[Old school] I can't deal with inventory

[Scribe]

In games about getting treasure and getting out alive, I think this is super important. What are you taking? What are you willing to leave behind?

I think this is critical. If the game is not about getting treasure, then sure you dont need to worry about it as much, but when the game IS about getting treasure and stuff out of the dungeon, then it matters.

Shadowdark solves it in a way that is not painful book keeping, and just gets you playing.

 

[zakael19]

but I like slot-based encumbrance, as it abstracts it enough to make it easy to manage.

I liked the slot based encumbrance that Dolmenwood's version of OSE (not sure if it's in base OSE as well?) and HMTW used. Easy enough to grasp, made for interesting tradeoffs in the dungeon, didn't have to do math.

 

[John Quixote]

I love me some Tetris, but no, I don’t want to play backpack Tetris.

Oh, I do. That's totally how I handle inventory management on my character sheet.

 

[Jahydin]

My two favorite initiative systems are from LotFP and Hackmaster.

LotFP just uses this simple chart (not affected by stats). The more points, the less you move during a turn.

Character is wearing chain armor* +1 Point
. plate armor* +2 Points
Character is carrying 6 or more different items overall** +1 Point
. 11 or more different items overall** +1 Point
. 16 or more different items overall** +1 Point
. 21 or more different items overall** +1 Point
Character is carrying an oversized item*** +1 Point per item

Hackmaster is on the other side of the spectrum where the GM does full on encumbrance audits (carried out with the seriousness of a tax audit) so careful records are required to avoid punishment :

 

[Swanosaurus]

Too many good points to answer them individually!

My takeaway is that my disconnect is mainly due to the fact that I tend to prefer "Big damn heroes", but in a more gritty context. That context is well provided by Shadowdark or Into the Odd; however, I'm not interested in the whole "let's go into a dungeon and get out as much gold as possible" part, which simply never has been part of my RPG bio (I dislike tracking money as much as I dislike tracking equipment).

So it feels weird to me, when, in Liminal Horror, a wound takes up an inventory slot, because who the hell needed that inventory slot anyway? (I thought that it was the same way in Mausritter, but I don't remember for sure.) So I need to find something else for wounds to do, or live with the fact that they are meaningless at my table.

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

I think that overstates it by quite a lot. There are tons of "encumbrance" solutions out there, ranging from spreadsheets to pure handwavium and everything in between.

The reason why there are so many solutions is that people don't find the existing solutions satisfactory - even when there are already tons of them to choose from - and so they create yet another solution in an attempt to fix the problems they see.

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

but I like slot-based encumbrance, as it abstracts it enough to make it easy to manage.

The weakness of slot-based encumbrance is dealing with small items - items where there is a desire and powerful intuition for allowing a slot to hold more than one of them. Implementing this causes complexity to creep into the initially simple system.

 

[Reynard]

The value of an inventory system is not simply a function of its complexity -- it is more a function of the usefulness and value of gear in play, along with the value and useful of treasure acquired. If a game depends on gadgetry in order to get things done, from holy water to torches to lock picks, then inventory is a necessity for play. If none of that stuff is important, inventory is just a hassle. Most modern games seem to understand this and design their inventory systems from play principles. Older games, and games in an older style, tend to carry forward legacy inventory systems regardless of whether they support the play style/loop of the game.

 

[Spellslinging Sellsword]

What's LFQW?

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards

 

[Mannahnin]

Linear fighter, quadratic wizard.

It’s what people call Monty Haul refereeing when specifically applied to handing out wizard spells like candy.

I've always seen it less about refereeing than about

A) spells doing increasingly world-altering things which open up completely new tactical options and strategies at higher levels, while Fighters are often stuck just swinging their sword more times and having more HP,

and B) Systems which let wizards advance in power in multiple dimensions at once. Like when in addition to more and more powerful spells, the DCs of your spell saves get higher, your Caster Level makes your spells do increasingly more damage, the Feats you gain let you mitigate your weaknesses, etc.