Enhancing the Experience - How to up your gaming experience

As you get into D&D and play in more and more groups over the years, you tend to learn some of the commonalities or patterns that DMs fall into every time. Games can start to meld together, and you may start to feel like you're losing the spark of energy your table once had. How can you save it? Well, two little things called ambiance and player immersion can really save a game and make it stand out to players for years to come.

Sitting around a table in your dining room, the space lit with a fluorescent light bulb and nothing but the sound of your air conditioner and cars outside doesn't do much to help players feel immersed. Think about the space you play in. What small changes could you make to enhance the experience for your players? In my personal experience, drinking old fashioned drinks from medieval tankards has added a bit of fun. Dimming the lights and using candles can really give you a fantasy vibe. If you enjoy cooking, try finding medieval or fantasy themes recipes for tavern meals to give your players.

The best thing I've ever done to better my game was to start playing ambient music over a speaker. While very time consuming, I scoured various video game, movie, and TV show scores for tunes to fit various themes and settings. My commonly used playlists include Wilderness, City, Dungeon, Battle, and Boss Battle. I also have a few situational ones such as Sailing and Chase Scene that I use when those encounters arise, but they aren't as full as the others.

Music is one of those things that can really set the mood. Say the players are just stepping into the mouth of a cave. I swap the music from cheery adventuring tunes to eerie, quiet cavern music. That piques the player's interests, makes them anxious and excited for what's to come.

While music may not be the right fit for your group, try to find ways to enhance the immersive experience that D&D tries to provide with real world things to make the experience more memorable for your players.