Darkness questions to DMs

[Modu]

One of the things I struggle with currently while running Out of the Abyss is how to handle darkness in FG.

Some people in the group have darkvision, some do not.

This makes combat tricky based on how loose D&D 5E is with shooting at targets you can't see.

FG doesn't support this well because I can't set the visibility of tokens individually, I can only show them to either the entire group, or none of them.

I'd like to add a bit more realism in how all of this plays out in combat. Yes, we tend to play D&D more as a tactical game than a roleplaying game.

Any suggestions on how others handle complete darkness and mixed visions in combat in FG?

[Zacchaeus]

All you can do is use 'Theatre of the Mind'. You could also use the hidden icons on the CT to hide combatants and then move them whilst they are hidden. Anyone who can't see in darkness or who don't have a light source would need to guess where the target is and also has disadvantage on the roll of course. Additionally of course those that can see are presumably communicating with those that can't and shouting out rough directions as to where enemies might be. So non visioned PC's would not necessarily have to guess where a target is but would still have disadvantage on any ranged attacks. In reality I doubt that any PC who doesn't have darkvision wouldn't be firing up a torch or a spellcaster would be casting a light spell on something. Generally I just ignore darkness for that reason; I assume that the PCs always have a light source when it's needed.

[LordEntrails]

I leave the tokens visible on the CT and map. Yes this gives players without darkvision more knowledge than they should have. But my players are fairly good about not meta-gaming. You can also create and place a "blind" effect on the PC's that do not have darkvision. This helps remind everyone that they shouldn't be doing things that they shouldn't be doing You can also have it grant disadvantage to attacks and grant advantage when targeted as well.

I forget what RAW says about darkness, but those two negatives, along with half movement and the occasional dex check to make sure they don't fall prone are usually enough to make my players light up a torch or lantern if they have one.