One of my characters was a warforged who’s was basically a walking bag of holding (bigger on the inside) and his insides were full of tons of wacky contraptions that would pop out of various hatches on his body when he needed to use them (reskinned artificer spelle) like inspector gadget. So he very much was a container of infinite garbage, lol.
This would actually make a great 3rd party app for D&D inventories, especially if you could hook it up to DNDBeyond or something. I dunno that I have the patience to do all this crafting/puzzle making as a DM, but if there was an app that did it for you...
The most fantastical thing about this suggestion is imagining multiple players at your table that won't get cardstock puzzle pieces everywhere or promptly lose them (but I do love it in theory!)
Mausritter, a game I tend to run quite a bit these days, has a similar, yet much more simplified version of this system. Players have square slots on their character sheets, items come as little cardboard chits. The trick to stop things from devolving into an unmanageable mess, is simple: just a chunk of poster putty on the table. The tiniest bit of poster putty behind each chit keeps them from sliding around, and you can actually handle your character sheet without being afraid of your items just disappearing under the table.
@@kylerobbins4583 But it's the most well known and well liked and an easy reference to draw from. Nobody said anything about first, stop being THAT guy.
WHAT'S GOING ON? (Why this wasn't uploaded on Friday and what it is) I got a little stuck on the script this week and wanted to keep the weekly uploads going so, this might make people happy - Here's a video from 5 years ago that was only released to patreon. (There are only 2 that were actually never released) It sat unlisted for 5 years only gaining 118 views I wonder how it'll do? (Probably horrendously) This is gonna be in place of tomorrow's upload (Unless it does absolutely terribly, in which case I will actually re-upload it tomorrow)
There's a homebrew rule you can add on to this one. You take the grid system like you have, and if your backpack is ripped or a thief tries to steal from your bag (by cutting the bottom), the player starts slowly losing items from the bottom of the grid moving up. This imitates the idea of items slipping out the bottom and forces players to think about where they would put certain items. You can also do this the other way around. If a player wants to grab something out of the top of their pack, its a bonus action. From the middle, a standard action. You could even say a player can't reach into the bottom of their bag in combat, since that would require removing everything first.
This is the kind of inventory system I like to see in videogames. It makes managing your inventory into its own minigame, way better than just having a list.
Funny enough it was almost the standard for RPG's for years, and it made things interesting. Making carrying something like a 2 handed battle axe a big deal as it took up like a third of your inventory. Though the punishment for a low strength score is pretty harsh. At least most DM"s give your clothes for free. Otherwise a lot of wizards might not be able to wear their 5lb robes.
I assume Animated Keg was maybe meant editing to be about non-magical mechanics and rules, while Animated Spellbook focuses on the spells and spellcasters.
I did a double take on seeing your old art style with the tag "58 minutes ago." This is actually pretty neat. It would probably help players actually remember what they have on them.
Yea, this was great. All his videos are amazing, but I have always preferred the older animation style to the newer one. This video really was a nice little treat to see.
It would also help another issue I often face: My players forgetting all the shit that they have in their inventory and just letting it collect dust forever.
When I played D&D on Discord, we'd use either D&D Beyond, OR Dicecloud. What I'd do, is that for each item I have, worn or otherwise, I'd use an Emoji. And there are ALL KINDS of Emoji. For Knifes,Swords, Shirts, Pants. I had to make some creative liberties here, and there, but it really DID make my inventory FEEL like an inventory.
It also helps those situations in where something happens, mostly bad to your stuff. Say you get hit by a fireball and your equipment fails a save. It's nice to know exactly what is in your back, belt pouch etc. Or if a thief cuts a purse is it your gold pouch or one holding rocks for your sling.
That's a handy DIY for a relatively unliked mechanic. I could see this working really well for getting players to try survival games as well, since it makes it more accessible.
After having played Mausritter (an indie OSR game) which uses a similar style encumbrance to this, I HIGHLY recommend that you find something to adhere all of the little squares of cardstock to the grid. Otherwise all the time you save by not doing maths will be taken up by replacing all the squares (or picking them up off the floor) every time the character sheet gets bumped or moved.
I like the backpack system where you have a few sections of room in your backpack that can hold a limited number of things. Helps to literally show where things are as well as give a real sense of how much folks are carrying
This is what I'm wondering. It seems like a pretty neat idea! But I don't think it would be sustainable for a long campaign. Maybe a survival one-shot or a thematic mini-campaign.
One way to deal with it is to have several blank tokens on hand that you can let the player label Then if you have several different sizes of blank tokens you can deal with the odd items the players might want to acquire that you might not know the exact weight of
@@spinnirack3645 🙂Yeah, some pre-printed papers with common shapes or tokens, that players could cut out would be neat. Or even some laser-cut thin pieces of wood or cardboard, that players could punch out when they loot a dungeon. I think the tactile nature of looting would add to the excitement!
Maybe cut out pieces from cheap dry erase boards. That way you can make a few common shapes, then just write down what each is; erase when you want to reuse them. Also a good way to help visualize large quantities of coin.
This is a great idea. It would be cool if someone put together some print-and-play assets to make the process easy to prepare. Also, an easy way to peel and stick the inventory items to make it easy to reorganize your pack while keeping them from sliding off the table would be good.
Even with magnets, this is a lot of extra work for the DM. Every item needs to be sliced on magnetic sheets... It's less work to use Fight Club on a tablet or phone and let it do the math for you. I prefer the feeling of paper and doing it by hand though.
late 90's RPgs Called ..... they are shedding a tear of pride in their inventory systems not being forgotten and thanking you for spreading the love for this system again.
From the title I thought it would be about a puzzle for the players to solve on a dungeon, this makes a lot of sense to easily visualize your stuff! Extra leg work for the DM, but one of those little things that you do for the players that really makes the game feel special
A packing puzzle to completely fill a box held by a statue to get to the next chamber. If the box has the right weight as well, a secret alcove opens with neat stuff in it, as a bonus.
This is actually a really solid idea. I think this plus allow players to manipulate enemy gear or go for crippling shots makes the rule both fun and balancing. It also helps with the whole mage hand debate of whether a certain item is like that in real life
Players realize that cart has no maximum weight, just multiplied the carrying capacity of the creature pulling it by five. Donkeys cost like 5gp, and have a quite large carrying capacity on their own, nothing says you can’t hook multiple of them up to one cart. Entire campaign proceeds to become focused on them taking everything that isn’t physically impossible to remove and just pile it onto the cart. They had a FULL ON WARSHIP in the cart, hundreds of donkeys, and just anything and everything, including a solid gold vault door. That was a fun game.
This is awesome. I've always loved these "space-saving puzzle" games for inventory since it reflects the reality of a poorly packed space that holds much less stuff! I have a similar idea for a sort of board game that represents all the typical downtime stuff players do in town, but with mechanics that make it feel like you are searching the town for a particular store (rolling to move, plus drawing location cards once you get there. As the board gets more filled out, it's easier to know where you want to head) and random happenings (chance cards with random events or something). Maybe someday, I might finish the rules and send it to you to do a video if it seems worth it yo you!
Speaking of inventory management, although our DM doesn't bother with encumbrance its strange to me that when you first make a character they usually have a backpack. That backpack only carries 30 pounds of equipment but despite that D&D Beyond will allow you to shove way more than that in the backpack, and also will automatically add things from your background to it. So usually it ends up like 20 pounds above that. Backpacks ought to be able to hold more than 30 pounds!
@@M33f3r Lol you're not wrong. You'd think a backpack meant for travelling around would be like one of those ones you see hardcore hikers use. 30 lbs for a backpack is sad.
Old school player here. I as privlaged enough to be at a veteran table. We tracked everything quickly. It made for interesting meta. You would buy gems in town whenever you could to reduce weight! You would Hire hireling to bear your burdens! You would cast unseen servent and have it pick out all the copper from the loot to leave behind while you rested in a rope trick pocket dimension. We had a badass batte wagon with its own guards and team of horses. It was a convoy wherever we went. If you teleported or portaled away you had to make sure all your stuff was safe while you were away. You would build fortresses and become lords of lands and take on aprentices so you could make sure all your stuff was safe! Way more fun and thematic IMO! Bag of holding is a crutch for new players and once they are conmfortable with the systems adding a layer of logistics to the game is really interesting.
Feels like one of the things that'd work out nicely if you're working on pen and paper but way more complicated to get going if you're playing digitally.
A Google sheet can easily be u used in such way, the game I dm uses that, each row is 5 pound, write one medium item, 5 of the same item, or a note to 10 tiny items per slot.
For anyone with limited resources who still wants to use this idea, here are two alternatives to printing and cutting out cardstock tokens: 1 - Print the inventory templates on something like a glossy photo paper, so you can write on them with wet-erase marker and wipe them off. 2 - Just use pencil and an eraser on regular paper. Get a new sheet if it gets messy, just like with your character sheets. With both methods, you'd draw the space it takes up yourself, fitting in whatever way is convenient. So that 12-lb suit of hide armor you have could take up a 2x6 section, or 3x4, or even an oblong shape that fits around other items. That way, players don't spend game time trying to puzzle out how everything fits. This inventory system is supposed to make tracking encumbrance faster, not slower. EDIT: Tracking coins! You already track each type of coin in separate boxes anyway, right? So use the inventory boxes instead. When one box has 50 coins, it's full, and you have to dedicate a second box to that coin type. I recommend tracking coins and items on opposite ends of the sheet. EDIT 2: After actually using cubeventory for a while, another piece of advice I want to give is to dedicate sections to renewable resources. If you know you'll never leave town without five rations and five torches, then don't bother erasing them as they're used. Mark that they've been used, then refill the space when you get back to town.
Laminated graph paper would work too, in a pinch. Or if you're using pencils, just regular graph paper. In fact, that would have the advantage of letting you track all of the little 1/4 square items, too; make 1 lb equal 4 squares on the graph paper.
This is the way. Drawing on paper (photo or laminated for reusability) means that you can put your inventory away together with your character sheet (instead of the tokens just falling off). And the DM does not need to make tokens for everything. Love the idea of "folding" items (like the hide armor above) - feels like packing a real suitcase.
The game Mausritter has an inventory system like this - you've got 6 slots in your bag, 2 on your body, and 2 for your paws (everyone is a mouse). It makes inventory a super important part of the game instead of an afterthought.
The funny thing about a crowbar or maul being a funny shape to represent them being unwieldy is exactly why Gygax had a "coin" weight measurement system: it's a lot harder to carry 300 coins than it is to carry a BAG of 300 coins. My only beef with the variant encumbrance rules is that it's a lot stricter than baseline for next to no reason other than to remind people that Hirelings are rules that are supposed to be used. For instance, starting Chain Mail at 55 lbs will still be 55/100 of the capacity a 20 STR PC can carry without being slowed down, let alone the fact it's given to PCs that will be starting with STR scores of 14-16 and thus be 55/70-80 for armor alone, let alone a ~60lb Dungeoneer's/Explorer's Pack ALSO included at Level 1, or the WEAPONS they'll have at Level 1, keeping in mind this is a class that's already invested in their STR score and not a Rogue or Wizard. Might as well say everyone's base movement is 20ft up to 10xSTR, it's a massive swing in the opposite direction for not just the entire span of the campaign, but it's at its worst at early levels when the party is most vulnerable.
This is very similar to the inventory system in Mausritter albeit much more scaled up. That game only gives players six slots in their inventory with big items taking two. Negative status effects also take up one slot in their inventory.
This looks super fun to use. I might have to try it next time I run an in-person game! Could you release a printout that has these tables and some common items from the books? Your styling and font choices makes it really easy on the eyes while also being really flavorful!
just realized my first comment will most likely get hidden because it contains a link to the imgur pic of my version. If you'd like I can send you a link directly
I posted my version to r/dndnext and hopefully I didn't go against any community guidlines that would get it removed (I can't even think what those would be but it's reddit so...) so it should be there to copy off of google sheets
Card stock will blow away, use a thin flexible sheet magnet base that you can cut, like on fridge magnets. A little glue, stick an entire page on a magnet, cut it all out. As for the board it goes on, Use another large flat magnet, Remember the keep the poles opposite, Glue the chart on it and Bam, You have a system that does not fall apart and have to be redone every time a new session hits.
I do really like that this makes the task of inventory management more fun and helps players to better visualize what they're carrying. As much as I like the idea of encumbrance and want to enforce that rule in my games, the trouble I run into is that it depends so much upon players keeping track of it and being honest about it. The DM already has so much to keep track of that keeping on top of what each PC is carrying isn't feasible. And I'm just as guilty when I'm a player: my current character is carrying more than she really ought to be able to, and I'm loathe to discard anything. All of the little fiddly bits of paper/cardstock/cardboard/etc. pose a small challenge in that they'll require printing out and cutting out beforehand (another bit of work to add to the DM's task list of prep) and they need to include both items you'll present in-game as well as items the players may decide to acquire. Additionally, I don't know how to implement this when playing in VTTs rather than face-to-face at the table. I love the idea! But I'm not sure if it'll work for me.
That's... quite brilliant! I think I would substitute pen and paper to printing out, but I will definitely use this in one of my low-fantasy games. Thanks!
Our group implemented the "Diablo" method of encumbrance years ago and have never looked back. It's always been a very direct way to plot where everything is, and how it fits. It also shows where in the pack things are. So important or fragile stuff goes in the top. Horses and mules and whatnot get weird because they can carry obscene amounts. But it makes the extra half share for being quartermaster worth it if someone is good at it and likes puzzles.
Duuuuuude. This is such a good idea. I love dynamic carrying systems like this. This will make my Strength based players stand out a bit more. Oooooh and I can make a circular version for tenser’s floating disk and watch them balance their hoard atop it! 😂
I like this. Seems like a lot of prep work for tabletop, but if you're willing to make paper squares for every item your party could pick up, go for it. I could see this working well for a video game, too.
Genuinely such a simple and awesome idea!!! I know my players (and I) struggle with being this unending maw of inventory, so this solution looks perfect!
I have personally held myself to encumbrance even if the table did not require it. I mainly did this for two reasons; what a true adventurer would carry, and to be ready for any weight puzzle the DM might use to give him self some time. Armor and worn items are totaled, backpack and what it holds are totaled with reasonable things that might be strapped outside it like bedroll or rope, and all remaining encumbrance is counted in the form of empty sacks. Each empty sack holds 30lbs of stuff to show available carry limit. You might have 1 sack until you are lightly encumbered, but the rest until you can't move any more. Empty sacks are also cheap to replace if needed like if the sack is was cut to make bandages, or sold with the bloody dragon hide you carried back to town.
I usually ask the player where specifically he is carrying each and every single item on his body, and if he can reasonably explain how everything is stored without impeding their movement too much or not being ludicrously heavy, I'll allow it. This not only gets the player to consider their PC as a real, physical character in a physical world and builds a connector to their belongings, it also gives some interesting gameplay opportunities. If they carry most of their stuff in a massive backpack, they probably won't wear it during Combat, meaning that they have to get to their backpack to access the things inside. How do you wear your coin purse? How easy/hard would that make you to pickpocket? How accessible are the different items, do you have to rummage for them first or do they hang from your hip?
Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale had a similar system that was kind of like a mix of the RAW from 2nd AD&D and a grid system. The game would track the weight of everything your carrying in pounds - *and* you were limited by the maximum amount of space in your bag (i.e. Inventory Space). It helped that the computer calculated the weight for you and every item took up 1 space in your inventory, with your inventory having a total of 16 spaces (if you don't count the different equipment slots; then it becomes 36 total inventory+equipped item space). Thankfully, certain items like consumables and ammunition were stackable up to 99. It also gave magic bags a second function as they not only allowed you to carry more weight, they also increased your inventory limit.
This is awesome, it gets rid of the players having to do math and lets us have fun Resident Evil-style inventories. I'm definitely going to steal this idea, with credit to you. Well done!
Slot-based inventory is great. If you want basically this without all the props and prep work: The whole point is to consider where your things are in physical space, rather than fiddly math with pounds and ounces. You get a number of containers = 3+Strength modifier. Name 'em - backpack, belt, pouch, scabbard, etc. Each container has three slots. Most items are 1 slot, big unwieldy things like swords or staffs are 3 slots, stackable things are 1 set to a slot (20 arrows, a whole bag of ball bearings, etc.). Armor is 1 container for light, 2 for medium, 3 for heavy. And that's it! It's that simple. I made custom character sheets with boxes where you can draw a little picture of each item. Fantastic for actually remembering what you have, and seeing it all laid out in front of you makes it real and tangible.
In the homebrewed system I'm playtesting with friend, we sanded down all weight and size to an abstract "bulk" number. Knives are 1/2 bulk, while a great sword or a halberd is 4 bulk. It makes it much easier to track weight while also enabling players to think about what they bring on any given excursion.
I've always wanted a visual inventory system like this, like what you have in D2. This sounds great but the constant creation of puzzle pieces sounds like it would be a big hassle, as is keeping them stored and stopping them from falling loose everywhere and needing to be constantly adjusted.
You could stop them falling off by using velcro or magnets on the backs of the pieces (velcro would probably be lighter). As for storage, that sounds like the perfect time to get some mini backpacks or drawstring bags for the group so it actually feels like its in your "character's" bag.
This seems like an insane amount of work for something that wasn't even much of a problem to begin with. It just seems like the type of "thats neat" feature creep you'd see in an overfunded kickstarter.
@@nicholasfoster2564 Most of an alchemist's items are of light or negligable bulk, so that could be solved by, in the case of the negligable items, not having them take up space in that specific sheet, and by making =>10 light items take up only one space, and letting the player stack item tokens of different types on top of each other. And an alchemist would probably be looking a lot at their inventory anyway, so they'd probably have a good idea for what was in there anyway
This is the best way to implement encumbrance that I've ever seen. I now have no reason beyond player protest to implement my survival/attrition heavy campaigns.
"Just make custom puzzle pieces for every equipment in the PHP" This is an immense amount of prepping work for a system that few people bother keeping tracking of. And people will argue about the shape of the custom pieces. Many modern rpgs just assign an amount of arbitrary units an equipment occupies and lets players use X units. PF2 uses "bulk" and its pretty good, people can carry 5+str bulk of items, most weapons use 1 or 2 bulk. Really small items are "light" and 10 light makes 1 bulk.
Maybe use a thin metal sheet for a backplate and put little magnets in the item cards? Alternately, Colorforms. (Thin vinyl sheets that stick to a smooth backing with no adhesive.)
I usually did it online (as a map), but: Laminated paper bottoms with looped tape, Legos, I saw some people talking about using magnets, you can also use a pencil on grid paper.
This is brilliant. Because it also allows you to work in even more ignored rules. Backpacks. They actually have max capacity that is way lower than your carryweight. So realisticy, you'd have to manage weight AND size. I know that even if a dm does encumberance (we do simple), they ignore the backpack rules and just let you carry until you hit the limit as long as you have a backpack. Utilizing this kinda chart for space and weight could absolutely work with some tweaks.
Have you played Mausritter? If not you should check it out! It has a very similar and neat inventory system that also helps track "uses" on consumable items, a generally very clean and simple system overall.
encumbrance in base rules has two states, "Wow I really can't carry my own armor" and "I have 18 strength and it won't matter what my carry capacity is before we start getting piles of bags of holding." Late game mostly becomes "Can we take the solid gold statue? Can anyone move it?" with a side of people remembering the spell reduce object exists.
This strategy is super neat. I think it's a great way to handle inventory management. Reminds me of the greats of video games (RE4, etc.) I think the drawback is that it's so much work for the DM. Especially because you have to make shapes/pieces for every piece of equipment the players have when you start using the system *and* all the equipment and gear you ever plan to put in front of them in case they grab it. Not to mention all the random set dressing you mention and the players decide to rip off the wall lol. The other drawback is the space it requires. I don't know about y'all, but I don't have 10k to drop on a fancy gaming table. We're playing on a dining table at best, and that means that character sheets are already on top of the tactical map and snacks have to be relegated to the kitchen. The idea of everyone also having to have 2 sheets of paper next to them along with the character sheets seems ludicrous to me personally.
You are literally talking about bulk, and in a way, I am already doing this, and-and I was about to add this to my character sheets, the inventory cube. It's rad to see you thinking along the same lines as me.
A version of something kind of like this is used to represent memorizing a limited number of spells in the game Invisible Sun. There it's that you only have so much mind-space for your current degree of training.
This is a nice solution because it not only covers weight but, also shape. It is kindof silly when an adventurer can fit into their backpack, a tent that sleeps four and a handful of fighting spears.
This is so clever and very useful. I never considered doing this IRL, in spite of seeing this being done in video games and computer games for countless years. I bet if there was some sort of phone app or computer app that would do this for players it would be very easy for everyone to do. I should probably design one someday. I've already designed dice roller apps and calculation apps. This type of app might be more challenging to make for me, but it'd be totally worth it.
I've tried this exact thing in the past as well, and absolutely the card stock is vital. Printing the items on paper makes them hard to pick up and move around while at the same time making them fly away at the first sign of a slight breeze.
I'm actually a big fan of the way that the FFG Star Wars game handles encumbrance. Everything has a specific encumbrance that's only occasionally linked to weight. The number tends to be pretty low and worn armor is halved. The main advantage is that ships or bases tend to have huge encumbrance values allowing characters to store gear onboard ships and pick and choose what they need for a mission, but a lack of having brought the proper gear can still be devastating. Also encumbrance is representative of both mass and shape. Things can be high encumbrance without weighing a lot because they take up extra space or have an odd shape that makes them hard to store or carry. They also have things to improve encumbrance capacity or decrease the encumbrance of specific objects (a sling for your gun). The fact that the objects all have a specific number and characters have a specific max (usually of less than 10 unless they have a backpack or other gear for increasing it) it's fairly easy to track.
As aoon as I saw the squares I remembered my time playing deus ex (can’t remember which one I was 4-5 years old), and the inventory having the images of the tools you have and them taking up a certain amount of squares for the real size of the items, it was so cool to see
that's sooooo clever. I have a game in like 5 hours that I have to run but I'm tempted to spend that entire 5 hours doing this instead of preparing the dungeon, puzzles, and encounters. For anyone thinking "oh but how would I do that in a VTT or online" since I know a lot of us play online, I think you could probably do it in something like a google sheet spreadsheet, with little PNGs for items. Or some VTTs might allow you to make a "scene" that is just the player's inventories, and add little tokens representing the items that they have to move around.
I tried to use "Stones" (14 lbs) as a rough unit of weight but it caused confusion and I wanted more abstract. I end up I grouping most related equipment into "kits" and "packs" (full small bag of coins and jewels, Traveler's Pack, spell component pouch, etc.) to speed-up CharGen. Then I called kits/packs, as well as most weapons as well as a shield being a "Thing", with body armor and other bulky items as being 2 or more "Things" A character can carries a modest amount of "Things" based on character's Strength, with 6 being a typical light load and 12 being the typical max. This is easy to track as players have a bullet-point list with tags noting encumbrance thresholds. This was inspired by a number of OSR products.
I've actually tried this! It was terrible! Not only did my players hate having to manage their physical inventory, but it tripled my prep time for each session by making me cut out squares of paper, it required an extra long prep during session one when i had to prepare custom tiles for the gear they picked from the book, and it made the game grind to a halt whenever i decided to give them an extra piece of loot as a reward for clever thinking. I think the system is great, it's fun, it's cool, it really makes you think! And i had actually written the campaign to be ABOUT managing inventory: the players needed to raid a wizard's tower for supplies before an approaching army got to it, but they also needed to escape the army afterward (encumbrance) and manage to do so without a cart (the tower was isolated in the woods). The problem, i think, came down to my players not being the kinds of people who would try to take everything but the kitchen sink- i gave myself a shitload more work to do to solve a problem i dont have. I've always found inventory management to be fun, and im the kind of player who will detail which items are in a belt pouch vs. On a bandolier vs. In the backpack, because i enjoy the process. I've never met another player who cared about inventory AT ALL and tried to make the system more fun for others in the hopes it would inspire them to care. The lesson I learned is: spend your prep time fleshing out the parts of the game your players DO care about. They'll have more fun that way.
Cool idea, but I've never really struggled with the concept of incumberance and I come from an even more cryptic edition about it. But I'm always happy to see people work out new ideas.
Worlds Without Number does this best in my opinion: You can have half of your strength in readied items (weapons, potions, scrolls), equipped or accessible without spending a turn digging in your backpack, and your full strength stowed, where it takes a main action to retrieve. Most items are 1 encumbrance, 2 handed weapons and most armors are 2 encumbrance, and very heavy armors are 3 encumbrance. So a str 10 character can have sword, shield, medium armor and a contingency item readied. While an 18 str beast will have heavy armor (3), a twohander (2), a javelin (1) and 3 contingency items like potions, grappling hook and scrolls. Makes it much more exciting to use items in combat.
🙂Yeah, those thin plastic-mat fridge magnets would be good. They're not strong enough to get stuck to other stuff, you can get small magnetic whiteboards at the back-to-school section or office supply store, _and_ you can get blank white fridge-magnet sheets that are made to be easily laser-printed. So if you layed out common items onto a normal 8.5" x 11" template, you could print out several copies easily, and just hand them out to players with scissors at the start of the game.
This is such a cool idea! I'm absolutely going to draw out a chart and try to set this up in the virtual tabletop program that I use! Thanks again for putting so much passion and thought into your work Zee!
brother straight introduced grid inventory to the table. If people can be bothered it's a cool idea (I like it, personally), but I would have an easier time convincing my players to eat a literal brick than use something even close to this. 10/10 would want an animated keg tho
This seems really good for digital. Give each player their own scene and repurpose the combat grid/tokens as bag slots and items. All the benefits, and easy to manage as well.
Aw sweet! We can do Resident 4 Inventory shuffling in DnD now! I honestly feel like that should be an actual game. I spent hours making Leon's briefcase immaculate, and had way too much fun doing it.
I love this idea! Inventory management is something that I've always felt is essential for any sort of proper survival or exploration themed game, so to the extent D&D tries to be that I feel that the sidelining of encumbrance really does the game a disservice.
Кино
''Welcome to the first animated Keg''
Zee is truly making history with these animations, props to him.
Haha first and only: This series sort of became 1 day builds and the homebrew stuff on the channel.
@@zeebashew I LOVE YOUR STUFF! :]
@@zeebashewoooohh, keg because homebrew…
Very clever
@zeebashew Sadly for this video, the first thing I always buy in dnd is a stone masons cart
Awesome
"Players stop thinking of their characters as abstract digital containers of infinite garbage" is a top tier line, thank you
ah yes, bethesda games
I have to say the "send to camp" button in larian games really doesn't help with me seeing my characters as loot bins not going to lie.
One of my characters was a warforged who’s was basically a walking bag of holding (bigger on the inside) and his insides were full of tons of wacky contraptions that would pop out of various hatches on his body when he needed to use them (reskinned artificer spelle) like inspector gadget. So he very much was a container of infinite garbage, lol.
@@thepip3599No, that's just Bender.
This would actually make a great 3rd party app for D&D inventories, especially if you could hook it up to DNDBeyond or something. I dunno that I have the patience to do all this crafting/puzzle making as a DM, but if there was an app that did it for you...
This😊
SOME ONE NEEDS TO DO THIS
IM trying to make this but the main issue is making custom items i have no idea how to make a custom item brush
@@candlekin2146 Hm?
@@candlekin2146did you make it, cause I want it if you did
The most fantastical thing about this suggestion is imagining multiple players at your table that won't get cardstock puzzle pieces everywhere or promptly lose them (but I do love it in theory!)
Velcro my friend... velcro
Mausritter, a game I tend to run quite a bit these days, has a similar, yet much more simplified version of this system. Players have square slots on their character sheets, items come as little cardboard chits. The trick to stop things from devolving into an unmanageable mess, is simple: just a chunk of poster putty on the table. The tiniest bit of poster putty behind each chit keeps them from sliding around, and you can actually handle your character sheet without being afraid of your items just disappearing under the table.
@@Suninragsand from that day forth sessions became a cacophony of ripping and scratching!
@@JarLoz is poster putty like blu tack?
@@kahlzunyes
So, you basically made the RE4 inventory system in D&D. Well done.
My friend RE4 was far from the first to do this.
Well, is a good system. A good DM is still a pretty thief, a great DM is a master thief
@@kylerobbins4583
But it's the most well known and well liked and an easy reference to draw from. Nobody said anything about first, stop being THAT guy.
literally the reply i was about to make till you beat me too it
Uh, No, r4 is not the most proeminent example of this - Diablo II is a more likely contender. Older, wider playerbase.
WHAT'S GOING ON? (Why this wasn't uploaded on Friday and what it is)
I got a little stuck on the script this week and wanted to keep the weekly uploads going so, this might make people happy -
Here's a video from 5 years ago that was only released to patreon. (There are only 2 that were actually never released)
It sat unlisted for 5 years only gaining 118 views I wonder how it'll do? (Probably horrendously)
This is gonna be in place of tomorrow's upload (Unless it does absolutely terribly, in which case I will actually re-upload it tomorrow)
I liked it.
How will this video do? Quite well - I love the idea of a visual representation of my character's inventory rather than just a written/digital list.
This is an amazing idea and I'm stealing it immediately
HAPPY ME HAPPY THANK YOU NEW VIDEO VERY GOOD THANK YOU MORE PLEASE!!!
Am I the only one who remembers this video being posted before?
There's a homebrew rule you can add on to this one. You take the grid system like you have, and if your backpack is ripped or a thief tries to steal from your bag (by cutting the bottom), the player starts slowly losing items from the bottom of the grid moving up. This imitates the idea of items slipping out the bottom and forces players to think about where they would put certain items.
You can also do this the other way around. If a player wants to grab something out of the top of their pack, its a bonus action. From the middle, a standard action. You could even say a player can't reach into the bottom of their bag in combat, since that would require removing everything first.
Unless, say, they turn it upside down and empty it completely?
This is the kind of inventory system I like to see in videogames. It makes managing your inventory into its own minigame, way better than just having a list.
Funny enough it was almost the standard for RPG's for years, and it made things interesting. Making carrying something like a 2 handed battle axe a big deal as it took up like a third of your inventory. Though the punishment for a low strength score is pretty harsh. At least most DM"s give your clothes for free. Otherwise a lot of wizards might not be able to wear their 5lb robes.
Man, they need a system like this online ASAP
This could actually be a fun app or webpage.
this is basically how the inventory works in Mausritter
You could probably set up a really cumbersome and complex system in google sheets or excel
Ohhh you guys would love Backpack Hero
You could probably create a set up using photoshop or some other editing/artwork software.
Was animated Keg intended to be a proper series about like, endurance? Also I adore this idea, it's really really fun sounding.
I agree. It is fun sounding
I assume Animated Keg was maybe meant editing to be about non-magical mechanics and rules, while Animated Spellbook focuses on the spells and spellcasters.
I assumed it was a series for homebrew, considering the video is about homebrewing encumberance
Apparently it was about homebrew, which makes sense for a keg
@@dacomputernerd4096slick!
When you think you can't love a channel enough, you make encumbrance bearable- thanks for another great one Zee Bashew on all levels!
I see what you did there
I did a double take on seeing your old art style with the tag "58 minutes ago." This is actually pretty neat. It would probably help players actually remember what they have on them.
Yea, this was great. All his videos are amazing, but I have always preferred the older animation style to the newer one. This video really was a nice little treat to see.
This is actually really good. I especially like that it helps items in inventory feel more like actual things and not just a list.
It would also help another issue I often face: My players forgetting all the shit that they have in their inventory and just letting it collect dust forever.
When I played D&D on Discord, we'd use either D&D Beyond, OR Dicecloud. What I'd do, is that for each item I have, worn or otherwise, I'd use an Emoji. And there are ALL KINDS of Emoji. For Knifes,Swords, Shirts, Pants. I had to make some creative liberties here, and there, but it really DID make my inventory FEEL like an inventory.
It also helps those situations in where something happens, mostly bad to your stuff. Say you get hit by a fireball and your equipment fails a save. It's nice to know exactly what is in your back, belt pouch etc. Or if a thief cuts a purse is it your gold pouch or one holding rocks for your sling.
That's a handy DIY for a relatively unliked mechanic. I could see this working really well for getting players to try survival games as well, since it makes it more accessible.
After having played Mausritter (an indie OSR game) which uses a similar style encumbrance to this, I HIGHLY recommend that you find something to adhere all of the little squares of cardstock to the grid. Otherwise all the time you save by not doing maths will be taken up by replacing all the squares (or picking them up off the floor) every time the character sheet gets bumped or moved.
Printing out such a puzzle for every item sounds like a LOT of more work than typing STR*5 into your phone's calculator
I like the backpack system where you have a few sections of room in your backpack that can hold a limited number of things.
Helps to literally show where things are as well as give a real sense of how much folks are carrying
Way more realistic too. Anyone who's packed a bag knows it's not just about the weight or the volume, but also about making it fit.
I tried to do this once, and I gotta say, it's a huge pain to make chits for everything in the dungeon they might want to take.
This is what I'm wondering. It seems like a pretty neat idea! But I don't think it would be sustainable for a long campaign. Maybe a survival one-shot or a thematic mini-campaign.
One way to deal with it is to have several blank tokens on hand that you can let the player label
Then if you have several different sizes of blank tokens you can deal with the odd items the players might want to acquire that you might not know the exact weight of
@@spinnirack3645 🙂Yeah, some pre-printed papers with common shapes or tokens, that players could cut out would be neat. Or even some laser-cut thin pieces of wood or cardboard, that players could punch out when they loot a dungeon. I think the tactile nature of looting would add to the excitement!
Maybe cut out pieces from cheap dry erase boards. That way you can make a few common shapes, then just write down what each is; erase when you want to reuse them. Also a good way to help visualize large quantities of coin.
Just have some pages with the squares printed on them, and just have them cut it out and write on it. Glue them to cardboard in the back or something.
This is a great idea. It would be cool if someone put together some print-and-play assets to make the process easy to prepare. Also, an easy way to peel and stick the inventory items to make it easy to reorganize your pack while keeping them from sliding off the table would be good.
That was my thought. It's going to be really hard to manage if you can't attach the items to the inventory sheet.
Jesse- "MAGNETS BITCH"
Even with magnets, this is a lot of extra work for the DM. Every item needs to be sliced on magnetic sheets... It's less work to use Fight Club on a tablet or phone and let it do the math for you. I prefer the feeling of paper and doing it by hand though.
Maybe use Lego with a smooth topside that you can use a wet erase marker on?
Well if you're going for premium products, fridge magnets and a metal plate would work.
late 90's RPgs Called ..... they are shedding a tear of pride in their inventory systems not being forgotten and thanking you for spreading the love for this system again.
From the title I thought it would be about a puzzle for the players to solve on a dungeon, this makes a lot of sense to easily visualize your stuff! Extra leg work for the DM, but one of those little things that you do for the players that really makes the game feel special
A packing puzzle to completely fill a box held by a statue to get to the next chamber. If the box has the right weight as well, a secret alcove opens with neat stuff in it, as a bonus.
Why is this extra work for a dm? There's nothing stopping any player from any game implementing this if they want to track their inventory that way.
This is actually a really solid idea. I think this plus allow players to manipulate enemy gear or go for crippling shots makes the rule both fun and balancing. It also helps with the whole mage hand debate of whether a certain item is like that in real life
I can't begin to explain just how much I love this idea.
Players realize that cart has no maximum weight, just multiplied the carrying capacity of the creature pulling it by five. Donkeys cost like 5gp, and have a quite large carrying capacity on their own, nothing says you can’t hook multiple of them up to one cart. Entire campaign proceeds to become focused on them taking everything that isn’t physically impossible to remove and just pile it onto the cart. They had a FULL ON WARSHIP in the cart, hundreds of donkeys, and just anything and everything, including a solid gold vault door. That was a fun game.
This is awesome. I've always loved these "space-saving puzzle" games for inventory since it reflects the reality of a poorly packed space that holds much less stuff! I have a similar idea for a sort of board game that represents all the typical downtime stuff players do in town, but with mechanics that make it feel like you are searching the town for a particular store (rolling to move, plus drawing location cards once you get there. As the board gets more filled out, it's easier to know where you want to head) and random happenings (chance cards with random events or something). Maybe someday, I might finish the rules and send it to you to do a video if it seems worth it yo you!
Speaking of inventory management, although our DM doesn't bother with encumbrance its strange to me that when you first make a character they usually have a backpack. That backpack only carries 30 pounds of equipment but despite that D&D Beyond will allow you to shove way more than that in the backpack, and also will automatically add things from your background to it. So usually it ends up like 20 pounds above that. Backpacks ought to be able to hold more than 30 pounds!
All my backpacks in school held about a hundred pounds of books so 30lbs on magic heroes should be like nothing at all
@@M33f3r Lol you're not wrong. You'd think a backpack meant for travelling around would be like one of those ones you see hardcore hikers use. 30 lbs for a backpack is sad.
Usually, these have a certain volume labeled, not a certain weight
Quest-giving NPC in the middle of town is just "you have quite a treasure there in that horardric cube"
Ooh, stuff like a portable hole could have a separate sheet
Old school player here. I as privlaged enough to be at a veteran table. We tracked everything quickly. It made for interesting meta. You would buy gems in town whenever you could to reduce weight! You would Hire hireling to bear your burdens! You would cast unseen servent and have it pick out all the copper from the loot to leave behind while you rested in a rope trick pocket dimension. We had a badass batte wagon with its own guards and team of horses. It was a convoy wherever we went. If you teleported or portaled away you had to make sure all your stuff was safe while you were away. You would build fortresses and become lords of lands and take on aprentices so you could make sure all your stuff was safe! Way more fun and thematic IMO! Bag of holding is a crutch for new players and once they are conmfortable with the systems adding a layer of logistics to the game is really interesting.
Feels like one of the things that'd work out nicely if you're working on pen and paper but way more complicated to get going if you're playing digitally.
A Google sheet can easily be u used in such way, the game I dm uses that, each row is 5 pound, write one medium item, 5 of the same item, or a note to 10 tiny items per slot.
I was thinking this is way easier in Google sheets because you can make things up on the fly
For anyone with limited resources who still wants to use this idea, here are two alternatives to printing and cutting out cardstock tokens:
1 - Print the inventory templates on something like a glossy photo paper, so you can write on them with wet-erase marker and wipe them off.
2 - Just use pencil and an eraser on regular paper. Get a new sheet if it gets messy, just like with your character sheets.
With both methods, you'd draw the space it takes up yourself, fitting in whatever way is convenient. So that 12-lb suit of hide armor you have could take up a 2x6 section, or 3x4, or even an oblong shape that fits around other items. That way, players don't spend game time trying to puzzle out how everything fits. This inventory system is supposed to make tracking encumbrance faster, not slower.
EDIT: Tracking coins! You already track each type of coin in separate boxes anyway, right? So use the inventory boxes instead. When one box has 50 coins, it's full, and you have to dedicate a second box to that coin type. I recommend tracking coins and items on opposite ends of the sheet.
EDIT 2: After actually using cubeventory for a while, another piece of advice I want to give is to dedicate sections to renewable resources. If you know you'll never leave town without five rations and five torches, then don't bother erasing them as they're used. Mark that they've been used, then refill the space when you get back to town.
Laminated graph paper would work too, in a pinch. Or if you're using pencils, just regular graph paper.
In fact, that would have the advantage of letting you track all of the little 1/4 square items, too; make 1 lb equal 4 squares on the graph paper.
This is the way. Drawing on paper (photo or laminated for reusability) means that you can put your inventory away together with your character sheet (instead of the tokens just falling off). And the DM does not need to make tokens for everything. Love the idea of "folding" items (like the hide armor above) - feels like packing a real suitcase.
I'm doing the finishing touches on a Google Sheets page that follows these rules. Will post the link in this reply soon!
I like the second option, you can even cut out certain items to use in future sheets so you don't have to keep redrawing them
The game Mausritter has an inventory system like this - you've got 6 slots in your bag, 2 on your body, and 2 for your paws (everyone is a mouse). It makes inventory a super important part of the game instead of an afterthought.
The funny thing about a crowbar or maul being a funny shape to represent them being unwieldy is exactly why Gygax had a "coin" weight measurement system: it's a lot harder to carry 300 coins than it is to carry a BAG of 300 coins.
My only beef with the variant encumbrance rules is that it's a lot stricter than baseline for next to no reason other than to remind people that Hirelings are rules that are supposed to be used. For instance, starting Chain Mail at 55 lbs will still be 55/100 of the capacity a 20 STR PC can carry without being slowed down, let alone the fact it's given to PCs that will be starting with STR scores of 14-16 and thus be 55/70-80 for armor alone, let alone a ~60lb Dungeoneer's/Explorer's Pack ALSO included at Level 1, or the WEAPONS they'll have at Level 1, keeping in mind this is a class that's already invested in their STR score and not a Rogue or Wizard. Might as well say everyone's base movement is 20ft up to 10xSTR, it's a massive swing in the opposite direction for not just the entire span of the campaign, but it's at its worst at early levels when the party is most vulnerable.
This is very similar to the inventory system in Mausritter albeit much more scaled up. That game only gives players six slots in their inventory with big items taking two. Negative status effects also take up one slot in their inventory.
This looks super fun to use. I might have to try it next time I run an in-person game!
Could you release a printout that has these tables and some common items from the books? Your styling and font choices makes it really easy on the eyes while also being really flavorful!
I'd also love a printout. Whether he makes it or someone else. I'm preoccupied reworking equipment, so another big project like this would be too much
Also I need to do some more digging but the font is really close to the Jurassic park font
just realized my first comment will most likely get hidden because it contains a link to the imgur pic of my version. If you'd like I can send you a link directly
I posted my version to r/dndnext and hopefully I didn't go against any community guidlines that would get it removed (I can't even think what those would be but it's reddit so...) so it should be there to copy off of google sheets
@@benjifarmer4393 how do I find this?
Card stock will blow away, use a thin flexible sheet magnet base that you can cut, like on fridge magnets. A little glue, stick an entire page on a magnet, cut it all out. As for the board it goes on, Use another large flat magnet, Remember the keep the poles opposite, Glue the chart on it and Bam, You have a system that does not fall apart and have to be redone every time a new session hits.
I do really like that this makes the task of inventory management more fun and helps players to better visualize what they're carrying. As much as I like the idea of encumbrance and want to enforce that rule in my games, the trouble I run into is that it depends so much upon players keeping track of it and being honest about it. The DM already has so much to keep track of that keeping on top of what each PC is carrying isn't feasible. And I'm just as guilty when I'm a player: my current character is carrying more than she really ought to be able to, and I'm loathe to discard anything.
All of the little fiddly bits of paper/cardstock/cardboard/etc. pose a small challenge in that they'll require printing out and cutting out beforehand (another bit of work to add to the DM's task list of prep) and they need to include both items you'll present in-game as well as items the players may decide to acquire. Additionally, I don't know how to implement this when playing in VTTs rather than face-to-face at the table. I love the idea! But I'm not sure if it'll work for me.
That's... quite brilliant! I think I would substitute pen and paper to printing out, but I will definitely use this in one of my low-fantasy games. Thanks!
Glad Zeebaw uploaded this video from 5 years ago and provide free education, nice quality
Got mausritter off kickstarter last year and this style of encumbrance management was one of the many delightful things about it.
Our group implemented the "Diablo" method of encumbrance years ago and have never looked back. It's always been a very direct way to plot where everything is, and how it fits.
It also shows where in the pack things are. So important or fragile stuff goes in the top.
Horses and mules and whatnot get weird because they can carry obscene amounts. But it makes the extra half share for being quartermaster worth it if someone is good at it and likes puzzles.
This actually sounds like a ton of fun for what can otherwise be a huge drag
Duuuuuude. This is such a good idea. I love dynamic carrying systems like this. This will make my Strength based players stand out a bit more. Oooooh and I can make a circular version for tenser’s floating disk and watch them balance their hoard atop it! 😂
I like this. Seems like a lot of prep work for tabletop, but if you're willing to make paper squares for every item your party could pick up, go for it. I could see this working well for a video game, too.
Genuinely such a simple and awesome idea!!! I know my players (and I) struggle with being this unending maw of inventory, so this solution looks perfect!
I love your animated spell book videos
I have personally held myself to encumbrance even if the table did not require it. I mainly did this for two reasons; what a true adventurer would carry, and to be ready for any weight puzzle the DM might use to give him self some time. Armor and worn items are totaled, backpack and what it holds are totaled with reasonable things that might be strapped outside it like bedroll or rope, and all remaining encumbrance is counted in the form of empty sacks. Each empty sack holds 30lbs of stuff to show available carry limit. You might have 1 sack until you are lightly encumbered, but the rest until you can't move any more. Empty sacks are also cheap to replace if needed like if the sack is was cut to make bandages, or sold with the bloody dragon hide you carried back to town.
I usually ask the player where specifically he is carrying each and every single item on his body, and if he can reasonably explain how everything is stored without impeding their movement too much or not being ludicrously heavy, I'll allow it.
This not only gets the player to consider their PC as a real, physical character in a physical world and builds a connector to their belongings, it also gives some interesting gameplay opportunities. If they carry most of their stuff in a massive backpack, they probably won't wear it during Combat, meaning that they have to get to their backpack to access the things inside. How do you wear your coin purse? How easy/hard would that make you to pickpocket? How accessible are the different items, do you have to rummage for them first or do they hang from your hip?
Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale had a similar system that was kind of like a mix of the RAW from 2nd AD&D and a grid system. The game would track the weight of everything your carrying in pounds - *and* you were limited by the maximum amount of space in your bag (i.e. Inventory Space). It helped that the computer calculated the weight for you and every item took up 1 space in your inventory, with your inventory having a total of 16 spaces (if you don't count the different equipment slots; then it becomes 36 total inventory+equipped item space). Thankfully, certain items like consumables and ammunition were stackable up to 99.
It also gave magic bags a second function as they not only allowed you to carry more weight, they also increased your inventory limit.
Dude you are keeping 5e alive in a gorgeous way
Please more Keg. It is interesting and the guy voicing him sounds like the guy from the Animated Spellbok, which is great! ☜(ﾟヮﾟ☜)
Look at the foam on that pour. Everyone in Fable 2 would love this guy.
This is awesome, it gets rid of the players having to do math and lets us have fun Resident Evil-style inventories.
I'm definitely going to steal this idea, with credit to you.
Well done!
I would love a digital version of this omg
RIGHT? sigh who even gets to play in person these days.
Slot-based inventory is great. If you want basically this without all the props and prep work:
The whole point is to consider where your things are in physical space, rather than fiddly math with pounds and ounces. You get a number of containers = 3+Strength modifier. Name 'em - backpack, belt, pouch, scabbard, etc. Each container has three slots. Most items are 1 slot, big unwieldy things like swords or staffs are 3 slots, stackable things are 1 set to a slot (20 arrows, a whole bag of ball bearings, etc.). Armor is 1 container for light, 2 for medium, 3 for heavy.
And that's it! It's that simple. I made custom character sheets with boxes where you can draw a little picture of each item. Fantastic for actually remembering what you have, and seeing it all laid out in front of you makes it real and tangible.
In the homebrewed system I'm playtesting with friend, we sanded down all weight and size to an abstract "bulk" number. Knives are 1/2 bulk, while a great sword or a halberd is 4 bulk. It makes it much easier to track weight while also enabling players to think about what they bring on any given excursion.
I like how you basically made the Resident Evil inventory system.
I've always wanted a visual inventory system like this, like what you have in D2. This sounds great but the constant creation of puzzle pieces sounds like it would be a big hassle, as is keeping them stored and stopping them from falling loose everywhere and needing to be constantly adjusted.
You could stop them falling off by using velcro or magnets on the backs of the pieces (velcro would probably be lighter).
As for storage, that sounds like the perfect time to get some mini backpacks or drawstring bags for the group so it actually feels like its in your "character's" bag.
This is a pretty cool idea. I wonder if there are any online tools that implement it?
Microsoft Excel / Google sheets
To put it in video game terms, this is a really good way to move from a Skyrim inventory to a Resident Evil 4/Deus Ex inventory; I like it.
I like how Five Torches Deep handles encumbrance (using CON score) and supplies (using INT score).
This seems like an insane amount of work for something that wasn't even much of a problem to begin with. It just seems like the type of "thats neat" feature creep you'd see in an overfunded kickstarter.
This could work really well with PF2e's bulk based encumberance system
Wouldn't this be hard for alchemists who want to carry a lot of consumables?
@@nicholasfoster2564 Most of an alchemist's items are of light or negligable bulk, so that could be solved by, in the case of the negligable items, not having them take up space in that specific sheet, and by making =>10 light items take up only one space, and letting the player stack item tokens of different types on top of each other.
And an alchemist would probably be looking a lot at their inventory anyway, so they'd probably have a good idea for what was in there anyway
This is the best way to implement encumbrance that I've ever seen. I now have no reason beyond player protest to implement my survival/attrition heavy campaigns.
"Just make custom puzzle pieces for every equipment in the PHP" This is an immense amount of prepping work for a system that few people bother keeping tracking of. And people will argue about the shape of the custom pieces.
Many modern rpgs just assign an amount of arbitrary units an equipment occupies and lets players use X units.
PF2 uses "bulk" and its pretty good, people can carry 5+str bulk of items, most weapons use 1 or 2 bulk. Really small items are "light" and 10 light makes 1 bulk.
Wait… how do you not just have the puzzle pieces slide off?
Maybe use a thin metal sheet for a backplate and put little magnets in the item cards?
Alternately, Colorforms. (Thin vinyl sheets that stick to a smooth backing with no adhesive.)
I usually did it online (as a map), but: Laminated paper bottoms with looped tape, Legos, I saw some people talking about using magnets, you can also use a pencil on grid paper.
This is brilliant. Because it also allows you to work in even more ignored rules. Backpacks. They actually have max capacity that is way lower than your carryweight. So realisticy, you'd have to manage weight AND size. I know that even if a dm does encumberance (we do simple), they ignore the backpack rules and just let you carry until you hit the limit as long as you have a backpack.
Utilizing this kinda chart for space and weight could absolutely work with some tweaks.
Have you played Mausritter? If not you should check it out! It has a very similar and neat inventory system that also helps track "uses" on consumable items, a generally very clean and simple system overall.
encumbrance in base rules has two states, "Wow I really can't carry my own armor" and "I have 18 strength and it won't matter what my carry capacity is before we start getting piles of bags of holding." Late game mostly becomes "Can we take the solid gold statue? Can anyone move it?" with a side of people remembering the spell reduce object exists.
This strategy is super neat. I think it's a great way to handle inventory management. Reminds me of the greats of video games (RE4, etc.)
I think the drawback is that it's so much work for the DM. Especially because you have to make shapes/pieces for every piece of equipment the players have when you start using the system *and* all the equipment and gear you ever plan to put in front of them in case they grab it. Not to mention all the random set dressing you mention and the players decide to rip off the wall lol.
The other drawback is the space it requires. I don't know about y'all, but I don't have 10k to drop on a fancy gaming table. We're playing on a dining table at best, and that means that character sheets are already on top of the tactical map and snacks have to be relegated to the kitchen. The idea of everyone also having to have 2 sheets of paper next to them along with the character sheets seems ludicrous to me personally.
I’ve been thinking about this for YEARS. Thank you for helping word it so it makes sense
This is great for things that involve looting treasure and seeing how much you can actually run off with
You are literally talking about bulk, and in a way, I am already doing this, and-and I was about to add this to my character sheets, the inventory cube. It's rad to see you thinking along the same lines as me.
A version of something kind of like this is used to represent memorizing a limited number of spells in the game Invisible Sun. There it's that you only have so much mind-space for your current degree of training.
Sticking traveler's clothes in the encumbered grid.
Barbarian: "Looks like I'm going commando today!"
This is a nice solution because it not only covers weight but, also shape. It is kindof silly when an adventurer can fit into their backpack, a tent that sleeps four and a handful of fighting spears.
This is a classic. I haven't rewatched the early episodes in like 4 months, gotta refind the patreon Vimeo link.
I actially love this. It is similar to holding a deck of many pack to track what spells know and have ready.
This is so clever and very useful.
I never considered doing this IRL, in spite of seeing this being done in video games and computer games for countless years.
I bet if there was some sort of phone app or computer app that would do this for players it would be very easy for everyone to do.
I should probably design one someday. I've already designed dice roller apps and calculation apps.
This type of app might be more challenging to make for me, but it'd be totally worth it.
Please please please dooooo!
Coolest background music of any RUclipsr!
Good idea as well.
Omg thats a great idea Zee. I dont know where you got it but 10/10. Amazing.
My lizardfolk Barbarian with max strength and a pack animal companion: "What's encumbrance?"
I've tried this exact thing in the past as well, and absolutely the card stock is vital. Printing the items on paper makes them hard to pick up and move around while at the same time making them fly away at the first sign of a slight breeze.
I'm just imagining someone accidently sneezing their whole inventory away
I'm actually a big fan of the way that the FFG Star Wars game handles encumbrance. Everything has a specific encumbrance that's only occasionally linked to weight. The number tends to be pretty low and worn armor is halved. The main advantage is that ships or bases tend to have huge encumbrance values allowing characters to store gear onboard ships and pick and choose what they need for a mission, but a lack of having brought the proper gear can still be devastating.
Also encumbrance is representative of both mass and shape. Things can be high encumbrance without weighing a lot because they take up extra space or have an odd shape that makes them hard to store or carry. They also have things to improve encumbrance capacity or decrease the encumbrance of specific objects (a sling for your gun). The fact that the objects all have a specific number and characters have a specific max (usually of less than 10 unless they have a backpack or other gear for increasing it) it's fairly easy to track.
As aoon as I saw the squares I remembered my time playing deus ex (can’t remember which one I was 4-5 years old), and the inventory having the images of the tools you have and them taking up a certain amount of squares for the real size of the items, it was so cool to see
that's sooooo clever. I have a game in like 5 hours that I have to run but I'm tempted to spend that entire 5 hours doing this instead of preparing the dungeon, puzzles, and encounters. For anyone thinking "oh but how would I do that in a VTT or online" since I know a lot of us play online, I think you could probably do it in something like a google sheet spreadsheet, with little PNGs for items. Or some VTTs might allow you to make a "scene" that is just the player's inventories, and add little tokens representing the items that they have to move around.
I tried to use "Stones" (14 lbs) as a rough unit of weight but it caused confusion and I wanted more abstract. I end up I grouping most related equipment into "kits" and "packs" (full small bag of coins and jewels, Traveler's Pack, spell component pouch, etc.) to speed-up CharGen. Then I called kits/packs, as well as most weapons as well as a shield being a "Thing", with body armor and other bulky items as being 2 or more "Things" A character can carries a modest amount of "Things" based on character's Strength, with 6 being a typical light load and 12 being the typical max. This is easy to track as players have a bullet-point list with tags noting encumbrance thresholds. This was inspired by a number of OSR products.
how dare you suggest an absolutely awesome idea that i will now spend alot of time on making
I've actually tried this! It was terrible!
Not only did my players hate having to manage their physical inventory, but it tripled my prep time for each session by making me cut out squares of paper, it required an extra long prep during session one when i had to prepare custom tiles for the gear they picked from the book, and it made the game grind to a halt whenever i decided to give them an extra piece of loot as a reward for clever thinking. I think the system is great, it's fun, it's cool, it really makes you think! And i had actually written the campaign to be ABOUT managing inventory: the players needed to raid a wizard's tower for supplies before an approaching army got to it, but they also needed to escape the army afterward (encumbrance) and manage to do so without a cart (the tower was isolated in the woods). The problem, i think, came down to my players not being the kinds of people who would try to take everything but the kitchen sink- i gave myself a shitload more work to do to solve a problem i dont have. I've always found inventory management to be fun, and im the kind of player who will detail which items are in a belt pouch vs. On a bandolier vs. In the backpack, because i enjoy the process. I've never met another player who cared about inventory AT ALL and tried to make the system more fun for others in the hopes it would inspire them to care. The lesson I learned is: spend your prep time fleshing out the parts of the game your players DO care about. They'll have more fun that way.
Cool idea, but I've never really struggled with the concept of incumberance and I come from an even more cryptic edition about it. But I'm always happy to see people work out new ideas.
DUDE YOU MADE SKYLANDERS WTF FORCE! That animation haunted my childhood lol
They made an entire little rogue-lite built around an inventory system like this called "Backpack Hero" fun times.
Worlds Without Number does this best in my opinion: You can have half of your strength in readied items (weapons, potions, scrolls), equipped or accessible without spending a turn digging in your backpack, and your full strength stowed, where it takes a main action to retrieve. Most items are 1 encumbrance, 2 handed weapons and most armors are 2 encumbrance, and very heavy armors are 3 encumbrance. So a str 10 character can have sword, shield, medium armor and a contingency item readied. While an 18 str beast will have heavy armor (3), a twohander (2), a javelin (1) and 3 contingency items like potions, grappling hook and scrolls. Makes it much more exciting to use items in combat.
This feels like it would work really well with Velcro. Or magnets. (They sell flexible magnet paper stuff online.)
🙂Yeah, those thin plastic-mat fridge magnets would be good. They're not strong enough to get stuck to other stuff, you can get small magnetic whiteboards at the back-to-school section or office supply store, _and_ you can get blank white fridge-magnet sheets that are made to be easily laser-printed. So if you layed out common items onto a normal 8.5" x 11" template, you could print out several copies easily, and just hand them out to players with scissors at the start of the game.
This is such a cool idea! I'm absolutely going to draw out a chart and try to set this up in the virtual tabletop program that I use! Thanks again for putting so much passion and thought into your work Zee!
brother straight introduced grid inventory to the table. If people can be bothered it's a cool idea (I like it, personally), but I would have an easier time convincing my players to eat a literal brick than use something even close to this.
10/10 would want an animated keg tho
This seems really good for digital. Give each player their own scene and repurpose the combat grid/tokens as bag slots and items. All the benefits, and easy to manage as well.
Aw sweet! We can do Resident 4 Inventory shuffling in DnD now!
I honestly feel like that should be an actual game. I spent hours making Leon's briefcase immaculate, and had way too much fun doing it.
This is exactly how encumbrance works in Mausritter.
I love this idea! Inventory management is something that I've always felt is essential for any sort of proper survival or exploration themed game, so to the extent D&D tries to be that I feel that the sidelining of encumbrance really does the game a disservice.