Friday, May 3, 2013
The Sack System
Pearce Shea of Games With Others has a post on inventory management that some may find useful. He measures things in terms of containers: PCs can carry two large containers at maximum load, or an infinite number of small containers. The difference is that items in small containers are vulnerable. There are some specific rules for handling search times and vulnerability, but oddly, no limits on how much either kind of container can store, which kind of makes the two container limit odd. Still, a pretty good idea.
I've already talked about switching to a large sack/small sack measurement system, where characters can carry the equivalent of ten large sacks at Move 3, half that at Move 6, two sacks maximum at Move 12. Halflings carry half as much. I think the idea of large sack = protected, small sack = accessible has merit and is worth stealing, however. I may have a more detailed response later.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Oh man, I like "the Sack System" so much more than what I came up with.
ReplyDeleteGlad you thought this might be useful.
I am working on figuring out how to add a sensible limit on how much can go in the two container types, but I'm not there yet. The two container limit is an artifact of that effort and I just sort of left it in here because it made diegetic sense that no one is going to be (ought to be?) walking around with more than like, a huge sack and a backpack. Good point, though, it doesn't make much sense to include it in the system as it is.
Officially, a small sack can hold pounds, a large sack can hold 30 pounds. In a previous post, I equated them to a 5 lb bag of sugar and a 30 pound bag of potatoes. Men & Magic gives these in GP units, (50 and 300,) but that assumes 10 GP to the pound, which frankly I might change, myself.
DeleteIt *would* be absurd to carry more than a backpack and a large sack held in your hands, but it's theoretically possible to tie or strap large sacks to various locations. Plus, I figure your weapons are equivalent to 1 sack and your armor to 1, 2, or 3 sacks, in terms of encumbrance. The sack limit mostly applies to figuring out what two people could carry stacked in a basket on their head, or on a pole between them, or in a wheelbarrow. I figure either of the last two can be a double normal load, split between two people or one person and a wheelbarrow.