Im just curious as to what you guys think of needing to eat in a D&D session? like your character needs to eat everyday and needs to buy food for your mount and your own self
I've always considered it implied during rests, unless the player wishes to RP it out at a tavern, etc. For my games, enforcing eating sessions would only takes away time from good story.
If it's important to the story, then yeah, I make them keep track of it. However, it's rarely part of the story. Instead, I try to use food and drink to impart information about an area's culture and customs, or things that might be going wrong. Plus, when I offer good clothes and fine meals, my players often indulge and over-spend on those, and I think that's awesome.
Plus, I have some meetings with NPCs play out over food and/or drink to help add a little more depth to the NPCs in question via their food/drink habits and table manners (or lack of).
I make my players keep track of their calories and anything less than 2000 in a day begins to set in starvation.
Seriously though almost every game I've played in has ignored food. I have played in like one game where you had to make sure to buy rations and keep track of them.
Though every game I've played in you had to buy food at a tavern. Next game I run im thinking of just letting normal purchases be "free".
Each new game day I lead with the sentence "You break camp and break your fast, and get back on the road". That's player's cue to deduct one day off their rations. Otherwise, I gloss over the meal periods though I tend to reward players for bringing the mundane aspects of life into their own personal narrative during a game. "While everyone is watering the horses and having a midday cold lunch, I climb to the top of the granite boulders you mentioned and see what lies on the horizon in the direction we're going." <3 my players. Inn/tavern time meals come up but are paid for out the Party Fund.
Most food expenses are arbitrary or inflated by the dm to the point no one except the PCs could afford it. So that's why I think ignoring the costs works. Just deduct a gold coin from the loot they find.
In general I just ask my players to pay a lifestyle expense when they are in a town/downtime scenario. In the field I don't worry about it unless the adventure is survival based. It can add to the challenge if obtaining food is difficult. If it's not, it's just extra bookkeeping. I try to avoid extra bookkeeping.
In a broader sense, realism is a bad goal for D&D. I target "ease of suspended disbelief" instead. Does the fantasy world act in a relatively consistent way that I can predict? When it acts inconsistently is there some in-world force causing this change? Ok great let's roll!
Vs. "I know monks can fall and not get as hurt but come on, terminal velocity is reached after..." :D
In general I just ask my players to pay a lifestyle expense when they are in a town/downtime scenario. In the field I don't worry about it unless the adventure is survival based. It can add to the challenge if obtaining food is difficult. If it's not, it's just extra bookkeeping. I try to avoid extra bookkeeping.
In a broader sense, realism is a bad goal for D&D. I target "ease of suspended disbelief" instead. Does the fantasy world act in a relatively consistent way that I can predict? When it acts inconsistently is there some in-world force causing this change? Ok great let's roll!
Vs. "I know monks can fall and not get as hurt but come on, terminal velocity is reached after..." :D
One could explain the monk thing as a nature of the ki that inhabits them. So its not like they just fall and don't get hurt, the ki within them helps with absorbing the damage.
I'd say the operative constraint isn't realism, it's detail. The focus of D&D should be the roleplaying; some attention to detail improves that, but too much detracts from it.
I'm pretty sure that stuff like tracking food eaten for breakfast/lunch/dinner is requiring far too much attention to detail that does not enhance the game. Is it really worth it for the players to track how many apples fruits or pounds of meat they have with them? I mean, you could go to that level of detail, make a huge spreadsheet with all the consumable goods that travel would technically take up (food, water, clothing) and calculate rates of use of those things and make the players remember to get new shoes as they wear out and track that they're getting enough Vitamin C from the food so they don't get scurvy but COME ON, isn't it a better use of the players' time to have an interesting conversation with an NPC or to fight some more monsters than to track all of that?
The players need to track the stuff for their character which is important to their character's image - probably their weapons and armor and abilities and unusual items. "Mundane" stuff that doesn't set their character apart from anybody else in the party or the world probably isn't worth the players' time.
One could explain the monk thing as a nature of the ki that inhabits them. So its not like they just fall and don't get hurt, the ki within them helps with absorbing the damage.
Absolutely, but my point is I don't even want to have the discussion. It's D&D and fun! The monks can do that because they are monks and awesome at falling. That's about as far as I need to go for realism (subjectively). Trying to rationalize it all isn't where I find my fun :)
One could explain the monk thing as a nature of the ki that inhabits them. So its not like they just fall and don't get hurt, the ki within them helps with absorbing the damage.
Absolutely, but my point is I don't even want to have the discussion. It's D&D and fun! The monks can do that because they are monks and awesome at falling. That's about as far as I need to go for realism (subjectively). Trying to rationalize it all isn't where I find my fun :)
The very fact you can at certain levels survive a fall from space especially if all 1's are rolled on damage is highly unbelievable. And where I draw the line for realism. I do think there should be a rule that if you fall higher than say 300 feet, it should be automatic death (or at least unconscious).
We spent one 5 hour session pantomiming oiling and honing our weapons. DM made us count out the strokes on the whetstone or suffer -1 to attk & dmg. Also made us roll d100 to see how many times we chewed our food. Anything under 10 was a choke, and a teammate had to roll medicine to apply the Heimlich. Also, DM required the wizard to actually recite the descriptive text of his spells- verbatim & from memory- or not have that spell available for that day.
We spent one 5 hour session pantomiming oiling and honing our weapons. DM made us count out the strokes on the whetstone or suffer -1 to attk & dmg. Also made us roll d100 to see how many times we chewed our food. Anything under 10 was a choke, and a teammate had to roll medicine to apply the Heimlich. Also, DM required the wizard to actually recite the descriptive text of his spells- verbatim & from memory- or not have that spell available for that day.
No, not really. :p But what if, ya know...phew!
Technically the descriptive text is not the incantation (which must be short enough to be done in six seconds). So totally would have request to come up with my own.
Quote from NightsLastHero>>Absolutely, but my point is I don't even want to have the discussion. It's D&D and fun! The monks can do that because they are monks and awesome at falling. That's about as far as I need to go for realism (subjectively). Trying to rationalize it all isn't where I find my fun :)
The very fact you can at certain levels survive a fall from space especially if all 1's are rolled on damage is highly unbelievable. And where I draw the line for realism. I do think there should be a rule that if you fall higher than say 300 feet, it should be automatic death (or at least unconscious).
That's what house rules are for. Every DM can frame things up like that and tell the players before they risk something like that.
One could explain the monk thing as a nature of the ki that inhabits them. So its not like they just fall and don't get hurt, the ki within them helps with absorbing the damage.
Absolutely, but my point is I don't even want to have the discussion. It's D&D and fun! The monks can do that because they are monks and awesome at falling. That's about as far as I need to go for realism (subjectively). Trying to rationalize it all isn't where I find my fun :)
The very fact you can at certain levels survive a fall from space especially if all 1's are rolled on damage is highly unbelievable. And where I draw the line for realism. I do think there should be a rule that if you fall higher than say 300 feet, it should be automatic death (or at least unconscious).
If you fall from space, it's not the hitting the ground that kills you. It's the burning up from excessive friction that kills you. Or possibly the lack of oxygen from the atmosphere being so thin that far above the planet. Some of the damage might come from exposure to the radiation the ozone layer blocks. Some of the damage might come from exposure to the ozone layer. If you're really unlucky, you might pass through a thunderstorm on your way down.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
The very fact you can at certain levels survive a fall from space especially if all 1's are rolled on damage is highly unbelievable. And where I draw the line for realism. I do think there should be a rule that if you fall higher than say 300 feet, it should be automatic death (or at least unconscious).
If you fall from space, it's not the hitting the ground that kills you. It's the burning up from excessive friction that kills you. Or possibly the lack of oxygen from the atmosphere being so thin that far above the planet. Some of the damage might come from exposure to the radiation the ozone layer blocks. Some of the damage might come from exposure to the ozone layer. If you're really unlucky, you might pass through a thunderstorm on your way down.
The very fact you can at certain levels survive a fall from space especially if all 1's are rolled on damage is highly unbelievable. And where I draw the line for realism. I do think there should be a rule that if you fall higher than say 300 feet, it should be automatic death (or at least unconscious).
I'm sad that you've never heard of Vesna Vulović. Her DM rolled many, many 1s when she fell more than 10,000 meters and survived.
The problem with "enforcing realism" is that most people don't actually know very much about the limits of reality.
I think realism is only a good thing if it adds to the game play.
I never deal with food, but it seems like every story I ever hear about people who use food, it is more of a 'gotcha' moment for the DM. "Oho, you never said you bought more supplies before leaving! Now, you are starving!".
For example. Having to keep track of food when you are going town to town doesn't really make sense. Your character would already know how to plan for a trip like that (literally anyone who lived back then and knew how far/long they'd be travelling could pack accordingly.
But, sometimes, these kinds of things can actually add something to your game: Say you were travelling through the wilderness and thieves came and stole your supplies; tracking down the thieves might be the most prudent action, as you may die without them. Or if it was a much longer trip and things can happen to food stuffs on such a lengthy trip (Oregon Trail anyone?) then I'd make sure they had to scavenge for food/shelter and possibly deal with starvation/exposure if they didn't. That's where survival experts would become a godsend (or gods send?).
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
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Im just curious as to what you guys think of needing to eat in a D&D session? like your character needs to eat everyday and needs to buy food for your mount and your own self
I've always considered it implied during rests, unless the player wishes to RP it out at a tavern, etc. For my games, enforcing eating sessions would only takes away time from good story.
I do like Sedge.
In case they need to find food, I use a Survival check.
If it's important to the story, then yeah, I make them keep track of it. However, it's rarely part of the story. Instead, I try to use food and drink to impart information about an area's culture and customs, or things that might be going wrong. Plus, when I offer good clothes and fine meals, my players often indulge and over-spend on those, and I think that's awesome.
What Yarium said.
Plus, I have some meetings with NPCs play out over food and/or drink to help add a little more depth to the NPCs in question via their food/drink habits and table manners (or lack of).
I make my players keep track of their calories and anything less than 2000 in a day begins to set in starvation.
Seriously though almost every game I've played in has ignored food. I have played in like one game where you had to make sure to buy rations and keep track of them.
Though every game I've played in you had to buy food at a tavern. Next game I run im thinking of just letting normal purchases be "free".
Each new game day I lead with the sentence "You break camp and break your fast, and get back on the road". That's player's cue to deduct one day off their rations. Otherwise, I gloss over the meal periods though I tend to reward players for bringing the mundane aspects of life into their own personal narrative during a game. "While everyone is watering the horses and having a midday cold lunch, I climb to the top of the granite boulders you mentioned and see what lies on the horizon in the direction we're going." <3 my players. Inn/tavern time meals come up but are paid for out the Party Fund.
We all leave footprints in the sands of time.
Most food expenses are arbitrary or inflated by the dm to the point no one except the PCs could afford it. So that's why I think ignoring the costs works. Just deduct a gold coin from the loot they find.
In general I just ask my players to pay a lifestyle expense when they are in a town/downtime scenario. In the field I don't worry about it unless the adventure is survival based. It can add to the challenge if obtaining food is difficult. If it's not, it's just extra bookkeeping. I try to avoid extra bookkeeping.
In a broader sense, realism is a bad goal for D&D. I target "ease of suspended disbelief" instead. Does the fantasy world act in a relatively consistent way that I can predict? When it acts inconsistently is there some in-world force causing this change? Ok great let's roll!
Vs. "I know monks can fall and not get as hurt but come on, terminal velocity is reached after..." :D
I'd say the operative constraint isn't realism, it's detail. The focus of D&D should be the roleplaying; some attention to detail improves that, but too much detracts from it.
I'm pretty sure that stuff like tracking food eaten for breakfast/lunch/dinner is requiring far too much attention to detail that does not enhance the game. Is it really worth it for the players to track how many apples fruits or pounds of meat they have with them? I mean, you could go to that level of detail, make a huge spreadsheet with all the consumable goods that travel would technically take up (food, water, clothing) and calculate rates of use of those things and make the players remember to get new shoes as they wear out and track that they're getting enough Vitamin C from the food so they don't get scurvy but COME ON, isn't it a better use of the players' time to have an interesting conversation with an NPC or to fight some more monsters than to track all of that?
The players need to track the stuff for their character which is important to their character's image - probably their weapons and armor and abilities and unusual items. "Mundane" stuff that doesn't set their character apart from anybody else in the party or the world probably isn't worth the players' time.
We spent one 5 hour session pantomiming oiling and honing our weapons. DM made us count out the strokes on the whetstone or suffer -1 to attk & dmg. Also made us roll d100 to see how many times we chewed our food. Anything under 10 was a choke, and a teammate had to roll medicine to apply the Heimlich. Also, DM required the wizard to actually recite the descriptive text of his spells- verbatim & from memory- or not have that spell available for that day.
No, not really. :p But what if, ya know...phew!
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
I think realism is only a good thing if it adds to the game play.
I never deal with food, but it seems like every story I ever hear about people who use food, it is more of a 'gotcha' moment for the DM. "Oho, you never said you bought more supplies before leaving! Now, you are starving!".
For example. Having to keep track of food when you are going town to town doesn't really make sense. Your character would already know how to plan for a trip like that (literally anyone who lived back then and knew how far/long they'd be travelling could pack accordingly.
But, sometimes, these kinds of things can actually add something to your game: Say you were travelling through the wilderness and thieves came and stole your supplies; tracking down the thieves might be the most prudent action, as you may die without them. Or if it was a much longer trip and things can happen to food stuffs on such a lengthy trip (Oregon Trail anyone?) then I'd make sure they had to scavenge for food/shelter and possibly deal with starvation/exposure if they didn't. That's where survival experts would become a godsend (or gods send?).
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“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.