Role-playing is more than a hobby for me; it's almost an addiction. I constantly find myself writing or reading role-playing games and supplements. The invention of the Internet has just made this worse, and now I can be found at all hours, searching the Net in the hope of finding some article to satisfy my hunger for adventure.

But what has this got to do with Dark Conspiracy? Well, as part of my journeys I have discovered many articles on how to make one's role-playing experience more enjoyable - the use of props, allowing the players to run some of the NPCs and setting the scene by writing backgrounds and histories. These are all quite good for adding that special something to your session. But I would like to contribute another suggestion, one that is not quite so intrusive, and is easy as being part of your life.

That idea is to add music to your Role-playing sessions. Now that my role-playing career is firmly focused on Dark Conspiracy, I have found that today's music lends itself quite nicely to this modern horror genre. Many CDs that I have been brought are done so purely on the basis that they 'feel' right, and would enhance my mood when I am writing. (Right at this moment I am listening to the Jurassic Park Sound track - excellent mood music) This comes from some simple observations. The basic premise is that, from my experience anyway, most role-playing takes place in someone's (usually the GMs) lounge, or barring that, in a special hobby room and one thing that is common in these rooms this is the stereo. These days, it usually includes a CD player. The next thought is that most people like music, from Classical and Opera, to Rap and Techno (Dance music). We can see the love for music in people's day to day life; we have music in our shopping malls and our work places. In our free time, we spend hours listening and dancing to music, and we can see how important it is to human existence by observing the power the music companies possess. In my opinion then, music in leisure extends it-self to music in role-playing.

Setting the Mood

During my time as both a player and a referee, I have seen and heard music that has just grabbed my attention as being the right sort to introduce to a role-playing game.

To me these have usually 2 requirements:
• · First, they need to be long. Nothing is more frustrating than having to change a CD or the sides of a tape in the middle of a tense session.
• · Second, that they reflect the type of adventure or situation that the players are in. That they portray the atmosphere you most require.

Although both of these sound rather simple, in reality they are much harder to come by. More than once I have found myself suddenly being surrounded by a beating Techno bass song, when I was trying to produce a moment of sadness or despair, or having some soft rock come on when the party was in the middle of a tense fight scene.

Atmosphere
I have a number of CDs that I use for certain games, and most of them are sound tracks in some shape or form. This is quite logical when you think about it, most sound tracks are designed to capture the mood of certain moments, and why shouldn't I capitalize on the millions movie directors spend on these atmosphere generators. I will mention a couple of my particular favorites for different settings as examples. As I mentioned above the Jurassic Park soundtrack is one of these, combining fast and slow place music in one album, it naturally progresses from the quiet introduction to a hectic conclusion.

One of the best things about it is that an orchestra played all the music, and therefore doesn't have on set feel to it. Another CD I used is The Fifth Element soundtrack. This one however has a much more futuristic sound (like the movie) but lacks the ups and downs in tempo and feel that Jurassic Park had.

Yet another common CD I used is a sound track from a computer game - MechWarrior. This music, used as background on the various missions the player undertakes during a game, adds much in the way of atmosphere to a game. Combining a regular tempo and that feeling that something is just around the corner. (Something that is a necessity in both RPGs and Action Computer games). I find that this soundtrack is much more suited to a game, which is going to include a lot of combat.

I must mention a couple of other pieces of music, although none of them would ever really suit the DC world. The sound track for Games Workshop com-puter game - Shadow of the Horned Rat, is one such piece, combining action with a real Gothic feel this sort of music is a must in any grim fantasy game. On the other hand, when I played Call of Cthulhu regularly, a couple of Gershwin albums combined with a collection of later Jazz really hit the spot when portraying the 1930's.

Scene music
Another way music may be combined with your role-playing session is adding it to specific scenes. For example if the player are to meet a contact at a Country and Western Bar, playing some Garth Brooks quietly in the background will add an air of authentically to the encounter. Another example would be to play some popular music e.g. Hootie and the Blow-Fish, or Madonna, as the characters travel by car from one place to another. Even better would be to have a real news broadcast play and then add in that piece of information you have for the players during it.

I have more than once used music in a combat. The hard rock tunes of many eighties and nineties bands are great for adding the special feeling to an action scene. One specific song I have used is "After the Flesh" from My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult, heard on 'The Crow' soundtrack. (If you want to know it was the song playing in the nightclub when The Crow a.k.a. Brandon Lee, attacked his killers in the big bad guy's boardroom.) It really has a fast paced action feel.

Inspiration
I have to say that I am a real fan of music, my CD collection has a bit of all most everything - Gershwin, The Prodigy, Steve Vai and Icehouse, to name but a few. Music has always inspired me, especially some of the classical music that I heard when I was younger. Today when I am studying, reading or writing, music is a constant. If nothing else, at least it relieves the boredom when I have an all night studying session. One thing that still happens is that music, regardless of what type, fills me with ideas for adventures. This has happened quite a lot, and for most part they give me an image of a scene that would be good in a role-playing game.

One of most enjoyable adventures I ever ran was based on the premise presented in T. Rex's song 'Dandy in the Underworld'. I simply I followed the ad-ventures that happened to the hero in the song and then translated them into a structured adventure my players could follow. In the end, the adventure was as confusing for the players as it was for the hero in the song. Everything eventually came to a head and it all became clear.

Warning
There are two things that I will say in the way of warning when it comes to using music in your roleplaying session.

1. · It's only an enhancement - Like Beer or munchies, music is only an enhancement. Don't spend too much time on it, and especially don't allow it to get in the way of the game. The last thing you want is the players getting bored as you search for that tape, which you 'know is here'. Another valid point is the volume - quiet is sometimes best.
2. · Not that again! The other important thing to remember is - Not everyone likes your choice of music. We are all individuals and as part of that we all have different tastes in music. One thing that I can assure you of is that having to listen to music you don't like can really turn you off what you are doing. (Hey I listen to the 24-hour sports radio station, but I don't expect my flatmates to listen to it with me.)

Part of this involves changing the music around -listening to the same music session after session soon gets on everyone's nerves.