Following a discussion on Shannon’s blog, here’s a quick stab at a chart for handling lighting modifiers.
After some brief playing around, I think there's four light properties that are probably relevant:
- how much light there is
- shadows - basically, whether it's ambient light/high light that leaves few shadows, or directional light that casts lots of deep shadows
- steadiness of light
- width of spectrum - lack of some colours reduces our ability to see properly
Lighting Modifiers
Concealment indicates the chance of a character or object going unnoticed, even without making any effort to avoid detection. Where a / is used, the first figure indicates the concealment of stationary objects, and the second that of moving objects. Very energetic or prominent motion should reduce the effect of concealment further.
Misidentify indicates the chance of a character not being recognised at a distance. This might include passing for authorised personnel in restricted sections, or being mistaken for another character expected to be present. The alert status of the watcher, the distance between them, the degree of resemblance, and whether the character’s behaviour follows expected patterns, may all modify this chance.
Light Prominence indicates whether light sources (such as LEDs, cantrips, glow-in-the-dark watches, torches, lanterns, screens, fires or sparks) are likely to attract attention.
Visual Tasks indicates the difficulty modifier applied to actions that rely heavily on vision. Some characters may be proficient at specific tasks by touch, such as typing, field-stripping weapons or picking locks.
I’m basically applying broad modifiers based on the lighting and the amount of shadow, then another fixed 10% for light sources that are particularly skewed towards one colour, and another 10% for particularly unsteady of lighting.
Concealment = Lighting + Shadow + Spectrum + Unsteady
Visual Tasks = Lighting + Spectrum + Unsteady
Misidentify = Lighting + Spectrum + Unsteady
Total Darkness
- Concealment 100%
- Visual Tasks -90%, or automatic failure if vision essential (reading, surgery)
- Misidentify - characters will anticipate this and behave accordingly
- Any Light Prominent
Deep Forest
- Concealment 80%
- Visual Tasks -80%, or automatic failure if vision essential (reading, surgery)
- Misidentify - 80%
- Any Light Prominent
Starlight
- Concealment 70%/35%
- Visual Tasks -50%
- Misidentify 50%
- Low Light Prominent, Flickering Light Prominent
Candlelight
- Concealment 70%/35%
- Visual Tasks -60%
- Misidentify 60%
- Low Light Prominent, Steady Light Prominent
- Short range
Firelight
- Concealment 55%/25%
- Visual Tasks -45%
- Misidentify 45%
- Moderate Light Prominent, Steady Light Prominent
- Short range
Stereotypical Tavern
- Concealment 50%/25%
- Visual Tasks -40%
- Misidentify 40%
- Low Light Prominent, Steady Light Prominent
Twilight
- Concealment 35%/20%
- Visual Tasks -35%
- Misidentify 35%
- Moderate Light Prominent, Flickering Light Prominent
Full Moon
- Concealment 40%/20%
- Visual Tasks -20%
- Misidentify 20%
- Bright Light Prominent, Flickering Light Prominent
Daylight, Modern Office Lighting
- Very Bright Light Prominent
| Dark (50%) |
Dim (40%) |
Low (25%) |
Moderate (10%) |
Bright | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimal shadow | Cloudy night | Specialist lab Museum special collections |
Atmosphere restaurant Shabby hotel |
Cloudy winter Indie hotel |
High noon Modern office Gallery Fast food joint Chain hotel |
| Occasional shadows (10%) |
? | Cloudy moon Tavern |
Twilight Well-lit street |
Victorian office Chain pub Cathedral Small industry Cheap dorm |
Winter sun Factory Crowded Lab |
| Frequent shadows (30%) |
Deep forest Haunted house |
Candlelight Starlight Theatre |
Firelight Underpass Mediaeval house Moonlight |
Sunrise/set Georgian house Full moon |
Summer evening |
Reflection
This is probably too detailed to be usable as an in-game chart, but hopefully is interesting as an idea.
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