Smoke & Mirrors

This one's about suspension of disbelief, or rather when I fail at it.

Torches in old-school roleplaying games are magic items masquerading as mundane ones. With some exceptions, every torch lasts a set amount of time—usually an hour. Dungeons are often pitch-black and filled with beings adapted to seeing in such places. Yet the light of a torch doesn't attract the subterranean denizens as the delvers explore, illuminating halls and rooms as they go*. Neither does the smell of smoke, apparently.

The smoke! Don't get me started on the smoke. You're telling me dungeon crawlers light a fuel-soaked cloth attached to a stick to explore confined underground spaces? While moving maybe 120' every ten minutes? At worst, it sounds like a great way to speedrun suffocation. At best, it's going to be very difficult to see your surroundings. Because of all the freaking smoke. 

As I mentioned and you likely already know, torches are made from wood. Preferably resinous so the handle of your fire-stick doesn't burn as well. Then you need a cloth—burlap or something similar—soaked in a fuel (e.g. pitch, lard, oil), and fastened to the stick with something that doesn't easily burn, like wire. Maybe the fuel is a pitch or animal byproduct that doesn't produce smoke. Maybe it's common in the fantasy world the game takes place in. But from where I'm sitting it sounds supernatural.

So torches are magical. Or some parts of them are, because what other explanation is there? 

What does the availability of torches imply about the game world? About the labor of said world? How many people are involved in the production of the material components of a torch? And who puts them all together? Is there an infinite supply of them at every town and village? I suppose they may be a popular method of indoor lighting if they're the smokeless variety we see in tv and movies. Or do they only work that way out in the dangerous depths few dare to tread? Are adventurers really few and far between, or does the existence of an ample supply of torches imply a bustling industry of ne'er-do-wells? 

Look, I get it. Everything about torches are an abstraction, one of many found in these games. We could use candles or rushlights, but they're variants with the same problems on a smaller scale. Besides, we're not playing medieval life simulators. Torches exist for resource management, in the light they provide and the inventory space they take up.  But unlike nearly every other abstraction common throughout old school games, this one leaves me with more questions than answers.

So I can't think about torches. But I also can't stop thinking about torches. They aren't really a problem that needs to be solved, yet I still want to solve it. Thankfully, Dan Phipps and I did so a few months ago on Bluesky. You're welcome.

*The referee could, of course, have torch-use be the reason behind random encounters when they happen. But that isn't explicit in most games' procedures. And in a game like Shadowdark, it's actually less likely you'll encounter a wandering monster if you have a light source.