Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="knightofround" data-source="post: 4458908" data-attributes="member: 27884">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.</blockquote>

Verification