Bookkeeping?

[Stormonu]

I have my players track a medium level.

I've had players who've run out of arrows in the middle of combat.
I've had players who've forgotten to pack a lunch for a 3-day trip.
I've had players who've bought lanterns and oil, and forgot to get something to light it with.
I've had players who've had to deal with sleeping in the rain when they didn't want to carry a tent around (or didn't think to buy one).
I've had players look up in dismay at the lip of a pit above them and realize that while they bought 50' of rope each, no one thought to get a grappling hook.

Wizards need spell component pouches, but I don't track the actual contents unless its an expensive foci.
Characters pay "lifestyle maintenance" costs, but it's usually a lump sum - unless they want to give me the gory details.

Part of the reason I track some of the "minor stuff" is that I've had personal experience where I've left on trips myself many times and have forgotten to take something simple yet vital (camera, sunglasses, even my wallet ... more than once).

Sometimes its fun to see how creative players get when they've accidentally run out of something or forgot to get something back in town.

 

[Hussar]

There was a time when I wanted to track every last thing.

Those days are gone for me. It's just not interesting to me anymore. You have regular gear that is reasonable to expect for a person in your situation is about as detailed as I get as a DM. "Forgetting to pack a lunch" for a 3 day trip just breaks suspension of disbelief for me so badly that I never want to go back to that.

Been there, done that. Not going back.

 

[Cor_Malek]

Scalable to relevant ones. If there's an easy enough way to obtain lost resources, there's really not much use in listing it in detailed fashion. But I enjoy low-resources worlds, games and adventures, so sometimes hi-detail comes into play.

I'll mesh a couple of situations into one for clarity:
Broke out of prison, a magic user. Depending on my steps - I find one of two laboratories - one that was abandoned years ago, when it's user (apprentice of BBG) moved to one with better lighting, or one he is currently occupying. If it's the latter, I get all resources I need (capped at his level. He doesn't have components for spells he cannot use). If I find his ex-study, I might find one or two components, and if I find more - I need to think what are commonly occurring, or native to place I'm in (yay, bat guano!). It creates different experience - when I need to focus on optimal resources use.

I always keep track of food and replenish it as I see fit. Our group actually had to go all the way to cannibalism twice, I'd rather not have my paper soldiers repeat that experience (my dwarf got a rather bad case of curse stomach flu out of it).

 

[Redcrow]

I don't usually require my players keep track of all the minutae unless its important to the story. For instance if the party is planning a trek across the desert or a frozen waste, then it might be important to keep track of food and proper clothing. If the party is in a position where they are pinned down and under siege it may be important to keep track of ammunition.

Other than specific circumstances I usually just handwaive all the little fiddly bits and assume the group is adequately stocked with supplies. YMMV.

 

[delericho]

How much detail do you like to put into your book keeping for your character?

Here's the kind of thing I mean.

Is it preferable to write down something like "a set of winter clothes" rather than having to write out somthing like "cold weather leather boots, cold weather leather pants, cold weather padded shirt, heavy fur cloak"?

Yes, in general. Though it depends strongly on the game.

For a "standard" 4e D&D game, my preference is very strongly to keep track only of the 'big' stuff - my magic items, my key weapons, and so on. I don't want to track every meal, every copper piece, or even whether my character has clothes, never mind what they are. I just want to be able to assume all that stuff.

But if the DM isn't running a "standard" 4e D&D game, then I'm quite happy to play that game, too. If the DM wants me to track every meal, every arrow, every copper piece, then that's fine... as long as it matters.

However, if the DM wants me to track all that stuff but it never matters, then I'm going to complain... that's just work for the sake of it, and frankly I just want to play. (Often, that's just inexperience - it hasn't occurred to the DM that he could not insist on that detailed bookkeeping. But sometimes it's just a DM being overly pedantic.)

(It also really doesn't help that lots of games have encumberance systems that just add a lot of hassle to the game without adding much to the play experience. As a rule, they tend to be too precise, while at the same time ignoring my ability to life all these items. (For example, put 100 dice in a box and pick it up. No problem, right? Now lift those 100 dice without the box!)

When DMing... well, it depends on the game.

My current preference is leaning back towards a more old-school vibe, where a character's equipment matters. And so, I'm inclined to a system where PCs do have to track what they have on hand in some detail. At the same time, the boundary is set by what characters can carry, rather than their ability to buy all this minor equipment, so I won't be micromanaging copper pieces (for example).

For other games, I've taken the route of assuming a lot. If a character could reasonably be assumed to have something (his wallet in a modern game, for example), then that can just be handwaved. It's only the odd and expensive things that have to be tracked in detail.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Is it preferable to write down something like "a set of winter clothes" rather than having to write out somthing like "cold weather leather boots, cold weather leather pants, cold weather padded shirt, heavy fur cloak"?

Yes, it is preferable.

I also don't like keeping track of encumbrance, iron rat(ion)s, arrows, or even gold pieces. But I am OK with keeping track of spells and hit points. The latter just seem more interesting and important to me.

 

[vagabundo]

Is it preferable to write down something like "a set of winter clothes" rather than having to write out somthing like "cold weather leather boots, cold weather leather pants, cold weather padded shirt, heavy fur cloak"?

Your legs would get pretty cold without some trousers. Unless you're a barbarian or something.

 

[Diamond Cross]

You haven't seen some of the people I've seen in my town. Some of the people in my town during heavy snow storms will wear a tee shirt and shorts.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Stormonu: Iron rats = iron rations, just in case you actually didn't know. (Food, food, glorious food!)

 

[Stormonu]

Stormonu: Iron rats = iron rations, just in case you actually didn't know. (Food, food, glorious food!)

I thought so, but with some groups, you can just never be sure...

Enjoy your torphies!!!