When I finished writing yesterday’s post, I peeked at the prompt for day 7. Upon reading Journey, I thought, comically, What about writing a post about using the music of the band Journey in tabletop role-playing games?
The thought that was initially an internal joke kept nagging at me, and I kept mulling it over, thinking if this was indeed a viable topic for RPG a Day 2025. Let me tell you that while I am an 80s kid and a fan of Journey’s hits, I am not a hardcore fan who knows the discography by heart. However, I am married to a true fan; she and her family are all far bigger fans than I am!
After thinking about it all day, I sat down to jot down my ideas, research a little bit into the possibility, and fell down a strange rabbit hole.
This fact may be old news to you, but I had no idea Journey had a studio album from 1980 named Dream, After Dream, which was the soundtrack to a Japanese-French co-produced romantic fantasy movie titled Yume, Yume No Ato (Dream, After Dream in English). I had never listened to the record, but I spent hours listening to it, reading what I could online, and becoming fascinated by it.
I found this video about the movie:
You can read the Lost Media article mentioned in the above video following this link.
You can also see a Japanese-dubbed bootleg copy on YouTube:
However, what interested me, and the reason I originally learned about all this, was the Dream, After Dream record by Journey. This record is different from the popular Journey songs I’m familiar with, but it is a beautiful, often haunting prog-rock album, with stirring pieces and vocals. I can see this as an excellent soundtrack to an old school game.
You can listen to Dream, After Dream on this playlist on YouTube:
So, it turns out you CAN use Journey’s music as ambient music in your tabletop role-playing game sessions. Who knew!
Apologies to Journey fans who may already know about this album and the movie. I hope this is news to some of you, as it was to me.
Do you use music in your games? Do you use soundtracks? Do you prefer instrumental music or songs with lyrics? What music do you use?
I would love to read your replies here in the blog, or tag me wherever you make them. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to tag your entry with the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.
What a cool find! It does sound really different than their “anthem rock” style.