Encumberance... In or Out?

[Xethreau]

I don't remember who said it, or from what game it was from, but one of the designers said something about one system of encumbrance that he liked where the game said "Which of these three pictures does your character most look like?" and it listed pictures of a guy packing it light, a guy with several things, but not overloaded, and then a guy carrying a ton of things. The rule was whichever one you picked was your encumbrance level, and in order to reduce it, you had to change your character's inventory surplus.

 

[Cirex]

I have always hated encumberance. I don't count weight or anything, just check what players wear and decide what they can carry or what is over the max. It's usually very loose and players fight with lots of heavy equipment on their bags.

 

[LowSpine]

I think a simple system would be a simple weight increment that reduces move by 1 offset by your strength/constitution modifier.

+4 mod would mean 4 x weight increment for free.

Say the increment is 20lbs. 100lbs at strength+4 would be -1 move.

The increment needs changing, but it seems simple enough.

I can understand if even that would be more of a pain than worth it.

I can't think of a system more simple that does what it is supposed to.

Actually it would need an initial offset for free in addition to the str/con mod.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

I want the same encumbrance rules as in Riddle of Steel.

They basically had five pictures of variously encumbered character and stated what was the penalty for carrying this much stuff!

 

[Eldorian]

I sometimes actually enjoy encumbrance, like when we're finding treasure and we start estimating gp value per pound, and dumping the cheaper treasure. It's kinda fun to have so much cash on hand that you literally can't carry it all.

 

[Nytmare]

After loving and hating encumbrance for the standard laundry list of reasons, I finally ended up cobbling together a strength based, slot style system about a year or two ago. It was exactly what my group needed, we get all the things we love about the resource management game, with 30 seconds of book keeping.

It's the first thing on the list of old house rules to think about dragging over to 4th Ed.

 

[hong]

I'll probably end up banning encumbrance, if I don't ban treasure.

 

[Kzach]

I'd like to see a nice and simple encumbrance system that doesn't involve bean-counting.

 

[kennew142]

I like having an encumbrance system, but I usually ignore it. I start counting encumbrance only when the characters are trying to carry too much loot. If they keep it reasonable (and don't try to take every mundane sword and dagger they find on their opponents), I don't worry about it. I think SWSE actually states this rule, but I've been using it since the 80s.

 

[IceFractal]

Everybody's talking about "bean counting" and "inventory management", but encumbrance isn't just for how many pounds of salt you can carry!

Trying to drag an injured companion out of the fight? Encumbrance.
Trying to carry a magical statue out of a collapsing temple? Encumbrance.
Trying to grab as much of the dragon's hoard as you can before it comes back? Encumbrance.

Encumbrance - it's not just for boring stuff (TM).