Choose Your Language

Thursday 27 September 2012

An Organised Inventory (Bag Types)

While not completely settled, things have calmed down at home for me a bit more of late, which has allowed me to do some more work on the module. This has been quite therapeutic. I started to look at the integration of the second module in the series. This is because I want to make sure there is a stable interaction between module transfers for those players wishing to play the series as a whole. There were one or two incidents I had to rectify already, but until I have finished everything in module one, I cannot be certain that I have sorted all requirements just yet.

Stabilising module connectivity aside, I have also been continuing to finish off those quests and related conversations that still needed doing. This has included adding treasure hordes (hooray!) and sorting monster encounters (boo!) to guard them. In the process of doing this, I decided to finish off the "automatic bag" system I had in mind to help keep PC's inventories organised as they acquired all these new treasures. Like most of my systems, this one is also an option for the player to use or not, but I hope they will see the benefits and take advantage of it.

Seven Simple Suggestions

There are seven types of "bags" that will be on offer to the player to acquire for their PCs, which they can use as they wish to or not. They are not forced upon the player, but are useful additions to help complement the "Tome" type holders that the player can acquire to hold "recipes" and "enchantments". These seven new bag types are as follows:


1 - The keyring keeps all keys in one place
2 - A Treasure Bag for all those gems and jewellery
3 - The Bounty Bag for creature part rewards
4 - Specialised Satchel for those with crafting skills (light items)
5 - Another specialised Satchel for those with Alchemy specific skills
6 - A more common magik bag for carrying the more cumbersome crafting components
 
7 - And finally ... The basic bag, which can be renamed to anything you like with the Smith Hammer


The first five bags all work in a similar manner, in that they all automatically have any item found by the PC placed into the appropriate bag if carried. The sixth bag (the Crafting Components Holder), also does this, but does so across the whole party. What I mean by this, is that any PC picking up ore, ingots, hides or planks will automatically place these items into this bag, no matter who in the party is carrying it (or the first bag found if more than one is being carried); whereas the previous five bags work only on the PC who carries them. The player is given notification of when an item is placed into a specific bag.
 
The contents of these bags can be removed at any time, but there are restrictions upon what can go inside these bags to help maintain a neat and tidy arrangement across the whole inventory. The process has been designed to help the player more easily recognise items that will be useful in relation to any crafting skills they are trying to develop. Using these bags, it will be a simple matter of checking inside the appropriate bag for the items required, safely in the knowledge that if it is not there, then you do not have it and it will not be anywhere else in your inventory (unless you have manually taken it out of course).
 
For those players who really like to keep everything in its place, then investing in a Smith Hammer to help rename/organise basic bags will be a pleasure. Feedback welcome!

2 comments:

Kamal said...

Wow, that's really neat.

Lance Botelle (Bard of Althéa) said...

Cheers Kamal,

I know what I am like when it comes to trying to remember what items are needed for what, and so I know how useful it would be for somebody like me ... and hence, I thought others would like it too. :)

Lance.