Light#
The dark doesn't hide you. It hides everything else from you.
Seeing and being seen
Light decides who can sneak and who can hide. A sector is lit by what the people in it carry, by the sky and by magic, and when its light changes everyone in it notices.
Four levels of light#
Add up the light in a sector. Each lit torch or lantern there gives +1, anything that darkens it takes 1 away, and daylight, weather and magic shift it further. Then read the total:
- -1 or lessDeafening darkNothing can be seen, and every movement is silent, even running.
- 0DarkYou can sneak, and hide easily.
- 1DimYou can sneak, but you can't hide.
- 2 or moreBrightYou can neither sneak nor hide.
Sectors#
Light is reckoned by sector. A sector is 8 feet across unless the storyteller says otherwise, and the one you stand in is your origin sector. A light you carry lights only your origin sector.
When the light in a sector changes, everyone in it notices at once. A rogue who wants to stay hidden doesn’t light a pipe.
What gives light#
A light burns for the hours listed, held in a hand or set on the ground. In a pack it gives none. A lamp or a lantern can be filled again with oil, and an everburning lantern never goes out.
| Light | Burns | Refill | Vern | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conjured Light | 15 hours | · | A spell | A faint glowing light is here, emanating magic. |
| Conjured Magefire | 15 hours | · | A spell | A bright glowing light is here, emanating magic. |
| Flint | · | · | 3 | A hard gray rock consisting of nearly pure chert, used to strike tinder and cause sparks. |
| Tinder | · | · | 7 | A highly flammable material used with flint to strike sparks and cause a fire. |
| Candle | 10 hours | · | 8 | A cylinder block of wax with a central wick that is lit to produce light as it burns. |
| Firewood | · | · | 8 | Wood cut and used particularly as fuel for fires in hearths or furnaces. |
| Oil | · | · | 10 | A black liquid substance used as fuel for lamps or fires. |
| Torch | 25 hours | · | 15 | A portable means of illumination as a piece of wood with cloth atop soaked in tallow. |
| Bullseye Lantern | 25 hours | With oil | 75 | A metal lantern covered completely except for one hole in the side where light can be shown directly into one location. Usually used by watchmen to prevent light blindness when search for someone hiding. |
| Oil Lamp | 30 hours | With oil | 100 | A lamp with a transparent case of glass protecting the flame from drafts of air, with a holding handle of wire strung to either side. |
| Hooded Lantern | 25 hours | With oil | 200 | A metal lantern with a cone plate atop to prevent water from rain to get into the lantern and snuff it out. |
| Everburning Lantern | Never goes out | · | 2,500 | A squat brass lantern of goblin make with no wick and no oil, its thick glass holding a steady pale light that never dims. |
Magic and light#
Some prefixes brighten or darken whatever they’re on, and they count toward a sector’s light just as a lantern does. A void cloak takes 2 away, enough to turn a bright room dark.
| Name | Gives | Brewed by |
|---|---|---|
| Void | -light 2 | Master |
| Dark | -light 1 | Journeyman |
| Illuminating | +light 1 | Journeyman |
| Radiant | +light 2 | Master |
