Miniatures, though that is usually one of the first things done. Even if they aren't used for combat positioning, seeing a rendering of what the characters are actually looking at can help players get into things.
To that same end, art in general; portraits of characters or monsters encountered, backdrops of scenery or locations.
You could also determine the accents of various in-game regions, and use that to keep the voices used for NPCs appropriate to that determination.
I'd say one of the things that've helped me bring the world to life is figuring out how it works, or at least providing a few details that make it feel like you know how it works. If your NPCs can casually remark things about their everyday lives to the PCs, the world will feel more realistic (e.g. "You can trade those coins in at the temple of <Insert Diety of wealth here> " or "The skeletons can't be from our graveyard, the mortuary priests clean the flesh off the bones a month after burial and reinter them in an ossuary")
Similarly a few details about the local economy ("Can you help us, hunting has been way too sparse and we might go hungry during the winter if we can't sell pelts again soon.") or ecology ("Your nature check tells you Catoblepass don't usually wander this far from their swamps.") can also help.
Another easy way to make the world feel more alive would be to name locations and buildings. "The Hall of Might" sounds a lot more impressive than "The local temple of Kord". You can always provide translations for your players when they ask for them.
Just make sure it feels natural for your NPCs or PCs, the local inkeep of a small village probably isn't going to know or care about the entire lineage of the royal family beyond who's currently collecting the taxes while failing to keep the local monster at bay.
I try to create a plausible ecosystem for friendly NPC behaviors. The illusion that they have lives, needs, organizations, alliances, problems, etc. This obviously serves up lots of quests and opportunities for adventure, but it also sets up small little things that allow the characters to have "friends back home" who rely on them.
In my last campaign session before Gen Con my players had just defeated an ancient black dragon in it's lair and returned to their nearby homeland to recover, gear up, and decide what's next. Only to discover that the dragon had completely destroyed an entire town, killed many people they knew, and then returned to it's lair to find them waiting.
This took a single/fun dragon encounter that wrapped up the entire campaign arc to date (9 levels of adventure) and made it impact their home where the characters were created. The players started asking about survivors. Friends. Family. Contacts. They were concerned and caring and worried. Doubly glad they'd defeated the dragon, but also sad and validated by the devastation it could create.
That reaction really pleased me. It meant I'd made the "home" part of the world immersive. Real enough to care about. Giving rise to something more than just "Hey let's swap loot and go murder hobo some more!"
...and I did it on a shoestring. Creating NPC's as needed, giving them basic needs and roles in town, and then updating things just a little as the calendar pushed on.
Suspension of Disbelief is a powerful tool. The players tend to want to buy into the world story you are sharing. You have to ask them, and respect it in order to represent it well, but this gives great immersion and a cause to take on adventure for more than just piles of gold. These characters are the defenders of their homelands and have fought off three different intruding factions over the course of their adventures. That's been a lot of fun and worth the setup work.
Yeah, the plausible eco system in particular is something I strive for- even if the players don't see it I find it useful to know how the society works together as it makes it easier to wing when necessary. I'll take the whole thread and apply what I can
Memories. If there is something memorable that a player and character vividly remember, the impact or resurfacing of that memory can be very impactful and ground a lot of content and activity for both the world and the character.
One thing I'm trying to strengthen right now in my campaigns are bringing back NPCs that my players are running to in towns and on the road not for plot purposes but just to fill the world with people that they interact with and they can attach to a memory
In one example my players return back to town after being on an adventure for a couple months and it was a town they frequent and when they return this time they noticed that a lot of people were starting to mimic the attire they were wearing almost starting a fashion trend around what the heroes look like
Looking for ideas on ways to bring game to life and suggest a few things I use. So far I have tried:
Syrinscape/sound effects
Lighting effects (I use Philips hue)
Hand outs
Invisible ink messages in diaries
So looking for other ideas please
Miniatures, though that is usually one of the first things done. Even if they aren't used for combat positioning, seeing a rendering of what the characters are actually looking at can help players get into things.
To that same end, art in general; portraits of characters or monsters encountered, backdrops of scenery or locations.
You could also determine the accents of various in-game regions, and use that to keep the voices used for NPCs appropriate to that determination.
I'd say one of the things that've helped me bring the world to life is figuring out how it works, or at least providing a few details that make it feel like you know how it works. If your NPCs can casually remark things about their everyday lives to the PCs, the world will feel more realistic (e.g. "You can trade those coins in at the temple of <Insert Diety of wealth here> " or "The skeletons can't be from our graveyard, the mortuary priests clean the flesh off the bones a month after burial and reinter them in an ossuary")
Similarly a few details about the local economy ("Can you help us, hunting has been way too sparse and we might go hungry during the winter if we can't sell pelts again soon.") or ecology ("Your nature check tells you Catoblepass don't usually wander this far from their swamps.") can also help.
Another easy way to make the world feel more alive would be to name locations and buildings. "The Hall of Might" sounds a lot more impressive than "The local temple of Kord". You can always provide translations for your players when they ask for them.
Just make sure it feels natural for your NPCs or PCs, the local inkeep of a small village probably isn't going to know or care about the entire lineage of the royal family beyond who's currently collecting the taxes while failing to keep the local monster at bay.
I try to create a plausible ecosystem for friendly NPC behaviors. The illusion that they have lives, needs, organizations, alliances, problems, etc. This obviously serves up lots of quests and opportunities for adventure, but it also sets up small little things that allow the characters to have "friends back home" who rely on them.
In my last campaign session before Gen Con my players had just defeated an ancient black dragon in it's lair and returned to their nearby homeland to recover, gear up, and decide what's next. Only to discover that the dragon had completely destroyed an entire town, killed many people they knew, and then returned to it's lair to find them waiting.
This took a single/fun dragon encounter that wrapped up the entire campaign arc to date (9 levels of adventure) and made it impact their home where the characters were created. The players started asking about survivors. Friends. Family. Contacts. They were concerned and caring and worried. Doubly glad they'd defeated the dragon, but also sad and validated by the devastation it could create.
That reaction really pleased me. It meant I'd made the "home" part of the world immersive. Real enough to care about. Giving rise to something more than just "Hey let's swap loot and go murder hobo some more!"
...and I did it on a shoestring. Creating NPC's as needed, giving them basic needs and roles in town, and then updating things just a little as the calendar pushed on.
Suspension of Disbelief is a powerful tool. The players tend to want to buy into the world story you are sharing. You have to ask them, and respect it in order to represent it well, but this gives great immersion and a cause to take on adventure for more than just piles of gold. These characters are the defenders of their homelands and have fought off three different intruding factions over the course of their adventures. That's been a lot of fun and worth the setup work.
Full VR Immersion!
...err, wait...
Alcohol...?
Yup, that one.
Yeah, the plausible eco system in particular is something I strive for- even if the players don't see it I find it useful to know how the society works together as it makes it easier to wing when necessary. I'll take the whole thread and apply what I can
Memories. If there is something memorable that a player and character vividly remember, the impact or resurfacing of that memory can be very impactful and ground a lot of content and activity for both the world and the character.
One thing I'm trying to strengthen right now in my campaigns are bringing back NPCs that my players are running to in towns and on the road not for plot purposes but just to fill the world with people that they interact with and they can attach to a memory
In one example my players return back to town after being on an adventure for a couple months and it was a town they frequent and when they return this time they noticed that a lot of people were starting to mimic the attire they were wearing almost starting a fashion trend around what the heroes look like