I've Heard Legends of this Place
Added 2021-08-18 11:39:53 +0000 UTCI run story-heavy campaigns. Combat, strategy, and dungeoneering are important, but my players particularly like engaging with far-reaching plots and historically-informed intrigue. That creates a bit of a dilemma for gameplay pacing! For my players to properly engage with a setting, they need to be familiar with heaps of lore. While it's sometimes okay to shoot them a document with a history lesson or whatever, it's often preferable to weave that storytelling directly into the campaign, and my favorite way to do that is via dungeon design. There are so many great ways to provide players with extra story context through dungeons: diegetic historical documents, relevant NPCs slinking away in the shadows (Dark Souls style), sudden flashbacks, boss monologues, environmental storytelling... you name it!
For those well-timed and well-placed contextual lore dumps, it's good to have a track on hand to set the scene. These week, I bring you "These Walls Tell Tales," an über ambient and ambiguously moody soundscape that should evoke themes of memory, prophecy, and legend. Throw this on in an abandoned library, the tomb of a once great ruler, or a dreamscape sky temple. While the goal was to make something for underscoring paragraphs of GM exposition, this should be equally useful for quiet villages, secluded forest glades, or mountaintop vistas.
If you want something with a little more to grab onto, I have a version of this track that is dominated by a solo flute for less ambient play available at the Artist Tier +. Thanks so much, y'all!
