What's your favorite inventory system?

General
#1

I’ve been using the system from Knave for my online campaign, which I like because of its abstract slot system (which my players seem to like it for too). Though, I’ve been thinking about whether I’ve been missing anything from other systems. In particular, I really like Mausritter’s system because it doesn’t just use inventory slots, but it has physical item cards that you place on your character sheet. It’s a really elegant way of bookkeeping and showing which items are on your character’s person and which ones are tucked away in their pockets. Plus, I love inventory tetris from games like Diablo, so I can’t not be attached to this.

I’ve seen a lot of love for LotFP’s encumbrance system, and it is a really elegant way of dealing with items solely to determine encumbrance and movement speed. (IIRC, the player counts how many items their character is holding when asked by the GM, and gains encumbrance past certain thresholds). I personally prefer a more ‘active’ inventory system where the player is constantly aware of what they’re holding, but this system definitely feels like a nice abstraction in the ‘other direction’ from a slot-based inventory.

What do you guys think? If anyone has recommendations for a system that works particularly well for online play, I’m happy to hear :smile:

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#2

I like the Black Hack’s inventory system where the amount of slots you have is based off of the character’s strength. I do like Mausritter’s system where it’s a nice mini-game of tetras.

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#3

I’ve used inventory slots = Strength score for a while, with -4 to Dex when you go over, and -4 to All when you go way over. I’m also quite partial to “you can carry three Major Item, whenever you try and carry more, make a Strength check to move at all”

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#4

I’m personally partial to inventory systems that show up during moments of tension and aren’t really present otherwise. Troika’s a game I read recently that has this sort of thing. There are 12 inventory slots, with the ones at the top of the list being at the top of your sack. In the case of urgent retrieval, you roll a 2d6 and only if you roll equal to or below the number that your item’s listed can you retrieve it, otherwise, you waste an action trying to find it. I’ve also played in a homebrew system where you had 3 item quick access slots and everything else took an action to retrieve from your pack. You mentioned LotFP, and that sort of falls into this umbrella too I think. Basically, I guess outside of when there’s tension related to encumbrance or retrieval (running away, combat, etc) I don’t really pay all that much attention to how much I’m lugging around and see it as more of a hassle than anything.

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#5

The one in Veins of the Earth is cool. It’s basically the same as LotFP, but every stat affect your limit in a way.

I’ve cobbled together my own slot-based system over the years, stealing bits from everywhere. Most items take one slot. Small stuff (you could fit in your mouth) can share a box, limited by how much you can write inside the lines. You can’t store super cumbersome stuff (heavy chests or big paintings, for example).

Some boxes represent belts and sheaths (quick access), the rest are backpacks or sacks (which you’re assumed to drop during fights).

Carrying more than your limit gives penalties and a small chance to lose stuff between sessions.

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#6

These are both super elegant! It’s nice that inventory systems mostly aren’t super detailed (wasn’t AD&D based on coin weight?), but I’m sure it must also be fun to have the crunch.

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#7

I really like Troika for that! It’s fun to have little rolls like that that aren’t super punishing but add little strategic challenges.

I guess what someone wants from a streamlined system depends on whether they want to retain the management aspect or the ‘effective’ aspect with how it affects your movement. Surely it must depend on the game’s tone too? I don’t think I’ve seen a self-professed rules light system that goes for both management and encumbrance–though I think most of the former category just say if your character is holding above a certain amount, their movement is slower.

#8

It was either coin weight or stones for AD&D. I played a little bit but can’t remember what it was like to be exact. It’s fun to have crunch though since it gives a challenge of playing with the numbers to find what your limit is.

PF2e uses a Bulk system, each item has a certain Bulk with large items being like 1 or 2 with light items either being nonexistent or having an L value (being that 10 Ls equals 1 Bulk). It’s crunchy, but not too crunchy since it’s easy to keep track of things.

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#9

The thing is, the “crunchier” systems like tracking exact weights are much, much easier to ignore since they are such a hassle. Since it’s an expectation that they will be ignored, they aren’t treated as stringently, so it ends up that they are less crunchy in practice

It also gives some much-needed love back to the Strength stat! Especially for 5e, where Dex is king, tracking inv slots helps a lot

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#10

Ha, I like that items are small if you could fit them in your mouth! Your system sounds really intuitive :slight_smile: I have to ask, I often see torches counted as a small item that can be bundled up–does each torch take up a separate slot in your system? That sounds fun as a restriction.

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#11

Agh, that’s the hassle! Being super anal-retentive I love to get into the details of organizing my inventory and getting into small numbers, but so many players aren’t into that. I should find other players who like math…

But yeah, I absolutely adore that STR (or CON) have become the basis number for these streamlined systems. I swear I’ve seen someone base it off of INT too, the reason being that an intelligent person is better at packing their luggage. I think using INT would only work for like a cozy game where it’s less “how much can you carry” and more “how good are you at packing”, because it sounds cuter?

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#12

One torch (or lantern) per slot. Candles and doses of oil can be bundled in packs of five per slot.

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#13

I like that! Honestly, the less item-stacking, the better. Especially when you only have pen and paper!

Do y’all encourage your players to hire retainers (right word?) to hold items? My players haven’t gotten their hands that full yet, but when they got to it I was going to suggest they purchase packing animals or hire people for that purpose.

#14

Yeah, stacking can become a problem. I tend to use five for most things (coins are 50/slot and ammo, 10, currently). I go back and forth with tracking individual ammo (the other option being Usage Dice).

Pack animals and retainers are always good. I use index cards – note their personality and motivation/cost/morale, list what they’re carrying/encumbrance limit, and let everyone mess with it at will.

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#15

10 slots +/- Might modifier, so characters are carrying relatively similar amounts. We use quantum adventuring equipment, so a Supply takes up a slot and can be converted to a mundane piece of gear the PC could reasonably claim to have packed in advance as and when required, be it a torch, rope, a ration, etc. Carrying more than your limit means you can either act or move in a turn, rather than both.

The slots tie in to health - when HP is reduced to 0, any further points of damage take up a slot each, forcing characters to ditch gear as they get more injured. I find this a nice alternative to the binary ‘fighting fit at 1 HP, dead at 0 HP’ - players have the choice to get to safety or risk going down fighting. I don’t like players having to wait around bored waiting for a heal.

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#16

Thanks for the advice! It’ll be fun to start using those mechanics :slight_smile: I think that must be part of the inventory/encumbrance challenge: instead of increasing the number of slots a character has, give them more ‘containers’ via other characters. Then, a tradeoff appears between having more people around or moving encumbered. I never thought about those mechanics existing in conjunction!

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#17

I like how Knave does it. Before Knave, I was just allowing folks to carry a number of items equal to their Strength score, not really discerning between big vs small items for simplicity. I would also use supply dice for ammo, rations, and things of that sort. I’d have players track coin separately and not count it as part of their main inventory.

I also like how Torchbearer does it and that was one of the main draws to that system for me - the scarcity and difficulty of juggling all the crap you’re needing to carry around. I still like it, but it’s a little too fiddly compared to the method I mentioned above. Knave seems like a nice little compromise of the two.

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#18

Yeah, I found that if you want players to track their own inventory then you need to make the system really simple.

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#19

How does Knave handle encumbrance? I’ve used LotFP for a while. It’s used with pretty high stakes in my game in that it affects how likely you are to fall in this 3-D jungle hex-crawl. It works better than an add up the weight/bulk system would and doesn’t gimp you if you’re not strong. But I would love something a bit simpler.

#20

PCs have a number of item slots equal to their Constitution defense. Most items, including spellbooks, potions, a day’s rations, light weapons, tools and so on take up 1 slot, but particularly heavy or bulky items like armor or medium to heavy weapons may take up more slots. Groups of small, identical items may be bundled into the same slot, at the referee’s discretion. 100 coins can fit in a slot. As a general guideline, a slot holds around 5 pounds of weight.

Here is the wording for Knave

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