So, I have a problem with my party that I'm not entirely sure how to handle, or if I am just being overly uptight. They are very sloppy with inventorying and tracking the items they have found and who has what. They have a shared google doc they use for tracking notes and such that they all contribute too, which is good. They also have a running list of items they have found or gotten that are basically party resources.
The problem is that they basically just have them in this one long list of items, but only some of them are actually assigned to anyone's inventories or their bag of holding. Other items are only on their master list, and other items are only in a players inventory.
Normally I would be like whatever, if they want to deal with the hassle of not knowing who has what and the confusion that will cause down the line, fine, that's on them. But, their disorganized approach has already lead to them tracking more potions of healing than they have found/bought, because they've doubled up tracking. As a result, I have to keep tracking in more detail what they've bought/found than I think I should be having to do, to make sure they aren't doing that anymore.
I have given a couple of gentle nudges that they need to come up with a better system and determine who has what but they haven't done anything about it. I know it can be a hassle to manage adding items to ones inventory right in the middle of the action, but they aren't even doing it after the sessions.
So at our next session I am planning on bringing it up and saying that going forward, any items not assigned to someone's inventory or their bag of holding at the start of the session do not exist for that session. That wouldn't apply to anything they pick up during that session of course.
Am I being to harsh? I just don't think I should be having to track exactly how many potions/consumables they've acquired and how many they have used so religiously, on top of everything else I have to track and notate to run sessions.
I think you are being fair. If a player doesn't mind accepting the consequences for not being prepared; I would say that is on them. But when their lack of management impacts the game as a whole, other players, and you job as a DM then I think you are correct in addressing it.
I recommend making it clear that you are taking short breaks in the game so that all party members can assign items prior to restarting. This should happen every time they find new items, go shopping, or just before you finish a long rest or leave a base of operations. Establishing this time lives little to no excuse for the players not be ready. It doesn't take long to move 2 potions of healing between inventories. I know some weeks, doing this in between sessions is such a low priority in life so maybe asking them to be on top of things on their time is not viable option. Also you are there to witness. So if they don't move things out of the bag of holding, then they can't use the item during the encounter unless they return to and retrieve from the bag. If you don't see something in the bag at the restart of game play, then it is not allowed for that session of play.
It sounds like you are handling this correctly. Can you can also stress to the team that they set up party loot in a way that lists the items with how they are being held:
Bag of holding 1) xxxx 2) zzzz
Player A 1) yyyyy
Player B 1) aaaa 2) bbbb 3) xxxxx
And remind them it is for their benefit and not just yours. It will help them in their adventures.
That seems reasonable. And it is not up to you to track items they use. It’s on them to know.
Really, the way to do it is to decide as they pick things up. Don’t let them fudge who has what, and then decide at the crucial moment that actually, I was carrying that potion of healing after all. Lucky thing, that.
player A: "i've fallen into a deep pit! throw me a rope!"
player B: "sure. i put lots of rope in the bag of holding."
player A: "but, i'm holding the bag of holding..."
bbeg: queues the kobold bards to begin playing "yakety sax"
Ha, this reminds me of an incident in a campaign I played in many years ago. It had been an ongoing campaign going for a while so they had a lot of stuff picked up and stashed in their bag of holding and the person carrying the bag of holding got pulled the Talon card from the deck of many things and it all got disintegrate.
This might be a bit obvious, but...is there a reason they aren't using D&D Beyond character sheets? That seems like a simpler solution than maintaining a beast of a Google doc, plus it gives you the ability to add or delete stuff to PCs' inventories yourself, if they are in a campaign you create.
If inventory management is that much of a problem, I also don't see the problem of pausing the session, or stopping session early to handle inventory stuff at the end. "Okay wizard, you claimed the rope of entanglement, and the barbarian used her healing potion. Let's take care of that now."
This might be a bit obvious, but...is there a reason they aren't using D&D Beyond character sheets? That seems like a simpler solution than maintaining a beast of a Google doc, plus it gives you the ability to add or delete stuff to PCs' inventories yourself, if they are in a campaign you create.
If inventory management is that much of a problem, I also don't see the problem of pausing the session, or stopping session early to handle inventory stuff at the end. "Okay wizard, you claimed the rope of entanglement, and the barbarian used her healing potion. Let's take care of that now."
They are, but since they can't see each others inventories, items that are party resources and stuff in the bag of holding, they are maintaining the list so everyone can know what they have at their disposal.
This might be a bit obvious, but...is there a reason they aren't using D&D Beyond character sheets? That seems like a simpler solution than maintaining a beast of a Google doc, plus it gives you the ability to add or delete stuff to PCs' inventories yourself, if they are in a campaign you create.
If inventory management is that much of a problem, I also don't see the problem of pausing the session, or stopping session early to handle inventory stuff at the end. "Okay wizard, you claimed the rope of entanglement, and the barbarian used her healing potion. Let's take care of that now."
They are, but since they can't see each others inventories, items that are party resources and stuff in the bag of holding, they are maintaining the list so everyone can know what they have at their disposal.
then it might need to be more of a log entry...
" + qty.2 heal pots found, (Aaron +1, pouch) and (Bbaron +1, under hat)" " + qty.1 large iron key, (Ccaron +1, BoH)" " - qty.1 heal pot, drank by Ddaron (Aaron -1)" " + qty.3 red arrows, (Aaron's +3, quiver)"
I had the conversation with them last night and they were fine and in agreement with the if an item isn't noted in someone's inventory at the start of a session, for items from previous sessions, it would be considered not to exist and can not be used for the session rule. They are still going to use their shared google document for group tracking and knowledge, but it is secondary to their inventories, not the other way around.
I am also going to make a point of ensuring we are taking a pause as they find items, particularly when they find several at once, to give them a moment to discuss who is getting what and add to the appropriate inventories.
They also decided for themselves that they aren't going to store potions of healing in the bag of holding, when they get them they go to a specific person at that point, so they aren't double tracking them.
Note that only the person carrying the Bag of Holding really knows whats in there. If the other PCs want to know what is still in there they can ask the carrier.
Note that only the person carrying the Bag of Holding really knows whats in there. If the other PCs want to know what is still in there they can ask the carrier.
Not really, they are using it as a party bag of holding, anything that hasn't been assigned to one of them specifically, or is intended for all of their use. They would know what they each have had stored in the bag, but from a practical point of view, having to stop and have everyone list what they have each added to the bag of holding, or have the carrier read the whole list just eats up a lot of time and brings things to a stop just to read out. It's more practical to just have it be understood that the characters did that step already and have the list to reference. At least until they ever get around to allowing for shared containers that the whole party can see.
This might be a bit obvious, but...is there a reason they aren't using D&D Beyond character sheets? That seems like a simpler solution than maintaining a beast of a Google doc, plus it gives you the ability to add or delete stuff to PCs' inventories yourself, if they are in a campaign you create.
If inventory management is that much of a problem, I also don't see the problem of pausing the session, or stopping session early to handle inventory stuff at the end. "Okay wizard, you claimed the rope of entanglement, and the barbarian used her healing potion. Let's take care of that now."
They are, but since they can't see each others inventories, items that are party resources and stuff in the bag of holding, they are maintaining the list so everyone can know what they have at their disposal.
Players in the same campaign can see each other's inventories. They just can't add anything unless they own the character sheet or they're the DM.
Note that only the person carrying the Bag of Holding really knows whats in there. If the other PCs want to know what is still in there they can ask the carrier.
Not really, they are using it as a party bag of holding, anything that hasn't been assigned to one of them specifically, or is intended for all of their use. They would know what they each have had stored in the bag, but from a practical point of view, having to stop and have everyone list what they have each added to the bag of holding, or have the carrier read the whole list just eats up a lot of time and brings things to a stop just to read out. It's more practical to just have it be understood that the characters did that step already and have the list to reference. At least until they ever get around to allowing for shared containers that the whole party can see.
But somebody should be tracking it, or how will they know when its hit capacity? Or are you not worrying about that?
Note that only the person carrying the Bag of Holding really knows whats in there. If the other PCs want to know what is still in there they can ask the carrier.
Not really, they are using it as a party bag of holding, anything that hasn't been assigned to one of them specifically, or is intended for all of their use. They would know what they each have had stored in the bag, but from a practical point of view, having to stop and have everyone list what they have each added to the bag of holding, or have the carrier read the whole list just eats up a lot of time and brings things to a stop just to read out. It's more practical to just have it be understood that the characters did that step already and have the list to reference. At least until they ever get around to allowing for shared containers that the whole party can see.
But somebody should be tracking it, or how will they know when its hit capacity? Or are you not worrying about that?
if you're not enforcing the encumbrance variant and they're not putting a smithing anvil in there, why bother most days? when you realize they must look like a cartoon character escaping the dust bowl, tell them. they'll fall over, everyone will laugh, they'll leave the three sets of armor, fifteen swords, and one elegant dining table in the road for the next adventurers to imagine context for and everyone will scoot along just fine.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: providefeedback!
This might be a bit obvious, but...is there a reason they aren't using D&D Beyond character sheets? That seems like a simpler solution than maintaining a beast of a Google doc, plus it gives you the ability to add or delete stuff to PCs' inventories yourself, if they are in a campaign you create.
If inventory management is that much of a problem, I also don't see the problem of pausing the session, or stopping session early to handle inventory stuff at the end. "Okay wizard, you claimed the rope of entanglement, and the barbarian used her healing potion. Let's take care of that now."
They are, but since they can't see each others inventories, items that are party resources and stuff in the bag of holding, they are maintaining the list so everyone can know what they have at their disposal.
then it might need to be more of a log entry...
" + qty.2 heal pots found, (Aaron +1, pouch) and (Bbaron +1, under hat)" " + qty.1 large iron key, (Ccaron +1, BoH)" " - qty.1 heal pot, drank by Ddaron (Aaron -1)" " + qty.3 red arrows, (Aaron's +3, quiver)"
Or do it as a spreadsheet, if it's a shared doc, with Item and Location columns
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I give actual handouts for special items, printed on nice paper for the really nice items. Each handout has a section on it for who is currently carrying the item. If someone wants to use an item then their name needs to be written on the handout, or the character whose name is written down must be close by.
If a handout has no name written on it, then, well... obviously the party didn't pick it up, leaving it on the ground where they found it. Yes, this bit got some grumbling but I don't care. This issue bugs me a lot, so the players can just learn to do it properly.
If the players have lost the piece of paper then, well… obviously the characters have lost the item. Yes, more grumbling here, same response from me. We play at my house, and I put a purple folder on the table for party stuff, you should have used it.
Disclaimer: we play in person.
In all seriousness, this is more than just a "this bugs me" issue. When the GM asks, 'Who is carrying the magical lantern?" and six people all look at them blankly, it slows the game down. The GM has to stop the narration (losing any pacing) while the table sorts out who has the item. Seriously, players, this is not a trick question! Who is carrying this item?
It came to a head in a previous game where I told the players I wasn't going to audit this stuff and I trusted them with the gear. Right up until I found out that the party, all of which had dumped STR (the highest in the entire party was 12), had one character carrying five suits of plate armour. Still moving at 30 of course. That's just taking the —.
Online I think I'd have a spreadsheet that all the players can read but that only one person can edit (to stop sneaky item theft, which I have seen far too many times).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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So, I have a problem with my party that I'm not entirely sure how to handle, or if I am just being overly uptight. They are very sloppy with inventorying and tracking the items they have found and who has what. They have a shared google doc they use for tracking notes and such that they all contribute too, which is good. They also have a running list of items they have found or gotten that are basically party resources.
The problem is that they basically just have them in this one long list of items, but only some of them are actually assigned to anyone's inventories or their bag of holding. Other items are only on their master list, and other items are only in a players inventory.
Normally I would be like whatever, if they want to deal with the hassle of not knowing who has what and the confusion that will cause down the line, fine, that's on them. But, their disorganized approach has already lead to them tracking more potions of healing than they have found/bought, because they've doubled up tracking. As a result, I have to keep tracking in more detail what they've bought/found than I think I should be having to do, to make sure they aren't doing that anymore.
I have given a couple of gentle nudges that they need to come up with a better system and determine who has what but they haven't done anything about it. I know it can be a hassle to manage adding items to ones inventory right in the middle of the action, but they aren't even doing it after the sessions.
So at our next session I am planning on bringing it up and saying that going forward, any items not assigned to someone's inventory or their bag of holding at the start of the session do not exist for that session. That wouldn't apply to anything they pick up during that session of course.
Am I being to harsh? I just don't think I should be having to track exactly how many potions/consumables they've acquired and how many they have used so religiously, on top of everything else I have to track and notate to run sessions.
I think you are being fair. If a player doesn't mind accepting the consequences for not being prepared; I would say that is on them. But when their lack of management impacts the game as a whole, other players, and you job as a DM then I think you are correct in addressing it.
I recommend making it clear that you are taking short breaks in the game so that all party members can assign items prior to restarting. This should happen every time they find new items, go shopping, or just before you finish a long rest or leave a base of operations. Establishing this time lives little to no excuse for the players not be ready. It doesn't take long to move 2 potions of healing between inventories. I know some weeks, doing this in between sessions is such a low priority in life so maybe asking them to be on top of things on their time is not viable option. Also you are there to witness. So if they don't move things out of the bag of holding, then they can't use the item during the encounter unless they return to and retrieve from the bag. If you don't see something in the bag at the restart of game play, then it is not allowed for that session of play.
It sounds like you are handling this correctly. Can you can also stress to the team that they set up party loot in a way that lists the items with how they are being held:
Bag of holding
1) xxxx
2) zzzz
Player A
1) yyyyy
Player B
1) aaaa
2) bbbb
3) xxxxx
And remind them it is for their benefit and not just yours. It will help them in their adventures.
That seems reasonable.
And it is not up to you to track items they use. It’s on them to know.
Really, the way to do it is to decide as they pick things up. Don’t let them fudge who has what, and then decide at the crucial moment that actually, I was carrying that potion of healing after all. Lucky thing, that.
player A: "i've fallen into a deep pit! throw me a rope!"
player B: "sure. i put lots of rope in the bag of holding."
player A: "but, i'm holding the bag of holding..."
bbeg: queues the kobold bards to begin playing "yakety sax"
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
Ha, this reminds me of an incident in a campaign I played in many years ago. It had been an ongoing campaign going for a while so they had a lot of stuff picked up and stashed in their bag of holding and the person carrying the bag of holding got pulled the Talon card from the deck of many things and it all got disintegrate.
This might be a bit obvious, but...is there a reason they aren't using D&D Beyond character sheets? That seems like a simpler solution than maintaining a beast of a Google doc, plus it gives you the ability to add or delete stuff to PCs' inventories yourself, if they are in a campaign you create.
If inventory management is that much of a problem, I also don't see the problem of pausing the session, or stopping session early to handle inventory stuff at the end. "Okay wizard, you claimed the rope of entanglement, and the barbarian used her healing potion. Let's take care of that now."
They are, but since they can't see each others inventories, items that are party resources and stuff in the bag of holding, they are maintaining the list so everyone can know what they have at their disposal.
then it might need to be more of a log entry...
" + qty.2 heal pots found, (Aaron +1, pouch) and (Bbaron +1, under hat)"
" + qty.1 large iron key, (Ccaron +1, BoH)"
" - qty.1 heal pot, drank by Ddaron (Aaron -1)"
" + qty.3 red arrows, (Aaron's +3, quiver)"
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
I had the conversation with them last night and they were fine and in agreement with the if an item isn't noted in someone's inventory at the start of a session, for items from previous sessions, it would be considered not to exist and can not be used for the session rule. They are still going to use their shared google document for group tracking and knowledge, but it is secondary to their inventories, not the other way around.
I am also going to make a point of ensuring we are taking a pause as they find items, particularly when they find several at once, to give them a moment to discuss who is getting what and add to the appropriate inventories.
They also decided for themselves that they aren't going to store potions of healing in the bag of holding, when they get them they go to a specific person at that point, so they aren't double tracking them.
Thanks for everyone's feedbacks and suggestions!
Note that only the person carrying the Bag of Holding really knows whats in there. If the other PCs want to know what is still in there they can ask the carrier.
Not really, they are using it as a party bag of holding, anything that hasn't been assigned to one of them specifically, or is intended for all of their use. They would know what they each have had stored in the bag, but from a practical point of view, having to stop and have everyone list what they have each added to the bag of holding, or have the carrier read the whole list just eats up a lot of time and brings things to a stop just to read out. It's more practical to just have it be understood that the characters did that step already and have the list to reference. At least until they ever get around to allowing for shared containers that the whole party can see.
Players in the same campaign can see each other's inventories. They just can't add anything unless they own the character sheet or they're the DM.
But somebody should be tracking it, or how will they know when its hit capacity? Or are you not worrying about that?
if you're not enforcing the encumbrance variant and they're not putting a smithing anvil in there, why bother most days? when you realize they must look like a cartoon character escaping the dust bowl, tell them. they'll fall over, everyone will laugh, they'll leave the three sets of armor, fifteen swords, and one elegant dining table in the road for the next adventurers to imagine context for and everyone will scoot along just fine.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
Or do it as a spreadsheet, if it's a shared doc, with Item and Location columns
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I give actual handouts for special items, printed on nice paper for the really nice items. Each handout has a section on it for who is currently carrying the item. If someone wants to use an item then their name needs to be written on the handout, or the character whose name is written down must be close by.
If a handout has no name written on it, then, well... obviously the party didn't pick it up, leaving it on the ground where they found it. Yes, this bit got some grumbling but I don't care. This issue bugs me a lot, so the players can just learn to do it properly.
If the players have lost the piece of paper then, well… obviously the characters have lost the item. Yes, more grumbling here, same response from me. We play at my house, and I put a purple folder on the table for party stuff, you should have used it.
Disclaimer: we play in person.
In all seriousness, this is more than just a "this bugs me" issue. When the GM asks, 'Who is carrying the magical lantern?" and six people all look at them blankly, it slows the game down. The GM has to stop the narration (losing any pacing) while the table sorts out who has the item. Seriously, players, this is not a trick question! Who is carrying this item?
It came to a head in a previous game where I told the players I wasn't going to audit this stuff and I trusted them with the gear. Right up until I found out that the party, all of which had dumped STR (the highest in the entire party was 12), had one character carrying five suits of plate armour. Still moving at 30 of course. That's just taking the —.
Online I think I'd have a spreadsheet that all the players can read but that only one person can edit (to stop sneaky item theft, which I have seen far too many times).