The Dungeon Masters WorkShop - Setting The Atmosphere At The Table

Today we’re going to be talking about something very near and dear to my heart, mainly because I have a flair for the dramatic and at any opportunity I get I try to bring an air of theatre to my table.

The atmosphere that you can set at the table can be that last little 1% that really send your storytelling and game into the stratosphere, and be a moment that your players will remember for years.

At this point some of you may be thinking that ill advocating that you and your players all dress up as your characters, having the player who plays the barbarian sitting in the corner shivering because he thought it would be a great idea to have his 8ft tall goliath in nothing but a loincloth and fur bracers when he made his up his sheet 5 months ago.
I’m certainly not saying you should do that, however speaking as someone who’s been recently looking at the price of hooded cloaks for when I'm behind the screen, I'm also not putting it down either.

Today I want to talk about more environmental aspects of your table, such as lighting, music, and smell. I had a moment in my game a few months ago in which when my players were fighting a shadow dragon which melded into the shadow, I turned off the lights and used little tea lights on my battle map to represent the torches around the room that the shadow dragon snuffed out near the start of the battle. Everyone was given their own tea light to read their character sheet so they could still play without the normal lights, but I wanted my players to experience what their characters would be experiencing, the feeling of isolation in darkness with this creature that almost bent the shadow to it will. My players still remember that encounter to this day, so without further a due let's talk about some environmental aspects we can add to our table.

Music 

Music is a really a great foundation for setting the environment of your table. With the way most people DM their games these days with the use of smartphones, tablets, and laptops, it's relatively simple for you to find online resources to use in your game. Being able to set the mood from sleepy little town on the edge of a river to a dank cave system can signal your players that they may no longer be safe and now its time to start their perception and investigation checks. Take music from various Videos games such as “World of Warcraft”, the “Witcher” series,“Dragon Age” and “The elder scrolls” series of games. They are great places to start and should encompass most of your mood setting and combat music needs. I also have an affinity for the music of the film gladiator so I as often as possible, I stick that in as well. In recent months I've tried to do a trick my first dungeon master also used to try and depending on what the circumstances, it can work really well. Incorporating less orchestral music in favor of more modern music. For example when my bard decided to have a Bardic musical battle with his arch-nemesis, another very popular bard who was someone how stealing all of his songs, I used the song “Baba O’riley” by “The Who” as the backing track to that skill challenge , I’ve also used songs like “Omen” by “The Prodigy” and “the Island” by “Pendulum” when in combat . There fast tempo catchy tunes that get people pumped and into the swing of combat.

Lighting 

This aspect is a little harder to control and for full effect can cost you a little bit of money. Instead of bright overhead lights on full beam perhaps instead, having one or two shaded lamps provides shaded, softer lights to add a bit more of a mysterious setting to your game. With the addition of some relativity inexpensive candles that you can pick up from any common or garden supermarket, you can have a temporary source of light that can be easily snuffed out in an instant for you to gradually set a darker more isolated feel to the table or vice versa can be lit, periodically to give a greater sense of safety, also having a scented candle can be really lovely as well, which leads nicely to the last point i'd like to make.

Smell 

This one is just the icing on the cake, in my opinion, not to detract from it, but I wouldn’t say its totally necessary, it adds some really awesome flavor for your game though. Having the added sent of Lavender wafting through your game space while your players travel through fields , or the scent of pine filling your players nostrils while they traverse Acers of forests, this extra layer of texture for your players can heighten their immersion in your game and add another layer to your game and all for a fairly minimal cost as both incense sticks and scented candles can be purchased for Amazon at a fairly low price .

I hope this weeks edition of the dungeon masters workshop has been helpful, until next time peeps,

Bye!