Share your Keeper methods of setting the Cthulhu Mood...

[cybernetic]

I'd be afraid of dead pc's character sheet going up in flames...

 

[HeavyG]

2nd of all - Great Cthulhu - since you are the most knowledgeable on this subject - what would you think freaks out those pesky investigators more - life with a soundtrack, or without?

Eating 1d4 players every game might be a start.

 

[Clear Dragon]

So Candlelight = Good. But Candles + Players = Bad.

Also, if you use candles by all means stick with unscented or all one scent. A roomful of mixed scented candles is a quick way to make all of you nauseous, (which might by a mood you need to create among the players, but nasuea is not very conducive to DMing).

 

[Tsyr]

I run 20-30s era Cthullu games when I do, and always at night. Light is provided from several old oil lamps, which while they provide more than ample light (Nearly as much as electric), it has a decidely different mood to it.

 

[Morpheus]

I also use oil lamps. They add quite the atmosphere to a 1920s game. I also set up my table away from the players...It gives them a feeling of remoteness and isolation that adds to the game.

 

[Thornhammer]

I'll give another nod to Silent Hill. I bought the soundtrack from the original game, it is very atmospheric. If you can find it, I'd recommend it.

I also recently started playing Clive Barker's Undying. Some of the atmospherics in the mansion are incredibly creepy. Ghostly babies crying, the screams of Howlers *somewhere* in the mansion...spooky stuff.

-Thornhammer

 

[Tsyr]

God Alive...

I remember playing the DEMO for Undying... I loved it, but I nearly had a heartattack three times and had nightmares that night. I could never imagine playing through that game start-to-finish.

 

[cybernetic]

heart attacks....nightmares.....looks Like I have another trip to the store to make....for Undying

 

[adndgamer]

Thanks everybody! This thread is great Gave me some very useful ideas.

 

[Tsyr]

A friend of mine who sometimes ran a Cthullu game now and then before he went off to college actualy lived right across the street from a cemetery. So sometimes (on a warm night with little breeze) we would actualy go out and game on his picnic table, right across from the cemetery, with a couple oil lamps for light. That would get really creepy at times for some reason.