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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Czhorat" data-source="post: 1240376" data-attributes="member: 13826">So... aside from eating, drinking, and sleeping, what ELSE is this campaign going to be about. I think that your concern about too much micromanaging ruining the fun is perhaps a valid one. Any time spent rolling dice to see if the characters can feed themselves for one more day is time NOT spent adventuring.Keeping track of arrows and encumbrance isn't a bad idea. Arrows especially should just naturally be tracked -- I don't think I've played in a game since High School that simply assumed limitless ammunition. The fact is, though, that the survival skill should allow the PCs to do just that -- survive. Keep in mind that, as the rules are written, there's no reason one can't take 10 on this check. That means that a level one ranger with four ranks in survival and a +2 ability score bonus could automatically feed four people. It's not challenging, but it's not supposed to be. The FUN part of the game should be what you do when you get to where you're going, not keeping your belly full until you get there.What I would do is allow players to purchase dry rations for those times they're in a hurry, perhaps at a slightly increased price. For just wandering through the wilderness, you can handle the whole idea of eating with a line or two of flavor text -- "You scout ahead and find a small stream where you refill your waterskins and catch some fish to filet for dinner along with some wild root vegetables" or "You pause a few times throughout the day to pick handfuls of wild berries. By mid-afternoon you've also killed a brace of rabbits which you skin to make a tasty stew". This gives some flavour without bogging the game down in what will eventually become trivial details.If the group is in a very harsh environment you might rule that it's simply not possible to find adequate food and characters suffer temporary ability score loss due to vitamin-deficiency diseases. I recall a game I ran in which the players were forced to loot rations from orcish patrols. The orcs had two types of food, one of which was much more appetizing (if I recall correctly, the disgusting one was some kind of fish paste wrapped in dark green grape-leaf like things. The nicer one was some kind of jerky with a hard biscuit). Anyway, eating one and not the other would give them some kind of long term ill-effect due to missing nutrients. Perhaps something like this, used sparingly, can give you some of that survivalist feel to the campaign without bogging it down.</blockquote>

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