"Inventory slot" system

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deadPan c
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"Inventory slot" system

Post by deadPan c »

Hey all, me again.

I've been experimenting with game mechanics, and was wondering if the following system for carrying capacity would work for the game system. I'm reading through the Core Rulebook and there doesn't seem to be anything that would mess up the game, if this system is used.

[Items do not have a weight value. Instead, you can carry a number of (approximately) head-sized items up to half your Strength score. For items of diminutive size (such as coins and pieces of chalk), up to 100 can be held in a single "slot".]

This system, in theory, should help to lower the amount of bookkeeping on both the player's and the GM's end. It's a little abstract, so I understand that it won't work for all tables. It would also help to make Strength a little more important, with the added bonus of the group being able to use physical cards to represent objects held.

I recently found that another TTRPG, Cairn (and Knave, the system Cairn is based on), uses a very similar system.

Let me know if there are any problems with this inventory system that I haven't thought of. I'll keep reading through the rulebook to find issues.
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Boggo
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Re: "Inventory slot" system

Post by Boggo »

seems to be much more complicated to me
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deadPan c
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Re: "Inventory slot" system

Post by deadPan c »

Boggo wrote: Thu May 04, 2023 8:20 pm seems to be much more complicated to me
How so? Sure, it's a little more complicated to explain, but I think it's more convenient; instead of adding together several weight values, you can simply hold X number of items.

Also, I like using physical objects (such as item cards) for my RPG sessions but that's just me
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Boggo
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Re: "Inventory slot" system

Post by Boggo »

well there are a lot of things that are bigger than a piece of chalk and smaller than a head, and a halflings head isn't the same size as a humans head, and things like armour are a LOT bigger than someone's head... it seems like a lot of work to me, but encumbrance and carrying capacity have been a problem since 1974, so whatever method you prefer, but just keeping track of weights seems much simpler to me
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deadPan c
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Re: "Inventory slot" system

Post by deadPan c »

Boggo wrote: Fri May 05, 2023 5:42 am well there are a lot of things that are bigger than a piece of chalk and smaller than a head, and a halflings head isn't the same size as a humans head, and things like armour are a LOT bigger than someone's head... it seems like a lot of work to me, but encumbrance and carrying capacity have been a problem since 1974, so whatever method you prefer, but just keeping track of weights seems much simpler to me
Yeah, that makes sense. It's intended that the GM will decide which items are a "single" and which can fit into a set of 100, hence the "approximately", but obviously certain items (such as vials or bottles) are ambiguous.

Personally, I absolutely hate dealing with the standard carrying capacity in any RPG system, so anything that cuts down on maths is a bonus for me.

Oh also I forgot to mention, armour your character wears doesn't count towards carrying capacity. Unless you lack proficiency/are unable to wear it.
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kmerfeld
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Re: "Inventory slot" system

Post by kmerfeld »

I've been fiddling with similar stuff. DURF https://emielboven.itch.io/durf has a nice implementation.

One thing that I find very important, is you have some number of inventory "slots", but you also have general inventory for misc stuff.

so your bow might be one slot, your quiver/arrows might be one, but your thieves tools/chalk,ink jar, paper, ect are just in your inventory.

Slots are for bigger loot and important equipment, while small things that go in your bag and you don't worry about (until it becomes ridiculous)

If its a consumable or equipment its a slot, if its gems/jewelry its just in your bag

The important part to me is giving you a no math/thought system.
If you start spending time trying to decide if something is a slot or not, just throw it into your bag and keep adventuring
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Dimirag
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Re: "Inventory slot" system

Post by Dimirag »

There are several games using this rule, some give item their own cost in slots based on size and weight, some simplify it by using categories for cost determination.

You'll have to find the right item values and also consider how smaller and bigger races are affected, maybe something like:
Small (Halfling, Gnome): 1/4STR
Mid-sized (Human, Elf): 1/2STR
Big (minotaur, half-orc): 3/4STR
Sorry for any misspelling or writing error, I am not a native English speaker
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deadPan c
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Re: "Inventory slot" system

Post by deadPan c »

kmerfeld wrote: Fri May 05, 2023 10:32 am I've been fiddling with similar stuff. DURF https://emielboven.itch.io/durf has a nice implementation.

One thing that I find very important, is you have some number of inventory "slots", but you also have general inventory for misc stuff.

so your bow might be one slot, your quiver/arrows might be one, but your thieves tools/chalk,ink jar, paper, ect are just in your inventory.

Slots are for bigger loot and important equipment, while small things that go in your bag and you don't worry about (until it becomes ridiculous)

If its a consumable or equipment its a slot, if its gems/jewelry its just in your bag

The important part to me is giving you a no math/thought system.
If you start spending time trying to decide if something is a slot or not, just throw it into your bag and keep adventuring
I like the idea. So long as the players keep close attention to what they're holding in their backpack, it should work pretty well.
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deadPan c
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Re: "Inventory slot" system

Post by deadPan c »

Dimirag wrote: Fri May 05, 2023 11:30 am There are several games using this rule, some give item their own cost in slots based on size and weight, some simplify it by using categories for cost determination.

You'll have to find the right item values and also consider how smaller and bigger races are affected, maybe something like:
Small (Halfling, Gnome): 1/4STR
Mid-sized (Human, Elf): 1/2STR
Big (minotaur, half-orc): 3/4STR
It makes sense that characters would have different carrying capacities based on their size, I hadn't thought of that. Definitely a good idea
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FakeHealer
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Re: "Inventory slot" system

Post by FakeHealer »

This all just seems more complicated. If you want easy just handwave carrying capacity and use common sense adjudications like "the 3 ft tall solid iron statue weighs too much for a person to carry alone with magical or mechanical help" or "there is roughly 700lbs of silver bars in the hoard, how do you want to manage carrying them" and then impose encumbrance difficulties for carrying heavy stuff beyond a PC's standard gear.
Tracking individual items sucks to me so I would rather just say that PCs can handle their "standard gear they would have" with no problem and only think about encumbrance when dealing with trying to add 50-100lb items to themselves.
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