OSR What's your preferred encumbrance system?

[conankeep]

Most of the fiddliness will come if there's gear sized for different characters, because there are adjustments to remember

that does seem fiddly but I guess it's just a drawback of trying to do a generic one-system-fits-all fantasy game

 

[Fenris-77]

I very much prefer some kind of slot system to one that involves counting weight. I don’t get a lot of return on the added cognitive load.

 

[Tigris]

I prefer slots because it's quick and easy. I hate tracking weight but do want encumbrance to matter. The little Tetris puzzle with item cards in Mausritter is fun.

I am not fan of OSR style games, but slots can be quite elegant I like it.

 

[Milieu]

Personally, I don't have a problem with adding up weights. In practice, it doesn't change so often as to be a problem, and you only need to know the exact value when you're close to the max or a penalty threshold or trying to pick up something really heavy. I can understand why it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I feel like the level of hate it gets is...excessive.

But I recognize I lot of people DO hate that kind of encumbrance, and slots is a reasonable compromise. (It's also secretly the same system: if you round all weights to a multiple of 10, remove the 1s digit, and remove any penalties for crossing intermediate thresholds [such as a movement penalty for carrying more than 50% of max weight], you have slots.)

 

[Fenris-77]

Slots has more abstraction than just that. I also don’t want to bother having to come up ith a realistic weight for everything a player might want to carry. I know some folks love granular weights, but it’s really not the same thing in disguise.

 

[Morrus]

That's a 2e thing right? Looks similar to how Into the Odd does encumbrance.
Even uses pretty much the same word.
I wonder if it[o] had influence on PF2e bulk system

People were doing it as far back as 1E. It's a pretty common hack/houserule.

 

[timbannock]

There has been so much iteration on encumbrance systems over the years even in OSR games alone.
Some games count each individual pound, others do abstract units, then there are slots, or games that only track treasure, or maybe only specific items.

What have you tried?
What is your favorite?
What would you change to make it perfect?

I've tried most of them -- pounds (meh), coins (yuck), "Encumbrance Values" (fine), papercraft-slots like Mausritter (tactile!), slots-that-double-as-conditions like Knave (meh), complex slots where items vary like Shadowdark (closer...!) -- and my favorite was Shadowdark.

To make it perfect, my house rule is this:

• Oviously stackable items (ammo, coins, gems) work as described
• Just about everything else is 1 slot -- all weapons, the armor you wear, etc.
• Anything deemed "heavy" means you need help carrying it: two people gotta work together to carry it, or else you are hindered (DISADV to all pertinent rolls). This goes for full suits of armor (NOT what you're wearing, but an extra suit you'd carry), a chest of treasure, large art objects, etc.

That's way simpler. I also err on the side of making things take a slot, even if they are relatively small, so that my leniency doesn't turn into a big problem with balance. A dagger takes up a slot, sorry!

 

[Mannahnin]

Slot systems are the best I've found. They keep it simple and allow for meaningful choices in play.

For three years I ran 5 Torches Deep and the way I allowed certain items (like food and scrolls) to be grouped I think went a little too far and made it a bit too easy. So far my experience running Shadowdark last year and this year hits the sweet spot better.

1. I've tried almost all of them: not caring, eyeballing it, the CN wright system, CN weight with "equipment", crossing off X's in containers/locations, and slots of various types.
2. I use a slot system that gives PCs around 6 to 14 items - with "purses" of coin, insignificant items, and bundles for ammunition/a few other items. I also use automatically encumbering items (for treasure - like carrying a fancy chair) and fragile items that have a 3/6 chance of being broken in combat etc.
3. I'm pretty happy with this system and it's well tested. It works well for shorter sessions as it keeps the amount of equipment reasonable and means things like light, food, and equipment selection are still issues. I tend to design dungeons with it in mind when it comes to treasure as well.

I've started to encompass a few extra edge categories (like big thing = takes both hands and you're at half move), but I appreciate the above list for the extra ideas.

 

[Fenris-77]

My favorite slot system is probably the one in Cairn, where you lose slots based on exhaustion. That's genius.

 

[Gus L]

I've started to encompass a few extra edge categories (like big thing = takes both hands and you're at half move), but I appreciate the above list for the extra ideas.

Another useful one that I've found is introducing specialist kits for skills (though they need not be for skills) based around thieves tools. Each kit (and you can carry more than 1) has three items in it. These items aren't defined until you use one, and then that item is always in your kit. Likewise the item can be anything the player can plausibly make the case would be appropriate for using the skill that can fit in the kit. The balance here is that if the player fills their kit out with very specific things they need to use more encumbrance (and spend 100 gold in town) to get another kit. So sure you say you have lockpicks, sap gloves, and a prybar in your kit ... but next time you need a disguise kit? Not there unless you are filling two slots with thieves' tools/kits.

Sometimes this gets fun if you have a few other skills like Alchemy, Chirugery, Survival and Engineering etc.