Creating a soundscape

You can provide a sense of consistency and theme for the different dungeons of your Underworld by building a bespoke playlist. Associate each level with a specific song. When the players enter a dungeon, play its theme song on a loop. (Choosing a music player with a looping option is important. Spotify works well.)

You can also have theme music for the beginning and ending of a session, for Challenges, and for recurring GM characters.

Video game music works well for this purpose. It’s designed to fade into the background and create an atmosphere. Be aware that your players may indelibly associate the music with that particular video game, taking them out of the His Majesty the Worm experience. Choose your favorite music from obscure games or games you know your table hasn’t played overmuch.

Your mileage may vary. Some players find any music—even music without lyrics— to be very distracting. Ask your table what they prefer.

“Wherefore each of you, when his turn comes, must go down to the general underground abode, and get the habit of seeing in the dark.”

– “The Allegory of the Cave,” The Republic, Plato

Homebrewing (sidebar)

Running a game is sort of like cooking. The first few times you do it, you adhere judiciously to a recipe. However, the more you cook, the more that repetition, experimentation, improvisation, and restriction reveals the methodology and chemistry that underlies the recipes.

This game is a complete package but it is just a recipe. It has an underlying chemistry that produces a particular taste. The more you play it, the more you’ll understand how the parts and pieces work together. Once you do, you’ll understand how to change parts of it to better suit your tastes. The game is better when the book is not the authority; rather, authority is given to the GM and the general will of the table.

If this book mentions something in passing like, say, lycanthropy, we haven’t felt the need to give you paragraphs and paragraphs of crunch on the subject. RPGs have been going on for a few decades now. There’s information out there. Find some time between sessions to create some lycanthropy rules that you like. Make the lore work for the game world that you’ve made. Get player buy-in about the idea and get everybody excited about it.