D&D General Do you track ammunition?

[Aldarc]

I don't remember which OSR game it is that has a resource die that players roll to see if they run out of their equipment (Knave? Cairn? Errant?), but if it starts to become an issue in my games -- say, a multi-week trek into the underdark with no chance to return to the surface to resupply -- that's probably what I'm going to rely on.

From what I recall: Black Hack, Mausritter, and Forbidden Lands (not OSR but still).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

From what I recall: Black Hack, Mausritter, and Forbidden Lands (not OSR but still).

I probably heard about it regarding Black Hack.

 

[Larnievc]

Simple question: Do you track how much ammunition your characters have left?

Probably not so simple answers...

I only get my players to track magic or trick arrows.

 

[Seramus]

I've never tracked ammunition as a player and thought "This is increasing my fun!" Mostly it was a neutral, and sometimes it increased my stress as I worried about running out. You would think it would heighten the tension, but I just never felt that way, it heightened my tension headache instead. So I never track basic ammunition as a DM.

Special ammunition like alchemical, magical, or upgraded in some other way? Yes.

 

[Distracted DM]

I've never tracked ammunition as a player and thought "This is increasing my fun!"

I agree, but "fun" isn't the end-all be-all for everyone. Some people find it more fulfilling to have to ration resources; that can be an important part of the game, depending on the edition/system. I guess that's more of a survival-horror aspect, though; the ranged attacks can be very advantageous in "combat is war" games.

It might just be a terminology thing; often people say "fun," but they might not mean actual "fun." People don't watch a tragedy for "fun," but they do find it worthwhile.

 

[tetrasodium]

...
Double post

 

[tetrasodium]

I'm not sure I follow you? Do you mean tracking them would be worth it if it lead to interesting choices, but due the way rules currently are it doesn't? Because I'd agree with that.

Put simply, we are talking about players choosing ti engage in an activity that would be dubbed "client side item duplication exploit" in an mmo & whitewashing it by making it out as some herculean activity.

I flatly eeject the inerrant "math class is hard" level foundation used to pretend that tracking ammunition is some onerous and difficult to juggle quagmire far in excess of the trivial & widely expected effort needed for players to to track their HP. Strip out the bold bit and change it to "is worth it because [interesting choices]..." Some of those interesting choices are mainly low level or edge case events, others are actively designed against in service of endless simplification & streamlining on loop

 

[Thagdal]

Rations is a really interesting one because there's a relatively low-level spell (create food and water) that makes them not so important. (Or goodberry, I guess).

Meanwhile, is there any spell that creates arrows?

In second edition, there is Everfull Quiver, (rare, from the priests compendium) and i think 3.5 or pathfinder has Abundant Ammunition. They dont create ammo, but allow you to fire every round without consuming ammo.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Personally, I always track my own character's ammo.

As a DM I only do it when it could be a valid concern - the aforementioned weeklong trek through the jungle with no chance to resupply, running battle fleeing from a gnoll horde, nine-day seige, etc....
I always let my players know when starting a new game that it could become a concern at some point and take a poll of whether or not to do it if it should happen to come up, and then let them know well beforehand and remind them to stock up on all sorts of necessary supplies. (As a running Boondock Saints in-joke, in most of the games I've run over the years, anytime the party needs rope, they just happen to have brought it with them...)
I also let them scrounge arrows after fights when I am keeping count of ammo, so it's much more often a "make 'em count, boys!" sort of thing to add dramatic effect and get the party thinking about tactical improvisation rather than hardcore survival mechanics.

 

[James Gasik]

In second edition, there is Everfull Quiver, (rare, from the priests compendium) and i think 3.5 or pathfinder has Abundant Ammunition. They dont create ammo, but allow you to fire every round without consuming ammo.

You could also use Fabricate to create thousands of arrows (whatever would fit in a 10' cube, which is a lot) armed with the raw materials.