Atmosphere - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Atmosphere

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Jul 25, 2004 9:57:56 Hi , im going to run a ravenloft campaign soon with my party.

Id like advice on how i can create an atmosphere faithful to the way the ravenloft campaign was designed.

Im finding it very hard to establish a gothic feel to the adventure , and ive no idea how to give the players have an omnious feeling of dread lingering over them , growing stronger the longer they have to spend in the realm of dread.

I need them to feel like they are trapped and vulnerable in ravenloft , and an urgent need to find a way back to their own world.

How do i do all this though ? To them , all they are is in a new place , somewhere they havent explored yet , they are adventurers , so they are used to travelling to new places. And none of them really have any attachment to the world of toril ( our current campaign setting ) that would make them despair if they were never able to return , many of them dont even have any kin or people who are important to them in Toril

Also , the hook in my adventure is the players quest to escape from the dread realm , so if they dont feel particularly uncomfortable , they will have no motivation to attempt escape at all. And im left with a bunch of players with no idea what to do next , in a place that might as well be the same setting we were in before.

Help ? Thanks
#2
zombiegleemax
Jul 25, 2004 11:15:47 Are you kidding? Ravenloft is a land where undead is quasi-normal,have the mist pick up the PC's and put them in one of the Core lands in Ravenloft and let the undead and locals have at them! Have one of the Darklords close the border of that land so they can't leave for awhile and have them investigate on why they can't leave(while creating other subplots taking them away from leaving).
#3
zombiegleemax
Jul 25, 2004 15:57:58 Start them out in one of the totally or near totally dead realms. They may not have attachments to people in the realms, but you can bet they don't want characters they think are really cool dying of starvation and thirst.

Everything above ground is barren or poisonous. Below ground are monsters they can't see that can dispel or snuff their light sources.

By the time they find a way to one of the more "normal" domains, they will think they've found heaven. Then let them realize that everyone in the town is a zombie, or a doppleganger, or that they are being fattened up for the town's vampire master.
#4
hida_jiremi
Jul 26, 2004 0:11:04 A good idea is to use lots of out-of-character stimulus to keep the character's players nervous and off their normal rhythm. Keep the lights dim and low, sonorous music playing. If you can manage it, run at least part of the session only by candlelight.

For a more in-character usage, let them run into a monster they deal with all the time in their normal campaign world, and have it do something completely abnormal. Like have them run into a small group of goblins, and when your PCs stride in cocky and sure of themselves, let the goblins turn on them and START TRYING TO EAT THEIR FACES! Heh, goblyns. Or have skeletons that suddenly scream in pain whenever they're hit, or burst into flame when someone uses magic on them.

I don't normally care for "weekend in Hell" games, but I hope that yours turns out okay.

Hida Jiremi
(Jeremy Puckett)
#5
zombiegleemax
Jul 26, 2004 0:19:07 Make them go in a village wher people are really xenophobic and paranoid, then make them go to a village where peoples are not peoples...

Make them meet some of the more powerfull vampire of ravenloft!

Also use dread golems(since in toril golems are not intelligent well it would suprise them)

Make them meet some lost ones...

And make them discover the wonder of the mist!
#6
zombiegleemax
Jul 26, 2004 9:18:06
Originally posted by Articous
Im finding it very hard to establish a gothic feel to the adventure , and ive no idea how to give the players have an omnious feeling of dread lingering over them , growing stronger the longer they have to spend in the realm of dread.

Read some horror/suspense stories by Poe. (Metzengerstein, The Pit and the Pendulum, to name a few, they're freely available over the web.) Then try to recreate the terror and madness when writing your game.

Using low light in the room is also a good idea as well as mysterious music. (just like hida_j said)
#7
zombiegleemax
Jul 26, 2004 10:21:53 Use isolation. Like said above, you can close a domain's border. You can also have people there speak another language (there is no such thing as common in RL) and clearly have thsoe people discuss the PCs with some suspicion, like they aren't sure the PCs are ok. Or you could let them have ONE npc who can translate for them.. of course in a very broken down bad way. Give them the feeling they're in this whole other country.. even if they are traveled.. give them the feeling this is totally new.. and not very comfortable since they cannot change it.

Another form of isolation is dropping them in a place that they have no map of.. like a swamp or a creepy forest.. and thye ahve to find their way out, fighting off all kinds of dangers they don't know: custom made undead for instance.. or strange creatures. Give them a feeling of familiarity, then introduce some of your custom monster's strangeness, like special powers, and watch them run trying to flee to, well, nowhere since they don't know where they are..
#8
zombiegleemax
Jul 27, 2004 3:13:41 Well there are a number of places to start in instilling the mood but the *best* thing you can do is keep things mysterious for as long as is reasonable. Fear is easily manged when you can quantify what you're fighting dow to the last hit point. Let them know that there are threats but don't let them know what those threats are. Missing people and unexplainable sights or sounds are good tension builders. Consider the Blair Witch Project - you never see anything threatening but the people are terrified.

Taking away resources and isolating the players can also be effective. Give the PCs some temprary allies of roughly the same level who are also stranded in RL with them. When the NPC BDF fighter and cleric are killed horribly with no one else the wiser to what happened you are going to find the PCs morale start to head south...or how about a couple of friendly NPCs in a village? Of course the rest of the village thinks the NPCs are nuts for getting involved with adventurers. PCs might think that they're going to "win over" the town with their heroism...but of course the NPCs die somewhere along the line and the PCs become even more ostracized.

storyline Storyline STORYLINE! There are no random dungeons in RL. The badguys (and gals) all have reasons for what they are doing even if its just to feed the godawfulunholy hunger in their belly. Usually history plays a key role in the plot. The necromancer jut doesn't raise undead because he wants to take over the town. He raises undead because the voices tell him too do so, and the consequences of disobeying the voices is too terrible to contemplate. In the mind of the necromancer animating dead to sack the village is the lesser of several evils (no doubt the PCs will disagree) Of course the voices *aren't* just voices being evil for the sake of evil. Its the ghost of an old necromancer who was burned alive at the town. Even then the ghost only studdied "good" or at least "neutral" necromancy while alive - he or she was just a victim of the ignorace of the towns ancestors. The danger to the town is only ended when the ghost is put to rest, otherwise a new "necromancer" will inevitably rise.

...which brings me to one of the most important parts - few if any RL mods should be solvable through the application of raw force. PCs who rely on power might make things better for awhile but without knowledge of the underlying forces at work no lasting victory is possible.

Let me add that while I also like a little atmospher at the gaming table out of character i tend to believe that less is more. To heavy handed an attempt to fiddle with lighting for example might make your players more aware of the room than the storry.

Hope that helps.

-Eric Gorman
#9
zombiegleemax
Jul 27, 2004 3:23:00 Let me add one last thing. Moral ambiguity is also a good tool to set the feel of RL. In the above example about the necromancer, the ghost and the town folk it should become clear that all the parties have made "some mistakes" along the way. ANd to a certain degree they're all sympathetic. (1) the town is sympathetic because they're powerless and don't really deserve to be held accountable for the sins of their ancestors - though they may need to face the fact that some of their heros weren't as noble as they'd like to think. (2) the necromancer is the bad guy but should be sympathetic (at least a little bit) because he or she is being coerced to do something they wouldn't normally - their greatest failing is cowardness in the face of another evil. (3) Given that the ghost was wrongly burned at the stake its desire for revenge is also potentially sympathetic - though forcing the best and brightest of the town (through intimidation, seduction or blackmail) to study its old spellbook and animate dead to attack the town isn't an acceptable solution.

-Eric Gorman

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Jul 25, 2004 9:57:56	Hi , im going to run a ravenloft campaign soon with my party. Id like advice on how i can create an atmosphere faithful to the way the ravenloft campaign was designed. Im finding it very hard to establish a gothic feel to the adventure , and ive no idea how to give the players have an omnious feeling of dread lingering over them , growing stronger the longer they have to spend in the realm of dread. I need them to feel like they are trapped and vulnerable in ravenloft , and an urgent need to find a way back to their own world. How do i do all this though ? To them , all they are is in a new place , somewhere they havent explored yet , they are adventurers , so they are used to travelling to new places. And none of them really have any attachment to the world of toril ( our current campaign setting ) that would make them despair if they were never able to return , many of them dont even have any kin or people who are important to them in Toril Also , the hook in my adventure is the players quest to escape from the dread realm , so if they dont feel particularly uncomfortable , they will have no motivation to attempt escape at all. And im left with a bunch of players with no idea what to do next , in a place that might as well be the same setting we were in before. Help ? Thanks
#2 zombiegleemax Jul 25, 2004 11:15:47	Are you kidding? Ravenloft is a land where undead is quasi-normal,have the mist pick up the PC's and put them in one of the Core lands in Ravenloft and let the undead and locals have at them! Have one of the Darklords close the border of that land so they can't leave for awhile and have them investigate on why they can't leave(while creating other subplots taking them away from leaving).
#3 zombiegleemax Jul 25, 2004 15:57:58	Start them out in one of the totally or near totally dead realms. They may not have attachments to people in the realms, but you can bet they don't want characters they think are really cool dying of starvation and thirst. Everything above ground is barren or poisonous. Below ground are monsters they can't see that can dispel or snuff their light sources. By the time they find a way to one of the more "normal" domains, they will think they've found heaven. Then let them realize that everyone in the town is a zombie, or a doppleganger, or that they are being fattened up for the town's vampire master.
#4 hida_jiremi Jul 26, 2004 0:11:04	A good idea is to use lots of out-of-character stimulus to keep the character's players nervous and off their normal rhythm. Keep the lights dim and low, sonorous music playing. If you can manage it, run at least part of the session only by candlelight. For a more in-character usage, let them run into a monster they deal with all the time in their normal campaign world, and have it do something completely abnormal. Like have them run into a small group of goblins, and when your PCs stride in cocky and sure of themselves, let the goblins turn on them and START TRYING TO EAT THEIR FACES! Heh, goblyns. Or have skeletons that suddenly scream in pain whenever they're hit, or burst into flame when someone uses magic on them. I don't normally care for "weekend in Hell" games, but I hope that yours turns out okay. Hida Jiremi (Jeremy Puckett)
#5 zombiegleemax Jul 26, 2004 0:19:07	Make them go in a village wher people are really xenophobic and paranoid, then make them go to a village where peoples are not peoples... Make them meet some of the more powerfull vampire of ravenloft! Also use dread golems(since in toril golems are not intelligent well it would suprise them) Make them meet some lost ones... And make them discover the wonder of the mist!
#6 zombiegleemax Jul 26, 2004 9:18:06	Originally posted by Articous Im finding it very hard to establish a gothic feel to the adventure , and ive no idea how to give the players have an omnious feeling of dread lingering over them , growing stronger the longer they have to spend in the realm of dread. Read some horror/suspense stories by Poe. (Metzengerstein, The Pit and the Pendulum, to name a few, they're freely available over the web.) Then try to recreate the terror and madness when writing your game. Using low light in the room is also a good idea as well as mysterious music. (just like hida_j said)
#7 zombiegleemax Jul 26, 2004 10:21:53	Use isolation. Like said above, you can close a domain's border. You can also have people there speak another language (there is no such thing as common in RL) and clearly have thsoe people discuss the PCs with some suspicion, like they aren't sure the PCs are ok. Or you could let them have ONE npc who can translate for them.. of course in a very broken down bad way. Give them the feeling they're in this whole other country.. even if they are traveled.. give them the feeling this is totally new.. and not very comfortable since they cannot change it. Another form of isolation is dropping them in a place that they have no map of.. like a swamp or a creepy forest.. and thye ahve to find their way out, fighting off all kinds of dangers they don't know: custom made undead for instance.. or strange creatures. Give them a feeling of familiarity, then introduce some of your custom monster's strangeness, like special powers, and watch them run trying to flee to, well, nowhere since they don't know where they are..
#8 zombiegleemax Jul 27, 2004 3:13:41	Well there are a number of places to start in instilling the mood but the best thing you can do is keep things mysterious for as long as is reasonable. Fear is easily manged when you can quantify what you're fighting dow to the last hit point. Let them know that there are threats but don't let them know what those threats are. Missing people and unexplainable sights or sounds are good tension builders. Consider the Blair Witch Project - you never see anything threatening but the people are terrified. Taking away resources and isolating the players can also be effective. Give the PCs some temprary allies of roughly the same level who are also stranded in RL with them. When the NPC BDF fighter and cleric are killed horribly with no one else the wiser to what happened you are going to find the PCs morale start to head south...or how about a couple of friendly NPCs in a village? Of course the rest of the village thinks the NPCs are nuts for getting involved with adventurers. PCs might think that they're going to "win over" the town with their heroism...but of course the NPCs die somewhere along the line and the PCs become even more ostracized. storyline Storyline STORYLINE! There are no random dungeons in RL. The badguys (and gals) all have reasons for what they are doing even if its just to feed the godawfulunholy hunger in their belly. Usually history plays a key role in the plot. The necromancer jut doesn't raise undead because he wants to take over the town. He raises undead because the voices tell him too do so, and the consequences of disobeying the voices is too terrible to contemplate. In the mind of the necromancer animating dead to sack the village is the lesser of several evils (no doubt the PCs will disagree) Of course the voices aren't just voices being evil for the sake of evil. Its the ghost of an old necromancer who was burned alive at the town. Even then the ghost only studdied "good" or at least "neutral" necromancy while alive - he or she was just a victim of the ignorace of the towns ancestors. The danger to the town is only ended when the ghost is put to rest, otherwise a new "necromancer" will inevitably rise. ...which brings me to one of the most important parts - few if any RL mods should be solvable through the application of raw force. PCs who rely on power might make things better for awhile but without knowledge of the underlying forces at work no lasting victory is possible. Let me add that while I also like a little atmospher at the gaming table out of character i tend to believe that less is more. To heavy handed an attempt to fiddle with lighting for example might make your players more aware of the room than the storry. Hope that helps. -Eric Gorman
#9 zombiegleemax Jul 27, 2004 3:23:00	Let me add one last thing. Moral ambiguity is also a good tool to set the feel of RL. In the above example about the necromancer, the ghost and the town folk it should become clear that all the parties have made "some mistakes" along the way. ANd to a certain degree they're all sympathetic. (1) the town is sympathetic because they're powerless and don't really deserve to be held accountable for the sins of their ancestors - though they may need to face the fact that some of their heros weren't as noble as they'd like to think. (2) the necromancer is the bad guy but should be sympathetic (at least a little bit) because he or she is being coerced to do something they wouldn't normally - their greatest failing is cowardness in the face of another evil. (3) Given that the ghost was wrongly burned at the stake its desire for revenge is also potentially sympathetic - though forcing the best and brightest of the town (through intimidation, seduction or blackmail) to study its old spellbook and animate dead to attack the town isn't an acceptable solution. -Eric Gorman