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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 9751578" data-attributes="member: 18">I feel like this is a really common issue on ENworld specifically.And let me be clear, I'm not just talking about a 2020s aesthetic zeitgeist, it's been increasingly towards lanterns and magic items (often very minor) and non-mundane mundane light sources (like glowing bugs etc.) since like, the '00s or earlier.There's a real issue where a lot of people on ENworld want to suggest how D&D should be, but they seem to be aiming it solidly at the groggiest grogs who ever grog'd a grog. And you're maybe too young to be a grog (or not, c.f. the "twenty-something Boomer" who is a sadly real thing)I mean, it's no accident that the vast majority of videogame RPGs do indeed handwave it all with everburning wall sconces. I don't think that's really a big problem. Most actual D&D-D&D games I've played in, in practical terms, the sheer density of PCs with darkvision/infravision, and the ever-presence of effective light sources (spells/cantrips, glowing/flaming magic weapons, etc. etc.) meant that within 60ft it was usually safe to assume the PCs could see something.Like, look at BG3 - early on it kind of makes an effort to have some torches and chandeliers and so on that need lighting, but they keep that up for like, what, a small part of act 1? As soon as things get real, they ditch it. And that's directly based on D&D. The game also quickly highlights how entirely impractical torches or handheld (as opposed to belt-mounted or similar) lanterns are to D&D characters - 80% of D&D characters need both hands:1) Anyone fighting weapon and shield. (This includes most Clerics/Druids)2) Anyone fighting with a two-handed weapon.3) Anyone fighting with a weapon in each hand.4) Anyone using a bow or crossbow.That's basically everyone except people willing to solely fight via cantrips and spells. And guess who are very likely to have access to Light or similar? Yeah it's people cantrips and spells!And in fantasy and adventure literature, light tends to be a temporary and easily-solved problem (as [USER=6906155]@Paul Farquhar[/USER] pointed out), in part because "everyone is bumbling around in the dark lol" is not usually a terribly compelling situation - I would argue the same is true in D&D.And if you really make light sources a huge issue in D&D, guess what? Everyone just bloody plays a race with darkvision! (Or infravision or even ultravision in ye olde dayes).This is why I'm saying it's not a "fetch" you can make happen in D&D. You can in another game, potentially, like maybe one where tons of PC races don't have an unfortunately well-established ability to see pretty great in total darkness. One where magical solutions to darkness aren't something present from L1 for the last 25 years (the last 50 years if we count L1 spells not just cantrips).(Aside: the only fantasy videogame I can think of in the modern era which plays with light/lighting significantly is Dragon's Dogma 2 - even there there are magical solutions, but at least you do have to think about light sometimes, and turn your belt lantern on/off occasionally. But guess what? It's intentionally evoking a 1980s fantasy aesthetic!)(Aside 2: there are absolutely TTRPGs which can and do and should evoke this aesthetic. But D&D is no longer really one of them where it's primary - nothing about Critical Role is like that, nor Baldur's Gate 3, indeed, I struggle to think of a D&D actual play podcast/stream which is like that. There must be one out there - but maybe they're already on to Shadowdark or the like, which is much more into that aesthetic.)TLDR: Darkness is never going to be a tangible threat in mainline D&D, because to make it into one, you'd have to get rid of darkvision/infravision (or nerf it in a peculiar way where it sucked for PCs but not monsters/enemies), magical light as a cantrip, Continual Light/Flame as a concept, and pretty much lanterns (which are hugely harder to put out than torches).</blockquote>

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