What I’ve seen over the last twenty years playing and running is that people don’t reliably maintain their carried weights. They may figure it out initially, but it’s usually a matter of time before it gets out of sync. Simplified systems like bulk or slots don’t help much because you still have to maintain a number.
I'm not sure what the satisfying answer is, or if there is one, but this is an area where the pain of tracking it exceeds the value of keeping up with it. It can change every few minutes as you expend items and pick up treasure. This is an area where computer-aided play has a major advantage.
What works in the article is its visual approach (as noted in
post #32). My homebrew system does something similar. Characters have an inventory grid, their hands, a money pouch, and an “extra” grid. Your inventory grid is equal to 7 + Strength while the “extra” grid is four boxes. When you write down items, you put them in a box. Putting things in the extra grid reduces your speed by 20% for each box filled (which is 3m per box by default).
Some items might require multiple boxes. When you write them down, you write them across those boxes. Other items are too unwieldly/large to put in your inventory (like polearms). Those have to be carried in your hands. Some items can also be bundled. Those are also stored multiple per slot in a bundle, but breaking apart a bundle in combat requires equipping the bundle and breaking it apart as an action. Money is allocated at 25 kS per box.
Note that you’re not actually carrying 25,000 coins. The S stands for “Silver”, which is the name of the currency. There are multiple denominations, but the system doesn’t concern itself with tracking the various coins, etc that you find. It’s just a quantity. The use of large numbers is an aesthetic choice influenced by games such as
Final Fantasy that have singular currencies and high prices. For example, a week’s stay in a private room is 2500 S. The PCs in my campaign are planning to spend millions (and have already spent several hundred kS) to build out and renovate their settlement.
If you want more than the default number of boxes, you can use containers. A small sack provides two boxes while a large sack provides six. Containers take up a number of boxes in your inventory equal to their contents (minimum one box). A small sack can be carried in one hand while a large sack requires two. Backpacks (+4 boxes) and satchels (+2 boxes) are the exception. They take up one slot each regardless of their contents, though you can only equip at most one backpack and two satchels.
Alternatively, you can increse your Strength. At every even level, you roll on your ancestry’s associated attribute table. The result tells you whether you can increase a physical (Strength, Dexterity, Endurance) or mental (Intellect, Wisdom, Willpower) attribute. The cap is +3, so you can’t get a lot of boxes that way, but you can get some. Rolling for attributes this way allows for ancestries to differentiate at a population level while allowing for individuals to deviate from the norm and for players to have some control over the allocation.
Hands are tracked separately because each round of combat starts with an equip phase. During the equip phase, you declare which items in your inventory are being used in that round. Swapping something you are holding is free, but you need space for it (e.g., a full, large sack would require six boxes). Various actions you can use in combat will indicate what they require to be equipped. The Melee Attack action requires a melee weapon, using a shield to Block requires a shield, casting spells require an appropriate implement, etc.
What I have seen in my game is the players are very mindful to avoid overly encumbering themselves even though (currently, anyway) the penalty is only reduced movement speed. Gear primarily comes up when they are trying to figure out how to carry the treasure they found back to town and when they are preparing for an expedition. They have to manage what they’re bringing while leaving some space for stuff they want to carry. Because the management is visual, it’s practically impossible for my players not to track things accurately.
Example: Dingo (the thief). He has Strength +1, so he has 8 boxes total. His grid looks like the following:
| Inventory | |
|---|
| Sabre of Saints | Buff Coat |
| Ring of Plant Control | Backpack |
| Arrows (×9) |
| Satchel | Satchel |
— | — |
| Backpack | |
|---|
| Waterskin | Tinderbox |
| Enough Rope | Jagged short sword |
He is carrying a shortbow, which he can do in one hand. His other is free because he needs both hands to use it with the Missile Attack action. Ammunition (such as arrows) is retrieved automatically from your inventory. He is wearing a buff coat as armor, which occupies one of the boxes in his inventory. Other armors may require more boxes. If you want to carry armor, it needs to go in a container. The “—”s are the unavailable boxes due to Dingo’s Strength attribute. He has nothing in his “extra” boxes, so he moves at his full speed (15m per round).
If Dingo wants to get out his oil, pour it on something, then light it. He would have to equip the satchel, use an action to retrieve the bundle of oil flasks, equip the oil flasks, use an action to break them apart, equip his backpack, use an action to retrieve the tinderbox, equip an oil flask, use an action to pour the oil, equip the tinderbox, then use an action to light the oil. That’s five rounds (or 50s). If he knows he’s going to do that, he can prepare by putting an unbundled flask of oil and the tinderbox in his inventory. That reduces the time needed down to two rounds (equip oil, pour it out, equip tinderbox, then light it).
⁂
This approach is inspired by Torchbearer 2e, which has different body slots on the
character sheet. You write down where each item is equipped or stored. At the start of each round in a conflict, you declare which weapon you are using. Equip phase is inspired by that plus the declare melee/casting at the start of each round in B/X.
The action economy in my homebrew system is very different from Torchbearer though. Torchbearer has the party decide three actions (of attack, defend, feint, maneuver), which the conflict captain reveals at the same time the GM reveals which three they picked. Different actions in Torchbearer interact with each other (e.g., if you feint against a defend, the defense is negated, and you get to deal damage).
My homebrew system uses a more traditional action economy with wave-based combat. Every round after equip phase, the PCs roll for initiative. The target number is 8. If your degree of success is +0 (meaning a 6–8) or better, you go first. If it is negative, you go last. If you want to go first anyway, you can act hastily (attacking at −2 and being unable to cast spells). Monsters (or “opposition”) go between the fast and slow waves. You get one action and one reaction per round. You can move up to 15m on your turn.
For example, if Dingo wants to Backstab on his turn, he can equip his
Sabre of Saints and return his short bow to his inventory. Unlike a long bow, a short bow can be put in your inventory. He could use his short bow, but he wants to use his magic sabre. He maneuvers into position on his turn, getting “behind” the target (opposite an ally), then makes a Melee Attack. Because he is using Backstab, his attack has +3 armor penetration.
If the margin of success on his attack is +0 or better, he reduces the target’s mitigation by his armor penetration (to maximum of +0), reduces the margin by any remaining mitigation, reduces his damage dice by any resulting negative margin, then rolls damage dice. Mitigation is applied to margin then dice so that if you are rolling damage, you are dealing at least
some damage.
