavy metal (currently In flames - Jotun)

For negotiations and high society meetings, classical. (because its whats likely to be playing).

For nothing specific, Metal and trance.

I usually rely on movie soundtracks. John Williams and Hans Zimmer movie soundtracks to be specific.

Wasn't there an official shadowrun soundtrack, or is it just that acid repeating on me again?

Not exactly, but there was an albun called Cyberpunk by Billy Joel (he played Cyberpunk and was inspired. pretty kickin album and I have used it int he past. Though I prefer to queue up my music and listen it while plotting the games, not necessarily during a game though.

I have also used music in the background but usually let the players decide and let them pick "signature songs" for specific charactersand then I play these when this character triumphs or does something worth it whilst others are fucking around. But for general stuff its mostly heavy shit.

Ever heard Orgazma Tracks ?
The album.
That kind of stuff.

all metal, only metal, nothing but heavy, heavy death metal.

http://invision.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=1761

Put it up a while ago, enjoy.

d'oh. That's what I get for posting after work

hahahahaha, billy joel doing cyberpunk soundtracks! even richard cheese wouldn't be able to top that.

billy idol's neuromancer stuff is okay, i guess. kinda goth, if that's your thing.

(Just signed back up after, gosh... over a year absent from anything Shadowrun. I finally found players, at least. Hi everyone!)

My music tends to be a bit on-and-off, since my group doesn't always meet in the same place. I'm buying an iPod or something similar sometime soon, and I'm thinking of investing in a pair of small speakers I can carry around with it.

As for something that actually has to do with the topic, I use a bevy of different stuff. For action scenes, I use Rammstein, techno, and such; when I need creepy ambience, usually for magical strangeness, I use the Silent Hill 3 soundtrack. My best general-use stuff, though, is the soundtrack for the anime Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040. It really meshes nicely with the whole Shadowrun feel, at least as I see it.

Pistons, we all knew you were cool before.
But let me inform you, due to that soundtrack list, that you are *especially* cool, primarily because I've used 9/10ths of it for my own game, especially "God is God."

Shit, I was inspired to take a particular plot bent in my current game when I heard Zeromancer's "Clone Your Lover," which is possibly the coolest name for a song ever.

VNV Nation, Wofshiem, other assorted Euro Industrial music...
-Slapstick

I imagine boy-band music would put your party in that right frame of mind for a killing spree.

Sinatra is good stuff for mafia inspired runs.

After railroading his players, "I did it MY way."

Music...., Ooh! Look! A dead horse....
Shadowrun: The Soundtrack, What do you recommend?
Shadowrun Soundtrack
Music to Run By
'Running Music
Theme Music
Music for atmosphere?
Music for your game
SR Music
Shadowrun Soundtrack
Shadowrun Theme Songs

Ok, but when have we discussed it lately?

*kills Zazen*

Oooh oooh, let's talk about invisibility!

So if I shoot someone in the head, do I bypass his armor rating?

Only if you do so while invisible using a dikoted ally spirit in the form of a sliver-sniper-rifle from a grassy gnoll while naked.

Soundgarden, Man!!!

Check Mp3.com, and dowload some ambient and dark ambient songs. They work great at least for our group.

Some artists: DreamSTATE, Ian Boddy, Max Gorbacho, Positively Dark, Isomorph.

All those are available free from mp3.com.

Um... mp3.com isn't up and running at the moment. In fact, it got shut down several months ago and all it's assets sold off. Vivendi Universal, who actually owns the company now, is planning on starting it up in a new form.

I must say that anything from these following bands are great for shadowrun:

KMFDM
Nine Inch Nails
Ministry
Pig
The Future Sound of London
Atari Teenage Riot
Coil
Skold
Aphex Twin
Photek
Fluke
Clint Mansell
Prick
Revolting Cocks
Prodigy
New Order
Chemical Brothers
Sneaker Pimps
Portishead
Velvet Nation
Skinny Puppy
Rob Zombie
Dj Shadow
Source Direct
Underworld
Daft Punk
Velvet Acid Christ
Slick Idiot
BILE
Foetus
Throbbing Gristle
Einsturzende Neubauten
Schwein
Watts
MDFMK
En Esch
Psychic TV
Dj Spooky
Chem Lab
Meat Beat Manifesto
Rage Against the Machine
Henry Rollins
ohGr

This a list of bands that seem to almost perfectly shine the world of Shadowrun through their music. It is a suggestion for good music for Shadowrun as it is almost an entirely industrialized world.