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Hang on a second, here? Are we talking about role-playing around the kitchen table with friends or just doing a raid with friends in our favorite MMORPG?

Now, I'm going out on a limb here but I'm pretty sure we're talking about good old paper-and-pencil RPGs - you know, the games where you actually had to SEE the other players and you had to use your imagination to visualize the other characters - instead of a $750 video card.

Now that we've established that I would have to vote ambiance. I've played in many a table top game where music was almost critical to the game. In one sci-fi based game I was playing with a group that had their ship shot down over a world that was supposed to have a biological weapon lost on it. Our characters were trying to nab it and make some quick money.

On the planet our party was ambushed by some natives that had a reaction to the bio weapon and we were also being pursued by a rival group that wanted the weapon (and finder's fee) for themselves. It was dark and scary the whole time - and the game master did his best to help reinforce this by keeping the lights low - and by playing Pink Floyd's "The Wall" in the background. You'd be surprised at how effective that was. When the pizza guy came we all jumped and one of our players actually screamed.

In another session, I was acting as Dungeon Master and was moving a group of players through a random crypt. The dungeon itself was okay, so to help spice things up I used a couple of early works by Tangerine Dream (some of their really early stuff was quite spooky). It worked and everyone was very tense during the game - afterwards they told me that a good time was had by all.

My final example was my best friend's annual "Halloween Dungeon". He invited about eight or nine people to play and one point the group was split up and his younger brother ran the other group. All the while his table was adorned with random Halloween decorations and quite a few candles. To help with the atmosphere he got some Halloween Music CDs from a local party store and once again it was perfect.

The right music can make the difference between a lousy dungeon and a really successful one.

Of course, if someone next door feels the need to listen to "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" on repeat it can be a distraction. Trust me on this one.

Learn more about this author, David Furritus.
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