Abstract Inventory & Stress

by mulebits

I ditched weight-based inventory for slot-based a while ago. The system is simple: each PC has 8 slots, and each slot holds 1 thing (or 1/2 for bulky items).

Spells also take up 1 slot each (blame Mausritter and Knave). It doesn’t matter where you’ve put it—a tome, a scroll, a carved stone tablet, or your own brain—it’s still 1 slot. I like this dynamic a lot; instead of introducing a new mechanic in spell slots or mental inventory, the system asks players to use existing resources in new ways.

Enter Grave. Tocci’s stamina system is great; simply put, you can spend inventory slots to pull off stunts or cast spells. It’s another bolt-on system, reminiscent of the slot-based fatigue system which I swear was in the original GLOG but it isn’t???? I like it.

So we have spells, items, and stamina all fighting for inventory space. So, what else can we shove in inventory?

Oblidisideryptch had some ideas that I want to follow up on.

Here’s The Pitch

Your Inventory holds everything that your character is holding, things that you can lose/get rid of/hand off to a friend. This is the place for:

• items
• spells
• fatigue
• injuries
• stress
• ideas (the bad, mind-breaking kind)
• anything you’re likely to change more than once per session

Each of the abstract inventory-things has an overflow mechanic (for when you need to add it to your inventory but have no room) and a removal mechanic (for when you want to remove it from your inventory).

Fatigue
Overflow: Drop an item OR be unable to move until you have a proper meal or a nap.
To Remove: Have a proper meal or a nap. 

Injuries
Overflow: Drop an item OR have the injury become permanent.
To Remove: Receive specific medical treatment OR spend a week of downtime recuperating. 

Stress
Overflow: Drop an item OR roll for a Crack.
To Remove: Spend a week of downtime on emotional therapy and/or heavy drinking.
You can get rid of stress FASTER by sharing it with a friend. Anyone who hears you out over a meal can take your stress from you. 

Ideas
Overflow: Drop an item OR have the idea become permanent.
To Remove: Forget or fulfill your dark desire.
You can get rid of an idea by sharing it with a friend. Anyone who hears you out over a meal can take the idea from you. Alternatively, you can spread the idea to others with an unsettling speech.

There’s probably a hack out there where skills, class abilities, languages, race, background, and even HP all take up inventory slots. (I know Bonepunk does the last one.)

Some personal takeaways:

• Track only the things you care about. Stress is in; arrows are not.
• Bolt-on subsystems should build upon existing gameplay loops without distracting from them. stay focused on what the game is about
• Know your audience; anticipate their needs. Think about what all this shit looks like on a character sheet.
• It's easier to write blog posts when you have other work that you need to be distracted from.