Is this going to end up as some crazy new feature of AuctionSieve?

Foul

Yeah, looks like we will get sound support in AuctionSieve in the near future

Well it was meant to be a serious post...

Let's see

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The DeadLord wrote:

Breach, I never suspected! Denver is one of my favorites! Then again, so is Cannibal Corpse

C.C. is a nice band, their lyrics always amaze me you'd think these guys where medical students or got a hold of a medical journal. Totally ripping live some of the most violent shows I've been too. One of my first bands opened up for them back in the day, and I've seen them at least five or so times since then.
Denver is amazing as well he takes me back to a simpler time or snowy mountain peeks, Granola Bars, Fago, Trash 80's, and of course First Edition AD&D. His songs always give me a smile.

Frank, I don't know if you've been to any shows lately, but the Death Metal scene is back in full force. I went to two local shows in the last few months and there where 500+ screaming and head banging high school and collage age kids going completely nuts. Tampa the home of Death Metal is only about four hours from me, and I hear all kinds of new bands are on the rise with that now considered old skool death metal feel. I've noticed a trend in the last few decades. The middle years have shown peeks of occult/satanic style rock. So metal could be back!

1965-67 Cream, Iron butterfly, Led Zeppelin etc.
1975- Kiss
1985- Slayer, Metallica, + all of our mid-eighties favorites
1995- Marilyn Manson (these guys practiced right across from our warehouse bay, and I was there the day Trent Reznor came by to check them out. Funny I never cared much for them and thought they would never make it. Brian (Mr. Manson) had the last laugh.)
2005- New school Death Metal with old school sound. Who will be then next super-star band? Time will tell.

Mike

Six Feet Under. Fear Factory. Machine Head. Bolt Thrower.

You name it, I play it.

At least two guys from my group are seriously into metal, too. Many of the metal bands use elements from mythology and fantasy, so there has to be a connection.

Deadlord36 wrote:

I'm curious: Does anyone else put on tunes during D&D? If so, what music? If it's Poison, please don't answer.

Interesting you asked this question. I've been waiting until I'm able to post pics directly onto the forum which should be any day now. So I'll wet the whistle about what you're soon to see. We've taken about 15 nice digital photos of our current art room that we are at present displaying all the collecting goodies and our game room where we have all our painted miniatures, castles, and terrain. As soon as Josh the newest member of our crew posts them to his URL you'll be able to take a peek into Invincible's Lair.  

Getting back to your question, I feel atmosphere is most important aspect other than a good DM. Think about it, ever played a game where the players are sprawled out all over the living room?  As compared to a nice round table where the players are in tight facing each other? In the first the players tend to drift, some may even fall asleep, and the game seems to loose focus. However in the case of the round table the game tends to be much more intense. Ideas, actions, and role-play seem to be a higher level no pun intended.

Now add in some of the background music you asked about, light some candles, dim the lights --- And Whamo! Some of my earliest and favorite gaming experiences were played this way. So it always sort of stuck in my mind that one day I could build a game room where the DM could completely control the atmosphere therefore heightening the game to the next level.

Well here it is twenty-five years after my first experiences with gaming and I've with the help of many friends with technical knowledge built the proto-type. I've wired the game room with 5.1 surround sound linked to a laptop computer facing the DM. I've also linked a second flat panel monitor facing the players for showing the them maps, pics of NPC's , terrain photos etc. I have an external sound manager linked into the laptop that I can simultaneously run up to 20 sound files and manipulate them in real-time. Back ground breeze to hollowing storm with every degree in-between, Tavern music and laughter to the dripping of cave water, we've cataloged almost 2000 sound files. The DM simply before the game selects what he'll need for that game and uploads them onto a window on the computer. What's nice is you can also edit these files together and make something really cool like waves at sea, creaking boards, and gusting wind and wow you feel like you're in the hold of an old ship. Save it and it's ready to go for your game. The program is amazing it loupes the files and I've gotten very good at a seamless edit.

To heighten the experience even more the DM also has 28 lights at his control. He has everything from four main lights to Red, Blue, and Green ground and ceiling lights all on dimmers. There are also specialty lights and colors to work with, and the craziest thing we've come up with is a fake fire place that works off colored lights, a fan, and piece of silk. It doesn't sound like much, but when it's on inside the plaster and cardboard stone façade it looks very real. Put that baby on at about half speed with the other two torch lights that work in the same way with some background tavern sounds and role-playing goes off the chart.

I've done extensive play testing in the room and all who have played from old-school to young kids say they had one of the best gamming experiences. Funny note one of the first games play tested in the room we had 2 smoke machines hooked up as well, so in the climax of the game where the players entered the red dragon's lair I filled the room with smoke and nearly killed everyone with smoke inhalation. So that idea quickly what out the window. Play testing has been a big part of getting it to run seamlessly.

Future updates include replacing the flat panel facing the players with a Plasma Projector projecting onto a 6' wide screen and running edited video clips from movies, documentaries, etc. Also one of the guys in our crew works at the DJ store and there's a new piece of equipment that has a 50,000 word vocabulary for running an audio interface with your computer. So the DM in the future will simply say Run Desert program 1 and it will take you to a calm desert, or Run Desert program 10 will take you to a sandstorm.

This all may seem crazy I know. But it puts a whole new twist on RPG's not to mention the power back in the hands of the DM. The visual and the audio is the one thing computer RPG's have over the DM, but not anymore. And believe me the heightened audio and visual elevates the game especially the role-playing aspect. So with enough said I'll shut up and post the pics ASAP.

Invincible

Feel free to comment --

Uhhhh......yeah............oooookkkkkkkkkkk..........
I do agree that environment plays a huge role, but more from the disruption/distraction standpoint. My wife used to interrupt us fairly regularly until I stood up once and shouted "Silence 15' Radius!" while pointing at her. Being very intelligent, she got the hint. Now I lock the door to the den. Much easier.
The only prop I remember from my early days was a dual-carbed bong. We didn't have minis or terrain. But with the bong, we didn't care.
We need a voting poll on what band epitomizes/goes with D&D.

Ok...I have had a few minutes to digest that...

No background music or other gadgetry for us.  We surrounded ourselves with sustainables...as follows...

Pre-driving age: Rode bikes to 7-11 and loaded up on Slurpees, Big Gulps and chips/candy

Driving age: Hit the fast food joints or pizzas.

21+: Beer...and...more beer...then some more beer...

Now (40+/-): Back to sodas and chips. All us married guys have kids...so no adult beverages allowed. Then out for a late dinner at one of the large chain restaurants - Chili's, Fridays, etc.

But, I can honestly say we never had a prop at a gaming session (other than miniatures).

We tried the Karamiekos audio CD adventures and found that damn irritating.