Did someone turn out the lights?
In games like this, you can really ramp up players’ tension by blending darkness, time, and consequence. Characters usually can’t see anything in the dark. Creatures usually can. So any chance you get, fold the party into the black. Whilst they can’t see, they’ll need to accept modifiers for anything they try to do.
Ah, but they’ve lit some torches
Ok, so that’s when time comes in handy. Maybe run a countdown timer at the table. An hour ends, say, and their torches flicker out! You can decide as a group whether to place that timer in plain sight on the table or displayed on the screen if you’re playing online, or alternatively it’s GM’s eyes only, so the players only get a general sense of when the torches might go out once you set the timer, but are never sure. The reason this might play with their minds is that, if the torches are out, without ingenuity it’s more than likely the characters will be in complete darkness, and so will need to light fresh torches in the dark. Have you tried something like that without seeing what you’re doing? And yep, if there’s a weaver in the party and they try to weave some mundane magicks to create light, well, can they read their spellbooks or scrolls in the dark?
And yeah, have you ever held a torch in complete darkness? It might cast some light around you, and then dim light out for a bit, but will it light an entire chamber? Will it reach into every corner or crevasse or ceiling? In the dark, when they enter a room characters will have no idea how big a room is, or what might be lurking in the pure black or dancing shadows beyond the flickering light.
And can’t light be doused?
The player(s) might’ve planned ahead and have brought into the dark a bunch of torches. Great thinking! But what if they’re doused by anything other than the passing of time? What if devious creatures have a pail of water they can chuck over the torches? What if the torches are dropped in a puddle or folk need two hands free? What if there’s a sudden gust of air? How difficult will it be to fight creatures or to overcome obstacles whilst one hand’s gripping a torch? What if a weaver’s arcane light is snuffed out when they stumble or take a hit and fail to maintain their focus? What if the party gets turned around in the darkness, and everyone realises that they’re now lost...and don’t know the way back...and they only have two torches left, barely any rations & water...and what’s that scraping sound beyond the light?...
Darkness is your old friend
Remember to bear in mind that a lot of places in The Realm are dark, that it’s all encompassing, that it closes you in, that light from torches and the like only hold it at bay, that at any point it can creep in and fold around you, swallowing you whole, and in the meantime, creatures, traps, and heck, even just the complete unknown, lie lurking around the next corner. Lighting more than one torch at a time might improve visibility for a bit, but it’ll also drain the party’s resources. So let the player(s) learn this the hard way as they venture deeper into the black. Let them begin to understand how dangerous it is in the dark, how creatures themselves have learned that characters like those of the player(s) can’t see in the dark and so will look to target their light.
Let them delve deep into the dark, set the timer, see if they get lost, and who knows what they’ll face!...
what's next?
Ok, so from here you might want to...
...move onto safety tools and guidance for The Chaos
...return to the rules of the chaos intro
...or dive into the character creation rules
Remember, though, that you can navigate anywhere on the site using the menus on each page, and if you ever get lost, roll 1d6 and we'll see what perils you encounter!