Inflation in RPGs III @ Hooked Gamers

Dhruin

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Captain Patch dropped us a line to point out the third piece in his op-ed series on Inflation in RPGs is up, this time talking about equipment:
So, naturally, you keep your eyes open for stuff that can be cashed in later. Money, jewels, gear, artwork, weapons, armor, et al. The backpack becomes a Bag of Holding -- even if it's not. What does that mean? It means that the vast majority of (but thankfully not all) RPGs take into account the weight of stuff, but not the _encumberance_ factor. Like, your character may have an 18/00 Strength, and he may be able to carry 500 pounds of weight on his back, but how would he carry 1) the armor he is wearing and the weapon he has equipped, 2) four different kinds of enchanted helmets, each with a specific spell used for special situations, 3) four similarly enchanted shields, 4) the three kinds of enchanted bows, each good for different kinds of combat, plus the 150 arrows of assorted enchantments, 5) several dozen flasks of assorted alchemical potions having a wide range of effects, 6) several dozens texts, tomes, and books, 6) a wide assortment of tools, 7) and the large mound of valuable stuff recently picked up and stowed until you next get to a merchant where you can convert it into cash?
More information.
 
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Interesting.

Have there ever been Blackmoor games released for the PC ? Or any other platform ?

Nowadays I'd assume that the industry" would say "this doesn't / won't sell".

And this very likely because everyone assumes the playing-style of (A)D&D ("kleptomaniacal, xenophobic, megalomaniacal demi-gods").

(I'm relating to the "Conclusion" text also in this link).
 
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What I find funny with equipment is that gold pieces' weight (or whatever is used as currency) is very rarely taken into account. You might be limited to carry only a few suit of plate mails, but you can keep millions of GP effortlessly.
 
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When it comes to inventory management I'm decidedly against realism as backtracking cramps the fun of a game big time. Most of the blame is on game balancing though. If the economy is such that you need to pick up and sell treasure then I dont want to spend my time carrying old armours back and forth across the map (Two Worlds is an excellent example of a stupid implementation of loot). Then there is the "i better hold on to this crap because I might need it at some point of time in the future". Bleh. Make critical items replenishable (or persistent in the inventory of the vendor you sold them to).

I'd rather see that you got very little money for selling old weapons and such junk, and more for real valuables such as gemstones and as rewards. That would be the easiest way to balance for realism and fun.
 
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I've been thinking about this article, and it is right in some points:

There are

- people who define themselves over what they have [materialistic]

- people who define themselves over what they are [spiritualistic]

This fits very, very good in our current believ-system of so-called "western societies" ("status symbols").

Blizzard made games which almost ONLY focus in the "definition over what you have".

We need games that go into the other direction (spiritual, non-materialistic), but in this gaming business, where things seem rather be strealmined into what you have instead of [/b] what you are[/b] - especially wuth the overall "western" culture of preferring Logic and Economy over anything else - heads in the publishing quarters might say that this "won't sell".
 
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