There are so many ways to set a scene when playing solo. Mythic and many others provide the necessary tools for keeping things fresh and surprising. But there are so many more. This week we are going to be looking to music for our inspiration.

Put a playlist on shuffle. The first song that plays is the emotional tone of the next scene.

There are a few different ways to go about this. A curated playlist, which allows you a bit more control of what kind of songs are on it and therefore what kind of songs might hit the most. Maybe you are looking for a sadder vibe, so you make a playlist with a number of sad, melancholic, or depressed songs with a few other things thrown in for fun. Or you find a totally random playlist and run that and see what happens. Maybe just listen to the radio and see what comes up.

I have a Spotify playlist called The Playlist where I throw in all of the songs from my other playlists into one playlist to rule them all. So I didn’t to use that one, so it will hit a wide range of songs.

I am just starting another Call of Cthulhu game. My last investigator was killed. This was for the first scene of the game where my investigator gets the hook and has an opportunity to ask questions of the quest giver and the lynchpin.

The first song to come up on the my playlist was “Da Mystery of Chessboxin’” by Wu-Tang Clan. Not the easiest song to work with especially when starting off a new CofC game. But I went with it.

I had the investigator come in very direct and questioning. He doesn’t believe the lynchpin and is looking to show that she is making it all up. Additionally, he isn’t happy with the quest giver for brining him there so he is asking her a lot of questions as well. I played him very confident and assertive.

Share your experience here.