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Comments on How can I make a game of D&D5e playable in a Sabbath-observing environment?

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How can I make a game of D&D5e playable in a Sabbath-observing environment?

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Being a person with some semblance of a real life, and the same applying to my players, I often find myself in the position of only having several hours of free time on Saturday - Shabbat (the Sabbath), a day where, as a religious Jew, we traditionally refrain from anything considered "work", including writing.

For RPGs, particularly D&D5e - which is the system we're using - this poses a problem. I as the DM often find myself making notes either on paper or electronically, and the players use pencils to mark HP, spell slots, etc. on their character sheets, as well as taking notes, marking down inventory items, or solving puzzles that I give to them.

Essentially, I need to find a way to run a game without relying on writing at all, from either the players or the DM.

How can I make a game of D&D5e more easily playable in a Shabbat-observant environment on Shabbat? I'd prefer answers that avoid potentially expensive items such as a HP counter ring, although I'm aware of the potential that those might be the best approach to take.

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4 comment threads

Have you experimented with dice as counters? (5 comments)
I have a sideways answer that might not be satisfying: instead of playing D&D, play a RPG that uses c... (2 comments)
Is recording voices an option? (3 comments)
Variant rules might trim down some note taking. (2 comments)
Have you experimented with dice as counters?
Monica Cellio‭ wrote over 1 year ago

It'd only be a partial solution, but have you done any experimenting with using dice as counters? (Obviously you'd need to keep them separate from the ones you roll.) Hit points can be tracked on a D20 for low levels or %ile dice otherwise. Spell slots are one number per spell level. I've never tried this and don't know how well it would work, which is why I'm asking a question in a comment instead of writing an answer.

Mithical‭ wrote over 1 year ago

Yes, but it's very easy for someone to shake the table and knock a die over. We'd also need a clear way to indicate what counter-die would be for what spell level, or the paladin's Lay on Hands feature, and similar.

Monica Cellio‭ wrote over 1 year ago

I played a game once (I forget what -- not an RPG but a dice game) where the dice were placed in foam "trays" that held each die. I guess it was a dice-drafting game. I started down that path but realized I needed more info.

About how many "things" does each player need to keep track of? Would half a dozen counters per player do the job, or is that way off? What about you as the GM -- how many things are you keeping track of in an encounter?

Mithical‭ wrote over 1 year ago

Off the top of my head: Each player needs to track 1.) HP 2.) spell slots 3.) inspiration. The Paladin needs to track Lay on Hands, Divine Sense, and Channel Divinity. The sorcerer needs to track Sorcerer Points. The Ranger has a magic item that she needs to track successes and failures on. I generally need to track HP for up to six creatures and initiative order, as well as legendary actions and resistances, plus lair actions.

TowerOfTurtles‭ wrote about 1 month ago

Could you adapt something like this https://www.easypeasyandfun.com/printable-number-spinners-1-to-20/ or this https://www.craftnhome.com/number-spinners-for-maths.html instead of dice? For the former, the bottom circles would have the digits 0-9 on them and you'd label the top circles with whatever stat or number you're tracking. For the latter, you could put the label on the outside of the spinner. For HP, you'd need 2-3 per creature/character, and label them as "HP-1", "HP-10", and "HP-100" respectively. Any counted stat (like Lay on Hands) would work similarly. If you could make them a bit smaller than they look on that site, you could potentially stick them on a piece of paper to keep them all organized. After the sabbath is over, you and/or your players could update the character sheets as needed. It might take a bit of work to do/get used to but it could solve the issue of keeping tracking of numbers/points.