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Share your Keeper methods of setting the Cthulhu Mood...
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<blockquote data-quote="Henry@home" data-source="post: 129410" data-attributes="member: 159"><p>Conversely, I prefer to work "without a net, as it were"...</p><p></p><p>...I use no music, but I DO use sound effects.</p><p></p><p>I take my inspiration from movies which use no background music. In fact, one movie that inspired me the most in recent memory ... (you're gonna laugh)... "I spit on your grave." How many here are familiar with that movie?</p><p></p><p>For those who may have never heard of it (it's about 1970's vintage, I believe)... it is an unrated movie in which a woman is raped and is thought of as dead by her attackers, and subsequently exacts revenge in a very bloody fashion. This movie is NOT for the squeamish. However, it, as well as "The Blair Witch Project" made me realise this: A movie is FAR more real when there is no background music. Background music may establish mood, but it also gives us that thin veil between us and the silver screen, the realization that no matter what happens, it cannot affect us in any way.</p><p></p><p>Removing background music gives us the closest thing to total immersion that you can get without summonig Great Old Ones into your gaming room, or committing capital murder. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> I do, however, rely on several good sound effects to give us the feel that we are "there." Good sound effects, combined with gripping verbal description, are the two best audial tools a good horror GM has. In our Vampire: games, when we used to play, we had a repeating track of a thunderstorm in the background, turned low. It was very powerful enhancement.</p><p></p><p>As for "Gripping Verbal description," I recommend having an absolutely real picture in your mind of the locations and creatures before you desribe them. Describe them in short, but exacting detail, picking out the sights, smells, and sounds that would grab us the most. Do not forget scent; it is the most evocative of the smells.</p><p></p><p>Lowered lighting is a must. Maybe not "so dark you can't see," but as low as possible as to gauge player reactions. For this to work, you also need a way to dim lighting so as to raise it up without going from "DARK" to "FULL BLAST." I believe there are dimmers you can buy to attach to lamps and portable light sources.</p><p></p><p>I will ABSOLUTELY be borrowing Piratecat's idea about walking around behind the players and altering my descriptive voice appropriately. That ALONE will be worth a few "freak-out points."</p><p></p><p>These are the best pieces of advice I have come across in years of playing horror games. I hope yours are as good and evocative as mine have been.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Henry@home, post: 129410, member: 159"] Conversely, I prefer to work "without a net, as it were"... ...I use no music, but I DO use sound effects. I take my inspiration from movies which use no background music. In fact, one movie that inspired me the most in recent memory ... (you're gonna laugh)... "I spit on your grave." How many here are familiar with that movie? For those who may have never heard of it (it's about 1970's vintage, I believe)... it is an unrated movie in which a woman is raped and is thought of as dead by her attackers, and subsequently exacts revenge in a very bloody fashion. This movie is NOT for the squeamish. However, it, as well as "The Blair Witch Project" made me realise this: A movie is FAR more real when there is no background music. Background music may establish mood, but it also gives us that thin veil between us and the silver screen, the realization that no matter what happens, it cannot affect us in any way. Removing background music gives us the closest thing to total immersion that you can get without summonig Great Old Ones into your gaming room, or committing capital murder. :) I do, however, rely on several good sound effects to give us the feel that we are "there." Good sound effects, combined with gripping verbal description, are the two best audial tools a good horror GM has. In our Vampire: games, when we used to play, we had a repeating track of a thunderstorm in the background, turned low. It was very powerful enhancement. As for "Gripping Verbal description," I recommend having an absolutely real picture in your mind of the locations and creatures before you desribe them. Describe them in short, but exacting detail, picking out the sights, smells, and sounds that would grab us the most. Do not forget scent; it is the most evocative of the smells. Lowered lighting is a must. Maybe not "so dark you can't see," but as low as possible as to gauge player reactions. For this to work, you also need a way to dim lighting so as to raise it up without going from "DARK" to "FULL BLAST." I believe there are dimmers you can buy to attach to lamps and portable light sources. I will ABSOLUTELY be borrowing Piratecat's idea about walking around behind the players and altering my descriptive voice appropriately. That ALONE will be worth a few "freak-out points." These are the best pieces of advice I have come across in years of playing horror games. I hope yours are as good and evocative as mine have been. [/QUOTE]
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