Senses Working Overtime

As I prepare for next Saturday's Knights of the Astral Sea game, I am making use of some of the techniques present in Apocalypse World. One of the guiding principles of that game is to "barf forth apocalyptica" and that sounds like a good place to start. I'm going to make a concerted effort to do a better job evoking the game's setting and tone with choice details from all five senses. And by setting, I mean an alternate England in the winter of 1589 where Elizebeth was assassinated just prior to colonization by an extra-dimensional Britannic Empire. That Empire is now in tatters after the destruction of its Homeworld and a crazed regent has embarked on a reign of terror while foreign armies burn their way across the frozen countryside.

Here is a list that plan on keeping handy during the session.

Sight	Sound	Smell/Taste	Touch
Whiteness of the snow	Howl of a wolf	Stench of sewage in town	Biting cold
Barren trees/empty fields	Fighting dogs	Cold, earthy smell of countryside	Warmth of the hearth
Tudor-era buildings juxtaposed with modern colonial architecture	Rooms going quiet as the PCs enter	Smoke (hearth-fires and distant pillage)	Bedbugs
Somber dress of locals juxtaposed with anachronistic colonials	Hushed whispers	Smell of diesel and occasional oil refinery (products of colonial industry)	Slush and slop
Ramshackle soldiers	Occasional woman's scream	Revolting food	Touches of supernatural alarm (neck hairs rising)
Airships and balloons (usually from a distance)	Roosters and other farm animals	Tobacco smoke	Jostle of a carriage
Black smoke	Clop-clop of horses	Oily lanterns	Uncomfortable furniture
Hanging corpses	Whistling wind	Smell of gunpowder	Slippery cobblestones
Ravens	Quiet stillness of winter	Manure	Persistent damp
Rats	Thrum of engines and propellers aboard ship	Body odor	Loose floorboards

And now for a little XTC: