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So I've been playing the chzo mythos games and it's beeen making me want to do a Call of Cthulhu session. So I was wondering if anyone has some tips for keeping a scary atmosphere. Does music help, should I turn off all the lights off in the house except for the room we're in, put clogs on the dog and let it walk around in the attic, suggestions like that.

Love the dog idea.

Alternatively, get your missus/younger brother/good mate/familiar to hide in a cupboard the whole time, at appropriate point get her to jump out screaming, scaring the sh@@ out of everyone.

I'd say low lighting (hell, even candles for the flickeriness) is best, music not so much because it could just as easily distract from the atmosphere as contribute. It all depends how much effort you want to put in.

Blacklights. Use 100% rag paper and it will glow under them. Add flourescent highlighters and glow in the dark dice.
The friend in the cupboard idea will work well too.

Your best bet is to do the damage in their imaginations, make them think things are worse than they are.

So yeah, descriptions, lots of them and over the top, make it a point to make things out that really don't matter 'vivid and important' but because most DM/STs don't go into massive detail. They will start over thinking the situation, looking for problems they don't need to solve, making them think there are moments of importance they are missing that actually don't matter. This will frustrate and throw them off.

Also break things up suddenly, have them going in a direction than slam that direction shut right in their faces, make them double back, find clues that lead to no where, while other things are going on around them out of sight.

Have creatures or beings that seem impervious to their attacks or abilities, but in no hurry to charge at them. Ignore them while approaching and harming useful npc 'red shirts' who are terrified of the new foe. Suddenly killing a npc who has been with them most of the session, out of the blue in a way they can do nothing about, would be good.

If you are going to use sounds, make them sudden, banging the table with a palm/fist mid conversation, twisting your voice, talking in tongues etc when they try to communicate with 'other' beings.

Bring your speech down to a dank level, fill it with words you would expect to find in a Stephen King novel, mess with peoples heads, make them see things no one else can see by private notes, or seperate them.

There is lots you can do, just make sure the antagonist is worthy of their fear, and that it won't be a simple defeat of a villian. Something like they literally cannot harm it, it comes back after each time they kill it until they clense a particular location etc.

If done right, the Horror games will be one your players remember for years to come. One of the games my group references as the best ever was a Horror game I did about ten years ago.

So, the trick really is building a good dark mood without causing distractions. Any 'mood' type things you come up with are going to need to be carefully balanced. Music too loud makes it hard to hear. People jumping out of closets could be great for a 'horror peak', but overused it gets boring, not to mention that recovering from the shock of that happening would probably help actually draw people out of the game. It reinforces that what you want people to actually concentrate on is only mental; you know, forces people to stop suspending their disbelief momentarily, and then readjust. Even mood lighting overdone just makes it hard to read dice/character sheets.

The blacklight idea could be cool. I've never tried that before.

I use music so much that I've decided that there is only one specific way to do it, and it requires some setup. First, you need to select your music; it should be something dark and ambient. No (well, little) vocals, leave your screaming metal music at the door. Pick up some Midnight Syndicate or some very dark piano music. Think Moonlight Sonata. For something a little more action packed, think Helloween. Gregorian chanting is also always good.

Once you've made your music selection, you need a subtle means of starting the music, and a proper sound system. Tinny music from laptop speakers on a game table that your players watch you click on isn't mood. Remember, presentation is important. Test the music at the proper volume for the room. Barely audible is preferable. You want people, about 10 minutes in, to just suddenly realize that there's music playing and be unsure of when it actually started. That's creepy. When I use music, I set up my phone to connect to Winamp on my computer, and just queue the playlist before the game, and hit play on the remote control on my phone under the table when I'm ready to kick it off. Midnight Syndicate's "The 13th Hour" album has a fantastic track of nothing but crickets and somebody walking around on a dirt path. It's an excellent starter, and it just gets better from there.

Something else I like is props. If my guys find written clues, I like to actually make up the letters/documents they find, either hand written in my shakey cursive, or printed in a script style font from a computer. You can 'age' the paper by wiping the paper down with a wet teabag, and then crumping/unfolding the paper a few times. Maybe clip some of the edges to make it look a little torn. Fake blood stains perhaps for the extreme. Obviously, do this AFTER it's been through the printer. If you're willing to go to an absolute extreme, get some sealing wax and a cheap stamp and go to town. I made one of my players hold on to a sealed letter he was supposed to deliver for about 3 months, in real life. It was really getting to him by the end of it.

Voices help a lot too, if you can sustain them. Most of our stuff takes place in Eastern European countries, so we all use voices that are generically "Russianish". It's cheesy, but people get into it. It's fun.

You also have to remember that you need the right people for this kind of game. These kinds of things are VERY RP intensive, and if you have people who can't/won't get into that, then it's not going to be as good.

I agree with a lot of what MDS says, but I'd be careful about trying to intentionally frustrate your players too much. You don't want to actually make them what to stop playing. That's been done to me in a few 'intrigue' games I've been invited to. There can only be so many red herrings and jumps in logic before people just don't want to play anymore. If you can pull it off though, it could be awesome!

Yeah, I'm probably not filling in enoguh details there, you don't want to constantly frustrate, just occasional, some good what the feth moments.

Basically don't be afraid to play outside your box, and make the players think, wait, this isn't normal, whats going on.

Those prop ideas from daedalus are solid gold though.

There's a great little essay on this topic in one of the Deadlands books... Deadlands had horror elements, but a pretty healthy does of humor in addition to the western 'base.' One thing I remember is a discussion on how the players will make jokes during tense moments. It's part of the human psyche, to defuse the situation and lower the feelings of anxiety or tenseness.

Roll with this. The GM has to be in control and not take part, but needs to allow a bit or it can go into not-fun territory for all involved.

Savor the rare true scares, and enjoy spreading a feeling of unease. Most of the time, 'unease' is doable, 'scary' isn't.

That's the main thing I remember, but it was a good essay.

Daedelus' tips on props are great, too. I like preparing props. A favorite trick I did for a home-brew Deadlands adventure was starting in mid-stream with the PCs riding into town. They were all government agents, and I gave them a few minutes to wade through an entire brown string-closed envelope (available from office supply stores cheap) full of documents. This included back-story on the case they were investigating, 'briefings' on the PCs (They picked from the briefings, then got character sheets to match), administrative notes on special equipment issued (Scary government-looking forms), etc. Some aged, some odd sizes, some distressed.

Pity the adventure wasn't better (my fault!) but the props were cool.