Roleplaying Systems

[Polyedit2000]

Section 4.5A: Carrying Items

In order to use an item, the player needs to carry the item as well.  Souls-like games limit the number of healing potions to ensure players focus more on their skills and looter games like Borderlands and Diablo have limited space forcing you to return to a vendor every now and then.

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First, let's divide items into three categories:

Carriable- You can carry these items normally.
Not Carriable- You cannot carry these items without sacrificing your capabilities.
Negligible- You can carry these items, but you do not need to track them separately.

For example, you should be able to pick up your phone or wallet easily, but picking up a mid-tower PC will hamper your ability to go through doors, and the ways you can spend money through cards or digital devices means you don't have to carry bills around.

I mention this because some games sort these items by how you can use them.  In most games, gold is an important resource yet does not take up any inventory space whereas some heavy weaponry can be used but are considered too heavy to carry around like a normal weapon.  

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So how would you manage inventory?  There are a number of ways to do this, so here are a few examples:

1) Bottomless Bag: While you don't have to worry about the total weight of your items, most bags tend to be limited by the size of the bag's opening and magical interactions with the bag (usually, you don't want to pug a bottomless bag inside a bottomless bag).

2) 1x1 Bag: Each item or stack of items takes up one space.  This is usually for games like Bugsnax or Super Mario RPG where items are of equal size.

3) Grid Bag: Each item takes up a number of spaces, with stacks of negligible items sharing one space.  For example, items you can carry comfortably with one hand takes up one space, items carried in two hands take up two spaces, and items that also require cradling with your arms take up 4 spaces.

4) Weight Bag:  The weight of the item matters more.  In this case, a 1 pound dumbbell and a 1 pound bag of feathers are considered equal items here, though the bag of feathers would take up more space in a grid system.  Similarly, a plastic ball and a metal ball may take up the same amount of grid space but the metal ball will weigh more.

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There are also ways to increase the number of stuff you can carry.  In some games, increasing a stat like Strength will increase the number of items you can carry, and carrying over that limit (if possible) can serious hamper your ability to move or fight.  In games like World of Warcraft, you can acquire bigger bags which in turn allows you to carry more stuff.  Alternatively, players might be able to find alternate ways to store items such as acquiring a packmule or a portal to a storage chest.

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I mention negligible items because the way they take up space can be different from carriable items.  In Dungeons and Dragons, reagents are negligible items that are required to cast a number of spells.  However, a focus or a reagent bag can be used to fulfill some of these spells without tracking specific small items; spells that don't benefit from the reagent bag tends to be powerful ones that require rare or expensive reagents.

Gold or other kinds of currency usually counts as a negligible item too or have a separate container for them. In some games, choosing a noble background allows you to start with more coins than other players, and some games might have the excuse of currency not working in a foreign land. Some games may have multiple currencies that can work together and separately: In Monster Hunter, you have Zenny and Points that can be used to purchase things like meals, though Zenny is more for and from human things while Points tend to lean more towards cat things.