That depends on the something, and how strict you want to be. Usually I just hand wave it, though it does come up sometimes, and I probably shouldn’t. It is pretty good for the players to have an idea of where their stuff is, mostly on the off chance that they lose or drop a container they know what else is in it. And there is room for other things on some containers, like strapping rope to the outside of the backpack. Or the character’s pockets, or a few belt pouches, depending on the item. It can be fair to warn the players that they need to specify where each item is carried, but I’d probably implement that between sessions, to make sure they have time to sort it out.
Thinking of military gear and things worn at Ren-fairs, fantasy clothing has a lot of loops for hanging quick grab items from. Bandoleers are another item of clothing used for quick access without having to fiddle through a sack or pouch. I usually consider my characters would walk open handed with shield slung and both hands free. The exception would be when in an environment where defending would likely so weapons and shield would be at the ready. Even then, I believe a character would have their off-hand occupied while the primary hand was empty until the character needs to draw a weapon to fight back. Not having a free hand is absolutely frustrating in real life, so translate that to your character as well.
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IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.
Worn or carried equipment means it's somewhere on the person or inside backpack, pouch, pocket etc It depends what size is the piece of equipment too, a large item may be stored in chest at home etc. I usually require the player characters to tell me if/where each items is worn, carried or stored.
The thing that can be real interesting to make them track is money. How much it weighs, how much they can reasonably fit in a container. It can add up quickly. To the point that a cart and a horse really starts to make sense. And then you need a guard to watch it all when you go inside the dungeon. Or you create a bank for them. If you’re going for realism in what they carry, that’s a big thing to watch.
Especially if you roll random treasure and they have to figure if it’s worth trying to carry 8,000 copper pieces.
Yeah, thank goodness most GMs hand wave coin encumbrance. If they do not, the players better hope every loot haul is full of gems. I think it is 50 coins per pound generically speaking for ease of non-specific metal types.
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IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.
My group makes use of the containers as well - but there are challenges in things strapped to the outside of e.g. a backpack.
Generally speaking, we found the carry limit on a regular backpack to be very low, so upped it to 50lb with an optional more expensive and customised rucksack that can take up to 90lb.
So generally speaking, my players add the stuff strapped to a backpack to the container itself. It will mean that it sometimes goes over the permissable weight, but its a bit of a common sense approach.
Other things not assigned to a container is assumed to be attached to belt, in a pocket, or similar. Most characters carry a main backpack and smaller side slung bags (except the ones who ended up with the bag of, which now carry a lot of the party gear).
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Tell me what you you are trying to achieve - we're telling this story together ....at least I thought we were - Now I am not so sure [OGL 1.1]
If you use D&D Beyond they now have the container option in your equipment listing. You can place things inside other things.
I do this and then add a note to items if I just strap them to the sides or my belt or whatever.
You do have to watch weights and encumbrances though. And magic items like bags of holding do not modify the total encumbrance but you can do that by hand.
This website is really getting pretty good, I have to hand it to them for their work.
You do have to watch weights and encumbrances though. And magic items like bags of holding do not modify the total encumbrance but you can do that by hand.
Just a minor correction. The bag of holding and haversack shows the weight and capacity of the items inside, but does not add to the encumbrance weight. Only the weight of the bag itself is added on the dndbeyond sheet - so it works really well actually - since you can both see how close you are to filling/ripping the bag, while still tracking your encumbrance :)
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Tell me what you you are trying to achieve - we're telling this story together ....at least I thought we were - Now I am not so sure [OGL 1.1]
Is it safe to assume that whatever’s not in a Backpack or another form of Container
Is being carried by hand, by the PC correct?
That depends on the something, and how strict you want to be. Usually I just hand wave it, though it does come up sometimes, and I probably shouldn’t. It is pretty good for the players to have an idea of where their stuff is, mostly on the off chance that they lose or drop a container they know what else is in it.
And there is room for other things on some containers, like strapping rope to the outside of the backpack. Or the character’s pockets, or a few belt pouches, depending on the item.
It can be fair to warn the players that they need to specify where each item is carried, but I’d probably implement that between sessions, to make sure they have time to sort it out.
A: extremely strict
Looking to run my games w/ as much “realism” as possible
But would like the help of any official (variant) rules/guidelines if they exist
I thought of having my players physically describe the set up of their Backpack & other containers as well
But mainly Backpacks
Thanks for your response 🙏🏾
Thinking of military gear and things worn at Ren-fairs, fantasy clothing has a lot of loops for hanging quick grab items from. Bandoleers are another item of clothing used for quick access without having to fiddle through a sack or pouch. I usually consider my characters would walk open handed with shield slung and both hands free. The exception would be when in an environment where defending would likely so weapons and shield would be at the ready. Even then, I believe a character would have their off-hand occupied while the primary hand was empty until the character needs to draw a weapon to fight back. Not having a free hand is absolutely frustrating in real life, so translate that to your character as well.
IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.
This is great stuff, thank you 🙏🏾
Things which seem so obvious that it would for sure get overlooked
New players still thinking of D&D as a video game where everything is automatic or assumed to just “work”
God I love this game 🥹
Worn or carried equipment means it's somewhere on the person or inside backpack, pouch, pocket etc It depends what size is the piece of equipment too, a large item may be stored in chest at home etc. I usually require the player characters to tell me if/where each items is worn, carried or stored.
The thing that can be real interesting to make them track is money. How much it weighs, how much they can reasonably fit in a container. It can add up quickly. To the point that a cart and a horse really starts to make sense. And then you need a guard to watch it all when you go inside the dungeon. Or you create a bank for them.
If you’re going for realism in what they carry, that’s a big thing to watch.
Especially if you roll random treasure and they have to figure if it’s worth trying to carry 8,000 copper pieces.
Yeah, thank goodness most GMs hand wave coin encumbrance. If they do not, the players better hope every loot haul is full of gems. I think it is 50 coins per pound generically speaking for ease of non-specific metal types.
IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.
My group makes use of the containers as well - but there are challenges in things strapped to the outside of e.g. a backpack.
Generally speaking, we found the carry limit on a regular backpack to be very low, so upped it to 50lb with an optional more expensive and customised rucksack that can take up to 90lb.
So generally speaking, my players add the stuff strapped to a backpack to the container itself. It will mean that it sometimes goes over the permissable weight, but its a bit of a common sense approach.
Other things not assigned to a container is assumed to be attached to belt, in a pocket, or similar. Most characters carry a main backpack and smaller side slung bags (except the ones who ended up with the bag of, which now carry a lot of the party gear).
Tell me what you you are trying to achieve - we're telling this story together ....at least I thought we were - Now I am not so sure [OGL 1.1]
If you use D&D Beyond they now have the container option in your equipment listing. You can place things inside other things.
I do this and then add a note to items if I just strap them to the sides or my belt or whatever.
You do have to watch weights and encumbrances though. And magic items like bags of holding do not modify the total encumbrance but you can do that by hand.
This website is really getting pretty good, I have to hand it to them for their work.
Just a minor correction. The bag of holding and haversack shows the weight and capacity of the items inside, but does not add to the encumbrance weight. Only the weight of the bag itself is added on the dndbeyond sheet - so it works really well actually - since you can both see how close you are to filling/ripping the bag, while still tracking your encumbrance :)
Tell me what you you are trying to achieve - we're telling this story together ....at least I thought we were - Now I am not so sure [OGL 1.1]
Updated since I last checked.
Great.