Does anyone require the tracking and active use of rations in their game? Does anyone find tracking rations as part of the role play fun to do? If yes, can you describe how this works for your group?
I am trying to decide if I should mostly ignore rations or use them. I have never played in a game where they were really tracked or required by the GM.
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Does anyone require the tracking and active use of rations in their game? Does anyone find tracking rations as part of the role play fun to do? If yes, can you describe how this works for your group?
I am trying to decide if I should mostly ignore rations or use them. I have never played in a game where they were really tracked or required by the GM.
I've never played in a game where the GM tracked them to the letter, but we generally made sure we had about a week in our pack - occasionally we'd be stuck on a long sea/desert voyage and he'd tell us our rations/water had run out and we'd have to make Survival checks or Fort saves to stay at top form. Made landfall or that next oasis that much sweeter.
So - not something to track to the very last meal, but appropriate adventurer gear and occasional plot device.
Does anyone require the tracking and active use of rations in their game? Does anyone find tracking rations as part of the role play fun to do? If yes, can you describe how this works for your group?
I am trying to decide if I should mostly ignore rations or use them. I have never played in a game where they were really tracked or required by the GM.
The only time we've ever tracked rations is if it somehow relevant to the storyline. For example, you've been trapped underground by a cave-in, you're lost in the wilderness, you are in a village that has famine.
Your typical adventurers will have more than enough money to feed themselves and replenish supplies any time they arrive in a village, town, or city.
Continuous tracking is just too tedious and boring. When the need arises, add up the total mouths the PCs need to feed and figure out how much they would have used since the last stop they replenished supplies.
At higher levels, the magical creation of food/water will typically provide more than enough chow for an adventuring party.
The last time this situation came up in one of my games, we waited to provide a feast for the local tribesmen to impress them (they were low on foodstuffs due to a poor harvest). We distributed our left over food while the two barbarians used their Survival skill to hunt, the cleric created additional food and purified their meager supplies, and the druid cast plant growth on their fields.
So, we just added up the number of tribesmen and compared it to our supplies and food production to see how much longer they could survive in the current situation.
depends from the campaing. In (expecially low level) wilderness survival adventures, is part of the fun.
In other ones is an ignored annoying thing ;)
But is a good think they are there if needed.
I don't usu. worry bout it.
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Does anyone require the tracking and active use of rations in their game? Does anyone find tracking rations as part of the role play fun to do? If yes, can you describe how this works for your group?
I am trying to decide if I should mostly ignore rations or use them. I have never played in a game where they were really tracked or required by the GM.
I track them when doing long-term wilderness exploration adventures, where starvation and dehydration are serious dangers. That kind of gaming can be very fun with the right group of players. I personally like playing in 'track every arrow' mode. But I like resource management games.
Generally I simply require players to start off with 3 days worth of rations and a waterskin on their character sheet, and then tax them between sessions depending on the quality of life they are maintaining for their character. As long as that tax is paid (the "low level adventuring scum" bracket is like 5 GP/week), then I just assume that when the PCs hit the road all their rations have been refreshed.
If PC is a Ranger or Druid then they pay no tax. Rangers and Druids never have to pay for food and shelter. They just sleep in a tree and eat wild game, or in the case of druids, twigs and berries.
I think they are worth writing down on the character sheet, if for no other reason than to remind a person that at least at lower level, even druids and rangers will have to cart around food occasionally for one reason or another. Otherwise, unless the environment or campaign really called for it, its never particularly tracked beyond "do you have some written down?"
The game I run does keep track of rations. However, considering that the campaign is currently centered around a city, the rations issue hasn't really come up, yet.
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It all depends on the level of verisimilitude you want, and how much you want to limit the PCs abilities to ignore any needs they might have. This is the same fundamental question as "do you track arrows?"
I've done it both ways. Both have advantages and negatives. If I'm in a gritty, realistic, narrowly balanced campaign, I prefer tracking details. If it's a laid-back campaign or a hack and slash campaign or if the goal is just to be as awesomey as possible, then I don't like tracking details.
I do have an actual preference for gritty, realistic, narrowly balanced campaigns, but not everybody shares that preference.
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I had the PCs track rations at a high-level during my playthrough of the first book of Kingmaker. Basically, they told me how much food they were taking with them (subject to how fast it would go bad) then had to make sure they were back at Oleg's before it ran out. I wanted to encourage them to think of Oleg's as their home base. In practice, the Oracle picked up Purify Food and Water as soon as he possibly could, then they bought like a month's worth of food and headed out into the wilderness.
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yes, because my shrunken gnome alchemist riding a wild pseudo-dragon chasing down a deer wouldn't have happened if my DM didn't mention that we hadn't eaten
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Does anyone require the tracking and active use of rations in their game? Does anyone find tracking rations as part of the role play fun to do? If yes, can you describe how this works for your group?
I am trying to decide if I should mostly ignore rations or use them. I have never played in a game where they were really tracked or required by the GM.
I keep track of them. I can be an evil b@stard as a DM. Rations might not be fun, but watching the PCs beg for food can be entertaining :)
Seriously, at low level rations effect what they can carry, the duration they have before needing to stop off in whatever passes for civilization or use a skill and hunt.
I just use graphpaper with 1 person / day or rations per square and check them off as used / lost / given away / etc. It's pretty easy.
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Depends on the campaign/setting.
If it's something like Darksun, it's a major element of drama, to the point that PCs may need to consider what N/PCs count as emergency food supplies.
Oh yeah! Way back in high school I ran a Dark Sun campaign, and at one point the PCs were deep in a lifeless salt desert and encountered a Defiler. They killed him, but discovered that all of their rations had putrefied. I had to send in the cavalry, eventually, but not until they were all hovering near death.
Good times, good times.
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In my games, it's often "You all wake up, prepare yourselves, and eat. Cross off a ration."
Then, the players who ran out of (or forgot to purchase) rations will make survival rolls to hunt/gather and I roll a random encounter chance. Sometimes they want a deer, but end up with something less timid. =)
It's a bit tedious, so in most campaigns I allow Everlasting Rations/Waterskins (from the 3.5 Magic Item Compendium).
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Depends on the campaign/setting.
If it's something like Darksun, it's a major element of drama, to the point that PCs may need to consider what N/PCs count as emergency food supplies.
Oh yeah! Way back in high school I ran a Dark Sun campaign, and at one point the PCs were deep in a lifeless salt desert and encountered a Defiler. They killed him, but discovered that all of their rations had putrefied. I had to send in the cavalry, eventually, but not until they were all hovering near death.
Good times, good times.
Next time they should eat the defiler.
It was a Dark Sun campaign after all, cannibalism is not a big thing in that setting ;DLike most GM here I track food consumption only when it can matter to the adventure at hand, if not the price is subsumed in the monthly cost of living and I only require the player to have a "reserve" written on the character sheet.
I tend to include that in their lifestyle payments. Just makes it easier to assume the PCs are smart enough to bring enough food. However, if they were in a situation where gaining more food was impossible, I'd start tracking it more accurately.
I track rations only sporadically, when it seems like it might be important. Generally, I ask players as they are heading out for their adventure what they are planning to do for food and water. If they have sufficient rations or a reasonable plan for feeding themselves, I promptly forget about it unless/until they either are out longer then their rations would last/lose some of their rations/enter an areas where they can't forage or hunt, etc.
And of course, once the campaign gets to the point where folks have handy haversacks, bags of holding and portable holes, I just assume they have enough food and drink.
I usually track it for the players if I feel it might be important, when they can replenish their gear and stuff I dock them a few silver for general maintenance and replenishing of rations. The use of rations can open up some plot hooks at times, cursed or poisoned food supplies might be an excellent adventure hook afterall.
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I track rations and water use daily - but only when traveling in the wilderness or exploring. If my players have to worry about weight because they go somewhere without pack animals/mounts then how much food and water they carry is a factor.
Generally all water supplies are replenished once they find a fresh water source; rations are only used while traveling (not while in town).
There have been many instances where the amount of extra food and water are critical to the story, even extra mundane weapons. On more than one occasion they group has liberated prisoners, slaves, etc, all in need of food and water and if they are going have to fight their way out - extra weapons. So the party has developed a habit of keeping some extra gear and supplies around just as a consideration.
It does take up more space and is an extra concern but for my players it just adds some immersion and realistic elements to an otherwise unrealistic (and increasingly so per new edition) game.
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We could benefit from some rules for malnutrition-based diseases to make people more careful about rations. Rations themselves must be salted and preserved to keep without spoiling. This to me suggests there's little in the way of fresh fruit or fresh produce in these things.
Some ideas for ration-based disease would be Food Poisoning, Kwashiorkor, Diarrhoea, Scurvy, Druid-Induced Veganism, Worms and Allergies. This stuff could make purify food and drink spells much more useful.
It'd be great if we had supernatural monsters that were repelled if the party had eaten enough garlic or certain berries in the previous day. Or a Fey that takes special revenge against carnivores.
My old 3.5 party had never-ending rations. The issue was the same meal kept reappearing day after day, meaning the adventurers would have been really sick of that one choice.
Of course, if you have a witch in your team with 'Cauldron' and 'Eat People', you never need to worry about this stuff!
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...Druid-Induced Veganism...
And what in the heck is that?
I'm not a huge fan of the food/water tracking thing either. I think some of it has to do with genre conventions. If you're doing a campaign like Darksun or a place where food and supply access is a key part of the drama (say exploring a dangerous and remote area) or something similar then it's probably a good part of drama. For games like Gamma World, Deadlands, etc. food and water tracking can be good and make sense. However in general pathfinder, I would have to argue that it's a bit of a distraction and seems like it might be unnecessary in most cases.
I'm running Souls for the Smugglers shiv on these borads and there it is quite important to keep track of how much food the party has.I give them a run down at the start of each day as to how many man days of food they have in store.It encourages them to go out and hunt
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My experience is that I always start a campaign meaning to track them, but when I see how easy it is to make survival rolls and feed the party, I give up.
One thought on making them fun is to have them provide +1 temporary hp/day. That's a pretty tiny bonus, but very helpful at lower levels when rations tend to be the most important.
The Pathfinder rules for upkeep work really well for my game. Players pay upkeep at the beginning of every adventure, and I allow them to have full rations, waterskins, quivers, and fully-repaired equipment in return.
Everyone wins.
It's an early level thing. Create food/water eliminates this issue in the mid-game. The only time it really becomes important is:
* If the party does something stupid. (Let's cross the desert, it'll only take a month!)
* If something very bad happens to the party while traveling (usually shipwreck).
* The PCs want to venture into a giant barren wilderness too quickly. In fact, this is a good way to keep PCs out of an area until they're high enough level.
I am pretty much in the 'only if it's story appropriate park'. I dont want to play logistics manager, and there is already enough to keep track of on your character sheet. I have played with dms that were not even satisfied with just tracking rations, but specific food stuffs, like grain, dried meat, jams and such, and gave penalties for poor nutrition. That...was not fun.
Does anyone require the tracking and active use of rations in their game?
Suggestions like this would get you shot at my table. Because I have a huge gun to shoot people who suggest stuff like that.
Well, maybe not, but we do ignore rations, ammo, standard gear (like rope, bedrolls etc.) almost all the time.
Suggestions like this would get you shot at my table.
Each table to their own.
I think it's easy enough to track for individual characters and can add to the game in such tight spots mentioned earlier in the thread. If nothing else rations are light and cheap enough to throw a weeks worth down on your character sheet and top off next time one is in a village or town.
Or, if ease of play is your thing, just have a base weight added to the character sheet at all times for encumbrance purposes and make the cost part of the monthly upkeep for the character.
As a reminder, if you are using Survival for food/drink, you need to move at half speed. If you have to be somewhere in a hurry, it can make a difference.
One of the GMs in my group is a stickler for keeping track. This has lead to hours of real time figuring out logistics for a journey into the mountains. In one case the campaign degenerated into failed survival checks, getting lost, nearly starving, etc. Now, this is fine, and I've played gritty campaigns that were a lot of fun. The problem in this instance was that it wasn't the story the GM was trying to tell. We were (in theory) trying to stop an interplaner slavery ring, but spent all of our time looking for berries and trying not to get eaten by owlbears and other wandering encounters.
The plot was lost in the details of daily survival.
Are your heros the kind that need to worry about dinner, or saving the world? There is place for both in fantasy, but be sure you know what kind of story you are trying to tell.
We pay attention to that stuff on occasion - but only when it's important for story - like when the fighter (who has ranks in Profession (hunter)) decides to impress locals and bring in some game. From a roleplaying view it's an awesome tool.
But in terms of tracking that kind of stuff ordinarily? Bleah. I'm not looking to have a simulation here - it's not like the rest of my game is the height of realism.
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I will keep track sporadically, when appropriate to the story - that is, when the party is far away from any kind of civilization of support.
In fact, my group right now is organizing an extended trip into a hostile, monster-infested wilderness. They hate doing logistics, so they basically hired a quartermaster to outfit the expedition for them. I'm going be presenting them with the inventory, staff roster, and the bill for it all next session. Should be interesting. :P
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Does anyone require the tracking and active use of rations in their game? Does anyone find tracking rations as part of the role play fun to do? If yes, can you describe how this works for your group?
I am trying to decide if I should mostly ignore rations or use them. I have never played in a game where they were really tracked or required by the GM.
We actively track. Always have. Adds some realism to the game when the party knows they will be in the desert for two weeks and don't have magical means to create water or food. So decisions on what loot to take vs. dropping food becomes critical. I've had party's ignore all sorts of coinage if it wasn't platinum in return for keeping food/water handy. Besides we also track encumberance - since a gallon of water = 8lbs. You see how fast people start watching what they have in their bags when their movement drops from 30' to 20'...
Does anyone require the tracking and active use of rations in their game?Suggestions like this would get you shot at my table. Because I have a huge gun to shoot people who suggest stuff like that.
(Don't worry -- the gun ran out of ammo months ago, but since he never kept track...)
As a GM, I only worry about the party's food and water supplies when they might have a problem. I'll check to see what they normally carry, then ignore it for months, only telling them to mark off a few gold for traveling expenses.
Once they reach some barren wasteland, I start to pay attention. I seldom use such for more than color, but it affects how quickly the party can travel and what condition they're in when they get there. When they arrive, they may have nonlethal damage due to hunger.
"Let's have some survival checks, please. Hmm... Your group hasn't found enough food to make it across Blasted Vale without some hunger pangs. Are you dividing the food evenly among the party, or are some of you going hungry to allow the others to eat enough?"
Of course, I've heard that dwarf tastes like pork.
Generally only if it's relevant somehow. Otherwise the upkeep rules handle it nicely.
We actively track. Always have. Adds some realism to the game when the party knows they will be in the desert for two weeks and don't have magical means to create water or food.
But what when they're not in the desert?
(Don't worry -- the gun ran out of ammo months ago, but since he never kept track...)Does anyone require the tracking and active use of rations in their game?Suggestions like this would get you shot at my table. Because I have a huge gun to shoot people who suggest stuff like that.
You're right. I guess the last three guys died of fright, then. I seem to be way too good at getting people psyched about stuff. Well, makes for good GMing, and if some people have to suffer for my talent, then I can live with that.
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I thought you weren't allowed to have guns over in Europe, the better for your socialist masters to oppress you by?
We don't have guns per se, but I have a Panzerfaust that the Kraut invaders were kind enough to leave in my backyard... I'm holding on to it, you never know when somebody will start rolling tanks over my lawn *again*.
i once had a dm who made me track my gold weight, so i had to decide crossbow or 100 gp?
he did the same with rations, one a day bu the never checked, i fo rone never do it. to tedious
The very first thing I begin looking for in any game that I ever play in is a ring of sustenance. Food and Water are simply too much of a PITA to keep track of, without the biological imperatives behind their necessity. My lv 1 characters have 10 days rations as standard, and I pray that I find a ring in those 10 days of adventure.
If playing with the 3.5 Magic Item Compendium, I swap the ring for Everlasting Rations.
Or I play a Cleric and get to lv 5 ASAP.
HATE tracking food and water...
I love the MIC stuff.
We don't usually track foodstuff or ammo unless it's relevant, if you've got them listed on your sheet, you're usually OK. We also tend to -as a group purchase- pick up the Field Provisions Box from the same source. Came in handy on a recent adventure.
We were contacting an isolated tribe on a volcanic island for a Lord/patron who was looking for trade rights. Place had a diamond mine that the locals didn't need. We took some back, bought two Boxes and returned with our patron, presenting the boxes as a gift to the tribe during the negotiations. A recent eruption had damaged their fields. Everyone was very happy.