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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)
Variant rules might trim down some note taking.
Cereal Nommer‭ wrote about 2 years ago

I have another incomplete suggestion; consider variant or optional rules that reduce bookkeeping, such as Initiative Variants (DMG 270) to remove the need to record initiative scores, Spell Points (DMG 288) so you only have a single pool to track rather than spell slots, Level Advancement without XP (DMG 261) for obvious reasons. You might also consider ignoring or hand-waving logistical issues, such as carry capacity or tracking ammunition. With enough paring down you might be able to get each player down to a small handful of numbers to track midsession, (HP, HD, spell points, class resource pool(s), item charges) possibly small enough to track with dice or tokens like poker chips.

Mithical‭ wrote about 2 years ago

I'm doing milestone leveling already, as well as ignoring most ammunition and carrying capacity. (I'm awarding them a Bag of Holding very soon and one character has an infinite quiver.) One character has a limited number of javelin I prefer to keep count of.