Encumbrance Rules

[CRMcNeill]

I'm interested as part of the larger issue, but I'm having trouble picturing how it will bear on the larger concept of what happens when a character or vehicle is overloaded...
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[garhkal]

I'd say being over encumbered,
A) reduces your move (no going all out)
B) imposes a -1 to -2d penalty on dex checks
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]

[MrNexx]

[CRMcNeill]

Coming back around to this, I'm wondering if the best way to represent this would be in Dice penalties, similar to Ionization Damage. Basically, an object beyond a certain size inflicts an Encumbrance penalty applied to various Movement skills.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]

From the beginning of my discussion on this, my goal has been to create a uniform Encumbrance rule for ships, vehicles and characters. In addition, I'm looking for a rule that can be weaponized for when I write up stats for Graviton weaponry from the WH40K universe.

Trying to puzzle out more accurate penalties for armor got me thinking along the lines of using dice penalties, and the idea shows enough promise that I think I'm going to fold it into a larger Encumbrance rule, which will cover the weight of all carried/worn pieces of equipment, including armor. Any additional penalties due to armor placement interfering with movement will be handled as a separate penalty.

It will also require a partial re-write of my Cargo Increment rules for Tramp Freighters, but that's not a problem if it results in a workable, uniform rule.

The short version I'm thinking is, every piece of equipment beyond a certain size (including lots of cargo carried in a ship's cargo bay) will have an Encumbrance penalty rated in Dice, which will, in turn, penalize Strength and Movement skills. This will function in a similar manner to Ionization Damage, but will only roll off if the character sets the equipment down or if they have some form of counter-augmentation to offset the penalty (anti-grav suspensors, a power suit, etc).

For characters, they'll be able to ignore Encumbrance penalties up to 1/2 of either their Strength or Lifting dice. So, a character with 2D Strength may ignore 1D of Encumbrance penalty, but if they increase their Lifting skill to 4D, they may ignore 2D, and so on and so forth.

That's the simplest method I could think of to incorporate natural physical strength, but it will offset some of my initial thoughts on what should count as Encumbrance, and what shouldn't.

Anyway, that's where I am with this at the moment. Thoughts?
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Naaman]

I have been tossing this around as well while shopping for camping/hunting gear IRL.

For people (and, to my understanding, vehicles, as well), the way the weight is distributed is a major factor in how it affects encumbrance.

"Wearing" 50 pounds of gear (such as armor and kit) is a lot different than carrying it in the hands which is also much different than in a back pack.

If you want this to matter in your rule, the best way I can think to integrate it would be to allow different kinds of packs/armor set ups to "count as" a certain amount of lifting. For example, a rugged back pack designed for camping might "count as" (adding) 1D in lifting, while an infantry ruck sack might count as (adding) 2D to lifting. Armor might "count as" (adding) 3D to lifting.

Nevertheless: while the character may be able to physically move around with all that gear (due to the bonuses), their stamina roll should not gain the same bonus.

Depending on how you envision the scale of this system, you may want to adjust the "counts as" modifiers down to pips rather than whole dice.

In the case of vehicles, cargo loaded into the "back seat" (closer to the vehicle's center of mass) might have a lesser effect than than if loaded into the trunk, which in turn is less than if strapped to the roof, etc.
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SpecForce Combat Elements
All About Lightsabers: Designing, Building, and Fighting

[CRMcNeill]

That's not going to be something that can be addressed by a single, linear rule. I'd be more inclined to address a "hand" system (as summarized here), which can then be used to stat out personal carrying equipment, like ALICE harnesses, plate carriers or rucksacks.

I certainly agree that how something is carried affects how difficult it is to carry it; IMO, that's one of the big advantages of something like the Smartgun Harness from Aliens, in that it allows a heavy weapon's weight to be carried on the gunner's core while leaving the arms free to aim and fire it.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Naaman]

I actually had come up with a similar idea for making sense of how a character might carry "all their stuff."

For example, if we reduced equipment to only weapons, I might say that a character can carry "5 hands' worth of weapons" no matter how strong they are (this is kinda video-game like, but serviceable in a pinch, I think). A pistol is 1-hand, a knife, 1-hand, a sword 2-hands (even if wielded in one hand), a shoulder fired weapon, 2 hands, etc.

Take another look at my suggestion above. The "linear rule" you want could fit perfectly in (if I'm understanding it correctly) because it allows everything to still be based on the character's strength or lifting skill. This just makes gear selection (including packs and pouches and such; and cargo configuration/volume for vehicles one additional dimension for consideration). In other words, having a giant duffel bag full of crap versus having an organized orienteering pack and tackle vest.

If the rule is too simple, a character could "by the rules" just have a jar strapped to his head with all his stuff in it.
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SpecForce Combat Elements
All About Lightsabers: Designing, Building, and Fighting

[CRMcNeill]

It would have to be a particularly inattentive GM to allow something as silly as that.

As I've said elsewhere, I'm not interested in a system that dwells too heavily on the minutiae of exactly how much equipment a character can carry. I want a system that will allow characters to ignore Encumbrance until it actually becomes an issue. If I understand what you describe correctly, were a PC to load themselves down with a ridiculous amount of loot, the GM could simply assign an appropriate Encumbrance penalty, as well as stipulating that said character must have some practical method of carrying it all.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Naaman]

I hope you at least got a laugh out of the jar on the head remark...

Anyway, I'll have to chew on it some more if my previous idea doesn't fit into what you want to do.
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SpecForce Combat Elements
All About Lightsabers: Designing, Building, and Fighting

[Argentsaber]

[CRMcNeill]

Somehow I missed this over the years. Challenge Magazine had an article in Episode #62 on Encumbrance (Link). It's a short read, but my initial takeaway is that treating Encumbrance similar to Ionization may work, with the main difference being that the Encumbrance penalty has to exceed the character's Strength to being to take effect. So, say something has an Encumbrance rating of -3D; a character with 4D Strength can carry it without difficulty, but a character with 2D Strength suffers a -1D Penalty to Movement actions. Obviously, the example isn't perfect, but the basic concept is there.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[garhkal]

How would you figure out what 'encumbrance' rating items of gear are then?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]