In my other game, mutual consent assigns items. There has on occasion been items that multiple characters wanted, and the group voted who gets the item to put it to the best of the party. Of course lately this has resulted in a lot of unassigned items floating around in characters backpacks, although there is good cooperation in trading certain special weapons back and forth depending on the situation.
Back in the day, my brothers and I devised a lottery system. Everyone gets a random assignment in order. #1 gets first pick at magic. If he takes an item he goes to end of list. Or he can pass and #2 gets the option to choose or pass. and so on. It became sort of a strategy game in and of itself. Take what is available now or hold out at the front of the line for something better. It was a fairly cut-throat game. Scrolls and potions did not count. If an item is taken and then sold later, it was considered party funds- this kept players from bottom feeding-sitting at the bottom of the list and taking everything that came along just in order to sell it.
One way I have seen it, is all items are pooled together and their wealth assessed as if they are to be sold. Players use personal existing wealth and potential assessed wealth to buy items out of the pool. This lets widely desired items be distributed through bidding, and very expensive items (like the mantle) can go to one character, but the party as a whole is compensated for it, as the player has to make a large contribution to community funds. Unwanted or too expensive items are sold.
Of course any of these can be over ridden with commen sense. The rogue would not be allowed to hold onto a Holy Avenger just because its pretty.
Anyone else with ideas?
Not that I want to be nutso over the magic stuff, but we should formalize something either IC or OOC is fine, just so items can either be distributed quickly and put to best use or sold off. In my other game, a manual of dexterity +4 caused a bit of a scuff as the monk, ranger, and bard could all put it to good use. There needs to be something in place when these situations arise for the goodwill of all.
By the way, my monk got the Manual and he is loving it.
And please disregard and or all of this if your current system works. As the new commer, I just want to know what everyone is comfortable with.
