Use what's around you ITT : we discuss how we use the environment

>>54147764
>players are searching through a dark cave, only have one oil lamp and two refills
>each refill lasts 20 minutes
>put a timer on the table and let it run everytime they light it to search more efficiently

>>54147764
>players must walk through woods so thick it hides sunlight
>bioluminescent plants everywhere so that it's not too dark
>but day/night cycle is hidden and I make them loose track of the time that has passed

>>54147764
I like that idea
It's often hard to make combat challenging in an interesting way without using other factors.

You can also use the environment as a way to give your players alternatives. Once I made them fight an ice golem on top of an inactive volcano and the engineer in the party (who is ususally pretty useless in combat) spent half of it looking for weaknesses in the mountains structures to put explosives in, then created an earthquake and that heated up the volcano and made the ice under the golem melt so that he couldn't regenerate health.

>>54149690
I had fun with that engineer over time by learning how to make combat more skillful and imaginative for him and other players.

I recall there was one time when he used the mage to cool down a pond to the point of near freezing before forcing a group of ennemies to go through it (since outside of the pond the weather was otpimal they didn't suspect a thing and went right through it, killing their horses with the shock)

>>54147764
>WoD campaign with humans set in this day and age
>urban environment for people used to live in the countryside (players and characters)
>much easier access to all things from food to information and gear
>they discover in the middle of the game that they can't find firearms, in any household or any shop (it's more usual in the countryside where I live)
>have to make do with improvised weapons for the rest of the game and then make deals with the local mafia to get guns

Always include at least one meaningfully interactable or desteuctible object in every combat environment.

A priceless vase teetering dangerously on its shaky pedestal that will have consequences if it breaks. The classic chandelier that can be brought down by cutting its hoisting rope. A vantage point that can be vaulted over for a plunging attack. A tree or pillar that can be felled with a strong enough chop or blast, creating a bridge over a gap to the foe(s) or just crushing them under it. A trapdoor that can be trigged manually. A valuable improvised weapon. A window enemies can be thrown out of. Something that can be climbed. Something that moves, like swinging blades, passing trains, or falling boulders.

Just SOMETHING that a creative player can use to do something in that combat that they couldn't do if it wasn't there.

>>54149820
Hell yea