Keeping track of resources

[ThePrez1776]

I'm a pretty new DM, and something I noticed I've been having trouble with is keeping track of all the resources and numbers that go along with encounters. To me, there's a lot to keep track of with HP, per day abilities, ammunition, spell slots, etc. Is this something that anyone else has had a problem with in the past? Admittedly I can be a bit disorganized, so I was wondering if anyone had any strategies for better keeping track of this. Thanks for any advice!

[Yora]

A lot of it depends on the game and which of its rules you want to actually use and which ones to ignore.

[Fri]

>Play FATE

>All Resources are abstracted

Done. Next Question?

To be more serious, this depends, what system are you playing. If for example it's DnD, still depend on level. And also depend on what kind of campaign is it. If it's high level adventure, I'll handwave mundane arrows and such, and only track on special arrows, but if the campaign depend on the player having lacking in resource, even mundane arrows are still need to be tracked. Things like that.

[MinaBee]

I'm a pretty new DM, and something I noticed I've been having trouble with is keeping track of all the resources and numbers that go along with encounters. To me, there's a lot to keep track of with HP, per day abilities, ammunition, spell slots, etc. Is this something that anyone else has had a problem with in the past? Admittedly I can be a bit disorganized, so I was wondering if anyone had any strategies for better keeping track of this. Thanks for any advice!

I can tell you what works for me! I mostly play 5th edition D&D these days, so it might work differently for you if you are playing a different game.

For class features that have a finite numbers of uses that refresh, I write them in the Class Features section, with little bubbles or boxes to represent each use, and the refresh trigger right next to the name of the ability. It looks like this:

Bardic Inspiration O O O (long rest)

As a bonus action, you can inspire a person who can see or hear you within 60ft, etc. This is where the rules text goes, and I would write down whatever you need to have handy so that you can use this ability in-game without referencing the book. It could be one sentence about the range and type of action it uses, or it could be the entire rules text, verbatim, from the Player's Handbook. Whatever you need.

If you draw the bubbles with pen, you can cross them off with your pencil as you use the abilities, and then erase your marks when the ability resets.

Consumables like ammunition, torches, and trail rations I keep track of by giving each of them their own line in the Equipment section, and writing them like this:


Torches (10):
Trail Rations (10):
Arrows (20):

And then when I use something during an adventure, I just use a tick mark to keep track of what has been used, so mid-way through a session it might look like this:


Torches (10): ||
Trail Rations (10): |
Arrows (20): ||||

And then at the end of the session, I'll settle up by erasing the tick marks and deducting what I spent from the bracketed numbers, so at the start of the next session I'd see:


Torches (8):
Trail Rations (9):
Arrows (16):

This is especially useful because sometimes you'll be able to do something like scavenge shot arrows, so you can just erase some of your tick marks to represent that.

This is kind of long already, so I'm going to stop here. If you need clarification or have other questions, please ask!

[Freelance GM]

Torches (10): ||
Trail Rations (10): |
Arrows (20): ||||


This works excellently, especially for players. For DM's, they're great for spell slots, limited-use abilities, etc. However, as a DM, you are totally allowed to fudge things like the number of arrows an enemy has. Chances are the enemies are going to get killed before they run out, and you can just roll a d10 or something to decide how much ammo is left over.

For HP, I actually count up. Adding is easier to do in your head than subtracting (at least for me), so I add up damage and write down the total on a scrap of paper until it's greater than or equal to the enemy's HP.

If you're disorganized, here's an idea that will either really help or make things ten times worse. Try using note cards. Write down an enemy's HP, and limited abilities on the card. For large groups of enemies, just put all their HP on the same card. You could also write their Initiative, AC and/or speed along the top of the card, for easy reference. You can make cards for the players, too, and put them in your stack. This way, you don't have to constantly have a player remind you what their AC is, and you can easily keep track of the turn order just by moving cards from the top of the stack to the bottom.

[Fri]

Also, I dunno how this might or might not complicate matters, but if you're really doing a game where you have to track every tiniest details, what about using laptop or smartphone?

Like, using excel sheet or something even more complex.

[ThePrez1776]

I'm sorry for not clarifying earlier, we're playing 5e right now, though we may switch to Pathfinder for the next campaign. It's going to be a low-mid level campaign, ending at around level 10. Thank you to all who have responded; it's all been very helpful!