Setting the Mood for a World of Darkness Game

[Hella_Tellah]

Here's the setup:

One storyteller, four players. In the background we'll have very unsettling instrumental music. Seated around a small table, the storyteller has a small lamp, each player has a candle, and all the lights are off. For this one-shot game, the players are mortal, and their odds of survival are pretty slim. When a character dies, the storyteller blows out the player's candle.

So help a storyteller out: what else can I add into this equation to really amp up the creepiness? Any music suggestions? Right now I've got Nine Inch Nails' "Ghosts I-IV", and I really like the tone that sets. How about something to roll dice into, instead of onto my coffee table? Should I wear my black hoodie with the hood up, or is that too cheesy?

Help me make my game as creepy as possible!

 

[Aeric]

Glen Danzig did an album called "Black Aria," which is all instrumental songs inspired by horror movie soundtracks. It's really awesome.

If you can find them, CDs which are simply enviromental sounds, such as wind or a rainstorm, work especially well if they match the enviroment in the game. Having one (or more!) of those playing in the background in addition to a music soundtrack is the next best thing to actually playing during a thunderstorm.

As far as the lighting is concerned, make sure that there's enough light for the players to be able to read their character sheets, see their dice rolls, and reference rulebooks. Otherwise, it'll be more of an annoyance than a mood-setter.

Have fun!

 

[Crothian]

The Sound tracks for City of Lost Children and the Ninth Gate are really good.

 

[Umbran]

Help me make my game as creepy as possible!

You want creepy? Okay, a few ideas - keep the room cooler than is strictly comfortable, if possible. If you have a humidifier, so it can be cool and damp, all the better.

To silence the dice, roll onto a pad of velvet, or other cloth. In general, deadening the room with lots of fabric (thick cloth on the tables, walls, hangings on the walls, carpets on the floors, and the like) can help assist a creepy feel.

The hoodie might not have the right touch, but having your lamp shine directly on your papers (and not on your face, so that you yourself are mostly illuminated from below by reflected light) is good. Enhance that by only wearing black.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Also watch your weather forecast for lightning storms

I have managed to pull this off before, it is glorious watching the players jump when there is a clap of thunder

 

[Hella_Tellah]

Glen Danzig did an album called "Black Aria," which is all instrumental songs inspired by horror movie soundtracks. It's really awesome.

If you can find them, CDs which are simply enviromental sounds, such as wind or a rainstorm, work especially well if they match the enviroment in the game. Having one (or more!) of those playing in the background in addition to a music soundtrack is the next best thing to actually playing during a thunderstorm.

Both are great suggestions--I listened to a little of Black Aria, and it's just the kind of tone I want. And since the game is supposed to take place at night, in Seattle, I'm definitely mixing in some rainstorm sounds on the playlist!

To silence the dice, roll onto a pad of velvet, or other cloth.

Ooh, yeah. I am SO covering my coffee table in black velvet. Delicious.

Also watch your weather forecast for lightning storms

Sadly, I'm on the wrong side of Washington State for that. We just got a couple of inches of snow.

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

Also try some Godspeed you Black Emperor for the general creepy instrumental feel with roaring creepy followed by subtle creepy and leading into some serious french children singing songs creepy.

To be entirely honest for world of Darkness you need the modern urban aspect. Godspeed, Radiohead, Tea Party, Perfect Circle are all good. Play them low enough the lyrics aren't bothering the game play and you have the perfect vampires in the nightclub feel.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Well depends on the kind of game, that may not work for say... A Changeling game or a Promethean game (ambient sounds and very light industrial works wonders for Promethean).

Some of the more melancholy VNV Nation could work for slower-scenes.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

A variety of other bands to consider:

Godflesh

Jesu

Ministry

Pigface

Buckethead (most of his early stuff is purely instrumental)

Bill Laswell (esp. as Chaos Face, Material, Praxis or possibly Painkiller- the man is ridiculously prolific and genre-bending: http://www.silent-watcher.net/billlaswell/discography/alphaindex.html#P )

Tangerine Dream (esp. early stuff, like Electronic Meditation, Alpha Centauri, Zeit and Atem)

DJ Spooky

DJ Shadow, that Subliminal Kid

U.N.K.L.E.

Also, FWIW, Q-Workshop has some glow-in-the-dark Cthulhu dice...

http://q-workshop.com/main.php?lang=EN&sell_type=DETAL

 

[Fallen Seraph]

If your doing stuff that is really despicable, or heading into places that seem to fall right out of Saw or Hostel. Or just something for a really hostile feeling industrial area.

You can't go wrong with Wumpscut.