?Deterioration Furthers? is a 3:51 long mp3 file that was designed for an indie horror film by Bailey Records. I believe it is intended to provide the GM of horror games with inspiration music for planning of dire adventures or as background ambience for a horror game. There is little information in the product description so I will try to bring you my take on what I am hearing. This is my first crack at reviewing an audio file at rpgnow so you will need to bear with me as I work my way through this piece.

The piece starts of with a windy, reedy sort of landscape almost thought it was made from the echoes of air whispering through wooden or metal pipes. After the first twenty seconds there is a bass drum beat followed by the sound of softer drum beats that could be march of cultist or other denizens. Except for the louder bass drum beats the music is pretty uniform in sound level until two minutes into the piece when a humming almost chanting sound takes centre stage for about a minute before fading back to the drum beats and howling of winds.

As though I was back in a middle school music class I tired to visualize what the music made me think of. The music gives me a hot feeling as though we were in a humid jungle or even a factory filled with steam pipes. The drum beats could be the beats of an ancient tribe in the performance of some ritual or even the clang of boot on heavy metal grating. There is a definite metallic sound that seems to underlie the piece making it feel more industrial than natural to me. I see this piece being used in a darkness time setting of Silent Hill hospital or school or deep jungle that receives little light.

Because the ending levels and sound are similar to the beginning it would be easy for the piece to loop for longer use or a continuous background for a longer act or scene in an horror tale.

<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>

Very nice track! Good elements of light trance mixed with some nice crunchy, rough elements.

[This comment is from Deborah Balsam, btw - I share an account with Sean]<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It's a well balanced nice piece of electronica. Really well-composed.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: It was worth the price, but I would have paid a bit more to have it looooonger. Make an extended version, folks. :)<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

EDIT: I erroneously claimed in my first review that no demo was available for this track. I'm not sure how I missed it, but thank you to the publisher for correcting my mistake. I've corrected my error in this version of the review.

"Hack the Planet!" Hackers, 1998

A successful cyberpunk/sci-fi RPG game needs a few things. A cast of futuristic outsiders that live outside the law? Check. A gritty, urban spawl to serve as backdrop? Check. Plenty of guns, cyberware, and high-tech security systems? Check. Cool techno soundtrack? ...What, no soundtrack?

Bailey Records is here to add the music to your sci-fi gaming. Hack the Planet is a musical track in the tradition of soundtracks from movies such as the Matrix, Hackers, and certain video games. Its very good background music, and it fits the sci-fi genre well.

One of the things I liked best was the length of the song. At 5 minutes and 18 seconds, Hack the Planet is just long enough to be looped two or three times during the background of a particular scene or encounter during your game. At $1 for the download, Hack the Planet is an inexpensive starting place for those looking to get started with building a gaming soundtrack, or for those looking to add to an existing collection. The file is in MP3 format, making it very portable and playable for nearly anyone with a computer.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: I really like the sound of Hack the Planet. It sounds a bit like high quality video game music, which works great as RPG background music. If used for Shadowrun, Cyberpunk, d20 Modern, or another sci-fi genre game, I think that it would greatly add to the players' immersion in their characters' actions. While Hack the Planet is just a single track, it is a good start toward a full soundtrack.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Hack the Planet is a nice length for a single track, but I would prefer to see products like this available as full album downloads, or at least grouped in a more logical way.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>

As a single piece of music for your horror-themed game (or just a horror-inspired scene in a non-genre gaming session), "Lonesome October Nights" by Bailey Records definitely sets a mood of ominous mystery and eerie atmosphere. Its running time is short in length - just one-minute-thirty-seconds - so a DM or GM using this piece of music can trust that it will take little time for the track to hit the right mood after just a few introductory seconds.

After the first fifteen or twenty seconds - past the sweeping introduction - the track starts to pulse just a bit, and an enterprising GM may even be able to use an audio editing piece of software to pull this soft pulsating out as an individual loop to play over and over again during longer, darker scenes in their game or campaign. (Of course, this audio manipulation would definitely need to be for the purchaser's own private, gaming use.)

Unfortunately, as a track overall, "Lonesome October Nights" doesn't loop very well. This doesn't make this a "bad" track, per se, but it does limit its use, and a GM might need to use this entire piece of music sparingly. The track could have been extended a bit, especially after the first twenty seconds, to make this a truly useful piece of background audio for your horror-themed game.

However, if you're a GM that creates the table-top RPG equivalent of a "cut scene," this music may accompany this bit of exposition just fine.

"Lonesome October Nights" is a cleanly-presented .mp3 file, and comes packaged with .pdf and .doc advertisements for other products from Bailey Records.

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: This is a slick, well-produced piece of music that is professional-sounding and presented. The price is also quite affordable.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: It's just a tad bit too short to lend itself to repeated use.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>

This product is an MP3 audio file of a song called Lonesome October Nights. According to the information accompanying the download, it was originally part of a CD soundtrack for an independent Call of Cthulhu-inspired film entitled The Charnal Gospel. The original CD has apparently sold out, and the company has decided to release individual tracks for download via RPGNow. For a roleplaying gamer, these songs are meant to be used as genre specific background music, helping to set the atmosphere for a roleplaying game session.

Lonesome October Nights is 1 minute and 30 seconds long. It begins with an ominous rumble, accompanied by a rapid, insectoid screeching. As the screeching fades and the rumble builds, a soft chiming rhythm begins. It is reminiscent of the Tubular Bells theme from the Exorcist, only slower, quieter, and more suppressed. As the song progresses to the end, the sounds grow in volume and begin to blend together, rising in volume until finally fading out at the end.

Whew! I now know why I'm not a staff reviewer on an independent music website. Music may be a universal language, but it sure is hard to describe. To put things into less abstract terms, Lonesome October Nights is good background music. What little recognizable tune it has is very brief and highly muted. That's a good thing, as you don't want your players humming along with the music while they're battling the minions of Hastur. Background music should stay firmly in the background.

Lonesome October Nights is also creepy, which is the whole point of the composition. Relating it to Call of Cthulhu, it immediately reminded me of the Insects from Shaggai. The industrial buzzing, building to a noisy crescendo, brought to mind a number of other creepy images as well. Which leads me to the other use of RPG background music: gamemaster inspiration. There are certain songs that I like to listen to when I'm writing up a new adventure. They help get me in the mindset to imagine scenes of great cinematic action, or crawling shadowy dread, or whatever is appropriate to the genre I'm working in. Cthulhu-like horror music is a little harder to find, which makes a product like this one a welcome addition to any RPG soundtrack.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Lonesome October Nights is a good addition to any horror themed music library. It is very mood setting and well produced, and subdued enough that it stays in the background. If you use music in your games, or you'd like to begin amassing a collection, this is a nice piece to grab.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: At only a minute and a half, I thought the song was a bit short. It also doesn't really loop very well, as the end of the song clashes a bit with the beginning. Background music needs to play continuously in the background, and Lonesome October Nights barely lasts long enough for a few rounds of an encounter. I'm afraid that, by the time the GM begins setting the scene, the CD will have moved on to the next track. If the track looped with itself and was longer, I think it would better serve its purpose.

That said, it's a nice little piece of ambient horror music, and I'm interested to hear the rest of the CD.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>

Lonesome October Nights is a single MP3 by Bailey Records. It comes in a zipped file, 3.12 megabytes in size. The zipped file contains not only the MP3, but also three PDFs and a Microsoft Word document. Each of the PDFs is a single-page advertisement for Bailey Records material. The Microsoft Word document, in contrast, is a single page telling you about the CD this MP3 is from, gives the credits and some links to related material, and a bit of background on how the music came to be.

Lonesome October Nights is ninety seconds long, and is meant to be used for horror-style games. There are no lyrics, since this is meant to be background music. The track opens with a cacophony of strange sounds, which then leads into a subtle ambience that does a good job of evoking a lonely road at night. Towards the end, the cacophony from the beginning starts to rise again before all of the music slowly fades to a close.

While this single track is good unto itself, it comes across as feeling somewhat incomplete. The rising ambience of the main part of the music does a good job of establishing a feeling of isolation, and possibly even of a lurking horror, but it has no follow up to that. While perhaps on its original CD it was followed by more music that worked on the implications laid on this track, Lonesome October Nights doesn?t work quite as well in a vacuum. This is a good song to play to establish a fearful atmosphere, but be prepared to have more to follow up on it. It takes more than a lonely night to scare PCs, after all.

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The music does a good job of evoking feelings of being isolated in a spooky area.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: By itself, the music can be spooky, but doesn't try to be more than that. This track needs further music to cash in on the foundations it lays.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>

This is a good song for any hero or hero group to use as a theme song. It's a little short, but it works well. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The feeling of the song, good job!<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A little short, would have like a longer version.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

This is had a lot of the same elements of the Enter Our Hero song. I like the darker feel and the more electronic sound it has. I find myself whistleing the horn part with out thinking, and those around me ask what it is. Very Good Job!!!<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

This is another great work from Bailey Records. It captures the essence of the idea nicely. I wish it were a bit longer, but I will be using this in my gaming sessions for sure<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: I liked the support Bailey Records has. Stratos was very helpful in fixing a problem I an encountered. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I wish the song was longer.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Starting soft and slow, ?Dance of Darkness? scratches at the listeners/players, and before the first minute of this four-minute-fifteen-second track begins, the intensity (helped with a few subtle sound effects of grunts, groans and general unpleasantness) has picked up, and the characters are in a much more dangerous situation than they were before the GM hit ?Play? on his or her mp3 player.

This track doesn?t immediately scream ?battle music? (but a creative GM could definitely some where to include it in a climactic fight scene of some sort, to be sure), but instead seems to fit a more subtle confrontation between the players and some creepy and definitely ill-intentioned NPC or two.

Truthfully, the word ?Dance? in the title may be a little misleading as this doesn?t quite seem to inspire any kind of dancing between the forces of good and evil. Rather, as good as this music is, it seems best suited to be used in scenes in which the PCs would want to go into a room/chamber/NPC?s den, do what they need to do quickly, and then get out before anything escalates further. The music is well-produced, but it definitely encourages getting-in-and-getting-back-out-again-in-a-hurry instead of lingering in any sort of fight or combat. If the DM has to allow this track to play over and over again, then the PCs get what they deserve.

So much of deciding what music is ?good? or ?bad? is based on personal taste, and ?Dance of Darkness? may not be to everyone?s liking. Even if you don?t use it in your game, however, this bit of music could very well inspire a scene, a villain, a location or maybe even the creation of a magic item for use in your game.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: This is a good piece of music that can be used in a number of different scenarios or scenes in your game. Evem if you don't use it in your game, it's still an inspiring piece of music to prep your game or just write to.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: As good as this piece of music is, it might not fit into your game easily. Also, the distinct opening and ending of this piece might make looping this music in your game a little awkward.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Two-minutes-forty-four-seconds may not seem like a lot of time to set a scene in your dark fantasy or horror role-playing game, but that?s all the time you?ll need when playing Bailey Records? ?Cthulhu Rising? as part of your game?s background music.

Composed by T. W. Cory, this track jolts the listener immediately into a hard-hitting, yet bleak place. The pounding tempo (a driving drumming drills throughout the piece, occasionally accompanied by what sounds like a didgeridoo) doesn?t let up one bit, actually increasing in intensity as the track comes to its end.

Music can add so much to a role-playing game, and a wise GM can use this music for a cut-away scene, a scene in which the player-characters stumble across a sinister ceremony or some strange cult activity, or even as the accompaniment for a game or campaign?s finale.

You can hit ?repeat? when using this track; it isn?t just a mindless, repetitive loop. One-minute-thirty-two seconds in, there is a slight pause in the pounding drums, which serves as a sort of natural break point, smartly keeping this track from becoming too monotonous if left on ?repeat? for too long.

(That said, I would have liked to have heard a slightly longer version of this track.)

The title of this track ? ?Cthulhu Rising? ? is indicative of what game system Bailey Records obviously has in mind for this track, but don?t let this fool you. This is a piece of music that can find its home in an edgier darker modern setting, a dark fantasy setting, a Conan-esque setting, and so on. I would find this music quite appropriate for a Dungeons & Dragons campaign I?m preparing now!

This is good music, and immediately brings to mind several possibilities for use in a role-playing game.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: This is a smart and dark piece of gaming music that lends itself for use in a variety of different game settings. It's well-produced and is quite inspriring.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I would wish for a longer track if I had to improve upon this product.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

As a DM or Judge, it can sometimes be difficult to paint a unique ?word picture? for your players when their characters stumble into yet another dungeon or fight yet another group of goblins and orcs. When the party encounters a group of cultists performing some sort of chant or incantation to an otherworldly being bent on destruction, it might seem a bit too familiar if this is the third or fourth group of cultists the party has come up against.

A DM can use music to help enhance the story and scene, but if the DM uses an overly familiar piece of music (like a bit of music from the soundtrack of ?Lord of the Rings? or ?Conan the Barbarian?), now he or she may have to fight against any preconceptions in mood and storytelling the players may now have as a result of hearing that familiar music.

This track from Bailey Records is an alternative to this scenario. Titled ?Hilltop Incantations,? this three-minute-fifteen-second track suggests exactly that - some sort of religious or supernatural ceremony is taking place in an isolated location (like a hilltop). A rhythmic drum beat (complete with bells or cymbals?) introduces the ceremony and pulls the listeners/players closer to the action. At the end of the first minute, the tempo changes, which could imply a change in tempo at the ceremony, or perhaps even worse, the player-characters have been caught spying on this holy (or unholy) event.

Because of this change in tempo (another change in tempo occurs after another minute), this is a piece of music that can be set to repeat itself throughout an entire encounter without the music becoming monotonous.

This is a fun piece of music that has a definite dark edge, and it could add an extra touch or two to your game. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: I wrote this review from a Dungeons & Dragons player viewpoint, but it could also be easily used in a d20 Modern game or especially a Call of Cthulhu session. It's a versatile piece of music that is sure to inspire a dark mood when it's needed at the game table.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I have little complaint - this is a great piece of inspiring music. Perhaps it could have been a bit longer?<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Great stuff. I wasn't a big fan of techno/electronica before downloading this, but this is really good stuff. This won't be to everyone's taste, but to get an idea of the style of music, try downloading one of the single tracks Baily Records have available (like Darkrider Returneth or False Realities). Sound and instrument quality is very good, but for a completely electronic/synth/sampled music that doesn't attempt to emulate live instruments, that's only to be expected. The composers seem much more at home in this style of music than they were with their M&M Superlink tunes. Next sci-fi game I run, the U87 soundtrack will be part of the gaming background music, alongside Juno Reactor, E S Postumus and Hans Zimmer.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The music on this soundtrack isn't quite ambient, but still settles nicely into the background in the same way that good computer game music does. A couple of tracks actually remind me of Jeehun Hwang's "Mechwarrior 2" music.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: That Bailey don't have a whole album of this calibre full of M&M Superlink music :-)<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Great stuff. I wasn't a big fan of techno/electronica before downloading this, but this is really good stuff. This won't be to everyone's taste, but to get an idea of the style of music, try downloading one of the single tracks Baily Records have available (like Darkrider Returneth or False Realities). Sound and instrument quality is very good, but for a completely electronic/synth/sampled music that doesn't attempt to emulate live instruments, that's only to be expected. The composers seem much more at home in this style of music than they were with their M&M Superlink tunes. Next sci-fi game I run, the U87 soundtrack will be part of the gaming background music, alongside Juno Reactor, E S Postumus and Hans Zimmer.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The music on this soundtrack isn't quite ambient, but still settles nicely into the background in the same way that good computer game music does. A couple of tracks actually remind me of Jeehun Hwang's "Mechwarrior 2" music. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: That Bailey don't have a whole album of this calibre full of M&M Superlink music :-)<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Very good background music for a darker-themed rpg.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>