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Darkvision Ruins Dungeon-Crawling
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<blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 9551849" data-attributes="member: 7026594"><p>AD&D had much more granular memorization rules. Down to how much time per spell level to memorize, and you could replace unused spells, though you didn't have to.</p><p></p><p></p><p>That IS very cool, but it has dark areas and the contrast between dark areas where you can't see anything and the lit areas creates a huge amount of suspense and trepidation in that video.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Darkvision DOES have a few restrictions. Disadvantage on perception, inability to see color or to read text are downsides and pain points.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It's the bulk and encumbrance that's the resource issue with torches in AD&D (and OD&D if you do more with encumbrance than just saying "all your misc equipment weighs 80" as in the example on page 15 of Men & Magic). They weigh 25cn each, so they do add up, and they burn pretty quickly; an hour in which you get 5 moves/turns and a rest in when in dungeon exploration mode (and each fight rounds up to a Turn). Yes, torchbearers, hirelings, mules, and potentially bags of holding down the road all could mitigate or eliminate the encumbrance issue, but they do have their own limitations and complications. Hirelings and bearers and animals typically have low HP and are subject to morale checks if you're playing this style, introducing a <em>Shadowdark</em>-like vulnerability of the light.</p><p></p><p>Continual Light is definitely a huge factor once you get access to it, but it's also a big, bright light, and may impact your ability to surprise monsters even more than torches or a lantern. (Though that's up to DM adjudication, of course).</p><p></p><p>I agree that plenty of tables even back in the 70s minimized resource management in terms of encumbrance and light sources, though. I just think that others did indeed make it a core part of dungeon play and that the game reasonably supported that.</p><p></p><p></p><p>It is an interesting wrinkle to include such obstacles in dungeons. I ran into them a few times in the 1974-style OD&D games I played in online during the pandemic. A 10' pit trap at an intersection can also prove an uncrossable obstacle to a mule. An ascent up or descent down a cliff to enter the dungeon or within the dungeon to continue presents challenges in terms not only of being unable to bring a mule, but in terms of slowing entry and retreat.</p><p></p><p></p><p>To my recollection even 2E AD&D is missing the dungeon exploration procedures, despite keeping the 10 minute Turn as a unit of time.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Dynamic lighting is a resource hog, yes. But it's also awesome if you can support it.</p><p></p><p>One of my greatest experiences in online play during the height of the pandemic was a B/X game of Stonehell, a megadungeon, where the DM used dynamic lighting and a single token representing the party on the map, occupying a 10' square. With 30' light in all directions, so just three more squares around us. That created an AWESOME feeling of being a little point of light in a big, dark place.</p><p></p><p>I had joined an existing group which had already done a bunch of exploring and learned a good bit of the first few levels, so we also weren't always using maps. Sometimes we were just navigating from people's memory, like Mike Mornard and the other first wave guys described doing in the Blackmoor dungeon. And in those situations getting lost was a real possibility. One time we dropped down to the third or fourth level and opened a crypt which released a spectre, and in fleeing we accidentally made a wrong turn into a dead-end room. The DM wasn't too cruel- only one guy got energy drained as we fled past the horrible thing. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mannahnin, post: 9551849, member: 7026594"] AD&D had much more granular memorization rules. Down to how much time per spell level to memorize, and you could replace unused spells, though you didn't have to. That IS very cool, but it has dark areas and the contrast between dark areas where you can't see anything and the lit areas creates a huge amount of suspense and trepidation in that video. Darkvision DOES have a few restrictions. Disadvantage on perception, inability to see color or to read text are downsides and pain points. It's the bulk and encumbrance that's the resource issue with torches in AD&D (and OD&D if you do more with encumbrance than just saying "all your misc equipment weighs 80" as in the example on page 15 of Men & Magic). They weigh 25cn each, so they do add up, and they burn pretty quickly; an hour in which you get 5 moves/turns and a rest in when in dungeon exploration mode (and each fight rounds up to a Turn). Yes, torchbearers, hirelings, mules, and potentially bags of holding down the road all could mitigate or eliminate the encumbrance issue, but they do have their own limitations and complications. Hirelings and bearers and animals typically have low HP and are subject to morale checks if you're playing this style, introducing a [I]Shadowdark[/I]-like vulnerability of the light. Continual Light is definitely a huge factor once you get access to it, but it's also a big, bright light, and may impact your ability to surprise monsters even more than torches or a lantern. (Though that's up to DM adjudication, of course). I agree that plenty of tables even back in the 70s minimized resource management in terms of encumbrance and light sources, though. I just think that others did indeed make it a core part of dungeon play and that the game reasonably supported that. It is an interesting wrinkle to include such obstacles in dungeons. I ran into them a few times in the 1974-style OD&D games I played in online during the pandemic. A 10' pit trap at an intersection can also prove an uncrossable obstacle to a mule. An ascent up or descent down a cliff to enter the dungeon or within the dungeon to continue presents challenges in terms not only of being unable to bring a mule, but in terms of slowing entry and retreat. To my recollection even 2E AD&D is missing the dungeon exploration procedures, despite keeping the 10 minute Turn as a unit of time. Dynamic lighting is a resource hog, yes. But it's also awesome if you can support it. One of my greatest experiences in online play during the height of the pandemic was a B/X game of Stonehell, a megadungeon, where the DM used dynamic lighting and a single token representing the party on the map, occupying a 10' square. With 30' light in all directions, so just three more squares around us. That created an AWESOME feeling of being a little point of light in a big, dark place. I had joined an existing group which had already done a bunch of exploring and learned a good bit of the first few levels, so we also weren't always using maps. Sometimes we were just navigating from people's memory, like Mike Mornard and the other first wave guys described doing in the Blackmoor dungeon. And in those situations getting lost was a real possibility. One time we dropped down to the third or fourth level and opened a crypt which released a spectre, and in fleeing we accidentally made a wrong turn into a dead-end room. The DM wasn't too cruel- only one guy got energy drained as we fled past the horrible thing. :) [/QUOTE]
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