IF your group likes "camping simulators" great, and if it gives your Druid and/or Ranger a moment to shine, better... but even still I'd probably make it flavor not mechanics.
If any actual hunters want to correct me (my Aunt hunts, but I'm a city boy), but it's mostly a waiting game... which isn't conclusive to travel. So more then likely the Ranger/Druid would set snares before bed and hope breakfast catches itself in the night.
I can tell you some of my best games involved starving in the woods, as we hike through snowy mountains and the Big Bad Guy (we couldn't fight, had to flee) is chasing us. I generally find this more "fun" in a game that's a "Tomb Raider" style, where you're organizing an expedition... but you also often need to remember that you'll need half a dozen mules! Then managing the resources of the expedition is park of the game instead of an annoyance that has to be dealt with.
Also if we're going to worry about Realism... most animals stay AWAY from humans. Fire, etc... so unless a bear is super interested in your camping supplies, most animals don't attack humans. There are a few exceptions, like jaguars in pre-door technology are known to walk into a house kill a full grown person and drag them off without waking their family.
Problematic Issues with a Survival Themed Game: A Druid (using up 2 up her daily level 1 spells) can create food for 10 people and 10 gallons of water per day... So, that can quickly become a very moot issue.
Gaming is meant as recreation, an escape from normal life. It should be an escape from minutia as much as possible (unless you're really into that, then you-do-you).
It can be used as a plot point without devolving into bookkeeping. If you're going on a long expedition, are you packing light or heavy? A quick bit of math will tell you how much you need to spend. If you've just rescued a whole town's worth of already-starved captive slaves, will they all survive back to civilization? Sure... pay attention to food, then. Maybe the adventurers go hungry for a while so the villagers can eat. But the rest of the time? Don't bother, it's not worth the effort.
In another game system, Shadowrun, I like to joke that all the faucets in the world have three knobs - "hot", "cold", and "basic ammunition". If you want speciality rounds (explosive, armor piercers, heavy weapon, etc) then yeah... I'm gonna make you pay for them and track them. If you're content firing regular bullets, just remember when you have to pause to reload. Don't worry about exactly how many you're carrying.
I tend to handwave food requirements unless the players want to deal with them, because i feel it takes away from the story. If the players want to RP that, then we do it, but I'd rather focus on the story as a whole instead of worrying about food.
I assume that players are scrounging if they are in a wilderness setting, but on a dungeon delve, I keep track of food. I do the same for the monsters.
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I agree with sloporion,
IF your group likes "camping simulators" great, and if it gives your Druid and/or Ranger a moment to shine, better... but even still I'd probably make it flavor not mechanics.
If any actual hunters want to correct me (my Aunt hunts, but I'm a city boy), but it's mostly a waiting game... which isn't conclusive to travel. So more then likely the Ranger/Druid would set snares before bed and hope breakfast catches itself in the night.
I can tell you some of my best games involved starving in the woods, as we hike through snowy mountains and the Big Bad Guy (we couldn't fight, had to flee) is chasing us. I generally find this more "fun" in a game that's a "Tomb Raider" style, where you're organizing an expedition... but you also often need to remember that you'll need half a dozen mules! Then managing the resources of the expedition is park of the game instead of an annoyance that has to be dealt with.
Also if we're going to worry about Realism... most animals stay AWAY from humans. Fire, etc... so unless a bear is super interested in your camping supplies, most animals don't attack humans. There are a few exceptions, like jaguars in pre-door technology are known to walk into a house kill a full grown person and drag them off without waking their family.
Problematic Issues with a Survival Themed Game: A Druid (using up 2 up her daily level 1 spells) can create food for 10 people and 10 gallons of water per day... So, that can quickly become a very moot issue.
Gaming is meant as recreation, an escape from normal life. It should be an escape from minutia as much as possible (unless you're really into that, then you-do-you).
It can be used as a plot point without devolving into bookkeeping. If you're going on a long expedition, are you packing light or heavy? A quick bit of math will tell you how much you need to spend. If you've just rescued a whole town's worth of already-starved captive slaves, will they all survive back to civilization? Sure... pay attention to food, then. Maybe the adventurers go hungry for a while so the villagers can eat. But the rest of the time? Don't bother, it's not worth the effort.
In another game system, Shadowrun, I like to joke that all the faucets in the world have three knobs - "hot", "cold", and "basic ammunition". If you want speciality rounds (explosive, armor piercers, heavy weapon, etc) then yeah... I'm gonna make you pay for them and track them. If you're content firing regular bullets, just remember when you have to pause to reload. Don't worry about exactly how many you're carrying.
I tend to handwave food requirements unless the players want to deal with them, because i feel it takes away from the story. If the players want to RP that, then we do it, but I'd rather focus on the story as a whole instead of worrying about food.
I assume that players are scrounging if they are in a wilderness setting, but on a dungeon delve, I keep track of food. I do the same for the monsters.