I’ve always dreamed of having my own soundboard as a GM to use during our sessions, so I decided to make one myself! It’s currently a work in progress, but feel free to check it out here (works best on desktop in the Chrome browser): https://oraora.nl/GoblinGrooves/index.html
I’m looking for more inspiration for sounds to add. Are there any sounds you think would be great additions, or are essential to add?
Here are the sounds included so far:
Sound FX:
- Forest ambiance
- Cave ambiance
- Water waves
- Howling wind
- Thunder and rain
- Crackling fire
- Town ambiance
- Tavern ambiance
- Knocking
- Creaking door
- Boiling potion
- Wolf howl
- Monster growl
- Explosion
- Sword unsheathing
- Laser gun shot
- Gun shot
- Rapit fire gun
- Lighting strike
- Wilhelmscream
- Horse running
- Trumpet announcement
- Phone ringing
- Energy charge
- Sinister cackle
- Heartbeat
- Magic sparkles
- Siren
Music (3 different sets for each type):
- Calm music
- Festival music
- Battle music
- Scary music
I make sure only to use music and sounds labeled as Creative Commons 0 or free to use for non-commercial purposes.
Any suggestions for additional sounds or feedback on the website would be very welcome!
Finally coming back to this after having it open in a tab for months, lol
I have two bits of feedback. One is that some sounds might be better as one-offs that automatically just play once, rather than being a continuous loop. The rainstorm and forest sounds are good loops, but a lightning strike or gunshot might make more sense as single presses.
Kinda related, I can’t imagine it makes much sense to play two music tracks at once. Switching between them might make more sense as a radio button type experience rather than a checkbox.
Other than that though, this is great. Really simple to use and very clear, but with a great range of options.
I feel like a Wilhelm Scream should be in there.
Nice, haha I agree! I’ll put in on there as well
- Fireball
- Roar of a minigun
- Silenced handgun
- Loud handgun
- Pained screaming (you need like ten of these so it doesn’t get repetitive)
- Slow thump of a heartbeat for death saves
- Thunder (for spells)
- Keys typing for netrunners/deckers
- Whine of a drone
- A couple of different phone rings for when your fixer needs to get in touch with you
- Sirens
Coool haha! Thank you for this great list! I’ll try and implement them :^)
Do people really use these kind of sound board for their game ?
A part of me is like Cool I need that and a part of me is more like this is a big immersion killer so curious to get feedback of people who would use that. Is it just a fun stuff for the Lol ? or can you use SFX on a way which bring something to the game ?
Not exactly the same but I like using soundboards as a player, like for a Bard’s cutting words or inspo., The whole class works with soundboards well and if the timing is done well it really adds to delivery
Is it just a fun stuff for the Lol ?
Mostly this. I’m not going to use a soundboard regularly, but for something I want to emphasize and get my players attention it might be fun to use.
I was using a heartbeat effect in Roll20 during death saves and I liked it. I think my players did too.
Personally in my experience the more background sfx such as a fire crackling or a cave ambient can really help set the mood for a specific scene, but in contrast the louder and more specific sfx such as an explosion are more on the fun side of things to wake up the players and get a laugh out of them :^)
They are great for ambient noise based on the surroundings. You can also do one or two ‘instant’ sounds like a large door booming. Any more than that and it starts to feel like a radio dj testing all the fart sounds in their mixer.
Nice work! Here is my quick brain dump:
- trumpets for an announcement
- horses riding
- goblins cackling
- force field / magic sizzling
By the way, isn’t the light-dark switch inverted?
Thank you for the suggestions! I like them :^) I’ll add them to the list of sounds to add. And thank you for noticing the inverted switch, haha whoopsie, I just fixed it
Scratching at the doors or walls
Heavy breathing as if something is lurking just out of sight
Thank you for the suggestions! I’ll add them to the list!
Golf clap.
Yakety Sax. (added in edit)
haha nice, for the comedic moments, I’ll add them to the list!
Thank you for the suggestions! I’ve included the ones I could find that are copyright free on the website :^)
- Creepy ambiance (maybe 2 vibes, one there’s eerie/builds tension and one that’s like gothic horror ambiance)
- Swamp ambiance (similar to creepy but more of a nature swamp vibe)
- Sea shanties/pirate ambiance
- Traveling music (think bardcore road trip)
- Fire and flames (like a forest fire maybe with music backing, works for Avernus, towns burning down, actual forest fire)
- holy ambiance (sounds like I dunno…cleric-y? Like at a cleric’s holy site)
- I don’t know what to title this but library/courthouse/university music ambiance. Like, something that would play in a big library, or when addressing the town council/magistrate/king, or when at a wizard university. Kind of serious and official sounding, does that make sense? -Bandit hideout music (also works for breaking into keeps, guard sheds or even like town guard breakrooms, really anywhere where the rough sorts hang out)
- time limit/tense music for time dependent scenes (bomb going to explode, going to be discovered, outrunning a natural disaster, etc)
- sneaking around music
- Boss music different from regular battle music
That’s all I can think of right now but I may edit with more suggestions. Where do you get your open license music and stuff?
Hey thank you for the extensive list of suggestions! I’ll add them to the list and try to find open licenses that match them :^) I find most of the sounds on freesound.org and pixabay.com and some from youtube if it has a license that allows sharing
I need some of these for upcoming play so if I find something I’ll send it to you. Thanks for showing me where to look!
Ah that’s awesome! Thank you :^) and you’re welcome ✌️
