Music for chillin

July 30, 2026

Last time, we talked about combat music. Today, we’re tackling non-combat music! I’d argue that non-combat ambiance is actually the real MVP of tabletop immersion.

Don’t get me wrong, a killer combat track is essential for setting high-stakes tension or epic scale. But combat is short. Ambiance, on the other hand, is the background radiation of your entire campaign. Your players might listen to a single background loop for hours, which means the wrong choice can ruin the mood fast. I once made the mistake of using a prison ambiance that had a guy in the background saying “WHAT? WHAT!” every 20 seconds or so and yelling “what what” is still an inside joke in my household to this day. I’m so obsessed with getting this right that I’ve spent hours auditioning different forest tracks just to match the exact vibe in my mind’s eye. I suppose it should come as no surprise that the guy who literally built himself an audio management app for D&D overthinks ambiance tracks.

The main reason I care too much about ambiance is that it not only serves the purpose of getting everybody immersed, but it also serves a secret purpose. Ambiance actually reduces the mental load on yourself and your players. I think it’s important to consider that suspension of disbelief does in fact incur a mental load, even if small, on you and your players. If you are sitting in a silent living room in your buddy’s apartment, it’s really hard to imagine that you’re ‘Grug the Destroyer’, exploring an abandoned tomb in search of the emperor’s jewels or whatever. Anything you can do to reduce the barrier between you and Grug is a huge win when it comes to immersion. Not everyone is a born method actor, and it’s really easy to forget that when watching shows like Critical Role and Dimension 20 where everybody is a talented voice actor and is super invested in the game.

To help you build that immersion without spending four hours listening to rustling leaves like I do, here are a few of my favorite ambiance creators and the exact tracks I use in my games:

Sword Coast Soundscapes

You know I gotta mention the big guy right off the bat. I have listened to “Calm Sea Sailing” by Sword Coast Soundscapes for literally hundreds of hours. I ran a pirate-themed campaign for 5 years and “Calm Sea Sailing” was basically the theme song of the campaign as that was the track I always used when they were hanging out on their ship, which is where they spent a good 50% of the campaign. Everything this channel produces is fire and they have something for just about any situation you can think of. Sometimes I’ll browse their channel just to get inspiration for locations and encounters because of how huge their library is. They have playlists for certain settings and modules too, like the 9 Hells, Waterdeep, and Ghosts of Saltmarsh. This is my biggest and loudest recommendation.

Michael Ghelfi Studios

Another absolute master of the craft. Before my main campaign got too big and I had to start getting more organized, I just had a single massive playlist with all of my favorite ambiances on it. I still have that playlist, and 70% of it is Michael Ghelfi. Just like how Sword Coast Soundscapes’ “Calm Sea Sailing” was the theme song of my pirate campaign, “Sailing Airship” from Michael Ghelfi Studios is the theme of choice for my elemental plane of air campaign. This guy has a massive library, and has some actual music too in addition to ambiance tracks. As you may expect, said music is fire too.

Ambiance Lab

Despite their small library, Ambiance Lab deserves a mention on this list. It can be a bit hard to find non-fantasy ambiance sometimes; your cup runneth over if you’re hanging out in forests and caves. Ambiance Lab brings some pretty cool unique stuff to the table, like urban ambiances and sci-fi ambiances. I fully credit Ambiance Lab for inspiring me to start writing a Warhammer 40k campaign with their planetary ambiances, which I’m planning to run for my players soon.

Martia’s Muses

Last but far, far from least, is Martia’s Muses. This channel often combines soft music with ambiance, which is something I initially shied away from because “there isn’t music playing here, muh immersion!” However, after listening to a few of her tracks, I’ve realized the error of my ways. Ambiance is first and foremost about immersion, and crickets/birds/rustling leaves aren’t the only way to get there. A little bit of music goes a long way, and Martia’s Muses goes the distance. I once listened to a nighttime track from Maria’s Muses and loved the sound of the crickets so much that I sent a message to the channel asking for the source file and she actually sent it to me. I still use that crickets.flac file in my games to this day. That alone shows that this creator goes above and beyond and deserves all the support you can throw her way. I can't recommend her enough!

If you’ve been running games for a while and haven’t heard of one or more of these creators, I hope I’ve inspired you to check them out! Sometimes when you’re suffering from worldbuilder’s block, just perusing a repository of cool ambiance tracks can give you the inspiration you need and I guarantee any of these 4 creators got the sauce to get you there. As usual, hit me up if you want to talk shop or share sources for awesome immersive content: fantasyfader@gmail.com

Later!

-Mitch