Night Vision Versus Dark Vision in Role Playing Games

Many role playing game systems talk about low light vision or seeing in near total darkness which can be thought of as similar to using modern night vision glasses. Basically characters or creatures with this ability see in much more detail in areas or at times of day when light is very limited. This could be expressed by making relative statements so players understand the ability such as: X creature can see as well by the light of a full moon as a normal human sees on a bright sunny day. Statements like this by GM’s or in game system texts help players relate a sometimes abstract game concept to real life understanding.

Another method is simply to give a range of vision in feet or yards in darkened conditions. This requires GM’s to be specific when stating the levels of light by relating them to real life lighting conditions that all in attendance can relate to. I generally like to do this by saying that X creature can see as well by the light of one candle as normal humans can using a powerful flashlight or that the single candle gives of XY number of feet radios of light for this low light capable creature.

In the RPG Percentile system both types of descriptions are used where either a comparative low light visibility is used for many creatures and a range in feet is used for devices such as cameras or night vision goggles. In either case low light vision is different from seeing in total darkness. Some species may possess the ability to see in total darkness; however one must understand what total darkness actually means. In terms of vision for creatures who see like normal terrestrial humans or animals it means total absence of radiation in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Creatures that possess an ability to see in total darkness must possess the means to see beyond the normal visible spectrum and may be able to perceive things like UV, IR, or even X-ray emissions.

In the case of creature being able to perceive electromagnetic radiation outside of visible light they may also be able to see things like dangerous radiation and quasi invisible things like gasses in lighted areas. This is an obvious possible innate ability if one thinks of “dark vision” in real world terms. This is something many game systems simply don’t address specifically but something game masters may want to keep in mind. For some examples of how this process may work one can refer to many Hubble Telescope pictures on NASA’s websites that were taken with cameras sensitive to EM other than visible light. Game Masters may have to be imaginative and fudge things just a bit unless you have a degree in radio spectrography and know what ranges of the EM spectrum things may show up best in. However one can make general assumptions for some obvious things such as hot steam that would be highly visible to creatures sensitive to Infrared radiation. Whereas things like dangerous radiation sources or leaky nuclear batteries might be high visible to creatures that see into the X-ray or Gama ray spectrum. This ability can be expressed as a die roll to perceive an object made by the GM to see if the character or creature in question notices the phenomenon or if they are actively looking can be made by the player.

The author John L Arnold is the creator and author of the RPG APOCalypse 2500 a pen and dice post apocalyptic sci-fi fantasy role play game set in a 26th century world where magic has returned to human kinds high tech science fiction future.

Copyright © J L Arnold all rights reserved