Give the characters three problems at a time to deal with. Even if the characters solve one problem, the other two will develop and worsen, and possibly cause a new problem to arise. While the PCs might not be contacted directly to act against all three problems, make sure that they know about them through NPC chatter/concerns.
Example: An army of the undead is being lead by a powerful BBEG across the land towards some unknown destination. This has displaced a number of barbarian tribes who have become refugees and are forced into a kingdom's farmland. The kingdom sends the army to remove the barbarians. The disruption in the farmland has caused food shortages in the capital and riots/coup look likely.
If the undead aren't dealt with the BBEG acquires a location/artifact/macguffin of power and further damages the land/displaces more threats to the kingdom.
If the barbarians aren't dealt with they engage the army in battle making the farmland even more dangerous.
If the food shortage isn't dealt with riots start with hints at a coup becoming a serious concern.
So three themes need to be constant:
A BBEG threat, which you should always be dropping the PC's clues and hints about, whether they be rumours or items.
A Regional threat, which is large scale,but not directly on the PC's unless they get involved with higher powers.
A Local threat, which changes from scene to scene and may worsen if they leave or do nothing.
The threat does not have to be towards the PC's, but if you can form a tangent that makes them notice how it affects them, then perfect
And don't forget to throw side quests out for specific PCs to pursue especially if it relates to their backstory.
Maybe the barbarian refugees are of a rival/same tribe as one of the PCs.
Maybe it's unknown why the barbarians entered the farmland in the first place since one PC's beloved relative forged a truce with them.
Maybe the leader of the rioters is a friend of one of the PCs.
Maybe there is loot left in the wake of the undead army and hopefully one PC's former bandit friends haven't moved in yet.
Maybe one PC's religious/knightly order is fighting a stalling battle to slow the undead so that the peasants can escape.
Basically make sure the world is always moving and the PCs never feel like they are the focus of the world. That is until they get to be of such power and reputation that the fate of the world does indeed rest on their shoulders.
At which point it's time to introduce the Bigger Fish.
Unlike IRL, in DnD and similar if you get into great power, the power-that-be, both good and evil, will approach the characters with ancient contracts, faith-shattering information, and in general just makes the world suddenly appear a whole lot bigger, because to all the Infernals, Celestial and otherwise, the Prime Material is their battleground, and you are their pawn.
Lastly, an excellent little summary I read recently on /tg/:
Remember three names: Chekhov, Schrodinger, and Samus.
Schrodinger: Everything exists in a state of superposition, so that at least some specific details are not set in stone until the PCs observe and act upon it.
Chekhov: Anything given meaningful detail should be significant.
Samus: If the PCs can't possibly get there now, there should be some way of giving them the opportunity to later on.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Wrapping up the Dawn
Since last session had the climactic event of Searza taking control of the continent Soraka and vowing to take over the world, it's been decided to end the Dawn of Worlds sessions so we can start with Age of Heroes. However, some people still had some plans they wanted to enact.
I sent out a message to everyone saying that this climactic event has suitably set the stage for RPing within it. To make any last reactions to it on a setting sized scale, everyone has 20 points to spend using the third age costs. However, these can only be spent on actions that wouldn't require a lot of RPing (so no battles). Everyone will email these to me and once I have all of them I'll mold them into a last "turn," then begin the task of writing a history for the setting.
Well, that's not entirely true. I still need to find out information about the various gods, such as what they inspire, how their followers behave, and what some of the minor gods within their own pantheon are.
I sent out a message to everyone saying that this climactic event has suitably set the stage for RPing within it. To make any last reactions to it on a setting sized scale, everyone has 20 points to spend using the third age costs. However, these can only be spent on actions that wouldn't require a lot of RPing (so no battles). Everyone will email these to me and once I have all of them I'll mold them into a last "turn," then begin the task of writing a history for the setting.
Well, that's not entirely true. I still need to find out information about the various gods, such as what they inspire, how their followers behave, and what some of the minor gods within their own pantheon are.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Drama in the Age of Heroes!
After a couple of failed attempts at meeting, we finally had another session. However, this one was the smallest yet with only The Grave Keeper, Xasthura, Talamour, and Soraka being present. Visour had previous planned out a number of actions and given the directions to Talamour's player who enacted those directives.
A lot of "little" things happened this session that don't really seem to qualify as highlights such as the Dark Reach weaponizing their psychic abilities, or the Zet forming a collective intelligence. However, there were a few big things.
Highlights:
-Searza (the bitter Viashino warlord who was recently defeated in the mountains after destroying Spear) travels in disguise as a member of a pacifist order beyond the wall and into Githkin lands. He then bought a ship and traveled to the City of the Lost. This city was created by the pilgrims trying to get into Zaun (Soraka's domain and a place of great learning) who had been unable to reach the gate. It had recently been taken over by the Githkin military and the pilgrims were oppressed. Searza led the pilgrims in escaping by stealing as many ships as possible and fleeing for the Gates of Zaun (A huge spire rising out of the ocean). About 25% of those who fled managed to make it to the Gates and were allowed entry into Zaun. Searza and his followers learn a great deal in Zaun, mostly about how to better wage war.
-Soraka uses his power over knowledge to remove the skills from the Dead that they had from before they were reanimated. He did this because the souls within the Dead had all the knowledge from their bodies' previous lives while the souls themselves were essentially newborn. Thus they hadn't earned that knowledge.
-Hearing about Blade Point's destruction the young Stonemyn King, Ignis of Boulder Town, raises two armies to crush the Dead located outside of his city. The Dead, however, do not fight back and are crushed while purposefully dying as traumatically as possible putting doubt in the hearts of the Stonemyn. Zillian (an avatar who spreads word of Zaun) tries to rally their spirits with an inspiring speech and is somewhat successful. Shortly thereafter the Stonemyn Dead rise and instead of congregating outside of Boulder Town they return to their previous homes to seek guidance. Although the bodies are the same, the families quickly learn that these are blank slates with no real personalities yet developed. They teach them and befriend them. Unsure of what to make of these Dead, Ignis asks He Who Yet Lives (an avatar of The Grave Keeper and leader of the Sandmyn) to come to Boulder Town to study these Dead. He Who Yet Lives discovers that these Dead are no different from the ones that attacked Blade Point including their ability to swap bodies with another soul. This meant that the friendly Dead that Boulder Town knew could be instantly replaced by the same types of souls who had destroyed Blade Point. He realizes that he could break this connection, but that the Dead's personalities would be erased once more because of Soraka's curse on the Dead. He Who Yet Lives puts the question to the people, asking them if they will allow him to break the connection and remove the possibility of a Dead army appearing inside the city, or if they would rather keep the friends they've made and risk the chance that they could all become a threat. Ultimately 63% of the population choose to keep the Dead as they are. He Who Yet Lives leaves the city saddened and fearful of what might happen. He then forms an order of necromancers whose mandate is to raise any and all dead they find so that it will be a soulless undead and cannot become one of Visour's Dead.
-Visour puts a spell upon the continent of Soraka so that anyone killed in violence rises as a Dead, though not with a direct connection to Visour.
-The Flamekin (lava men who turn to stone when away from heat) form a group who try to complete trials in order to dive into a mystical volcano in the hopes of gaining the artifact within it. Eventually one succeeds and they decide to create the Kasa Games in celebration. Zillian takes note of this and spreads word of it to all the races that he has visited.
-Rozir, the right hand man of Lizer (the wielder of the Ferrous Shield which itself is an avatar of Talamour), feels that Lizer has been acting against his usually peaceful ways for several of the previous decades. Having known Lizer for hundreds of years he worries that the leader of Foundry is being manipulated. He leaves and meets up with his brother Searza after the warlord returns from Zaun. Searza reclaims his place in control of the Searzan mountains and begins to eliminate those who had wronged him in the past. Gadock Tige (Leader of the Githkin and his longest foe), Merai (his daughter turned against him), Tristana (another Githkin general), and Lizer (who had mocked his violent ways) are all assassinated one by one. Lizer being the last is replaced on his throne in Foundry by Searza who claims the Ferrous Shield has chosen him to unite all of Soraka under his rule. He then travels with Rozir to the Dead encampment to speak with the newly returned Merai, Tristana, and Gadock Tige. All three (being avatars) were able to fight their way out of The Keeping Place to regain their old bodies, however, Gadock Tige had a hard battle returning and his mind is fractured. All three pledge loyalty to Searza's new empire of Soraka.
A lot of "little" things happened this session that don't really seem to qualify as highlights such as the Dark Reach weaponizing their psychic abilities, or the Zet forming a collective intelligence. However, there were a few big things.
Highlights:
-Searza (the bitter Viashino warlord who was recently defeated in the mountains after destroying Spear) travels in disguise as a member of a pacifist order beyond the wall and into Githkin lands. He then bought a ship and traveled to the City of the Lost. This city was created by the pilgrims trying to get into Zaun (Soraka's domain and a place of great learning) who had been unable to reach the gate. It had recently been taken over by the Githkin military and the pilgrims were oppressed. Searza led the pilgrims in escaping by stealing as many ships as possible and fleeing for the Gates of Zaun (A huge spire rising out of the ocean). About 25% of those who fled managed to make it to the Gates and were allowed entry into Zaun. Searza and his followers learn a great deal in Zaun, mostly about how to better wage war.
-Soraka uses his power over knowledge to remove the skills from the Dead that they had from before they were reanimated. He did this because the souls within the Dead had all the knowledge from their bodies' previous lives while the souls themselves were essentially newborn. Thus they hadn't earned that knowledge.
-Hearing about Blade Point's destruction the young Stonemyn King, Ignis of Boulder Town, raises two armies to crush the Dead located outside of his city. The Dead, however, do not fight back and are crushed while purposefully dying as traumatically as possible putting doubt in the hearts of the Stonemyn. Zillian (an avatar who spreads word of Zaun) tries to rally their spirits with an inspiring speech and is somewhat successful. Shortly thereafter the Stonemyn Dead rise and instead of congregating outside of Boulder Town they return to their previous homes to seek guidance. Although the bodies are the same, the families quickly learn that these are blank slates with no real personalities yet developed. They teach them and befriend them. Unsure of what to make of these Dead, Ignis asks He Who Yet Lives (an avatar of The Grave Keeper and leader of the Sandmyn) to come to Boulder Town to study these Dead. He Who Yet Lives discovers that these Dead are no different from the ones that attacked Blade Point including their ability to swap bodies with another soul. This meant that the friendly Dead that Boulder Town knew could be instantly replaced by the same types of souls who had destroyed Blade Point. He realizes that he could break this connection, but that the Dead's personalities would be erased once more because of Soraka's curse on the Dead. He Who Yet Lives puts the question to the people, asking them if they will allow him to break the connection and remove the possibility of a Dead army appearing inside the city, or if they would rather keep the friends they've made and risk the chance that they could all become a threat. Ultimately 63% of the population choose to keep the Dead as they are. He Who Yet Lives leaves the city saddened and fearful of what might happen. He then forms an order of necromancers whose mandate is to raise any and all dead they find so that it will be a soulless undead and cannot become one of Visour's Dead.
-Visour puts a spell upon the continent of Soraka so that anyone killed in violence rises as a Dead, though not with a direct connection to Visour.
-The Flamekin (lava men who turn to stone when away from heat) form a group who try to complete trials in order to dive into a mystical volcano in the hopes of gaining the artifact within it. Eventually one succeeds and they decide to create the Kasa Games in celebration. Zillian takes note of this and spreads word of it to all the races that he has visited.
-Rozir, the right hand man of Lizer (the wielder of the Ferrous Shield which itself is an avatar of Talamour), feels that Lizer has been acting against his usually peaceful ways for several of the previous decades. Having known Lizer for hundreds of years he worries that the leader of Foundry is being manipulated. He leaves and meets up with his brother Searza after the warlord returns from Zaun. Searza reclaims his place in control of the Searzan mountains and begins to eliminate those who had wronged him in the past. Gadock Tige (Leader of the Githkin and his longest foe), Merai (his daughter turned against him), Tristana (another Githkin general), and Lizer (who had mocked his violent ways) are all assassinated one by one. Lizer being the last is replaced on his throne in Foundry by Searza who claims the Ferrous Shield has chosen him to unite all of Soraka under his rule. He then travels with Rozir to the Dead encampment to speak with the newly returned Merai, Tristana, and Gadock Tige. All three (being avatars) were able to fight their way out of The Keeping Place to regain their old bodies, however, Gadock Tige had a hard battle returning and his mind is fractured. All three pledge loyalty to Searza's new empire of Soraka.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Continuity and Being Proactive
I've realized from running my current sci-fi RPG that the game style and setting drastically affect the options available to the PCs.
Previous games I've run and have played in have been very episodic and the setting has been vague at best. What these traits mean for the players is that they are never entirely sure how to behave in or what they can do in the setting. The GM may have a good idea of the world and can give a quick response to the players, but without the kind of instance access that the GM has to that information they can't really plan well for the future since they don't know if building a digital computer would work in the steampunk setting, or if summoning a demon for information will get them arrested.
So that means that the setting must be made clear to everyone. No doubt this will require regular updates to whatever setting document exists for the group as new questions get asked and new ideas pop up. However, it's not the sole responsibility of the GM to make the world clear to the players, they have to put effort in as well. I've made two setting that were quite fleshed out with setting documents that were about 14 pages. I understand that it's a lot to read for a game, but if the players want to have the ability to be more than reactive, they have to put in some work.
The style of the game also has an impact on the players' ability to be proactive. In an episodic game the PCs can never be entirely sure what is going to happen next. The next session's villain may not be the same one they are facing now, their current location may become irrelevant, and they may not have the same resources available to them that they did previously. Additionally the feel of the game may change drastically with certain "episodes." The session recording that I posted a couple weeks back was of a particularly silly session, that, while fun to play, was entirely out of the norm for the dark, investigation heavy game that we were playing. This is important because it helps the players determine what are possible situations that they may face in the near future.
Previous games I've run and have played in have been very episodic and the setting has been vague at best. What these traits mean for the players is that they are never entirely sure how to behave in or what they can do in the setting. The GM may have a good idea of the world and can give a quick response to the players, but without the kind of instance access that the GM has to that information they can't really plan well for the future since they don't know if building a digital computer would work in the steampunk setting, or if summoning a demon for information will get them arrested.
So that means that the setting must be made clear to everyone. No doubt this will require regular updates to whatever setting document exists for the group as new questions get asked and new ideas pop up. However, it's not the sole responsibility of the GM to make the world clear to the players, they have to put effort in as well. I've made two setting that were quite fleshed out with setting documents that were about 14 pages. I understand that it's a lot to read for a game, but if the players want to have the ability to be more than reactive, they have to put in some work.
The style of the game also has an impact on the players' ability to be proactive. In an episodic game the PCs can never be entirely sure what is going to happen next. The next session's villain may not be the same one they are facing now, their current location may become irrelevant, and they may not have the same resources available to them that they did previously. Additionally the feel of the game may change drastically with certain "episodes." The session recording that I posted a couple weeks back was of a particularly silly session, that, while fun to play, was entirely out of the norm for the dark, investigation heavy game that we were playing. This is important because it helps the players determine what are possible situations that they may face in the near future.
Monday, May 31, 2010
The Third Age at Last
Once again there were missing players, this time Aramandia, The Sleeping One, and The Great Migrant. We had two more rounds of the Second Age so that everyone could finish up their business with it, and then finally moved onto the Third.
Highlights:
-9 armies of the Dead sent by Visour form around the Sandmyn city of Blade Point. The living within are worried and send a representative to liaise with them. The Dead demand control of the city and, more importantly, the gate to The Keeping Place (realm of The Grave Keeper and prison for evil souls) within. The living refuse this, and flee the city in their airships, but not before sealing the gate with powerful magic. In frustration the Dead destroy the city and salt its oasis. The Grave Keeper sends a sandstorm in revenge, and obliterates all the Dead. The Grave Keeper also decides that Visour will no longer judge the souls of those who lived, instead Aramandia, The Grave Keeper, and Soraka will judge the souls together. The refugees decide to create a floating city held aloft by magic and their knowledge of aerodynamics. The news of the Dead armies spreads and many other civilizations begin arming themselves, including a defense pact between the Treemyn (humans that live in the woods) and the Ulver (tree climbing wolves).
-The Githkin and Viashino officially become a united civilization. This leads to some intermarriage and the Giathkino mixed people appear. Many are persecuted and killed. Visour sends the Dead armies to crush the city (Plantation) where most of the murders are occurring. Githkin armies come from another city (Spear) in defense of Plantation. A great battle ensues with the Githkin eventually losing. Visour gives the city to the Giathkino who rename it Kindred.
-While the armies of Spear are away, a bitter Viashino warlord captures the city. The Githkin grand general heads to the city with overwhelming force. The Viashino flatten the city and kill all of the inhabitants, then flee back to their mountains. The Githkin pursue them, and end up routing them despite a hard fought battle.
-The Mer (fish/frog people) meet the Ulver and learn ocean navigation from them. They then use this knowledge to sail down the river that splits the continent Ulveron. They encounter the Xungi (sentient fungus) and together create organic power armour for the Mer.
I want to have only one more session because they world does not need to be sorted out before we start RPing in it. There is so much going on that any number of story seeds could be sown.
Highlights:
-9 armies of the Dead sent by Visour form around the Sandmyn city of Blade Point. The living within are worried and send a representative to liaise with them. The Dead demand control of the city and, more importantly, the gate to The Keeping Place (realm of The Grave Keeper and prison for evil souls) within. The living refuse this, and flee the city in their airships, but not before sealing the gate with powerful magic. In frustration the Dead destroy the city and salt its oasis. The Grave Keeper sends a sandstorm in revenge, and obliterates all the Dead. The Grave Keeper also decides that Visour will no longer judge the souls of those who lived, instead Aramandia, The Grave Keeper, and Soraka will judge the souls together. The refugees decide to create a floating city held aloft by magic and their knowledge of aerodynamics. The news of the Dead armies spreads and many other civilizations begin arming themselves, including a defense pact between the Treemyn (humans that live in the woods) and the Ulver (tree climbing wolves).
-The Githkin and Viashino officially become a united civilization. This leads to some intermarriage and the Giathkino mixed people appear. Many are persecuted and killed. Visour sends the Dead armies to crush the city (Plantation) where most of the murders are occurring. Githkin armies come from another city (Spear) in defense of Plantation. A great battle ensues with the Githkin eventually losing. Visour gives the city to the Giathkino who rename it Kindred.
-While the armies of Spear are away, a bitter Viashino warlord captures the city. The Githkin grand general heads to the city with overwhelming force. The Viashino flatten the city and kill all of the inhabitants, then flee back to their mountains. The Githkin pursue them, and end up routing them despite a hard fought battle.
-The Mer (fish/frog people) meet the Ulver and learn ocean navigation from them. They then use this knowledge to sail down the river that splits the continent Ulveron. They encounter the Xungi (sentient fungus) and together create organic power armour for the Mer.
I want to have only one more session because they world does not need to be sorted out before we start RPing in it. There is so much going on that any number of story seeds could be sown.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
More Second Age
After a break last week we continued on with the Age of Heroes. However, two players were missing, and one arrived late and had to leave early. Thus, the only constant gods were Talamour, Visour, The Sleeping One, Sorakka, and The Grave Keeper, while Aramandia made an appearance.
Surprisingly even though there were two players missing we got through fewer turns than we did in the previous session when everyone was present. This wasn't bad though because the cause was a great deal of role playing between players.
Again we stayed within the second age. I had been hoping to move to the third age or at least get close because I am itching to start planning for the campaign even though I am having fun. Part of that fun was being able to enact the majority of the things I had been planning for awhile including destroying the telepathic internet of the Githkin.
This session's highlights:
-The cold war between the Githkin (long armed telepathic dwarves) and the Viashino (lizardmen) grows with an arms race. Eventually it comes to a head when The Grave Keeper has an earthquake make the Viashino lands in the mountains unsafe, and destroys the giant wall that separated the Githkin and the Viashino. However, the Githkin and Viashino do not go to war, and instead many Viashino settle in the Southern parts of their shared continent, while the Githkin remain in the central area.
-The Orcana (drunken gambling whale people) city of Casino rises from the water due to stored energy within it and begins to float amongst the magnetic storms of that area of the ocean. The Orcana that were trapped eventually change into humanoid whales with battery organs in place of dorsal fins, and they rename the city Casinon. They then regain their lost knowledge of electrical engineering.
-Some Mer (frog people) climb up the giant tree Hybrassil and begin looking for a seed. They decide that the seeds are likely within the bodies of the Pixies who live in the tree's branches, and begin vivisecting them. They eventually find a seed, but the seed's pollen causes beautiful flowers to burst forth from their chests killing them. Eventually they adapt and the flowers no longer burst forth fatally but wait until the Mer have died.
-An avatar appears amongst the Marungus (economically knowledgeable psychic octopus people) and begins using his economic power to benefit himself. He creates a secret cabal of manipulators and a personal army. The Sleeping One is not amused and curses the avatar to hear all speech as gibberish and anyone he psychically touches looses the ability to speak comprehensibly as well. However, he works around this and starts issuing orders in writing, and begins to spread the influence of his cabal amongst other races.
-The meteorite sent down by Xasthura, and colonized by the Sandmyn (desert dwelling humans), rises as an avatar of the Grave Keeper with the city of Sky's Bounty resting on his shoulders. Tomb That Walks heads West creating the Step Lakes in the plains and the Glass Road in the desert. The sight of him inspires some Zet (palm sized sentient sand fleas) to train themselves to be bigger and stronger. These Zet eventually grow to 5 feet tall and cal themselves Unzut. However, the Zet outnumber them and soon enslave the Unzut for hard labour.
Hopefully next session will see us moving on to the third age. The second age is supposed to be about developing the civilizations, and the third is about interactions, but the interactions always seem to start in the second. We should move on.
Surprisingly even though there were two players missing we got through fewer turns than we did in the previous session when everyone was present. This wasn't bad though because the cause was a great deal of role playing between players.
Again we stayed within the second age. I had been hoping to move to the third age or at least get close because I am itching to start planning for the campaign even though I am having fun. Part of that fun was being able to enact the majority of the things I had been planning for awhile including destroying the telepathic internet of the Githkin.
This session's highlights:
-The cold war between the Githkin (long armed telepathic dwarves) and the Viashino (lizardmen) grows with an arms race. Eventually it comes to a head when The Grave Keeper has an earthquake make the Viashino lands in the mountains unsafe, and destroys the giant wall that separated the Githkin and the Viashino. However, the Githkin and Viashino do not go to war, and instead many Viashino settle in the Southern parts of their shared continent, while the Githkin remain in the central area.
-The Orcana (drunken gambling whale people) city of Casino rises from the water due to stored energy within it and begins to float amongst the magnetic storms of that area of the ocean. The Orcana that were trapped eventually change into humanoid whales with battery organs in place of dorsal fins, and they rename the city Casinon. They then regain their lost knowledge of electrical engineering.
-Some Mer (frog people) climb up the giant tree Hybrassil and begin looking for a seed. They decide that the seeds are likely within the bodies of the Pixies who live in the tree's branches, and begin vivisecting them. They eventually find a seed, but the seed's pollen causes beautiful flowers to burst forth from their chests killing them. Eventually they adapt and the flowers no longer burst forth fatally but wait until the Mer have died.
-An avatar appears amongst the Marungus (economically knowledgeable psychic octopus people) and begins using his economic power to benefit himself. He creates a secret cabal of manipulators and a personal army. The Sleeping One is not amused and curses the avatar to hear all speech as gibberish and anyone he psychically touches looses the ability to speak comprehensibly as well. However, he works around this and starts issuing orders in writing, and begins to spread the influence of his cabal amongst other races.
-The meteorite sent down by Xasthura, and colonized by the Sandmyn (desert dwelling humans), rises as an avatar of the Grave Keeper with the city of Sky's Bounty resting on his shoulders. Tomb That Walks heads West creating the Step Lakes in the plains and the Glass Road in the desert. The sight of him inspires some Zet (palm sized sentient sand fleas) to train themselves to be bigger and stronger. These Zet eventually grow to 5 feet tall and cal themselves Unzut. However, the Zet outnumber them and soon enslave the Unzut for hard labour.
Hopefully next session will see us moving on to the third age. The second age is supposed to be about developing the civilizations, and the third is about interactions, but the interactions always seem to start in the second. We should move on.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Music and Role Playing
Using music during a session is one of the easiest ways of adding atmosphere to a session. Many people think about it or try it, but it doesn't work for everyone. The biggest problem is breaking the immersion of the game. When you go to see a movie, chances are you don't notice the music, but you can feel it's effect on the movie. Usually the music only becomes apparent when the director wants the audience to pay attention to it, and associate it with something, for instance The Imperial March.
Admittedly I'm still learning how to use music in my sessions, but I have picked up a couple rules.
1) DON'T use music that the players will recognize. It doesn't matter if you think it will fit, if even one of them will recognize it don't use it. This creates a small problem for picking music to use during sessions because if you want the music to be atmospheric the best places to find atmospheric music is in TV shows, movies, and video games. The obvious answer then is to use music from movies/TV shows/video games your players don't know or haven't heard. Youtube is a good resource for finding fitting music, just search for whatever kind of music you're looking for and try all the stuff that comes up.
2) DON'T use music with lyrics. This is related loosely to rule number 1) since (obviously) the vast majority of music is stuff that would be played on the radio (figuratively speaking) and thus, fairly well known. Additionally, if the lyrics are decipherable then the players may be distracted by trying to understand them. If the players are paying attention to the lyrics, they are paying less attention to the game.
3) DO try to create leitmotif. Leitmotif is the musical idea of associating a certain musical composition with a specific character, theme, situation, or place. The previously mentioned Imperial March is a perfect example, many people know it as Vader's Theme. There's also using leitmotif with a specific sound as opposed to a piece of music, such as the sound effects for lightsabers. To create leitmotif the GM must play the music/sound every time the character/situation/etc is "on screen" and perhaps a little louder the first time.
4) DO try to find the right volume for the music. This is tricky and depends on the group, the situation in game, the song, and the placement of the speakers. The music needs to be loud enough that it can be heard by everyone, but not so loud that it distracts from the game and breaks the immersion. If possible test it beforehand, but be prepared to adjust it throughout the session. Important to remember is that if you notice that everyone has gotten louder since the music has been put on that means they are talking over it, so don't turn the volume up if it can't be heard.
5) DON'T loop the music. The song should play once and be done with for that scene. It's ok to use it again later (particularly when using a leitmotif), but once per two scenes is probably plenty. Relatedly, if you use a playlist to sort your music, make sure to set it so that the playlist won't go to the next song on the list. I'd only make an exception to that if ALL the songs are fairly similar and would be less jarring without each other than the first one would be alone.
6) DON'T fiddle with the music player too much. The addition of music to the session should be as smooth as possible. Don't put the session on hold to adjust the volume, find the right song, or whatever. Keep your actions hidden. If the players notice you fooling about too much that'll distract them.
7) DO remember that you don't need music. It doesn't work for everyone, not everyone has the right equipment, and not everyone has the right ear for the music. Give it a try a couple times, ask your players what they thought of your use of the music, and if it doesn't work after the third or fourth time, leave it be.
Admittedly I'm still learning how to use music in my sessions, but I have picked up a couple rules.
1) DON'T use music that the players will recognize. It doesn't matter if you think it will fit, if even one of them will recognize it don't use it. This creates a small problem for picking music to use during sessions because if you want the music to be atmospheric the best places to find atmospheric music is in TV shows, movies, and video games. The obvious answer then is to use music from movies/TV shows/video games your players don't know or haven't heard. Youtube is a good resource for finding fitting music, just search for whatever kind of music you're looking for and try all the stuff that comes up.
2) DON'T use music with lyrics. This is related loosely to rule number 1) since (obviously) the vast majority of music is stuff that would be played on the radio (figuratively speaking) and thus, fairly well known. Additionally, if the lyrics are decipherable then the players may be distracted by trying to understand them. If the players are paying attention to the lyrics, they are paying less attention to the game.
3) DO try to create leitmotif. Leitmotif is the musical idea of associating a certain musical composition with a specific character, theme, situation, or place. The previously mentioned Imperial March is a perfect example, many people know it as Vader's Theme. There's also using leitmotif with a specific sound as opposed to a piece of music, such as the sound effects for lightsabers. To create leitmotif the GM must play the music/sound every time the character/situation/etc is "on screen" and perhaps a little louder the first time.
4) DO try to find the right volume for the music. This is tricky and depends on the group, the situation in game, the song, and the placement of the speakers. The music needs to be loud enough that it can be heard by everyone, but not so loud that it distracts from the game and breaks the immersion. If possible test it beforehand, but be prepared to adjust it throughout the session. Important to remember is that if you notice that everyone has gotten louder since the music has been put on that means they are talking over it, so don't turn the volume up if it can't be heard.
5) DON'T loop the music. The song should play once and be done with for that scene. It's ok to use it again later (particularly when using a leitmotif), but once per two scenes is probably plenty. Relatedly, if you use a playlist to sort your music, make sure to set it so that the playlist won't go to the next song on the list. I'd only make an exception to that if ALL the songs are fairly similar and would be less jarring without each other than the first one would be alone.
6) DON'T fiddle with the music player too much. The addition of music to the session should be as smooth as possible. Don't put the session on hold to adjust the volume, find the right song, or whatever. Keep your actions hidden. If the players notice you fooling about too much that'll distract them.
7) DO remember that you don't need music. It doesn't work for everyone, not everyone has the right equipment, and not everyone has the right ear for the music. Give it a try a couple times, ask your players what they thought of your use of the music, and if it doesn't work after the third or fourth time, leave it be.
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