The Eternal GM - Atmosphere in RPGs

Not much has changed in the last week in the GWO world. The Time Heroes Kickstarter hasn't advanced too much, though I have started on the Eras supplement and have seen a rough sketch of the Quick-Start Packet's cover. However, I do have the second article in "the Eternal GM" for you. I hope you enjoy and remember, at the end I will briefly mention a game that I feel does a great job of addressing the topic (and why).

Capturing Atmosphere

This week's topic is regarding a situation I see come up many times at the table. Unfortunately, it's also a situation that doesn't have a clear-cut solution (at least not a good one). That being said, there are things a GM can do to help evoke the atmosphere of a particular game. As always, there are certainly more than I will be discussing here, but these are what I use at my own table. I should note that the article will revolve heavily around horror because (in my mind) it's one of the most difficult atmosphere's to successfully get into at the table.

Know Your Players

For me, this is the biggest way to succeed with an atmospheric game (or really, any game). Unfortunately, it's an "all or nothing" scenario. You need to know your players for an atmosphere-heavy game to have any chance of succeeding. As GM, you should know your players' attitudes and how adjustable they are. For example, if you're trying to run a Call of Cthulhu adventure (seriously), but you know your group can't go more than five minutes between silly comments, you're going to need to find a way around that (or play a different game).

You need to weigh how much you and your players want to make a game work against whether or not the game is up your group's alley. Every game is not for every group, and that's okay. Just make sure you and your players are aware of this when playing an atmospheric game that's outside of the normal comfort zone.

Of course, if you're just starting out with a new group or running a one shot at a con, the preceding paragraph does you little to no good. Which brings us to:

Pacing, Pacing, Pacing

When running a game in which atmosphere plays a large part, pacing is everything. If you're running an action-adventure game, moving too slowly can make things feel boring for everyone. On the flip side, moving too quickly in a horror game won't give anyone a chance to feel the suspense.

The real trick is to make the pacing fit the atmosphere you're going for without feeling contrived or clunky. If the pacing doesn't feel natural it's going to jar the players out of their immersion just as much as the wrong pacing entirely.

Let's take horror as an example. You want to have periods of time where the PCs aren't directly facing whatever horrible force they're going up against. Heck, depending on the type of horror, you may want to make sure they don't have an idea of what it is (or think it's one thing only to find it's something else) until the third act.  However, you also want to make sure they know there's something, and that the something is a present danger. It doesn't matter if this is achieved through sightings, or gut feelings players get, or even finding evidence it has been there; all that matters is that the characters find pieces here and there that let them know they could be beset at any moment.

The point is this, really: think of good books or films that embody the atmosphere you are attempting to evoke and pattern your games after them. Even the biggest action-fest has a break where the characters have a breather between beat-downs.

Props

If you're playing a comedic action game and in a fight against the evil Clown Lord Bo-Zo you pull out a bat-shaped balloon and start smacking a character in the head with it, it'll be obvious they're in a silly world. Yeah, that one's a bit over the top. Here's a better example of atmosphere-related props: 

You're playing call of Cthulhu, the game is set in the 1920s. You tell the PCs that a telegram has been slipped under their door. When they pick it up, you then slide a piece of yellowed telegram-style paper under the GM screen (or across the table) towards them. Anything you can do, whether it's a physical prop, background music (to an extent), or document will help pull them deeper into the world you're trying to create for them.

As I write this, I find that it's a topic that may well deserve to be broken down with articles for various genres. I may well do that down the road, but hopefully this particular entry has given you some insight into how I, at least, try to pull the players into the overall atmosphere of the game we are playing.

What Is the Most Atmospheric RPG?

Dread. Please remember, this is based purely on my experience and your views might well differ from mine. I have yet to run a game that captures the intended atmosphere better than +Epidiah Ravachol and +nat barmore's game of horror. Evoking the atmosphere of the game is built right into the mechanics. There are no abilities, no dice, no skills. There are only answers to questions and a Jenga tower. It takes the most sweat-inducing game I know and applies to to a RPG. If you make the tower fall, no matter how or when, you're written out of the story somehow. It has instilled the kind of stress tales of the macabre should into my players better than any other RPG I have run.