Gear Slots and Supplies in Homebrew World

This post is out of date!  I've made significant changes to the inventory system in Homebrew World v1.5. See here for details.  

If you really prefer this older version, here's the last version of HBW that used it. Enjoy! (Also, maybe drop me a line and let me know why you prefer the old one.)

Homebrew World (I really need a better name than that) abstracts gear and supplies even more than Dungeon World does. My goal was for it to be intuitive and self-explanatory, but I've gotten a couple questions about it so I figured I'd write up an explanation.

Plus, this particular mechanic would be easy-ish to port into core DW or related games. So here it is.

Gear Slots

Each class playbook gets 9 "slots" for gear, plus a box for small items. It looks like this:

Gear slots & starting gear for the Fighter

And for the Thief

Most items take up a slot, but:

• Small items can go in your Small Items section (and you can carry as many as you can write in there). 
• Big items (like the Fighter's "Hauberk or brigandine or breastplate") take up two slots
• Clumsy items must go in the last few slots, the ones that make you clumsy. Heavy armor is clumsy for most characters, but some (like the Fighter) ignore it.
• Encumbering items (Armor, Supplies, instruments like a lute or a mandolin) can't occupy either of the first two slots.  (At least, that's my intent. I haven't actually flagged these items as such, and I'm not 100% sure that I ever will. Also, shields should probably go in these slots but whatevs.)

Normally, you'll be encumbered, meaning you have something in slots 3+. This doesn't normally have any game effect; that's the assumed state of the game. You're expected to be adventurers, carrying crap around on an expedition.

If you have nothing but your first two slots filled in, you are unencumbered. This doesn't mean anything by itself, but there are a handful of moves (like the Thief's Catlike) that only work if you're unencumbered.

If anything is in your last few slots, you are clumsy and have disadvantage on all your rolls.  You don't ever want to have something in your clumsy slots, but sometimes it'll be necessary or worth it. "You want to throw Thorin out over your shoulder and carry him out? Okay, but he'll take up two clumsy slots and you'll need to dedicate one hand to keeping him there. You do it?"

Supplies

For the most part, you don't track the specific stuff that you've got on you, except for weapons and some small items that add flavor or utility at the start of the game. Rations, bandages, poultices & herbs, rope, lanterns, torches, etc.—it's all subsumed under Supplies.

Each set of Supplies takes up one inventory slot and, by default, gives you two uses. When you expend the last use, that inventory slot becomes free and you can put something else in there.

(Note: the number of uses is something I'm still a little uncertain about. I think "2" is right for one-shots and short-run games, where you're basically doing one shortish adventure; it's probably too little for games with slower paced, more extensive expeditions.)

You might expend Supplies...

• To produce an item (see Have What You Need)
• To clear someone else's "out of..." condition (see Share Supplies)
• When another move tells you to, or gives you the option (see Volley, Give Succor, and Make Camp, or numerous Background moves).
• Because the GM uses up your resources, and Supplies are it.
• Because the GM reveals an unwelcome truth, the truth being that (some of?) your Supplies are gone, or spoiled, or broken, or worthless, or whatever.
• The GM makes a different move, and it happens to come along with you losing Supplies

When a move says to "expend 1 Supplies" or "expend Supplies," it means tick off one use of Supplies. It doesn't mean "lose the whole inventory slot."

"Out of..."

Each playbook has a section for tracking things you might run out.of. There are standard check boxes for things everyone is likely to care about (food, water, ammo, healing supplies) and room to free-text in more. Some class and background moves introduce new things you can be "out of."

When you're out of __, you don't have any more than what's already explicitly established on your inventory. So, like, if you mark "out of candles" to produce one last candle (see below), you add that one candle to your Small Items list but that's it. No more candles.

Also, if you're out of __, you can't do things that require or assume that you have __. If you're out of ammo, you can't shoot someone with your bow. If you're out of healing supplies, you can't Give Succor.

You might end up marking "out of __" because:

• You Have What You Need, but mark "out of __" instead of expending Supplies
• Another move tells you to, or that you can (see Volley or Make Camp)
• You specifically decide to rid yourself or otherwise be out of __ ("I give the refugees all my food. I can find more!" or "I discard anything made of iron from my person, then head through the faerie door.")
• The GM makes a move, and it results in you being out of __.

At the GM's option, you can also mark "out of __" in lieu of expending 1 use of Supplies. For example, the GM might tell you to expend Supplies as your pack tears open, and you might be like "can I mark 'out of food' instead?" 

Once you are out of __, you're out of it until:

• You Resupply.
• Someone else (who isn't out of the same thing) Shares Supplies with you.
• Fictional circumstances change, so that you wouldn't be out of __ (like, maybe you find a stream and fill your wine skin, so you're no longer 'out of drink.' Or, maybe you scour the battlefield for arrows and find enough to clear 'out of ammo.')

Expending Supplies to Produce Items

This isn't on the moves list yet, but it will be. Here's how it works:

HAVE WHAT YOU NEED  

When you go through your gear and expend 1 use of Supplies, you produce a common, mundane item, something that you could have been carrying around. Add the item to your inventory. 

If the item you produce is small, you can mark "out of __" instead of expending Supplies. If you do, that's the last of that thing that you had.   

What exactly counts as "common & mundane" in your world depends entirely on what you establish in play. A magnetic compass might be common & mundane in an Age of Piracy game, but a magical wonder in a bronze-age Aegean Sea game. 

When you expend Supplies to produce an item, you tick off a use of Supplies and add the item to your inventory. If it's a small item, put in the Small Items section (if it can fit). Otherwise, it takes up a slot (or slots, if big) as normal.

• If that was the last use of that particular set of Supplies, that slot is now free. You can put the item you produced there.   
• If you end up having to put it in a clumsy slot, them's the breaks. I guess it was just really well packed before, and now, not so much.

Many backgrounds give you the ability to produce items other than the common & mundane. A Noble Scion Fighter can produce "fine, expensive items (but nothing unique, magical, or overly specific)." A Tomb Raider Thief can produce "strange, obscure, even minorly magical items, but only if you can tell us where you got them." As with "common & mundane" items, it's up to your group to work these things out at the table, based on established fiction and the spirit of these moves. 

If you mark "out of __" instead of expending Supplies, the GM decides exactly what you're out of. For example, if you mark "out of __" to produce a candle, the GM might tell you that you're out of candles, or that you're out of light sources. Their call.

Expending Supplies to Clear Another's "Out of..."

Again, this hasn't actually made it into the play kit yet, but here's how it works:

SHARE SUPPLIES 

When you share with an ally who's out of something, expend 1 use of Supplies to let them clear one "out of " box—as long as it's something you might reasonably have been carrying. 

Note that if a character ends up "out of __," where __ is one of those special things only they can produce, they can only clear that condition if the fiction would allow it. Like, if the Fae-touched Wizard is out of impossible things, they probably can't clear that check box just because the Fighter gives her 1 Supplies. 

Then again, maybe they can? 

Lilliastre (the Fae-touched Wizard): Hey Fighter, can you give me 1 use of Supplies so I can clear this "out of impossible things" condition?

GM: Ummm... hold on there, sport.

Lilliastre: No, it's cool. I give him a little tartan sack to carry for me, before we left. It was, like, shaking around a little. Like there was something alive in there.  

GM: ...  Rudiger, that cool with you? You're down with playing mule for Lilliastre's craziness?

Rudiger: Oh, sure. I trust Lilli. (Even though I shouldn't.)

GM: Okay, fine. Lilliastre, you can clear "out of impossible things," but Rudiger, you've got mark "out of impossible things" in addition to expending 1 Supplies. You do it?

Other Moves That Interact with Supplies

Lots of moves also interact with Supplies. The big ones are:

VOLLEY
When you launch a ranged attack, roll +DEX: on a 10+, you have a clear shot—deal your damage; on a 7-9, deal your damage but choose 1 from the list below.

• You have to move/hold steady to get the shot, placing you in danger of the GM’s choice
• Take what you can get: roll damage with disadvantage
• Expend 1 Supplies or mark “out of ammo.”

The idea being: you're running low on ammo (expending Supplies) or you're out. Note that if you're out of ammo, you're not going to be using Volley unless you clear that check mark (or you use thrown weapons).

GIVE SUCCOR
When you tend to someone’s ailments, expend 1 Supplies (or mark “out of healing supplies”) and roll +INT: on a 10+, either pick 2 from the list below or pick 1 and you don't need expend supplies after all; on a 7-9, pick 1:

• They heal 5 HP
• They clear a debility 
• Their dangerous wounds are stabilized 

Note that you have expend 1 Supplies or mark "out of healing supplies" before you roll and get any benefit. If you're already out of healing supplies, then you can't make the move.

MAKE CAMP

When you settle in to rest in a dangerous area,  someone must expend Supplies or mark “out of food” or mark "out of drink").

Then, take turns with the following:

• Give an example of how you’ve met your Drive’s requirement; if you can, mark XP
• Describe how your opinion of or relationship with another character has changed; if everyone agrees, mark XP
• Point out something awesome that another character did, that no one else has mentioned yet; if you do, mark XP

When you wake from at least a few hours sleep, choose 1. If you expend 1 use of Supplies, choose another.

• Regain HP equal to 1/2 your maximum
• Clear your debilities
• Gain advantage on your next roll

So: you need someone in the party to expend 1 Supplies or become out of food, or become out drink. 

If everyone in the party is out of food and out of drink, you can't Make Camp: no XP questions, no "when you wake from at least a few hours sleep, choose 1." You might sleep, sure, but you don't get the benefits of Make Camp unless someone spends the resources. Also: you're starting to starve and suffer dehydration. Expect the GM to make things worse and worse for you.

At the end of the move, after you wake from a few hours sleep, you (meaning you personally, you the one specific character) can expend 1 Supplies to get any extra choice. This is 1-use-of-Supplies-per-PC. You can swamp Supplies around to meet the requirement. (As with other uses of Supplies, you can potentially mark "out of __" instead. You'll probably end up out of food, drink, or healing supplies if you do.)

RESUPPLY
When you take the opportunity to resupply, regain any uses of Supplies and clear your “out of...” items. If you’re paying for it, a valuable item (like a pouch of coins) should cover the party.

What constitutes taking "the opportunity to resupply" is going to vary from group to group and game to game. In general, be fairly generous about it. 

If the opportunity is meager, dodgy, rushed, or otherwise less than sufficient, you can still let them Resupply but with a limit. Like, "You can Resupply here, yeah, but unless you want to spend a hour or so picking through the stuff, it'll be limited. You can each clear one 'out of' or one use of Supplies. If you spend the time, like an hour or so, you can clear everything but who knows what'll happen while you're futzing about."

How It (Hopefully) Plays Out

My hope is that the whole thing doesn't require much in the way of explanation up front, but instead becomes pretty self-evident through play.

Example 1: The party is heading into a dungeon and I'm like "It's dark down there, what do you do for light?" and the Fighter goes "do we, like, have a torch?"  And I'm like "sure, if you mark off 1 use of Supplies. Write that torch down in your inventory."

Example 2: Later, there's a deep shaft that they want to go down, and the Fighter is like "Oh, I expend 1 Supplies to have a rope!  We tie it off to this pillar and use it climb down."  No need to add it to inventory, cuz they're leaving it behind. However, the Fighter is now out of Supplies (because they only have 2 uses).  (Let's assume they don't have "More Supplies" in their inventory.)

Example 3: The PCs get in a fight. Afterwards, the Thief (with Supplies, 2 uses) tends to the Fighter's injuries using Give Succor. She expends 1 Supplies, gets a 7-9, chooses to heal the Fighter for 5 HP.  There's no immediate danger and the Fighter's pretty banged up, so she's like "Okay, I'll try again," but instead of expending her last use of Supplies, she decides to mark "out of healing supplies." She gets a 7-9 again, heals another 5 HP on the Fighter.  

Example 4:  There's another fight!  The Thief volleys and gets a 7-9.  Now, she's got a cozy little sniper spot and doesn't want to put herself in danger, and the target she's going after has like 3 HP and 2 armor, so she'd rather not take disadvantage to her damage. She looks at the 3rd choice for Volley: use up her last Supplies or mark "out of ammo."  It's a tough choice!  She even starts rethinking... maybe danger or disadvantage on the damage roll are better...

Example 5: The Thief did choose to run out of ammo, and now the fight's over. "Hey, can anyone loan me some arrows?"  And the Fighter's like "Can I?" to me. "Do you have any Supplies left?" I ask and he doesn't. "Can I mark 'out of ammo' myself..." he asks, and I'm like "are you even carrying any ammo? Like, do you have a bow?"  And the Fighter's all like "No" and mopey, but c'mon. He can't give the Thief ammo he doesn't have. 

Example 6: The Thief, though, is like "Can I try to reclaim some arrows from the battlefield?" and there's really no move for that (I mean, maybe it's Discern Realities, but this isn't "studying a situation," it's "hey GM, will this work?")  To which I can offer an opportunity with or without a cost or maybe have them roll the die of fate. "Maybe? Roll the die of fate.  A 4? Well, if you spend like 5 or 10 minutes poking around, you can probably track down enough arrows to clear your 'out of ammo' mark, but Fighter, that torch is starting to get a little low. Y'all sure you want to waste the time scrounging arrows?" They decide against it. 

Example 7: The party explores a little more, and then retreats back to the surface to rest (just as the torch is running out). The Fighter picks up that rope they left tied to the pillar and takes it with him, putting it in the slot that used have his Supplies.

They find a spot to make camp. Someone has to expend 1 Supplies or mark "out of food" or "out of drink."  The fighter's like "I'll be out of food." I ask them some questions about the grub they're eating, and how they've got a little left between them, and they're thinking about the road home, but there's no other real impact right now.

Example 8:  Next morning, they head back into the dungeon. Remember, the Fighter is out of food and out of Supplies; the Thief is out of ammo and has only 1 Supplies left.

Once again, they need a light. "I have to spend my last 1 Supplies for that?" "If you want a torch, yeah. You could produce something smaller, though, like a candle, but it'd be your last candle."  "How about, like, one of those oil lamps? The ones that look like a closed netti pot with a wick?"  I'm cool with that, but she'll have to mark "out of light sources," not just "out of oil lamps." She agrees, and down they go with a sputtering oil lamp to light the way.

(Notice that I'm not making them expend supplies for a flint and tinder with which to light the lamp or that torch they had earlier. Mostly because I forgot until just now. But that's a small item anyhow, and I'm fine with the Thief and Fighter both having one. If I'm going to be a stickler for it, we could have them mark "out of tinderboxes" and put a tinderbox in their inventory, but I'm not very interested in tracking that.)

Example 9: Not surprisingly, the PCs get into a fight and the Thief drops that oil lamp. It goes out and the oil spills all over, but I don't have the lamp break (for I am a generous GM).  After the fight, they spend some time crawling about the floor looking for the lamp and find it. The Thief gets it relit and I'm like "You've got very little oil left, just a few minutes of what's soaked into the wick already, what do you?" The Thief Has What She Needs again, but this time she's "out of lamp oil."

They've got a tough choice, now!  The Fighter's out of Supplies, so he can't really help with anything. The Thief has 1 Supplies left, and has an oil lamp with plenty of fuel, but is otherwise out of light sources and out of oil (and out of ammo, and healing supplies). If that light goes out, they're kinda screwed.

Example 10: We're getting toward the end of the session and they're feeling kinda nuts, so they press on. They get to an old, ancient door and it's got a weird, recessed pattern in it. They talk about how to get into it, and the Fighter's like "Want me to bash it down?" and the Thief (a Tomb Raider) is like "Wait, do I recognize these markings and whatnot."

Sounds like Spout Lore to me, and she rolls (with advantage, cuz: Tomb Raider + ruins) and gets a 10+. "It's a key hole; you need special metallic cube, where you slide certain parts in certain directions and it makes a unusual shapes, and then it'll fit into the recesses and you can open the lock. How do you know this?"  And the Thief tells us about the last ruins like this she delved in, and how she found one of those cubes and used it to jimmy the door.  And then she's like, "In fact, I still have it!" and she Has What She Needs to produce it (which she can do, because of the Tomb Raider background).

She could expend 1 Supplies, but it's a small thing, so she can also mark "out of __." "If I mark out of..., what will I be out of? Key-cubes?"  And I'm like, "No, you'll be out of strange, obscure things."  Worth it; she produces the cube and fiddles with it and opens the door. 

Example 11: The get in and there's some adventuring and someone gets hurt, and the Thief can't Give Succor to anyone cuz she's out of healing supplies. The Fighter can, though. He marks "out of healing supplies" and rolls +INT, and gets lucky with a 10+. He heals 5 HP for the Thief and chooses to not expend supplies after all. He can Give Succor again, and he does, and this time gets a 7-9. He's out of healing supplies (but the Thief got another 5 HP back).

Example 12: They found a big silver-banded chest filled with something heavy and presumably valuable (the Thief missed a Tricks of the Trade, and I told them the requirements: they want to find out what's inside, they'll need to bring it with them but it's big and clumsy.) The Fighter takes it, filling his last two inventory slots (two because its big and the last two because it's clumsy).  He's still got like 3 open "normal" slots, but this isn't something you can just put in a backpack. He's basically carrying it in both hands like it was moving day and this was a box full of books. His fingers and arms are burning.

They get about half-way out and there's a monster and they flee and it chases them. We resolve it by having the Struggle as One, and the Fighter has a choice: leave the chest behind or roll with disadvantage.  He goes for the roll, and biffs it. They Thief gets a 7-9, so can't help out, and the Fighter's in a spot. I have him trip and the chest smacks into the ground (but doesn't smash open, thankfully). The monster is almost on them, you can leave the chest and run or turn to face it, what do you do?

Example 13: The Fighter turns and faces it and is all like big and scary and tries to scare it back, trigger Parley (with advantage, cuz the Fighter is Intimidating).  He wants to get it to stop chasing them. He rolls, gets a 10+. I tell him that the thing is clearly hungry, and that you could distract it by throwing it some food. 1 Supplies worth ought to do it!

Alas, the Fighter is out of food (and Supplies). The Thief, though, has both. She marks out of food and tosses her food to the monster and they make their getaway.

Example 14:  They make their way outside, only to find that the Fighter's old boss and his thugs are there waiting for them, ready to steal the treasure they've rightfully looted. There's a fight. The Fighter drops the chest (so he's no longer clumsy) and draws a weapon and wades into the fray.

During the fight, the Thief is like "Can I Have What I Need to produce some poison? Or a smoke bomb?" Neither of those are "common & mundane" in my opinion, and the Fighter agrees, so the Thief is outvoted.

Example 15:  They end up fighting free of the thugs, but have to leave the chest behind. The Thief comes up with a clever plan involving rope (with the Fighter has), rocks, trees (readily available) and a fishing net. "You have a fishing net?" I ask and she's like "Yup, been carrying it around the whole time." She marks off her last use of Supplies and sure enough, has a fishing net.

Example 16: The Thief's plan (net, rope, trees, counterweights, decoys) works and we soon find a number of the thugs hanging from a net in the trees.  The Fighter and Thief go find their camp, kill the Fighter's old boss and the couple of goons who remained, and find the chest.

They also loot the camp, which counts as Resupplying. They have to work quickly, though (the guys in the net were already working themselves free when they left), so I ask them to Defy Danger with INT or DEX (their call).  Thief gets a 10+ and so she fully resupplies (back up to 2 uses of Supplies, no longer out of anything).  The Fighter gets a 7-9, so I tell him he can either get 2 uses of Supplies or clear his "out of..." check boxes. He's only out of food and healing supplies (and ammo, I guess; more like he never had any), so he opts to get the 2 Supplies.

They head off, taking turns hauling that chest but otherwise well provisioned!

Design Goals

It's probably worth describing the design goals behind all this, huh?

First and foremost, I wanted something that would make resource management and depletion a meaningful part of the game, particularly for one-shot or short-run games. When everyone starts with 5 uses of rations and you've got like 12 uses of bandages among the party, and the ranger and the thief each have 6 ammo, and and and... well, the PCs have so many resources to start that the scarcity mechanics (and the interesting decisions they drive) rarely come into play in a single, initial session.

Second, I wanted something that consolidated all those different resources. Sure, abstracting ammo and adventuring gear go a long way, but the differences between ammo, gear, bandages, poultice & herbs, halfling pipeweed, etc.—it's all a lot to take in for new players. So, consolidate them all into 1 thing: Supplies.

Third: counting Weight sucks, and almost no one remembers to do it. Especially not in a One-Shot. The PCs basically now all have Load 6 or 7, and items weigh either 0, 1, or 2. But inventory slots are way, way easier for people to process than "count your total Weight and compare it to your Load; you can can carry up to 2 Weight more than your Load but you're at a penalty!"  Make it visual.

Fourth: there should still be the possibility that you've got plenty of stuff left, but you're specifically out of X, and that causes you trouble (or at least limits options).  If you're out of ammo, you can't use your bow (even though you maybe have plenty of food left).  If you try wriggle free from the assassin vine and get a 7-9 I might be like "okay, you get free, but the rope on your pack got snagged on the thorns and you had to leave it behind, mark out of rope." And that's like a Chekhov's gun, a note to self that I should show off the downside of not having rope.  

Fifth: It should all be relatively intuitive.  I found that it was. I didn't have to explain, like, any of the stuff above during my first playtest, and the players all thought the system was really elegant. 

Sixth: I really liked the idea of each Background interacting with the gear system in some way, sometimes subtly and sometimes obviously. Almost all of the Backgrounds do this. And in the first playtest, the Background/gear moves all came into play, in some pretty clutch ways.

Closing Thoughts

I'm overall really pleased with how this has come together, and how it's so-far worked in play. I've still got some concerns, though: 

• I'm really unsure if I've calibrated the uses-per-inventory-slot correctly. We had 3 per slot in the first playtest and it felt like way too much to me; hence, 2.  
• The Give Succor move originally had "don't expend supplies" as one of it's bullet point choices, and it was "pick 2 (on a 10+) or pick 1 (on a 7-9).  That made it too easy to spam.  So now, on a 7-9, you don't have the option of conserving supplies. . 

If you've got opinions or questions, I'd love to hear them (in the comments, on G+, or via Hangouts).  Thanks for reading!