Building Ambiance

[jcayer]

Hi guys, long time lurker, first time poster.
After years of talking about it, I finally got a group together and we started with 4E. It has been 4 sessions and we've been loving every minute of it.
Since I'm the guy who got it started, I'm the DM. I've been working hard to keep things interesting(and succeeding), but in a session or 2, my group will be descending into some recently flooded catacombs. They've drained, but there is still water dripping, etc.

I'd like to "kick it up a notch" by adding some ambiance for this. Specifically, I pulled the ambient music from Neverwinter Nights and am considering some sound effects. Does anyone else do this? How do you go about it? What software do you use?

In addition to the sound, I'm thinking about really stretching it and adding some light effects. At this point, we've been playing in the garage, so I have flexibility with regards to hanging stuff, etc. I'm considering trying to dim the lights for the catacombs and perhaps add a red light for a fire scene. Any tips on this? If I dim the lights, how do I go about making it so everyone can see their character sheets? Candles? I must ask, what would the neighbors think?

Anyway, any tips on adding ambiance would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Josh

 

[knightofround]

This is personal preference here...but as both a DM and a player I like my ambiance hassle-free. Dealing with props, constantly juggling with playlists, etc. can pull away from the gaming experience. I mean, when I play D&D I want to game, not be an actor on a crappy theatre set.

That being said, I've found that stringing holiday lights can work well for most D&D settings. If you want to get really fancy, black lights can work well for dungeons and more scifi type adventures. Multicolor lights aren't my thing, but I know of a group that likes to use different colors for different terrain settings.

Most of the time I don't care much for having music run in the background because it can be distracting. Especially if its music you know well, like LOTR soundtracks or something. If you do choose to use music, I'd recommend finding something less-well known, with no lyrics in it. There's plenty of threads out there on good D&D music for every genre.

However, I do enjoy *selective* use of music. One of the best DMs I've ever had got each of us to find a theme song for each of our characters, and he played it when we were doing something badass.

I'll often try to think up themes for the BBEGs. Seriously, nothing will freak out your party more when you're describing the party walking slowly down an abandoned city street, and the BBEG's theme starts playing softly...and then stops. Priceless.

But again, its something where the more you use it, the less effective it becomes. So use it wisely!

Another possibility that I've heard can work well is to let the players themselves set the ambiance. That way you can focus on DMing and if your group really gets a kick out of theatrics, well it gives them something to do between rounds.

 

[doctorhook]

I can't offer many tried-&-true tips for you, but this is something I've been considering a fair bit as well. I also play in a fairly customizeable space (a furnished but unfinished basement), and I've come up with some similar ideas.

• Got some old, drab, curtains or torn blankets? You can hang them around your table to "shrink" the room psychologically, giving your players that "cramped, claustrophobic, underground" feeling. Similarly, if you've got a lot of potted or silk plants around, (or elaborate camo from hunting gear), you can arrange them creatively around the game table to give a "forest" effect. (Note: If you try the forest idea, but make a lame attempt, it might actually make things worse.)
• You mentioned lighting effects. Awesome potential there, although what particular setup you prefer to use depends on what lighting system(s) you have available in your garage.
  • I prefer to be able to switch the lighting effects rather quickly and painlessly, between a wide variety of colours. Amateur theatre equipment, perhaps? Could be expensive, though.
  • Light-filters made of coloured translucent cellophane rock. You can get it at gift/card stores as well as craft stores, but it's usually expensive, and you might end up with a lot more of each colour than you need. A cheaper (but somewhat crappier) alternative is garbage bags of various colours. (Green/black, blue, and orange are usually easy to find.) The effectiveness of garbage bags will depend on the lighting you're using.
  • Coloured lightbulbs could be okay, if you're willing to prepare ahead of time. (Are these still available? I haven't seen them in a few years.)
  • I'm a little paranoid about starting a fire, so I've been avoiding candles, especially around a busy game-table. Maybe if they were in some high-walled candle holders, they'd be safer. These come in various colours, and are somewhat common at thrift stores and garage sales.
  • Most importantly with lighting is, "Make sure everyone can still see!" The last thing you want is all your players going home with migraine headaches. If you're using lighting-filters from cellophane or garbage bags, you can cut slots to increase the level of light coming through.
• Background noise and sound effects are awesome, as long as you're careful that it's appropriate to your group. I personally hate having lyrical songs playing during D&D; the words are distracting and can turn a session into a sing-along.
  • If you're really organized, consider running two soundtracks simultaneously: one nonmusical ambient track on a stereo, playing whatever is appropriate to the encounter, (flowing water, distant screas, etc.), and another stereo system connected to an iPod to quickly play musical selections appropriate to the moment.
  • Some people swear by video game music, but I dislike it. I may like the music when I'm playing that game, but if I hear it during D&D it sends my memory back to that other game. For example, if you borrowed ambience from WoW, imagine suddenly destroying the mood of an important scene as your memory is taken back to some time you /danced with a group of gnomes on the auctionhouse bridge in Ironforge. So, depending on taste, you may want to choose obscure sounds.
  • You can find a lot of ambient nonmusical audio files downloadable for free on the internet. (Waterfalls, birds, or ocean noises for example.)
• Overhead projector or laptop projector? Consider setting up an screen (or hanging a white bedsheet) and showing pictures relevant to the encounter. The most recent officially published 4E adventures each include a section of pictures to show the players, and numerous pieces of artwork are available for free in WotC's Art Galleries.
• Environmental/temperature effects. Consider turning on a space heater in the room to make your players sweat a little when they're fighting at that Fire Titan's forge inside a volcano. Also, consider using AC and an oscillating fan to make them feel chilly and windy. (Be sure to aim the fan at face-level; it'll be more effective psychologically, less uncomfortable, and it won't blow everybody's stuff away.) This strategy may be affected by your electricity usage and carbon-consciousness.
  • Smoke machine for smoke and fog? I've never operated one, so I can't say anything for or against.
  • Using a spray bottle or water for rain and mist. WARNING: Doing this will probably look really lame. Also, your players probably won't appreciate being sprayed with water at the table, and they almost certainly won't appreciate it if you damage their books.
• Smell-o-vision. I haven't tried this, because I haven't got a sense of smell. (Imagine a completely blind person trying to decorate.) However, with creative use of incense and scented objects, one might be able to enhance the ambience with an appropriate smell. (Smell is a sense strongly tied to memory.) Be sure not to overstimulate anyone; be aware of any allergies your group's got. Also, consider that just because dire rats live in filth and feces doesn't mean your players are going to want to smell that.
• Props. I use a little wooden box (a "treasure chest") to hand out treasure. When I give the characters a note in game, I also give my players a copy, "browned" with the ol' coffee-and-microwave technique. I've considered using fake coins, flat marbles / "japs", small glass bottles, Halloween decorations, and toy plastic weapons for a variety of purposes.
• Costuming. It's a D&D cliche that, in my experience, is extremely uncommon in all but the geekiest / "extreme" groups. There are degrees of dressing up/costuming, as well; don't feel like you NEED to look exactly like a movie monster. Halloween is a great time to get cheap plastic hats, helmets, armor, and bizarre clothing. Also consider that maybe the whole group dresses up, or perhaps only DM.
• Intensity of roleplaying can influence the mood/ambience, obviously. (Perhaps since improving this is the "function" of the ambience, we can say that the effectiveness or intensity of roleplaying makes or breaks the ambience.)

Anyway, that's all I can think of off the top of my head. No, I haven't got most of this stuff operating in my game, but I like to dream. I hope you or someone else finds these suggestions inspiring!

If you come up with anything else creative, be sure to post it!

 

[jcayer]

First off, I have no desire to use music, simply ambient noise. One of the mp3s on the neverwinter CD is a crypt, so there are some echoes, some water dripping in the background, that kind of stuff. There is another one of a busy city marketplace. So these are what I am talking about. I will be dragging a laptop out to the garage, so managing them is fairly easy.

I was more interested in how people do it. Do you use some mixing software so you can include sound effects, or do you just play it through Windows Media Player.

I think the blanket idea might work, I'll have to think about that a bit.

Lighting is the other thing. Standard would be the overhead bulb, but in tight quarters, like catacombs, or say the heart of a volcano, getting away from the bulb could make things much more intense.

 

[Ampolitor]

My area

Well props are my specialty as you can see if you click on my sig link!. Anyway ambient noise is great by also use wav files. The best scare I got was when we were playing a Sci-Fi setting with Aliens. I had ambient music in the background and the PC's were exploring a downed ship. Then a Alien appeared, so I played the wav file of one of the Aliens screaming and it scared the crap out of them. After a while the ambient music kind of fades off and they ignore it, so you have to spice it up, have unique sound files for villains etc....
Use maps, handouts, pictures etc. they all help set the mood. Don't go to crazy with props though because it can backfire if they don't look good. Anyway just my opinion.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

I cannot get behind props, as they're a bit hokey.

However, I do use a little program called Atmosphere Deluxe, an ambient sound generator that can emulate rainstorms, forests, wind-torn landscapes, harbors, a Moroccan market, practically every enviroment you can imagine (plus you can make your own). I use this in coordination with iTunes where I've renamed tracks for battles and "themes" for places and people.

Atmosphere Deluxe is the best 30 bucks you'll ever spend, if you use music at the gametable.

 

[The Little Raven]

I'd like to "kick it up a notch" by adding some ambiance for this. Specifically, I pulled the ambient music from Neverwinter Nights and am considering some sound effects. Does anyone else do this? How do you go about it? What software do you use?

I've used NWN ambient sounds for a few years now, and it is a bit of a hassle to swap playlists and stuff like that. However, I'd suggest trying out Syrinscape (Welcome to Syrinscape | Syrinscape). It plays up to 2 loops, and 4 effects (which can be used as loops as well), and you can set up customized sound sets for what you want (I just put together an Expedition to Castle Ravenloft soundtrack using WoW ambient sounds).

In addition to the sound, I'm thinking about really stretching it and adding some light effects.

I can't really help you on lighting effects, as I'm a firm believer in proper lighting for reading so we don't strain our eyes.

I've done a game-appropriate menu a few times (one was during a grand ball with an NPC noble, and the food really helped drive in-game conversation and stuff).

 

[doctorhook]

Thanks for pointing out sound engineering software as an idea. I came up with that whole long list above, but using a computer for anything other than downloading files honestly didn't occur to me. I guess I'm old fashioned like that.

I cannot get behind props, as they're a bit hokey.

Props can definitely seem hokey if you use hokey props. OTOH, an anatomical skeleton hanging from a wall in manacles, for example, could be very effective in one scene or another.

 

[jcayer]

I rather like an occasional prop. In my current campaign, the players started on an island no one had left in 1000 years. During an early adventure, they found a 1000 year old world map. In actuality, I used a copy of the World of Greyhawk, it met my needs, since it is a 1000 years old, I can change things if need be, and the players loved it. For the record, as I unrolled it, before seeing it, the oldest player jokingly says "hey look, the world of greyhawk". His character failed every DC from then on...just kidding.
We use a gridded white board for combat and when they went to sea, I cut out a couple cardboard ships to move around the grid for ship to ship combat. More like a pseudo prop, but it rocked and the players loved it.
Right now I'm considering giving out a subquest that would have them reassemble a magic item. I'd like to find a wood block puzzle that I could give out pieces to as they found them. The last part of the quest would be to assemble them into the item. It's just a thought and I'd have to find the right puzzle.
But all in all, I think props, if used well, provide a nice touch to the game.