But I don’t see why everything must be random generation.
Seem like I have been unclear. Let me clarify. Everything do not need to be random generated. Indeed the meat of the game style I described is typically predetermined location information. The method of "generation" of this is irrelevant. It
could be random, but most often it is the GM or a third party designing it intelligently
before players make contact with it. However for there to be the sense of a qualified gamble there need to be
some notion of randomness involved, and where the players has some ground to reason around the odds.
I also want to add that what I described was the kind of scenario where I personally would very much like detailed rations to be tracked. You are outlining some other scenarios where food is clearly important to the game, but where I would prefer to use other mechanism than ration tracking to account for it in a TTRPG context.
For instance in the siege scenario I would likely have preferred some abstract series of clock ticking down to various bad stuff that alters the situation (for instance: tight rationing -> civilians start fighting over what is left -> nothing is left -> people start dying of hunger)
The wilderness survival scenario also typically triggers first when traditional ration have run out. For that situation I think I would again want to track the "food" state as an abstracted nutritional stat, that slowly ticks down and reduces the effectiveness of the characters, but that can be replenished on successes related to gathering food.
The goal would be to reduce the spreadsheet feel of the game. Computer games can more readily keep track of more detailed food information for you, but in a TTRPG being mindful of only tracking the things that
really matters is a virtue. As an aside, board games often can thrive a place in between, as more limited scope and pretty tangible physical artifacts often can justify a bit higher level of detail tracking than what a TTRPG normally supports well.
