Equipment and Persnickety Details

[BriarMonkey]

I like the index card idea, as well as the Item Cards from folks like Paizo. My only complaint with the Item Cards is that there never seems to be exactly the art/image you want for a particular item. Granted, trying to come up with a sufficient number of such cards would probably be cost prohibitive - but then so would going to art school for me (not to mention the lack of artistic talent).

So, yeah... I think I'm going to do some fiddling around and see if I can come up with a template I like for equipment cards. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking it needs space for the item's name; space for the description; space for the value; space for its mundane features (such as weapon damage, etc.); space for any special features or abilities; space for any encumbrance elements; and space for it's slot, or location (mayhaps a little table or image along the right that can be ticked to display where it's worn or carried).

Hmmm... Maybe it'd be better to have a template for general gear, weapons, and armor. They'd all have similar elements, but armor doesn't need weapon stats, etc.

Up until this point, any tracking of gear and consumables was done as part of the player's character sheet.

{ambles away thinking of layouts, and that he needs to clean his printer}

 

[Water Bob]

Off the top of my head, I'm thinking it needs space for the item's name; space for the description; space for the value; space for its mundane features (such as weapon damage, etc.); space for any special features or abilities; space for any encumbrance elements; and space for it's slot, or location (mayhaps a little table or image along the right that can be ticked to display where it's worn or carried).

Hmmm... Maybe it'd be better to have a template for general gear, weapons, and armor. They'd all have similar elements, but armor doesn't need weapon stats, etc.

I didn't want to spend too much time on it. What you see above is rough and serviceable. It gets the job done.

I'd like to see your templates, though, if you're going to put the work into it.

 

[BriarMonkey]

I didn't want to spend too much time on it. What you see above is rough and serviceable. It gets the job done.

I'd like to see your templates, though, if you're going to put the work into it.

Sure. It may be a week or two, and then it'd be first ideas as we all know things change when it hits the actual game.

But, yah, I'll post (or link) pdfs when I get them drafted.

 

[BriarMonkey]

Yeah, it's been a lot longer than a week or two. Turns out my sense of time in relation to getting things done is pretty not-right.

Anyway, I haven't gotten the templates done, but I have gotten a couple consumable items put together (and no, I'm not terribly happy with the images, but I'm not an artist so I gotta go with what I can get). I found something like these from Goodman Games, and thought the idea was a really good one - so I made up these cards for basic light sources (Lanterns [Common, Hooded, Bullseye]; and the Torch).

They are based on a 5x8 index card, and have two items per card, with a light line for cutting them apart.

Each item has the rules it uses (these are done for Pathfinder) and a set of marker boxes to track elapsed time.

I will probably do something like this for arrows and bolts as well.

And yes, I will get the templates done for Armor, Weapons, and Misc. Gear...

 

[Water Bob]

They are based on a 5x8 index card, and have two items per card, with a light line for cutting them apart.

Looking sweet!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

We use an honor system, and so far, there hasn't been much of an issue. Personally, I like it when everyone tracks their stuff. If we hadn't we wouldn't have had the Battle of the Brutal Slaughter of the Harpies...

The Battle of the Brutal Slaughter of the Harpies

We were attacked by Harpies, and the quick-thinking Druid hit them with an Entangle as they did a strafing run through some foliage- snagged them all!

That was when the dice went sour.

We only had a few PCs with ranged weaponry- a guy with a bow, a guy with a throwing hammer, one with a sling, and the Wiz had a dagger.

The guy with the Hammer is venturing into the area of the Entangle to retrieve his hammer and the Wiz' dagger.

Most of the to-hit rolls were low. When we did hit, no attack did more than 3HP damage. We finish off the first Harpy just as the Entangle is starting to expire...

So the Druid does Entangle #2...and our futility continues. The dice continue to stay as low as a soldier under fire.

The guy with the Hammer is, by now, having to venture into the area of the Entangle to retrieve arrows that have missed. The PC with the sling is now using rocks.

Harpy #2 is near death but still fighting and Harpy #3 is untouched when Entangle #2 is expiring, so the Druid pops Entangle #3.

My PC and the hammer-thrower are apologizing to the Harpies- in character- for the cruel deaths that we are inflicting upon them...especially after the hammer-thrower retrieved the Wizard's dagger out of the still-living Harpy#2 so the Wizard could throw it again. But he doesn't leave the Entangle area until after he stabs the dying Harpy with that dagger to finish it off.

By now, all of the arrows have been used, either striking the Harpies or being broken downrange. EVERYONE ELSE IS THROWING ROCKS.

The last Harpy dies just before Entangle #3 does.

All of this time, our DM has been flabbergasted- absolutely red faced and flustered- at the action. "F$%^&ing Entangle! That spell is broken!" *rant*rant*rant*

To which the Druid's player huffily responded "Well, it was either that or Create Food & Water! The Harpies could have had a meal and a bath!"

LOLs abounded.

 

[Gilladian]

I have been using item cards for magical items, alchemical items, and for tracking consumables (rations, arrows) but not standard gear, for years now.

I use blank 4x6 cards.

I put the name of the item, the weight, the cost, and the description, including caster level, etc...

For consumables, I print the number there were when they found/purchased the item, and then they use tick marks to track usage during the game.

I don't bother with ownership, because my PCs love to trade items around, and putting a name on it makes cards less re-usable in future games. I now have about 30 CLW cards in my stash... I retrieve cards as the items are used, and I generally print magic items up before the game, although sometimes they surprise me and I do it afterwards.

After 4-5 campaigns of doing this, I have a pretty full box of cards that I've used over and over.

If I was to go so far as to have art for each item, I would use magazine images or book art and paste them on the back of the cards. Sometimes I consider doing it, but the idea of keeping it up becomes too much.

 

[SkidAce]

I used to make 3X5? cards for all the good stuff, magical items, valuable gems etc.

Who ever felt the most artistic would draw the item in color pencil (usually me, lazy players!).

Small things like arrows the player tracked on honor system. I had a rule, arrows that missed* (especially outside) had to save to be found unbroken (types of save varied over the years). So the player out in the wilderness knew he had 24 arrows kept track of himself after every battle.

Roleplaying gold...the party was about to assault a desert lizardman fortress, when the archer said "Hey guys, I'm down to three arrows by the way".

Same player eventually asked if he could make replacement arrows when he had down time, like foraging etc. RP gold again, I said sure. Set the difficulty of the task slightly harder than losing one, and let the random factor set the pace.

Here's some examples below. Stats were on the back. And yes, we stole the Rod of Ruin motif...basically we had an at will that did 1 point of damage a round back in 2nd(?) edition.


*swords/melee weapons took damage after natural ones, -1 to hit OR damage each time until repaired, players choice.

 

[epicbob]

Another idea I've seen before for managing weight was to convert the weight units into stones. IIRC, it was Delta's idea.

A stone is equivalent to ~14 lbs. In game terms, most common items end up weighting 1/2 stone. A few are heavier like suits of armor and heavier weapons while others are so light they're not even counted.

Also, because a unit of stone is so big, you can calculate your encumbrance limits using only your Strength score. 1/3 of your Strength is your maximum light load and 2/3 is your maximum medium load.

Basically, you can calculate your weight while staying in the VERY low double digits. According to the guy who came up with this, it's also a weight unit from D&D's time frame so you get extra medieval details to enjoy.

On the flip side, it's obviously a less accurate system since item weights are so heavily simplified. You also need to buy some things in bulk just so they add up to a 1/2 stone.

Personally, I like it.

 

[Grogg of the North]

How much generic ammo does your quiver have? Enough. Just drop some gold at the next town to refill your quiver. How much does that inn cost? An inconsequential amount of cash. All that loot you just acquired goes into hammerspace. And you pleasantly have "enough" rations to get to the dungeon and back.

I do keep track of encumbrance though. Mostly because so many class features require you to know if you're at a light load.