I love working music into campaigns. Whether it’s using the lyrics of a song as inspiration for a plot or naming campaign villains after a specific artist’s works, tying music into the game is among the most deeply rewarding, if normally private, activities I do as a DM. I think of them almost like Easter eggs I leave for myself, inside jokes as much as creative tools. Though it’s even better if players can figure them out too, and I’ve been known to pick music that hints at plotlines or spells out enemy weaknesses to reward the enterprising researcher. I haven’t yet built an entirely campaign around a soundtrack, but I’m slowly inching my way there.
Obviously Faith was always going to have an anime-style opening and closing song, but I couldn’t approach them the same way I usually do. First, the songs had to be Japanese pop or rock, not the genres I usually use. Second, they couldn’t already be tied to an existing anime, because I was worried any association with a known work would be too strong for be to overcome. Third, they could not relate to the campaign or its plot in a meaningful way. Anime themes rarely have very much to do with the shows they bound and I wanted to keep up that fine if weird tradition. With this in mind the feel of a song became much more important than the lyrics, and I had to go digging until I found something with the emotional impact I wanted.
Now that we’re halfway through the first season of the campaign (episode 13 is today) I’ve finally found something I’m happy with:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKsow3IB_F4
Note that these are only the opening and ending songs for our first season. I have to do this whole thing against for Season 2. Or, rather, I get to do it again.