Resources depletion

[mobuttu]

Hi you all,
I'm planning a Dinosaur Swamp hexcrawl campaign and I wonder if any of you have a way to control resources depletion from the Neenok expedition. I mean, how can I as a GM control how many supplies are left in terms of rations, gas, spare parts, ammunition, spare MDC for armor repairing, etc. as the expedition ?

Thanks for your help.

[Aermas]

I'm confused. As a GM anything you say goes. What is your specific problem?

[glitterboy2098]

I assume they want suggestions on how to best to balance "fine detail tracking" (which given they're doing a hexcrawl approach, they'll be using) with "abstract enough that the Gm doesn't go insane trying to keep up"

personally, i'd suggest narrowing down the specific resources you want to be limited, while playing fast and loose with the rest. food you can probably abstract heavily, especially if the characters are going to be hunting and trading with locals to suppliment their initial supplies. but i'd make ammo something you track.. at least, non-replenishable ammo like railgun rounds, missiles, bullets, etc. really encourage the players to stick to energy weapons except where needed (since you'll be able to recharge E-clips from the expedition's robot) or obtain local weaponry that they can trade to obtain ammo for.

[mobuttu]

Thank you Glitterboy2098 for your clarifications.

As on of the main themes of Dinosaur Swamp is survival, for me, supply control is a key part of the adventure and a trigger for new scenarios. So, how would I (GM) or the players can control ration, ammunition, spare parts and MDC armor replacement in an hostile environment such as Dinosaur swamp without fudging it?

In a Black Hack way I have though letting the players group to a die for each supply (d20/d12/d10/d8/d6/d4) and every time supplies are consumed in a significant way, roll the die attached to it: on a 1 or 2 the supply die downgrades one step. If it is ever reduced below d4 it is run out.

Would you use any other system to track supply depletion?

Thanks

[Aermas]

Aren't their hexcrawl tools that cover this stuff that you can find online?

[Killer Cyborg]

Thank you Glitterboy2098 for your clarifications.

As on of the main themes of Dinosaur Swamp is survival, for me, supply control is a key part of the adventure and a trigger for new scenarios. So, how would I (GM) or the players can control ration, ammunition, spare parts and MDC armor replacement in an hostile environment such as Dinosaur swamp without fudging it?

I assume some kind of rationing of supplies would be in order from the players.

I mean, whenever I ran games, players would track their supplies on their sheets. When they used something, they used it.
If they ran out of ammo, they ran out of ammo, so they tried to be careful about how and when they used it.
If they ran out of food, they ran out of food, so they rationed when they needed to, or hunted.
If they ran out of armor, they ran out of armor, so they did their best to not get shot/stabbed in the first place. If they DID run out of armor, then they tried to loot armor from dead enemies, make new armor out of MDC hides, or--worst case scenario--they resorted to stealth, dodging, and cover in order to protect their SDC bodies from attacks.

"Spare parts" when I ran things would fall under the "armor" category; try not to get your vehicle damaged in the first place, if you're nowhere near a repair shop.
I always interpreted non-damage wear & tear as being SDC damage; it doesn't apply to MDC gear. So as long as your gear/vehicle isn't damaged, you're good.

[Grazzik]

I often run resource heavy games, and as mentioned by others, track what you think is important to drive the story - otherwise, it will become an accounting nightmare. Here are a couple things I do - feel free to ignore if they don't work for your game style...

• When it comes to food, I usually base it around each meal being 1200 calories, three meals a day for active PCs. This equates to 1 MRE or 630g/1.4 lbs of roasted game meat (deer). Not a good idea to just eat large quantities of meat, but this is just to give a point of reference re calories. BTW my house rule is ~50% Partial Borgs require 800 calories/day, FC Borgs require 350 calories/day (usually a basic paste of some sort). When hunting, it might help to determine how many meals a catch represents. When thinking of how much fruit and veg is required to get 1200 calories, that is a lot of foraging. Consider the impact of good balanced nutrition on health and PC performance. Bad diet could lead to quarrels and strife within the team, as PCs may be physically and emotionally struggling with being constipated or the runs. BTW Rifter 32 has a useful article on cooking. Don't forget that food rots, so think about how PCs prepare and store their food.
• More important than food is water. It is heavy. It is essential. It is often undrinkable when found unless treated, boiled, or at least filtered. This, above all other resources, is what PCs may need to fight for. However, if being stalked or tracked by a predator or enemy, water is where PCs will likely have to break cover. Again, I have PCs track their water consumption - lack of hydration leads to penalties that can take down any munchkin. My house rule for an active PC's minimum daily water needs is 1 pint/500ml of water per 40 lbs/18kg of biological body mass (as this allows for the variability in Partial Borgs). FC Borgs require 0.2 pints/100ml per day (mix in the food paste and you have something that looks like runny baby food).
• While Dinosaur Swamp (WB 26) has info on disease and medicine, consider Dead Reign SB 1 Civilization Gone, pg 35-37. This has penalties for dehydration, starvation, and common illness and other conditions, from hiccups to delirium.
• Armor - I play a 10:1 SDC game, so armor is rapidly depleted if there is any combat. But I fudge by allowing armor salvage to be readily used without too much fuss about real life considerations. It being a SDC game, this allows a lot of natural materials (hides, scales, bark, woven fibers, etc.) to be used to reinforce armor. Same for ammo - basic arrows are much more effective when MDC is nerfed to 10x SDC.
• Consider the condition of equipment. The environment will impact electronics and other gear leading to unexpected malfunctions. Perhaps let the PCs experience a few glitches at unfortunate times before they get into the routine of cleaning and maintaining gear. This shouldn't bog down play, but at the beginning it reinforces the tone that this is an extreme environment.
• Finally, think about another resource - rest and sleep. In the bush, the environment may be that proper sleep is not achievable which may impact PC performance. You may want to think about tracking accumulated fatigue and what might be the impact of long stretches of activity or simply having aggressive ants constantly biting in uncomfortable places.

Hope this helps and gives you some ideas.

[Blue_Lion]

The easist way is to just assine numbers you can track.
Food could be either total days or number of people/days. an example would be the way one of the APT in NG2 says it has food for 8 people for a month.
Fuel for each vehicle to travel X miles and run generators for Y number of days.
Parts valued at Z consumed at the operator repair cost rate and to perform standard PMCS Y number of days Maintenace.

So by tracking the number of days, and distance traveled (things you should already be doing) you track consumption of supplies.

Knowing the number of twinkies left is less important than known how long until the group is out of food, over all. Details about food being eaten can help immersion, but as long as the food descriptions are within the type of food brought then it would work and is easier to track duration than keeping track of how many potatoes are left.

[Grazzik]

The easist way is to just assine numbers you can track.
Food could be either total days or number of people/days. an example would be the way one of the APT in NG2 says it has food for 8 people for a month.
Fuel for each vehicle to travel X miles and run generators for Y number of days.
Parts valued at Z consumed at the operator repair cost rate and to perform standard PMCS Y number of days Maintenace.

So by tracking the number of days, and distance traveled (things you should already be doing) you track consumption of supplies.

Knowing the number of twinkies left is less important than known how long until the group is out of food, over all. Details about food being eaten can help immersion, but as long as the food descriptions are within the type of food brought then it would work and is easier to track duration than keeping track of how many potatoes are left.

Ordinarily I'd agree. However the context here is the Dinosaur Swamp where it is likely that one's skill at hunting / foraging and the type of food found may make more of a difference in the story than watching out for bandits and CS patrols which are more prevalent in the mid-west. I watched a survival show recently where it wasn't just calories but the quality of the food source that counted to whether each team got sick, had energy to do tasks, stayed cohesive, etc. There is a difference between a fatty roasted porcupine and subsisting on berries and crab apples...

[Blue_Lion]

The foraging could reduce or reverse food depletion rate of food. -the quality of food from foraging based off skill rolls.
Food from foraging would be immersive based things. But the amount of food they start with is key.