Slot based Inventory

(Note: Scroll to the bottom of the post for full system minus commentary)

I keep seeing posts about Slot based inventory systems. Which is weird, since in the OSR space I inhabit encumbrance is more or less solved.

Don't use weight. Weight is bad. Might as well not track items at all. Use inventory slots.

 The basic solution goes like this:

"You get a number of inventory slots equal to STR or CON. Each item takes up 1 slot. Some items take up 2 or more slots. Small items may be bundled, and some items are insignificant and can be ignored."

Bam. Simple. Elegant. Except we gotta make some definitions. Because that by itself is vague and wishy-washy and while that may suit some people, some other important people, like  your players, may potentially get stressed out about needing to ask all the time about the details. So we gotta flesh out the rule a little bit:

Medium Armor takes 2 slots. Heavy Armor takes 3 slots.
Two handed weapons take 2 slots, as do 10 foot poles and other unwieldy items.
Insignificant items are like,  tiny items. A single unenchanted ring. A pruning knife.

What about bundling? This gets tricky. I've settled on the following two rules, which are by no means standard:


Rule of 3: Any item that more or less fits into your hand may be bundled into sets of three.
Specialized Containers: If you have a special container for an item type, it may be bundled up in sets of five. Ammo allows you to carry sets of 10.


(Suddenly, Spell Scrolls and Potion Bags are very, very useful!)
(Also, don't track ammo unless it is magical. Buy a quiver, go crazy. It is so, so very rare that mundane ammo numbers matter.)


At this point some people are done. But others look at this and are like "woah we can only carry up to our STR? That's almost nothing".

One response is "use hirelings". To a degree, that's my response too, but encumbrance is fun and useful in it's own way. So, super simple encumbrance rules.

You can carry a number of items up to STR x2 while encumbered. If encumbered, you move at half speed and have disadvantage on checks requiring physical ability, like climbing, swimming, jumping.

 This may be a little overly harsh, but it's better than my base rule would be.  Yora at Spriggan's Den has a three tiered encumbrance system that is much more forgiving for players, but requires you to actually calculate exact movespeed, which I don't actually do. Different strokes for different folks, it's a fine system. In any case, I recommend hirelings and pack animals if you don't want to deal with the penalties. (PS: I grabbed the idea of Insignificant items from Yora's post just now, I'd been grappling with a term to describe them and now I have it!)

So, lets put these rules all together!

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The Encumbrance System to End All Encumbrance systems


You get a number of inventory slots equal to STR. Each item takes up 1 slot. Some items take up 2 or more slots. Small items may be bundled, and some items are insignificant and can be ignored.

Medium Armor takes 2 slots. Heavy Armor takes 3 slots.
Two handed weapons take 2 slots, as do 10 foot poles and other unwieldy items.
Insignificant items are like,  tiny items. A single unenchanted ring. A pruning knife.

Rule of 3: Any item that more or less fits into your hand may be bundled into sets of three. Potions, Scrolls, Rations, and Torches count, even though Torches are large.
Specialized Containers: If you have a special container for an item type, it may be bundled up in sets of five. Ammo allows you to carry sets of 10. Don't track mundane ammo.

You can carry a number of items up to STR x2 while encumbered. If encumbered, you move at half speed and have disadvantage on checks requiring physical ability, like climbing, swimming, jumping.

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Oh no, that's 4 paragraphs, wasn't this supposed to be simple?

In our quest to create super rules-lite gameplay, we sometimes get stuck on short length to the point where it's harmful. Most of what is here should be very intuitive, but will dramatically cut down on player questions and stress. It's worth the space, IMO. Anything that you cut will need to be talked about, probably over and over. I'd still consider this super simple and elegant compared to most inventory systems.

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So how do you visually represent this on your page?

 Have an inventory page as an example. Let's say you have 9 STR.

*1) BIG 2H SWORD
*2) XXXXXXXX
*3) [3 POTIONS- Healing, Invisibility, Unidentified]
4) LEATHER ARMOR
5) LARGE GOLD STATUE
6) XXXXXXXXX
7) XXXXXXXXX
8) XXXXXXXXX
9) [SCROLL CASE (5/5): Magic Missile x2, Locate Object, Cure Wounds, Fireball]

I use XXXX's to represent slots that are used, but you can use anything that makes it obvious the slot is taken. I use brackets here to indicate items that are bundled together.  Allcaps is optional.

The * refer to quick slots- I use one more rule, you get a number of quick slots equal to your DEX mod, which can be freely equipped mid battle with no action loss. I like this rule but it's really optional so this is the only place I'll mention it.

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As a player, I enjoy this system to no end. I love my equipment mattering, I love the feeling of my armor class going through the roof as I decide I don't need free slots when plate mail and shields exist. I love knowing exactly how much I can carry, without worrying that I messed up my math, because I am bad at math. 

I recognize not all players are going to be so thrilled, but if they can't handle this, I can't see them doing well with ANY inventory system.

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One final consideration: The question of unusually low strength.

In an old school OSR game (as opposed to newfangled "adventure" games like Knave), this will suck if you roll a 3 STR or something. It's always going to suck in that case, but in a "weight" game it's easier to cheat since no one is keeping track anyway. In this system, it's going to be really obvious how little you can carry.

I like allowing the following rule in character creation: 3d6 in order, but reroll one stat or swap two. If you get really STR screwed, this gives you enough leeway to hopefully fix it. Some characters are doomed, but most should be able to get at least 8-9 STR one way or another. Of course, you may not want to spend that reroll on STR, but it's an option, and hard choices are the heart of the game!

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Your mileage may vary on the details. There are options here, ways to tweak it, and I'm not going to say my way is the best way. But I will defend inventory slots as a general concept to my grave, this is the hill I will die on!

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Here's my rules again, so that they're easily found at the bottom of the post. I am assuming a normal OSR system, but these have been tested with GLOG and Knave and probably could even work with something like 5E:



You get a number of inventory slots equal to STR. Each item takes up 1 slot. Some items take up 2 or more slots. Small items may be bundled, and some items are insignificant and can be ignored.

Medium Armor takes 2 slots. Heavy Armor takes 3 slots.
Two handed weapons take 2 slots, as do 10 foot poles and other unwieldy items.
Insignificant items are like,  tiny items. A single unenchanted ring. A pruning knife.

Rule of 3: Any item that more or less fits into your hand may be bundled into sets of three. Potions, Scrolls, Rations, and Torches count (even though Torches are large).
Specialized Containers: If you have a special container for an item type, it may be bundled up in sets of five. Ammo allows you to carry sets of 10. Don't track mundane ammo.

You can carry a number of items up to STR x2 while encumbered. If encumbered, you move at half speed and have disadvantage on checks requiring physical ability, like climbing, swimming, jumping.