[CONAN] Torches

[Supplement Four]

In movies and novels, which I know are not the most reliable of sources, we surely see torches lineing the corridors of ancient crypts and the stone hallways of massive keeps.

Yet, when I turn to my RPG game book (in many different games), the torch burns for about an hour.

How is it that those two aspects of the torch do not make sense?

Do the torches used to light hallways represent some form of long-burning torch? Is there an acolyte that comes by every 45 minutes to replace the torch (how much is the castle's "light" bill)? And, why is it that these super long burning torches, if they exist, never show up in RPG equipment lists?

Thoughts?

 

[Cheomesh]

It's a trope of some description.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HollywoodTorches

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DungeonMaintenance

Basically it's something that you gloss over because it makes story simpler. Nobody, even I who can get behind some good mundane details, would like to read about Conan heroically lighting torches down the hall of some crypt.

Also notice in these games torches don't effectively blind you like in real life. Omnidirectional lighting in the form of candles, lanterns and torches are fine enough to illuminate things close up, if you are for example investigating something or dealing with close in areas where the light effectively illuminates everything. However, in larger areas, the light coming back into your own eyes constricts your pupils and makes it harder to see beyond the light.

M.