Shadowdark Shadowdark General Thread [+]
- Thread starter overgeeked
- Start date
overgeeked
Open-World Sandbox
It messes with my sense of the world as a real place, but it’s explicitly a game element and the purpose is to push those “oh hell” moments of panic when the torch goes out. If you run multiple timers you effectively remove that, so might as well not both. It just becomes busywork with no teeth.
Mannahnin
Scion of Murgen (He/Him)
Probably less so if Whizbang is consistently attacking the light with monsters and environmental hazards.
overgeeked
Open-World Sandbox
Sure. And it’s 1/X as vulnerable with X torches burning. But I’m talking specifically about the timer running out and having multiple overlapping timers. It goes from tension inducing to busywork.
Mannahnin
Scion of Murgen (He/Him)
I imagine Whizbang would probably have noticed if all the tension had been removed by their modification, so I suggested a possible explanation for why they're apparently not seeing the effect you speculated on.
overgeeked
Open-World Sandbox
It’s not speculation. I played in a game run with multiple timers and it lacked tension because of that. The players just had timers on their phones. Every X minutes someone would mark a torch and restart the timer. The light got attacked, that player would mark a torch and restart the timer. No tension. It might work in a small group if only 2-3 PCs have torches going. Even slightly larger groups with 4-5 torches…it’s just busywork at that point.
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kermit4karate
A strong opinion is still only an opinion.
Hmm.... It is though, because as @Mannahnin said, @Whizbang Dustyboots didn't indicate that the use of multiple timers eliminated tension (note: you did say 'lacked tension,' not reduced tension).
I'd be curious to hear more from @Whizbang Dustyboots about how the use of multiple timers affected the tension in his games, because I struggle with that element too -- the use of the timers. I LOVE SD and the impact the timer has on the game. I just don't like the suspension of disbelief required on my part and that of the players to accept...how they don't make any logical sense at all.
