HowToSurviveANightbash

It's dark, it's cold and you're in the woods running away from a demon.

How can you make this a fun experience?

Everyone

• Know your safety calls - If someone gets properly hurt, shout "Man Down", if there is a real life fire, shout "Fire!". Don't use these words unless you have good reason.
• Dress up warm - Cloaks, extra layers under your kit, gloves (Snapdragon got his from the Army and Navy store, they are good and cheap). If it's winter you may be standing around for hours, interspersed with furious activity to build up a sweat.
• Just because it is cold when resting does not mean you won't get dehydrated if you fight. Bring a drink if you can.
• Wear sturdy clothing - Nettles and brambles get at least twice as big at nighttime. Wearing leather trousers, thick tops and so on will help protect you when you decide to crash through them.
• Fight more carefully - It's dark, it's in the woods. You can't really see. Take extra care when fighting, pull your blows even more than normal, and watch the head shots.
• Don't run around like a loon - Be careful, treestumps really do move around in the dark, and impaling yourself on one is never good.
• Keep track of kit. Once you put something down and move away the chances of finding it in the dark are slim to none. If you're carrying a weapon or other item don't leave it anywhere other than a designated kit-dump. Arrows or throwing knives are a bad idea.
• If you can possible do so leave the bag behind. Belt pouches are good, bags that you might forget to pick up or that someone else might pick up and then lose are bad.
• Light sources can be your friend and your worst enemy. If you are using an IC lightsource during a combat, it is very natural to instinctively hold it up at eye level. This is good for you, but will blind your opponents and make their fighting very unsafe. For the safety of all, hold the lightsource down by your side if you can.
• Be aware of the terrain. Think about what the fight will be like before it starts, and adjust your moves accordingly. If there are trees, there will certainly be obstacles which foul your weapons. A branch in the eye also offends (and has caused one maelstrom-ruining hospital trip that I am aware of).
• Latex weapons can become more dangerous if they are damaged or if (this happens quite a lot) they get thorns embedded in them while fighting near woods. Such damage may not be visible at night, so check your weapons before every fight- even if your friend only just gave it to you.
• Long weapons are often more dangerous, but more so at night. The length means greater tip speed, which at night becomes just a blur. Move at a speed where you can reliably know where every part of your weapon is.
• Targetting spell vocals is much more difficult. People will not see you casting and will only take the call if you get their attention and are very clear.

Characters

• Night fights have vastly higher death rates, all other things being equal. If you are put down even a short distance from your team in open terrain there is a higher chance you will not be found before you bleed out. If you are in closed terrain or far away... good luck.
• Especially if it's cold and wet, please take pity on the poor dead monsters who are lying at your feet and 'ignore' them for a bit so that they can go on to the next encounter. Of course, it might be wise to make sure that they really are dead first...

As a monster, I really disagree with this statement. I knew there was an Azraelite in the party, so as a dead human monster I wasn't shifting until someone had laid me to rest. Even if there isn't someone to lay you to rest, the party need opportunity to search the dead monsters (especially if they have anything on them, but even if they don't). It's best for the poor dead monsters to get to them quickly and finish all of the faffing that you might do with them, so they know that they can get up and go away without taking away some element of the party's roleplaying. --ChessyPig

Okay, so I didn't manage to say what I wanted to, which is what you so eloquently said. I wasn't referring to anything last night, but it has been known for character parties to spend twenty minutes repairing armour and chatting whilst dead monsters gradually turned blue around their feet. Anyone remember a certain dead body who was propped up against a tree log for a good 3/4 of an hour? --Koryne

Monsters

• Keep track of other people. Make absolutely certain that you know where you are meant to go after the current encounter.
• Even more so in the dark than at other times, OOC safety in not being trodden on takes precedence over falling or staying where you are taken down.

Refs

• Using glowsticks to mark out the route works very well in terms of not losing monsters. It's also a good idea to mark out rabbit holes etc.
• Give out glowsticks to monsters so that they can easily indicate that they are OOC
• The character party is easily spooked in the dark. Screams, insane laughter etc from their surroundings help - as do ambushes. Never underestimate how difficult it is to see someone in dark clothing who stays sufficiently still.
• The most 'interesting' (and dangerous) part of an encounter is when, or if, they surprise the party. Harder monsters are not quite as effective as multiple waves of sneakies.