I think this is one of those stupid problems that probably have simple answers. 
Anyways, I’m using inform 7 and although I can easily make an object lit when the game starts, I’m not sure what I have to do to allow the player to light objects ingame without “This dangerous act would achieve little”. 
Thanks in advance 
This, I think, is the most common kind of question about Inform. In the spirit of teaching a man to fish, here’s how to figure this kind of thing out on your own:
When you run into something like this, type “rules” while you’re playing the game in the IDE. This will turn on rules tracing, so you can see what rules are firing when. Then try the action again.
Here’s what happens in this case:
>burn myself
[Rule "block burning rule" applies.]
This dangerous act would achieve little.
So, you need to disable or otherwise work around the block burning rule. The quick and dirty way around it is with an “instead” rules:
Instead of burning the player:
say "Argh!"
Instead rules take precedence over most other rules associated with actions.
Another way to do it is to look at the Actions tab in the Index. Find the burning action and look at the rules associated with it. You’ll see the blocking rule there. In this case, it is in the check burning rulebook. So, to get around this rule, all you have to do is write another check burning rule that will fire before the block burning rule. You can do this in multiple ways:
(1) Write the rule more specifically than the current rule:
[code]A burnable is a kind of thing. The torch is a burnable.
Check an actor burning a burnable thing:
Burning a burnable thing is more specific that burning any old thing, so Inform will list your new rule before the block burning rule.
(2) Say explicitly that your new rule is the first rule in the check rulebook:
First check an actor burning something:
Finally, another way to get rid of that pesky rule is to remove it entirely. You’ll never hear about how dangerous fire is again!
Now the block burning rule is not listed in any rulebook.
There are a number of other ways to deal with this, of course. But these are the main ones…
–Erik