D&D General Adventure Journal - Twenty days into adventure, still got 10 days rations

[Stormonu]

So in the games you run or play in, how strictly does the group track various things - rations, arrows, bedrolls, night watch, encumbrance, spell components, miscellaneous gear in general and the like?

In the early days of the game, I tried to be strict about tracking rations, ammunition and encumbrance. I'd do periodic audits (esp. encumbrance) to ensure the players were in line.

Night watch was tracked with Con checks (roll Con or less on d20), leading to my group pairing up in case one of the two fell asleep. It wasn't until late 2E that my group discovered the likes of Rope Trick. I still use a form of this up to this day (Con check, DC 1 + 2 x hours for watch, so a typical 2 hour watch is DC 5), though there are a lot more opportunities for PCs to find safe havens where they don't need to bother with a night watch at all. Strangely though, I've never tracked requirements for bedrolls or tents until I spent a night LARPing without the former, and came to understand the need for a good bedroll.

Since I tracked rations, foraging/hunting became popular in my games. Unfortunately, D&D hasn't really had good rules for such things (until the advent of Non-Weapon Proficiencies, and that was still iffy) so we RP'ed out foraging/hunting. Magic Missile became popular for bringing down deer or multiple rabbits where bows were too chancy. In one group, the monk became a perverse sort of animal whisperer, whose speak with animals abilities led to many a full, meaty pot. Nowadays, a lot of the characters in my group use the likes of Survival to catch and cook meals in the wild. Personally for my games, when PCs use the Survival skill, success generates 1 meal and for every 2 they beat the base DC by, they can scrounge enough for an additional meal. If the party slows to half rate travel, they gain Advantage. If they stop for the day, they can choose to reroll the check (with Advantage).

By 3E though, I'd given up on trying to track encumbrance and ammunition. Too many magic items to get around the two, and the game had changed that the characters didn't need to stuff packs full of kitchen sinks and 10 foot poles. We had other game concerns, and tracking this kind of stuff wasn't one.

Spell components has been the one thing I've never tracked. I learned from Mentzer basic, and components weren't tracked there. In AD&D, with the exception of a few costly spell components (such as for Stoneskin), they seemed like cute flavor and I just didn't get into tracking them. I was glad for the spell component pouch in 3E, and just ran with it, not even counting "uses" of the pouch.

 

[jaelis]

I've never tracked that kind of thing, but if I ran an adventure where endurance/supplies were part of the challenge, I reckon I would. (I'd warn the players first of course.)

 

[commandercrud]

We always track all of that stuff. Everyone complains about and ignores it, but my group considers those logistics part of the fun, and many great things result from it. You track hit points and spell slots, you can track the rest.

 

[Prakriti]

Whenever I tell my players that we're going to track rations, encumbrance, etc., they invariably build characters that trivialize those things. So it never ends up happening.

 

[Shiroiken]

The way I see it, is for the most part the responsibility of the players. If a player feels the need to cheat on it, that's on them. As a player, I track everything carefully. I even mark where everything is located (worn, backpack, sack, pouch), making sure not to go over the carry capacity of the container. It's a pain, but I feel it's my duty as a player to follow the rules.

The only exception I make to it as a DM is obvious logistics. If the party finds 30 suits of leather armor they want to haul back and sell, that's fine, but they need to explain HOW they can do this without a horse, cart, or other method. Same thing if they find thousands of coins. Just having the Str to carry stuff doesn't mean you can carry everything in your hands/pockets.

 

[Fenris-77]

Tracking consumables in detail is cool if that's a desired part of the theme or story or table tastes. In other games it's a huge pain in the arse that I tend to mostly handwave.

Sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you don't.

 

[aco175]

Nowadays it mostly get handwaved and the PCs each cross off several gp each time they get in town. This replaces things like food and torches and the occasional torn cloak or repair to armor. We may roleplay some of the dealings with the innkeeper or the armorer, but generally towns are for resupply and heading back to the dungeon.

A few times the town in the dungeon and then there is a lot of roleplay, but no need to track things. Tracking only comes into play if it needs to, like water in a desert or some survival situation where the PCs are lost in a maze or underdark. Same with spell components where tracking is needed only if abused, like casting something that required a 5,000gp gem or something.

 

[Fenris-77]

Something else that's in play is the extent to which the cantip Light and the spell Goodberry completely trivialize the tracking of two main consumables. That really only leaves ammo as a key tracked item, and I feel like that might get tracked more often than food and torches anyway.

I don't mind tracking food and whatnot though. Five Torches Deep, for example, is a great game partially because it tracks that stuff.

 

[Rabbitbait]

Depends on the game. In this city based game I am DMing now I don't worry about it as it's not going to add to the story. My last game was Tomb of Annihilation where the characters spend a lot of time treking through (and getting lost in) the jungle. Keeping track of supplies was very important there and added a lot of tension and fun to the game.

I guess that's the question - is tracking resources going to add to or detract from the fun?

 

[Mercurius]

I really see rations and petty cash (e.g. a pint of swill for a copper piece) as optional, and it really depends on the campaign. If you're running a survival-themed wilderness trek, then it makes sense to track rations. But if you're in a relatively densely populated area, why bother?