If you’re walking in on the middle of the advanced fantasy dungeon series, there’s an index here.

Second edition really believes in verisimilitude of equipment. How much can you carry, punishments if you carry more, weights in pounds and ounces, preparation and resource management. It feels like a major legacy from earlier, primarily dungeon-crawling versions of the game. What are the main principles to be found in the encumbrance?

• Carrying too much results in being encumbered
• There are different levels of encumbered
• Being encumbered affects attack, defence, movement, and ability to do certain tasks.
• Encumbrance varies by strength

Honestly, these principles present a fairly simple solution in my mind.

You have five slots for worn gear (head, hands, feet, body) and a belt pouch in which to hold 50gp or equivalent small items. If you fill only these six slots, you are unencumbered.

In addition you have equipment slots equal to your strength in your pack (or equivalent). If you fill up to six slots, you are lightly encumbered. If you fill over six slots, you are heavily encumbered.

Heavy or unwieldy items (like plate armour or a ten foot pole), take up two slots, and 50gp or equivalent small items take up one slot. It is assumed your equipment is carried in a pack or equivalent, and if you cast it off, you cease to be encumbered until you pick it up again. If you’re wearing a heavy item, you are always encumbered.

If you are lightly encumbered, any movement or combat check suffers a -3 penalty.

If you are heavily encumbered, any movement or combat check suffers a -5 penalty, and there are some actions at the GMs discretion that you cannot perform, or must attempt at disadvantage, for example run, jump, and swim.

This appears to cover most of the aspects the original covers, but without worrying about weight or too much complication. I like that it covers bulk not only weight, which is why strong folk can carry more but they are still encumbered. I’m guessing a pouch of gold is about 2kg, so if each slot is roughly equivalent you’re at 120kg of weight while still lightly encumbered which feels generous, and a supernaturally strong PC might carry 400kg which is absurd.

Does this “slot” system, which I’m imagining as a grid on the sheet, lean too board gamey? I think it does, but this board gaminess is throughout second edition: proficiencies have slots, Ravenloft and Birthright have card games, Dragonlance and Battlesystem have miniatures games. Boardgaminess is part of the DNA. It doesn’t need to be inventory tetris, though: This would fit fine as a list on the page, really.

For formatting, I think that for most equipment a single line and a tag (for example heavy, unwieldy) is sufficient, as the strengthened rule sets support these items as part of ability and proficiency checks already. Weapons and armour may need additional annotation, but I’ll have to come back to that, once I’ve looked at combat (I have thoughts, such as weapon speed and hence initiative being tied to damage dice, but haven’t developed it yet).

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on encumbrance, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

14th April 2022