What I did on my Holidays. Or, "dark in here, isn't it?"

Okay, this is rather thin, but it's the best I've got. And, it seems this thing has been a tad quiet while I've been away, so here goes:

While I was on holiday, we went on two trips that have some tenuous link to gaming. The first was a trip to Drachenfels castle (in Germany), where there is a local legend about a dragon that some bloke killed. Alas, my German is non-existant, which made it impossible for me to learn any more about the legend than that: big dragon, killed by some bloke.

The second trip is, however, of a bit more relevance. We were staying in a hotel in Valkenburg, and spent one morning visiting the catacombs under the town. These were an old stone mine, but were, to all intents and purposes, an actual dungeon.

Now, I've been underground before, visiting salt mines in Austria, slate mines in (I think) Switzerland, and so forth. However, this was the first time I've visited a mine which was not artificially lit throughout. The only light source our party carried was a single lantern carried by the tour guide. In D&D terms, it would qualify as a hooded lantern - it even used oil rather than batteries.

Anyway, my overwhelming memory of the trip was that it was dark. No, sorry, it was DARK. Now, partly this was due to the tour guide being at the front of our group of 30, while my role was to ensure that no-one fell behind, so I was right at the back, but partly it was just that a single lantern doesn't shed a whole lot of light.

The lack of light also had a couple of interesting side effects. One was when a member of our group did manage to slip behind me (I think he dropped back to get a photo of one of the sculptures in the place - I'll get back to those). When I turned round and saw him rapidly catching up, though, it was impossible to identify him as being part of our group, and not just a random Orc. Secondly, there was the time when the tour guide turned a corner, and proceeded rather quickly in her new direction. Those of us who were at the back suffered several seconds of walking in total darkness until we too reached the corner, and could see again. (I'm not even remotely scared of the dark - it you want to hear my tales of fear on this trip, ask me about Fantasialand sometime. However, those few seconds of stumbling in total darkness, without any source of light, nor any idea of how to get back were somewhat disconcerting.)

The walls of the mines had also been decorated in several places. Some of these were drawings, many from around the time of the 2nd World War, when the catacombs were used by resistance groups. Others were religious images, largely connected with Easter. Finally, there were the monsters. In addition to the tiny fruit bats that made the mines their home, there were sculptures of a dragon, a large turtle, and several dinosaurs, all carved into the wall. What was noticable was that the lack of light made these things hugely more impressive than they would have been out in the open.

Anyway, I came away from this dungeon crawl with the impression that a certain popular role-playing game doesn't pay enough attention to the effects of vision and light, particularly in the underground environments from which it takes part of its name. Even as close to the surface as we were, the darkness was total, and the eye just does not adjust to total darkness. Even low-light made things a lot more interesting. Just a thought.

Oh, also, I should point out that the thought of using a longbow in such an environment is faintly ridiculous. Although the ranges encountered would easily fall within the range increment of the weapon, the height of the ceiling, and the necessary firing arc for a longbow would make such a thing impractical. Just thought I'd mention it.