What is Torches in the Dark?

Torches in the Dark is a premium online campaign using Discord & Roll20.net to create a living, breathing world where multiple game masters and players can come together to build a shared universe. Players can create characters and take them to multiple games to go on different adventures or explore dark dungeons as they present themselves. Always keep in mind however that actions have consequences and those consequences can affect the world around you!

What is a living campaign?

Living campaigns are a shared campaign setting with a codified set of rules for the campaign that govern how to build and advance characters as well as how the campaign will handle rules elements of the setting. Campaign staff create, distribute, and manage new adventures in that campaign setting, and quite often administer a player database and promote various products. A living campaign lets players build and advance characters, develop their personalities, and forge relationships. Living campaign games are run at conventions, game days and other gatherings. The rules for character tracking allow a player to take their PC they created for the campaign to any of these meetings and play it in the adventures offered.

Torches in the Dark is a free game being run by volunteers. What you're looking at is the work of passionate writers, designers, and story-tellers who want to come together to make something fun for others to enjoy. Even if their characters end up dying in horrific ways.

Why do we only gain experience by finding treasure and exploring?

Treasure for Experience is a powerful tool as it directly informs player motivation because it redefines how characters are rewarded and what they are rewarded for.

​What are the advantages of this over the traditional system of killing monsters to gain experience?

• De-emphasizes combat, as violence provides no mechanical advantage over negotiation or trickery. This allows encounters with creatures that are extremely dangerous to the party because there is NO ASSUMPTION that every encounter is a test of combat ability and no inherent mechanical benefit in destroying powerful foes.
• Puts exploration, setting interaction and information gathering at the center of the play experience (rather than combat). Players can and will seek wealth, but they'll investigate and research areas that have the lowest risk to themselves. This leads to combat being dethroned from its position as 'the' player activity and there is more room for players to retreat and even less need to "balance" encounters.
• Adjusts player goals by making them very clear and more open to player decisions.
• Creates freedom, by simplifying goals and decoupling them from a specific narrative. Given how extremely dangerous combat is in Torches in the Dark it should always be approached with care. In addition, there is less need for there to be a 'heroic' narrative to justify the sheer amount of murder involved.
• Simple and clear mechanical explanation for how level advancement works.

Game Balance.

Ohr is a fantasy world, with all its perils, contradictions, and surprises: it's not a "game setting" which somehow always produces challenges of just the right difficulty for the party's level of experience. The party or the players have no "right" only to encounter monsters they can defeat, no "right" only to encounter traps they can disarm, and no "right" to a die roll in every particular circumstance. This sort of situation isn't a mistake in the rules (unless it is, which it can then be brought up at the end of a session!) Game balance just isn't terribly important in this style of game.

A reliance on mechanical systems to assure "balance" and "fairness" both shows a corrosive distrust of the Game Master and encourages a less open and more competitive style of play. This goes against the core values behind Torches in the Dark. This is a game of player skill, ingenuity, and luck.

​To quote E. Gary Gygax, "It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important. Never hold to the letter written...if it goes against the obvious intent of the game. As you hew the line with respect to conformity to major systems and uniformity of play in general, also be certain the game is mastered by you and not by your players. ...you are creator and final arbiter. By ordering things as they should be, the game as a whole first, your campaign next, and your participants thereafter..."

What type of game is this?

Torches in the Dark is an extremely lethal game, characters can and will often die. Characters will largely seek their own advancement and survive mostly by luck or their wits. The World of Ohr is dangerous and uncaring and as characters you generally aren't getting involved in epic quests until its by your own decision or by accident. Player ability is just as important as the abilities on your character sheet. It's expected that you attempt to come up with creative and interesting solutions to the problems that you face.

Combat is universally dangerous and deciding to get into a fight can often times go very poorly for the party, especially if you're unprepared.

Why can't we choose to be a race besides human?

Mostly because besides "looking different" a vast majority of characters simply role-play their characters as humans regardless. Even if they're giant dragon men, or a creature of the fae... Basically they're humans with scales or pointed ears. It's difficult to get into the mind set of something outside the human experience seeing as how that's the only thing we have to go on.

Demi-humans are listed and talked about, they exist, but they are not playable. Many of those races have been changed and are more in-line with mythology and folklore. The Elves for instance, have no backs and are hollow. Their bodies are interwoven and stringed together like an intricate bit of lattice work. They're expert swordsman and warriors, but rarely take to combat. They exist outside of time and place. Rare enough to be considered legends or myth. As far as almost everyone is concerned, elves don't actually exist. Dwarves have sealed themselves in their Ty'cerrigs and have not been seen for thousands of years. Though their ruined cities still jut out of the earth, so far it has proven impossible to breach their enchanted doors and secret passageways. 

Can I become a Game Master for Torches in the Dark?

Before jumping into the role of GM you should be aware that becoming a Game Master for the World of Ohr is an involved process that includes you writing a piece of  fiction, running several test games while being shadowed by another game master who is already a part of the team, and keeping track of your adventures in the form of summaries in a short-story format. If none of these sounds appealing to you - Stop here. As a trial game master you can run games on our server but it still requires you to follow the expectations detailed below, In addition, you are not eligible for our Legacy Game Master’s Rewards system.

GAME MASTER EXPECTATIONS:

• Before hosting a game you should have an adventure planned and ready to go. It should have a mix of combat, role-play, skill tests, and an actual story. Dungeon crawls are fine but if each and every game you host only amounts to players moving from room to room and killing a mixture of monsters it grows boring quickly. We want more than that.
• Schedule your event on the event calendar. We recommend scheduling events at least 1 week ahead of time to ensure that your players can sign up early for your event. It is encouraged that you let the core GM team and staff members of the OLC what type of adventure you're planning on running.
• Show up and gather your players at least 30 minutes before the start of a game. Make sure tokens are completed. Have characters test their character sheets and ensure that each character is completely finished and all details have been completed.
• Introduce new players to the group and encourage them to introduce their characters.
• Look over each PC's character sheet. Quickly check their gold, equipment, calculations, and other relevant information. See if you can't utilize their character's knowledge or specific story hooks during the game if it makes sense for the setting and game.
• ​Run adventures. Our game is set in a sprawling fictional universe with a remarkable amount of depth and lore thanks to our players and the settings we’ve drawn from inspiration from. Like any story, Ohr isn’t just about epic battles and dungeon crawling: it’s about characters. Character choice should matter, and should absolutely affect game-play. Don’t just follow the rails you’ve laid out in front of yourself when creating a game. GMs are encouraged to follow the players wherever they seek to go, with the story bending and twisting depending on the choices they make. You’re also encouraged to incorporate factions that are previously present in the world, reference previous events from other GMs games, etc. This is a living world. Make it feel that way.
• Game Masters should give players the freedom to be part of the story. Let them interpret their own dice rolls, their own abilities, and make sure that players do not speak out of turn while someone is attempting to take theirs.

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How can I help support Torches in the Dark?

In a world where pay to play tabletop games are becoming more and more common, we offer games that are completely free. In addition, we have unique tokens, maps, rule book, and plenty of other features you won't find when you game online. You will NEVER be required to pay to play in our games, but you can support us if you have the funds or if you enjoy the games.

1. Being excited about playing and showing up and putting your best foot forward for every session is the number one way to show your support for Torches in the Dark. We want players who are as excited about the world and the games as we are.
2. If you want to support us monetarily, you can do that as well by visiting our Patreon.  https://www.patreon.com/ohrcampaign
3. Help play test our rules and run games of your own!
4. Take part in our community contests or submit your own content here on our website. https://www.worldofohr.com/submissions.html

Where can I download the Torches in the Dark book?

You can download the newest version of our rule book and other Ohr Gaming Network content here: ​https://www.worldofohr.com/downloads.html