Index Cards in the Rain 

A TTRPG Blog by Evey Lockhart

This is a blog that eats itself. 

You'll only ever find a single post below this explanatory bit. If you would like access to the backlog of posts, you can purchase it via the buy button below (epub and basic pdf formats). This is a one time purchase. I can guarantee several posts, but expect to make many more.

Light and Movement in the Bleak Beneath

A very Simple DeeEnDee method for tracking time and light sources during dungeon crawls.

©2025 Evey Lockhart. All rights reserved. All cops are bastards.

 

Intro

In dark places far removed from the sun, light sources become life itself just as surely as rest, food, and water†. Keeping up with that doesn’t need to be convoluted, though.

In fact, it can be as easy as a running clock. Doing things takes time, and light sources only function for so long. Balancing the difference between how long your light burns and what you can accomplish, that’s the crux of dungeoneering.

Though the torches and lanterns burn well for now, the dark always awaits you. Can you not see as it eats the path behind? When the shadows finally do swallow you whole, you’d best hope they overtake you on the surface. For the void of the bleak beneath does not release its prey.

 †See the “Healing” section of Simple DeeEnDee for how rest/food/water gets managed.

 

How Long Will the Light Last?

Torches burn reliably for 2 Hours, then gutter out over 1d6×10 Minutes.

• Improvised Torches burn for 2d4×10 minutes.

Candles burn reliably for 0.5-3 hours depending on size, then gutter out in 1d6 minutes.

• Unless specified as small, long, fat, tealight, etc. assume a Candle burns reliably for 1 hour.

Lamps/lanterns burn reliably for 1-8 hours depending on their size and available fuel.

• What’s the difference between a Lamp and a Lantern? A lantern has a glass or metal screen to protect the flame. You can move quickly with a lantern.
• Grease Lamps are small, simple, inexpensive, and burn literally any convenient fat trimmings. Depending on the size, they burn reliably for 1-3 Hours, but require constant adjustment. Someone carrying a Grease Lamp isn’t doing much else.
• Because of their fuel, Oil Lamps/Lanterns are more expensive to operate but provide brighter, longer, and less fussy light than Grease Lamps. Oil Lamps/Lanterns can burn reliably for 4-8 hours, depending on the size and the amount of oil available.
• 4-hour Oil Lamps can hold a small flask of oil. 6-hour Lamps can hold a middling flask of oil. 8-hour lamps can hold a large flask of oil.

Q: BUT HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO DO STUFF? A: 10 minutes or so.

Assume, as your baseline, that most dungeon things take about 10 minutes.

Walking carefully down a hall? 10 minutes.

Looking over a room? 10 minutes.

Looting several corpses? 10 minutes.

Picking a lock? 10 minutes.

Disarming a trap? 10 minutes.

Fighting? The battle proper likely only lasts a few minutes, but the wound wrapping and getting your adrenaline-soaked body back under control? That takes about 10 minutes.

BUT WHAT IF THEY ARE REALY HURRYING? Well, that’s often just not possible with an unshielded Candle or finicky Grease Lamp. However, with magical light, a lantern, or proper torches, Player characters can accomplish baseline dungeon things in 5 minutes. (Of course, moving fast will result in missing info about your surroundings.)

FOR REAL, WHAT ABOUT DOING STUFF REALLY FAST!? Look, I promise you, getting more granular than 5-minute intervals with time/dungeon-resources management will not help you. A system like this exists to have resources dwindle in a reasonable feeling way. The system’s purpose is to help suspend disbelief while also adding difficulty, texture, and drama.

And in the other direction, doing stuff slower, more carefully? Also, use you your judgement. Sometimes careful might mean 15 minutes, sometimes an hour or more.

Girl, this shit is all vibes. Put some effort into making them vibes fit right, but never forget: IT IS VIBES. Use your best judgement (and/or just look things up); shit really can be as simple as that. If a player points out a flaw in your reasoning, listen to them. You might still disagree, but have the conversation. Again, we’re aiming to aid everyone’s suspension of disbelief.

I've made a time tracking sheet that might be useful for folx.

Purchasing the Blog's Backlog now includes a nice PDF of the instructions and sheet you see above.

©2024-2025 Evey Lockhart. All Rights Reserved. All Cops Are Bastards.