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Message: <blockquote data-quote="niklinna" data-source="post: 8625410" data-attributes="member: 71235">Each phase has its own random tables of events/weather. They serve the same purpose—to affect the challenge that players/characters face (in either direction)—with different skins for tone. The camp and town event tables have their ample share of depredations and calamities (rockfalls, raids, plague, fires), but they are more prominently suited to the environment and the activities the PCs will be engaging in. For example, the weather table might have an entry that affects Dungeoneer or Pathfinder skill tests, because those are things you you do in Adventure phase, while the town events table might affect your Steward or Resources tests, because those are the things you do in town. Anything else in the text is slight window dressing, leaving deep exposition for purposes of tone or story to the GM (sometimes overtly so).See the link in my previous post about wandering damage tables. <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=":)" /> Texture does matter, but it's the surface layer, an element I don't think gets much attention in game theory discussions. Maybe folks regard it as too obvious, or if not provided by the rules/module, it's something any GM can easily fill in?Torcherbearer is based on Burning Wheel, but the point stands. Anyhow, the thing is that, while Torchbearer makes a nod to the texture by having events or weather in the appropriate phases, and that does contribute to the tone, the players focus very quickly on the mechanical challenges presented—which also contribute to the tone of dreariness, exhaustion, or whatever.The section of the book containing towns is titled, "Safe Havens and Other Poor Assumptions". In Torchbearer, town is not a refuge, it's just a different pile of crap to deal with. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />I'm not sure what you mean by "unnevenness of the mechanic", but if it's simply the fact that we have different wandering damage tables for camp, town, and journey/adventure, I think that was just done for variety. The tone remains one of desperate scrabbling amid adversity and danger, regardless of where you are.</blockquote>

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