Attention to detail - gear .
 

As a GM I sometimes ponder on the ageold GM quandry - should the GM demand that the PCs kit is all kept meticulously registered down to counting the every hole in their socks and the level of wet through of their parka ,the breakdown number on their boots and how many periods have passed since they last cleaned and oiled their weaponry -

or should these things in general be summarized more broadly by stating shipshape , tattered,worn out, serviceable etc to get game to move faster

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if anyone has suggestions on how to best keep gear and gear status registered please post these.

I would like to hear from GMs and players alike on what they like and experiences with this .

Just want to get some prespectives .

( I like it on the stickler end myself ,maybe I can get some input to amend or enhance my style -though in all modesty ,I hardly think that is GM-possible :D)

Joke.

Yes. Uber meticulous detail. You should see the character sheets from my campaigns. Works of art.

Actually probably not that level of detail. But we did keep track of wear on important pieces of equipment, and I did insist on accurate accounting for ammunition, food, fuel, medical stocks etc.

ok
 

you got an example - I would like to see how you do things for possible incorporation .

I guess I could scan a sheet and turn it into an image or something like that. All the weapons, armour, equipment and consumables are written in pencil so just posting the electronic versions wouldn't show much. I think I've posted a Gunmaster character sheet in the past. I guess it would be in the archives somewhere.

great
 

appreciate it .

A definate accurate account of consumables- food, ammo, medicines, etc.

As far as keeping a tab on what kind of condition each character's gear is in, I wouldn't. But if the player doesn't specificaly state something along the lines of "I'm going to work on my gear before I go on watch.", as a ref I'd start having little things happen. "Gee Dave didn't get much sleep last night, that big rip in his sleeping bag let the cold in. He'll have a -2 penaltie to all rolls today."

We kept track of all consumables, down to the individual round. Food, ammo, fuel, etc etc. We kept track of wear on all weapons, personal armor and vehicles, too.

We don't keep track of ancillary gear - sleeping bags, tents, uniforms, etc. We only keep track of that stuff should something nasty happen to it - like your ruck hanging on the outside of your Humvee takes a round.

Otherwise, at some point it becomes a spreadsheet exercise and saps the fun out of the game.

yep
 

but as I am a stickler I would like to find the limits .

Rounds,rations and fuel goes without saying imho

breakdown number and weaponwear is a definitive plus to keep tabs on ( imho)

ancilliary gear like clothing,kevlar,sleeping bags, tents is a possibility.

I wouldlike to do all three ,but as he said -you dont want a spreadsheet of chores to sap the fun out

Just don't go to far. I once made an Access 2002 spreadsheet for T2K -- the damn thing ended up being 3.6 MB! And as you filled it out, it quickly ballooned! But it did keep up with absolutely everything...

Love to see the result Paul.

Exact record of fuel, ammo, food and other important stores needs to be kept - basically anything that your life may depend on (or be lost if you don't have enough). Other non-combat type stores should also be kept track of fairly closely, but not to the point of recording every last tear in your tent for example (just having a tent should be enough info).

Smaller less important items which generally only add flavour (such as if a character has sunglasses, a particular mix of clothing, etc) is to me almost totallly unimportant unless weight is an issue.

Keeping in mind that I haven't actually played any edition of twilight: 2000, I always thought that part of the reason for having the 'cards' for vehicles and weapons was so that you could write that sort of information on them e.g. the wear value of the vehicle, so that keeping notes was a little easier on everyone.
Do players actually make use of the cards for that? I've just realized the cards are only available from 2nd edition on so I guess this just applies to the last two versions of the game

In all the games I've played and GMed, cards, or more commonly record sheets of our own design have been used for vehicles.

our own cards
 

we always used our own cards .

Anyone with actual experience of running/playing in a game with a three level gear register

( 1 consumables 2 weapons vehicles 3 ancilliary gear )

Please let me hear what you thought of the playability and general impression.

Here is what I am going for next FtF ( doc name "gearlist").

http://thebigbookofwar.50megs.com/DOX/0-House%20rules/

It should be about as meticulous as I think could be combined with actual fast and fun play for GM and players alike

wadda ya say ?