Establishing Tone in Your Games

This is a subject I approach with trepidation. Tone is an important aspect to my games and my game mastering style, and I’ve been told that it’s something I do well. But I’ve never had a set of rules or guidelines that I use to create tone. Instead, it’s a natural inclination that paints everything I do.

But I will try to advise you anyway. Perhaps together, we can generate some habits that will help you see the way I do.

What is Tone?

In visual art, tone is a color. In music it’s a single note. In literature, it’s a particular mood of a piece. The similar theme to these is that tone is unifying and emotional. In the case of an RPG, the literature sense is the closest. The tone of your game is the pervasive emotional sense of the game. It comes through in the themes you choose, in the description you use, in the enemies, adventures, and plots. Imagine you’re looking through your game through colored sunglasses. Every aspect of your game would be painted with a particular tone.

Above All, Feel It

This is my secret, if I have one. I let myself feel whatever feelings I’m trying to convey when I’m designing an adventure or campaign. Then I try to make things match what I’m feeling.

I do this at the table too. When I’m playing an NPC, and especially when I’m describing things, I try to feel the tone I wish to convey.

I’m not going to call this a magic bullet though. There are many things I’ve done and learned over the years to help me hone this skill.

Consume Other Works

Read books. Watch movies. Listen to Music. Most importantly, consume these things at an emotional level. Let yourself feel whatever they’re trying to make you feel. This can be difficult sometimes. I tend to recoil from heavy-handed or obvious attempts to make me feel something, as if I’m being manipulated. Still, try it, and pay attention. If you’re going for a dark and gritty tone and a sense of loneliness, look for the details. A yellowing empty fridge. Clutter on the floor. Creaking wood floors. Large spaces full of things but no people.

Write Short Stories

This is where I learned to convey tone. I went to college for fiction writing. Yeah, I know. That’s cheating. There are many books on this subject that may be of value. Writer’s Digest has some very good ones written by accomplished authors. If you’re interested in more advice on writing books and resources, let me know.

But reading these isn’t good enough. You have to apply that knowledge. Write short stories. Longer works can be fun to write, but short stories (or even poetry, though I personally can’t stand the stuff) force you to be concise. Being able to convey something in a few sentences is a very handy skill at the gaming table. So write these, have people read them, ask for cruel levels of criticism, and edit until you learn what you’re doing. Sadly, this is an art. Doing it well can’t be picked up off a blog (though if you wish to try, check out this list of the top 100 writing blogs).

A Couple Quick Tips

There are a couple of handy tricks that can apply right away that will improve your games.

Use Smell: Our sense of smell is the most directly linked with emotional states. If you want to convey tone, always consider what the character’s smell.
Describe like you mean it: This might take some practice, but instead of describing things like an encyclopedia, talk like what you’re saying is important to you. If you want to convey a sense of jubilation, give descriptions like you’re experiencing it, and that everything you see is exciting and awesome! If you’re trying to say something of grave importance, speak like what you’re saying weights heavily on you. This is even more important for pre-written text. Also, don’t forget to look your players in the eye as you speak.
Don’t break the tone: You don’t have to keep the same tone for a whole campaign, but when you’re in a part of an adventure that has a particular tone, don’t break that tone. Don’t throw in something off the wall. Don’t start cracking jokes. This will only pull your players out of the scene. They may do this on their own, and there isn’t much you can do about that, but don’t encourage them.

That’s about it, really. Most of the work is in your hands. But I hope that you’ve gleaned something useful. If you have any tips, or would like to share your experiences, I’d love to hear about them in the comments.