Effective Use Of Audio In Your Horror Game

Curated, well-timed sound FX & music

Hey y’all! Sorry for my unexpected hiatus. The Vineyard RPG really has sucked my availability for some time but I wanted to jump in here at the tail end of my COVID recovery to chat about the importance of sound in your games.

Our principles today are:

• The Welcome Screen

• Silence

• Tension Rising

• Confrontation

The Welcome Screen

Whenever your players are enjoying “gossip time” or waiting for others to arrive, setting your VTT to play a quiet loop that gets them into the mindset. This trains their brain and will net you rewards long-term. For my She Is The Ancient (Curse of Strahd) games I use Decomposed by Phillip Ayers (Epidemic Sound).

My splash of the Countess Strahd von Zarovich (by Yorsy Hernandez) is there to greet them. It sets the stage. Think about how you want to set the stage.

Tension Rising

In order to raise the bar you want to build the players up over time. Let’s say you roughly plan to have a fight by mid-way into your session? Then you have 45-90 minutes to place “odd” things in front of them or something that lamp posts the oncoming horror. This also gives you a few opportunities for “wolf howls” or other foreshadowing.

With music and ambient sounds, you may keep the volume low at first and slowly build it. Then shift to a more involved track when things get serious or during the reveal.

Silence

One of my prevailing principles is the use of silence to convey something amiss or about to happen. Utilizing those ambient noises (see example below of the chains clinking) can also unnerve players. Once the table has grown accustomed to a soundtrack always playing help tell the story, it will be an indicator that causes their hair to rise.

Confrontation

This is your opportunity for a villain track or emotionally fitting. My players have often lamented “NOT THIS SONG!” after months of playing with me, realizing what it meant before I narrated the villain’s arrival.

I have 3 different Strahd tracks and at least 1 for every major NPC. There is a “someone just died” track that I play post-combat when a PC bites it. The players will grow to remember these songs and associate them with feelings you helped inspire - so try to pick the ones which will evoke the feelings you’re after.

She Is The Ancient 2e

Hey, it’s out and I’m a contributor! Check it out here. Hands down the best Curse of Strahd supplement out there.