Equipment and Persnickety Details

[El Mahdi]

 

[SnowleopardVK]

My online groups use character sheets that auto-add the weight of everything they carry, and will adjust their load limits based on temporary strength boosts and whatnot, and it's always easy to tell when someone's going over encumbrance. Aside from dwarves, none of them ever do so deliberately though.

My tabletop group just ignores the mathy aspects. None of us are that good at it, and it would slow things to a crawl.

 

[Water Bob]

UPDATE!

I introduced the equipment cards in my game, and it is a fantastic success. Not only does it make is so much easier to pass equipment around to other charaters (just hand them the card), the cards also serve as a good visualization device that helps my players realize just how much equipment they are carrying.

For some reason, a long list of stuff doesn't seem as much as it is. But, if you're looking at this thick stack of cards, you realize it very quickly.

I don't spend a lot of time on the cards. In the upper left hand side, I write an initial for the owner's name, a dash, and the location where the item is carried. On the right hand side, I write how much the item weighs. In the body of the card, I write down some quick notes.

For weapons, I typically don't put the weapon stat on the card if the weapon appears on the character's sheet. No need to duplicate effort. But, if the stats appear no where else, then I, of course, list them on the card.

Players can add notes to the body of the card as needed. Some of them are detailed, like this card:

S - Waist                                          2
 
 
Rexor
Cimmerian dirk
w/ leather sheath
On weapon belt
 
Upper blade has a saw edge
Handle made of Cimmerian moose antler
Duncohr forge symbol etched on blade near handle

Some have very little detail, like this--

S - Wrists                                          --
 
 
Leather Bracers

As we game, notes might be added to the equipment cards. Take the Barcers above--that card may contain more info as it becomes important.

S - Wrists                                          --
 
 
Leather Bracers
Saphires and emeralds stitched into the bracers valued at XXX gp.
These are a gift from Roenonnna.
High Quality Leather and stitching.

I am very pleased with these cards in my game. So much so, I'll never go back to keeping a standard equipment sheet. As GM, I'll pre-fill cards and simply hand that to the player if I know they're going to find something during the game. And, if I don't pre-fill a card, it's a matter of seconds to pop out a card and scribble down a few quick notes (like the Leather Bracers first listed above).

When I first passed them out, one of my players took them and laid them out in front of him as if visualizing the equipment on a person.




I'm using standard 3x5 cards for the equipment, and each character has a single, larger 4x6 card where expendables are recorded.

On the unlined back, I turn the card long-ways and make two columns: One is used as the character's Hit Point track, and the other is used to keep tabs on Non-Lethal Damage.

The front of the larger card looks something like this:

S -                                                   
 
 
Belt Pouch A      Belt Pouch A              Belt Pouch B
32 sp                2 - 125 gp saphires     2 vials of clear, odorless liquid
20 cp                                                cork sealed with wax
                                                       with leather wrapping

I use the larger card because it makes it easy to locate and pull from the character's stack. I'm using cards because each character has a folder with a zip lock pocket that I picked up from the Office Supply store. If I didn't have that pocket, I'd just use regular lined notebook paper, with one page per item. To be honest, I like the cards much better than the stack of notebook paper (which I've used before in a Traveller game).



I use these card to keep track of EVERYTHING the character has, from his loincloth and socks to his clothing to his weapons, gear, and armor. You don't have to be that detailed, of course. If you don't care about leather bracers or tunics, then only use the cards for the major stuff: weapons, gear, and armor.

All-in-all, I highly recommend this for a game.

It makes equipment more visual, more tactile (because the players can feel the cards), easier to use, trade, and drop....it's just a good system to use.

Highly recommended.

 

[Chairman7w]

This: (I concur 100%)

Unless it's an egregious violation I ignore it once they've gone on an adventure or two. I find that such an un-fun part of the game that the group usually ends up with some sort of magic item that obviates the need for most inventory management. Sack of holding, spoon of gruel, dimensional quiver -- items that make it easier to adventure without upsetting combat balance.

I used to love inventory management, honestly, but play time is precious. I don't want to spend it futzing around with how many pounds each character is carrying.

 

[UselessTriviaMan]

We've been using 3x5 cards just like this in our campaign for well over a year now. It rocks. A lot. But we've discovered a couple of small concerns with 'em.

- Misplaced cards suck. A lot. I strongly recommend that you find some way to store item cards so they can't be accidentally lost.

- As the GM you might not need to keep a loot list any more, but your players might. If they don't 'officially' split loot immediately (our group, for example, waits until there's a good-sized pile of stuff before they divvy up their goodies), it's almost impossible to keep track of the loot list.


Other than that, they've been a total hit for us as well.

 

[Morrus]

UPDATE!

I introduced the equipment cards in my game, and it is a fantastic success. Not only does it make is so much easier to pass equipment around to other charaters (just hand them the card), the cards also serve as a good visualization device that helps my players realize just how much equipment they are carrying.

For some reason, a long list of stuff doesn't seem as much as it is. But, if you're looking at this thick stack of cards, you realize it very quickly.

I don't spend a lot of time on the cards. In the upper left hand side, I write an initial for the owner's name, a dash, and the location where the item is carried. On the right hand side, I write how much the item weighs. In the body of the card, I write down some quick notes.

For weapons, I typically don't put the weapon stat on the card if the weapon appears on the character's sheet. No need to duplicate effort. But, if the stats appear no where else, then I, of course, list them on the card.

Players can add notes to the body of the card as needed. Some of them are detailed, like this card:

S - Waist                                          2
 
 
Rexor
Cimmerian dirk
w/ leather sheath
On weapon belt
 
Upper blade has a saw edge
Handle made of Cimmerian moose antler
Duncohr forge symbol etched on blade near handle

Some have very little detail, like this--

S - Wrists                                          --
 
 
Leather Bracers

As we game, notes might be added to the equipment cards. Take the Barcers above--that card may contain more info as it becomes important.

S - Wrists                                          --
 
 
Leather Bracers
Saphires and emeralds stitched into the bracers valued at XXX gp.
These are a gift from Roenonnna.
High Quality Leather and stitching.

I am very pleased with these cards in my game. So much so, I'll never go back to keeping a standard equipment sheet. As GM, I'll pre-fill cards and simply hand that to the player if I know they're going to find something during the game. And, if I don't pre-fill a card, it's a matter of seconds to pop out a card and scribble down a few quick notes (like the Leather Bracers first listed above).

When I first passed them out, one of my players took them and laid them out in front of him as if visualizing the equipment on a person.




I'm using standard 3x5 cards for the equipment, and each character has a single, larger 4x6 card where expendables are recorded.

On the unlined back, I turn the card long-ways and make two columns: One is used as the character's Hit Point track, and the other is used to keep tabs on Non-Lethal Damage.

The front of the larger card looks something like this:

S -                                                   
 
 
Belt Pouch A      Belt Pouch A              Belt Pouch B
32 sp                2 - 125 gp saphires     2 vials of clear, odorless liquid
20 cp                                                cork sealed with wax
                                                       with leather wrapping

I use the larger card because it makes it easy to locate and pull from the character's stack. I'm using cards because each character has a folder with a zip lock pocket that I picked up from the Office Supply store. If I didn't have that pocket, I'd just use regular lined notebook paper, with one page per item. To be honest, I like the cards much better than the stack of notebook paper (which I've used before in a Traveller game).



I use these card to keep track of EVERYTHING the character has, from his loincloth and socks to his clothing to his weapons, gear, and armor. You don't have to be that detailed, of course. If you don't care about leather bracers or tunics, then only use the cards for the major stuff: weapons, gear, and armor.

All-in-all, I highly recommend this for a game.

It makes equipment more visual, more tactile (because the players can feel the cards), easier to use, trade, and drop....it's just a good system to use.

Highly recommended.

I use cards as well, but I don't make my own. I just use Paizo's Item Cards. Picture on the front, space to write details on the back.

 

[merelycompetent]

<snippy> One player got a sweet set of boots and we all got backpacks made of her skin, which we had enchanted to work as a communal bag of holding. Everything put in one bag is accessible by another. This has led to interdimensional slap fights, which are pretty funny. Reach into one backpack and out another, slap the person in the head.

Consider this idea yoinked for my high-level 3.5E game. I think I'll give them one that some of the bad guys/rivals also have "openings" for. I can't wait for my players to start wondering why their new super-sized backpack of holding keeps having stuff appear & disappear from it!

"Uh... where did my quiver of +3 arrows go? And where did this monster's severed head come from?"

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

 

[Griego]

How do I manage inventory? Klooge.werks. Automatically tallies up encumbrance and adjusts the character's speed based on weight limits. At least, for the 3.5 game support definition. Dunno about the others. It doesn't account for bulk, but then again, neither does the Player's Handbook.

 

[3catcircus]

"It depends."

At 1st level, it probably isn't that big a deal since they don't have much to begin with, but I still enforce encumbrance rules.

As they gain power, I relax things a bit, if warranted. FREX, in the current campaign, the party owns a dirigible and one of the PCs can summon lantern archons, so I hand-wave stuff like trying to haul off treasure.

Where it becomes really important is the most-overlooked aspect. Combat. I've never seen a D&D player have his PC dump his backpack when combat commences even if his movement rate is decreased. Compare that to any RPG that links encumbrance to initiative and quantity of actions per combat round - especially, say, a modern military type of RPG, where smart players are going to ditch their packs at the first sign of trouble.

What GMs need to do, I think, isn't just enforce encumbrance, but ensure there are consequences. Everyone knows, real-world, how quickly you fatigue is partly a function of how much stuff you are carrying.

I'd suggest that for D&D, a comparison to real-world combat loads might be a good starting point. For example, an infantryman might wear LBV/LCE equipment (aka ALICE gear) and carry nothing but ammo, water, helmet/body armor, a compass and map, writing material, a 1st aid kit and his weapon. He might have a buttpack that gets ditched upon first contact and his rucksack would be left back at the firebase/garrison/etc.

This would equate to, say, a fighter wearing armor and carrying his primary weapon, as well as water and a single potion of cure light; or a wizard carrying his staff, spellbook, spell components and focuses pouch, a ready scroll or two, and maybe a single potion of cure light.

A little bit more weight might be carried in an "assault packout" - say - another 10-20 lbs worth of gear. This might be what gets worn while exploring the dungeon.

Then, the "everything but the kitchen sink" which would be carried when transiting from place to place (dungeon to town, town to town, etc.)

Of course, use of bags or holding, etc. would effectively allow you to carry more, but I would still levy fatigue and exhaustion on those who insist on carrying all their worldly possessions into combat.

 

[Zhaleskra]

Depends on the game, venue of the game, and the players. Con game? You magically have enough arrows/bullets/whatever and only have to reload when it's dramatically appropriate or you've just fired your weapon's maximum ammo capacity in a short time (e.g., 3 10 round bursts from a Thompson SMG).

World Tree? The world is made of wood . . . arrows are infinity available unless you're in a cave or something.

I'm currently in a GURPS game where we are doing all the fiddly bookkeeping, and as far as I know, noone has a problem with it.