So I can use them in Dragonbane!
I love the straightforwardness of torch timers in Shadowdark RPG. For those who might not know, when adventurers enter a dark and gloomy dungeon, they light their torches and lanterns and set a real world timer for one hour. When the timer goes off in the real world, the lights go out in game.
Shadowdark also has some amazing darkness rules. No light? Well, the monsters who you all want to eat you see just fine in the dark. The Player Characters are at the mercy of torches, lanterns, and ye old Light spell. That also announces everywhere they go with those bright, shiny torches.
Please do what works best for you as a Game Master and your group. What works for me at my table may not work for yours and vice versa. The main focus is to have fun. There is no right or wrong way to roleplay.
The greatest part of this, and how I got the idea, is because Dragonbane monsters see in the dark just like in Shadowdark. In fact, Dragonbane has more creatures that benefit from dim light to total darkness. Night Kin in particular, trolls, some demons and assorted others burn in direct sunlight, so interactions with them are going to happen on heavily overcast days or at night. (Insert evil Game Master laugh here.)
The only kind of downside is that light sources are supposed to last an entire six hour shift in Dragonbane. I think for outdoor travel in the evening or early dawn that might be okay. The Light spell is the one thing that gives me pause for concern. I guess the magic is just more limited? On the other hand maybe something that is a basic Magic Trick (Like a Cantrip in other popular fantasy games) shouldn’t hold up for six continuous hours. We’ll play around with it. I’m going to be adding a bunch of magic to Dragonbane before the Book of Magic comes out, anyway.
I love to beg, borrow, and steal ideas from as many other games as I can. The campaign in my hex crawl is going to start running across things from Legend of the Five Rings, Mists of Akuma, World of Myrr, and a bunch of other game settings reskinned for Dragonbane. Legend of the Burning Sands, Earthdawn, and Palladium Fantasy are on my short list of resources. There are just so many spells, fighting styles, weapons, and game concepts that port over so well into Dragonbane.
Always keep innovating. You can always fall back on the familiar old ideas if you get stuck. There will be more of the ideas I’m borrowing from other games to come.
Thank you for being here with me today. I appreciate you. Keep it real, but please strive for positivity, too. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy in your life.
Jeff's Game Box 