Counting ammo creates a vibe. There are tools to get at that vibe without as much hassle, but whatever tool you use, you should be relevant to gameplay.

There also comes a point in the game where the vibe is established, the characters have advanced and you don’t need the tool as much or anymore.

I played in a game called Trudvang where part of the experience was tracking everything using decreasing tracking dice. We kept pushing away from it at first, but our DM enforced it and we had a lot of fun for it. As we leveled up, the tracking was less relevant and the conflict more, so we shifted focus there.

I still remember meticulous food, water, and ammo tracking, desperate health, and having to hunt and forage to keep up stock despite risking troll attacks. We even had to sit down and talk out whether to allow rescued people into our party because we were low on resources and didn’t have much time left before an event.

Tracking ammo on its own is usually meh, but that part of the game tracking everything, while harrowed and desperate, pushing against a time limit? That sticks in my mind.