How do you deal with food and shelter?

[ProfessorCirno]

I'd actually say that Caradhas is a good example of why you shouldn't do it. Consider that through the entire "adventure" of LotR, the whole survival/supplies issue only came up that one time - it wasn't like they were constantly dealing with survival problems.

 

[Nagol]

I'd actually say that Caradhas is a good example of why you shouldn't do it. Consider that through the entire "adventure" of LotR, the whole survival/supplies issue only came up that one time - it wasn't like they were constantly dealing with survival problems.

In LotR, supply shortages come up several times, most notably for Frodo and Sam in Mordor (i.e. the group facing a hostile environment as opposed to the groups in civilised lands). Sam gives Frodo all the remaining clean water. Even the lembas starts to run low and Gollum uses that fact to separate Frodo from Sam.

 

[The Shaman]

Adventurers in Flashing Blades pay a monthly upkeep cost which covers housing, food, wine, and maybe a servant or two appropriate to their Social Ranks, so as long as they have enough livres in their purses each month, then Bob's your uncle.

Moving away from an environment where taverns and inns are plentiful? Then the adventurers need to purchase supplies and plan for shelter from the elements.

And if someone would slap Wiseblood's post with an XP for me, I'd be much obliged.

 

[Ariosto]

I am starting my first campaign as a DM, and am not certain how detailed and realistic most people want their adventuring to be.

How many hundreds of thousands of players do you expect to be DMing for?

Short of an enterprise on that scale, what most people want is not relevant. (Most people are not posting at EN World, either.)

I'll bet there have been at least 3 different preferences expressed in 30-some posts to this thread.

If you start with an approach that suits your style, then odds are you'll find at least as many prospective players as you can handle.

In the event of actually having some players, you can ask them what they like. I don't see any reason this particular issue needs to be set in stone from before the word go.

 

[fba827]

it depends on how much you and your group would enjoy that level of detail management.

personally? I used to enjoy the micromanagement. Now a days?
for general campaigns, i wouldn't really enjoy it.
once in a while to set a tone for a specific campaign (or the tone of a specific harsh region of the campaign world) then i'd be fine with it.

You could always just deduct some minor party treasure gp for rations and supplies when in towns. But as you get higher in levels, that amount of treasure deduction will become a negligible cost.

But, really, your own group is the best source of the answer you seek. Now if you don't know the group you'll play with (i.e. you're DMing at some game day event or something) then chances are that type of management would be too detailed for the time allotted for a game day event.

 

[fumetti]

I'm old school enough to think that resource management is part of what makes D&D fun.

Hear! Hear!

If you take away the food/water resource challenges, the tracking of time, and the mapping, then the game becomes just a series of combat encounters... like MageKnight or something.

I want a healthy (but not overly cumbersome) dose of reality in my game. These 1E era concerns keep the illusion of actually living in that world. Combat is a part of that reality, but not ALL of that reality.

 

[Baron Opal]

I mostly handwave it too.

I assume a relative competence in the PCs outdoors skills, and charge them a basic "supply fee" when they are in town. This means they have enough food, water and ammunition for their non-combat needs.

If something goes awry or they are adventiring in a harsh climate or season, then we pay much more attention. And, again, having a ranger or druid in the party helps a alot. Similarly, a chime of hunger or similar effect would cause a crisis that the players would have to address.

There was one time where there was a cave-in and the party's only known path to the surface was blocked. At that point I mentioned how much food and water Ithought they had as now it was not a trivial matter to get resupplied.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Resource management is a good LTR tension-builder, but it needs to be easier than "how many pounds of food does a human eat?" in order to be efficiently useful.

In 4e, I might use healing surges. If you take an Extended Rest in a "harsh environment" (one where you can't easily access food, water or shelter, or one where hazardous weather is striking), you gain 1 less healing surge, cumulatively (so after 2 "days" of travel, you're down 2 healing surges). A difficult Nature or Endurance check might allow you to lessen the effect (for yourself or others), taking a day or two off it, but the DC's should be climbing every day (begin at 20, maybe +2 or +5 per day, depending on how harsh the environment is). Proper equipment might give you bonuses to the check.

In environments that aren't harsh, "taking 10" with someone trained in Nature or Endurance is enough, so I wouldn't worry about passively doing it. Assume it is done. I guess if the party doesn't have anyone trained in any of those skills, maybe it would be a problem?

The Dark Sun "survival days" mechanic isn't bad at all, but survival days are cheap and the consequences (a slight chance to get "sun sickness") aren't too severe and can be a pain to track. IMO, there needs to be more at stake then some floating -2 penalties if you travel during the day as a consequence for running out of food and water. To be fair, you can die from Sun Sickness...but there's every chance to avoid that fate.

 

[Jhaelen]

If you take away the food/water resource challenges, the tracking of time, and the mapping, then the game becomes just a series of combat encounters... like MageKnight or something.

Actually, getting completely rid of resource tracking means that combat encounters are effectively removed from the game as well (or become pretty pointless), since hp measure a resource, too

In other words: Every game group needs to decide for themselves which resources they're interested in tracking.

 

[Umbran]

If you take away the food/water resource challenges, the tracking of time, and the mapping, then the game becomes just a series of combat encounters...

By what you say here, your game only consists of food/water resource challenges, tracking time, mapping, and a series combat encounters. I give you enough credit to guess that this is thoroughly inaccurate. But it also means your assertion is also inaccurate.