Will Savino

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Will Savino posts

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Subtle Fluid | Collaboration with Stillfleet

Rad Music d20 logo art by Erich Lazar__________________________________If you're in my Discord, you know I'm a massive fan of a new tabletop system called Stillfleet. I've been helping its creators Wythe (who contributed a whole bunch of weird lore and mechanics to Arkus: Epiphytic Ephemera) playtest the system, and it's been an absolute blast. Stillfleet is a game of big extremes: plenty of class powers are wildly potent and just...

Sparser Ethereal Music

I know you guys love those less active variants, so here's a less dramatic version of "Be Whole Again." Realistically, I imagine this version is going to get more use than the original. Short of some truly satisfying conclusions, the other piece may simple be too impactful for use in the average game session. This more low-key version is far more appropriate for a variety of non-threatening situations: peaceful cities, places of worsh...

Cloud Temple | Collaboration with Domille's Wondrous Works

So many tabletop RPG canonically dictate that some version of heaven and hell are demonstrably real. That's an insane detail that I think most campaigns do not pay enough attention to! If I knew without a doubt that there is a real heaven, and that it's a big mountain with angels and frolicking wildlife, I would probably spend more time in church. As such every fantasy campaign needs more church maps, and boy do I have the ultimate church...

Harp Musings

I imagine music is used non-diegetically in most campaigns. That is: when the GM plays a track, the characters aren't LITERALLY hearing that music in-game. Of course, if you're playing a Michaël Ghelfi ambience, that might not be the case (i.e. the characters are actually hearing the sounds of a bustling city or drippy cave or whatever), but most of my music is like a cinematic underscore: just something to establish mood, tension, and e...

Quiet Crossroads

When I'm DMing, I often like to use small towns as sort of "social dungeons": areas where the players have a clear goal, a variety of potential routes and leads, and in which the NPCs they meet represent potential aids and potential obstacles. I'm currently running a little murder mystery that spans an entire village, and thinking of that adventure as a dungeon really helps to clarify how the city should function in game terms.Eve...

Track Requests: April 2021

Note: My next Foundry module will be coming out in a couple days. This will only be available at the Virtuoso Tier and up, so if Foundry modules are something you're looking for, please double check your pledge amount. Also please note that Foundry modules will never feature exclusive music. They will always consist of tracks I've already released on the main feed.__________________________Whelp, after winning 3 track request polls in a r...

Underwater Sparseness

It has been reconfirmed yet again that y'all love the ambient and sparse mixes of my tracks. That's great, because they're very satisfying to make! I have a tendency to... let's say "overcomplicate" my tracks (yes, I know that you already know that), so it's extra fun to strip away all the fat and find that there's still some great music underneath.I took away everything superfluous from "Leukothea" to find...

The Last Rest | Collaboration with J.Dungeonmaster

Note: Please submit track requests for the April poll! Limit 2 per patron, and please submit them in a way that makes it easy for me to post. Drop them in the comments here or in the Discord._________________________Greetings from the bottom of the ocean.This week I bring you a beautiful collaboration with J.Dungeonmaster, a tabletop cartographer I have been a fan of for a long time. His work always has the most soothing color palettes, so when h...

Lovecraftian Ambience

As a rule, it is unwise to engage an Old One in direct combat. They exist outside our understanding and can end worlds with a thought. THEREFORE, it's usually best if you explore their realms with no intention of entering into a fight. If you're exploring cultist lairs, or the farthest reaches of the known cosmology, you probably shouldn't need big bombastic exciting music. Just keep your head down and try not to go mad.That's whe...

Lovecraftian Horror Breaking Through Dimensional Walls

Every couple of months, I can reliably count on you all to vote for the track request that is unambiguously the most difficult to score. "Lovecraftian Horror Breaking Through Dimensional Walls" is right up there with "God Being Freed From an Extraplanar Prison" in terms of "how can I possible do this justice?" It was not an easy sound to achieve, but I think I've got it!"Phth'uub-Phthyn" has cult vibes, dis...

2021: What do we need more of?

Hey y'all! Vol. 5 is rapidly approaching completion, and I'm currently planning how I'll round out the track list. I conducted one of these polls last year, and it was quite illuminating. What do YOU consider my library to lacking? I typically like to think of my tracks as each falling into one of the five general categories below, and I try to cater the balance of those categories to the needs of my patrons.So what do you think? What...

Synthetic Tension

In general, I try to avoid using too many synthesizers in my RPG music. I use sooo many synths in my video game work, and since the majority of you are playing in fantasy settings, I find the sounds of lutes and strings and war drums and whatnot are usually more appropriate.THAT SAID, I think if you want to build true cinematic edgy tension, you gotta whip out those crunchy, distorted synth sounds. This variant of "Not Easily Forgotten" d...

You're Gonna Carry That Weight

Presenting players with meaningful choices and then showing them the consequences is one of the most satisfying parts of tabletop gaming for both players and GMs. There's nothing I love more than giving my players a moral quandary and seeing them waffle on what to do. Sure you want to save all the innocent prisoners, but that means 1) fighting the guards, 2) becoming wanted men, and 3) going on the run. Is that worth it?Sometimes, satisfying ...

Announcing: Music d20 Foundry Playlists

Hello everyone! Today, I'm bringing Music d20 into 2021 by finally releasing my most requested feature: Foundry integration! For those of you who use Foundry VTT for your online RPG sessions, this will help you to seamlessly include my music in your games without futzing about with file management or configuring your own playlist modules.Here's how it works: Each month, I will release one Foundry module that consists of a themed playlist ...

Sparse Fortress

Exploring long-abandoned castles, cathedrals, and catacombs is such a staple of fantasy RPGs. Those moments before combat starts or traps are sprung can be incredibly moody and tense. For music, you want something that evokes 1) space, 2) mood, and 3) flavor. I believe "Saga of Stone (Ambient)" does just that. You hear a track like this, and you know that 1) this place is big and reverberant, 2) there's a Dark Soulsian sadness in thes...

Fortress | Collaboration with The Goblin Explorer

A gust of wind howls across the vertical walls of the bottomless abyss that opens on both sides. The bridge you're walking on bears the signs of some past battles, the unfortunate assaulters were fended off and now they lie here abandoned. A massive wooden gate bars the way, but with a simple push, the portal opens, squicking on the hinges. The place is abandoned, whoever inhabited it is now gone for a long time, whatever inhabits it now is a...

That Podcast Sound...

There's a certain sound that I love in podcasts, that I mostly attribute to This American Life and its spinoffs. Take some simple and pleasantly plucky music, and add the tiniest amount of grit to it for the sake of... I don't know, modernizing? If you've ever listened to Serial, or S Town, or Nice White Parents, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's very effective at both being dramatic and neutral at the same time.Wi...

Putting the Pieces Together

This week I'm bringing you the first in a short series of collaborations with Music d20 patron, podcaster, and RPG creator Adam Baffoni! Adam is currently working on a (yet unannounced?) podcast project that needs a bit of original music, so he tasked me with designing some of the tunes that will underscore important moments. Go follow Adam on Twitter if you want to stay up to date on his projects. I'll be sure to drop a reminder when his...

Track Requests: March 2021

NOT TO BRAG but I think February was pretty dang full of highlights here at Music d20! New Arkus, huge pirate collab with a new vocal track, the auction house collab with Mik & Wewa... 6 tracks total released during the shortest month of the year. Nice!Well, spring is quickly approaching, and the start of March means it's time for a new track request poll. As always: Feel free to vote for more than one This poll will stay open for 24 hours If...

Sanctuary

"In the Warmth of the Fire" is one of my favorite tunes I've written for Music d20. The original has a perfect Nordic sort of aurora borealis vibe that's great for frigid adventures. It's got a hummable melody, but also isn't too distracting for moments of focus in your RPGs. The ambient mix is also great for even calmer moments. That said, I wanted to take yet another crack at it, this time with a slightly more refined an...

Sky Sailing and Track Requests

Note: Please send in some track requests! March is imminently approaching, and I will be posting a poll tomorrow morning. Thanks!I'm quite fond of airships. It's almost certainly due to growing up with Final Fantasy and other Square JRPGs, but there's something perfect about that sort of flight in RPGs. From a DM standpoint, it solves the problem of getting to the action quickly when at high levels. It also inevitably becomes a home b...

Treasure Map Kit | Full Version featuring Ancora Bound (Vocal)

I just released a huge collab with some great RPG buddies! If you can see this post, that means you're already my patron. Thank you! If you want to read a little bit about what's contained in these zip folders, please check out the free post. If you're here, then that means you want the big boy assets. These zip files have sooo many goodies: maps, map assets, item, and of course, my music!"Ancora Bound" is my ideal "pirate...

Treasure Map Kit | Giant Free Pirate-Themed Collaboration

Note: If you just want my track, it's available at the bottom! Instrumental version is free, incredible vocal rendition is available to all my patrons.Ahoy, ye scurvy treasure hunters! It be gold we be after!I teamed up with 8 other RPG creators to put together this awesome Treasure Map Kit! The full kit includes over 80 icons, symbols, markings, and blank paper templates for you to drag around and create your own treasure maps and region map...

Ambient Aristocracy

"Do you get to the Cloud District very often? Oh, what am I saying? Of course you don't."Okay, but what happens when your party DOES go to the rich part of town? By mid-level gameplay, it's likely your party has amassed a miniature treasure horde that makes them wealthier than the vast majority of common folk they encounter. And when they do, in my experience, they tend to stick around for a while. After ages of dungeoneering, it ...

The Auction House | Collaboration with Mik & Wewa

This week, I bring you a stellar map from my friends Mik & Wewa. This Victorian-style auction house is perfect for a bit of elite intrigue... or maybe your party just has a bunch of money to blow on some valuable items. It comes with a gridded and ungridded version, which are both provided below.I first worked with this duo last Summer when Wewa provided the Enark map for my primer for Arkus. Now 6 months later, their Patreon has grown substantia...

Epiphytic Ephemera Variants

I'm so please to announce the release of the first supplement for my Arkus campaign setting! I've been working on this document for months, and it's so satisfying to see it finally completed and released into the world. It's filled with weird lore and fun new mechanics, plus oodles of awesome VTT ready assets from my collaborators. I really hope you enjoy it!I've also got some new variants for the tracks I included with the bu...

Arkus: Epiphytic Ephemera [Free Version]

NOTE: This is the free version of the Arkus Campaign Setting Supplement. My patrons (or patrons of any of my collaborators for this project) also get access to new tracks, maps, minis/tokens, and illustrations. If you like this project, please support its creators!Welcome back to Arkus, the arboreal realm of intrigue and the arcane! Discover new subclasses, dungeon inspiration, and bizarre lore in this exciting new supplement to the Arkus campaig...

Arkus: Epiphytic Ephemera

Welcome back to Arkus, the arboreal realm of intrigue and the arcane! Discover new subclasses, dungeon inspiration, and bizarre lore in this exciting new supplement to the Arkus campaign setting for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons.Equally useful for DMs and players, this document will help you craft character and adventures unique to this strange realm. Play as a Cosmologist artificer, customize your threndl with botanical add-ons, and learn about...

Fight the Witch

Witches fight dirty. You're not going to "lay siege" to a hag's lair. You're going to try to outlast their wicked magic and just get blows in when you can. Hags are dark! As such, this combat version of "The Woods Reject You" is maximally discordant. Aleatoric violin pulses, trombone braams, and broken piano gestures give this a track an even greater degree of dissonance than the original.Of course, the whole "comb...

Creepy Hag Forest

Sometimes when I'm making spooky / dungeon / ambient exploration music, I wonder if what I'm really making is music at all, and then I wonder if that distinction matters! You obviously don't want a song with verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus structure for your "Creepy Hag Forest" track, but do you want melody at all? It's a tricky question! I think dark atonal stuff is often appropriate for particularly dark and mood...