Items come in two sorts: encumbering (medium shit), and non encumbering (little shit). I draw the line arbitrarily and at my whim, but 5 pounds is a good guideline.
You can carry your STR + 5 encumbering items. Every additional encumbering item after that is another -1 to all physical activity rolls.
You can carry all the non-encumbering stuff you want, because I can't be assed to keep track of it. But you must tell me in which container you are carrying it.
The most essential part of items is: you need a place to carry them! If you got nothing, it's all hands and pockets. Here's how many encumbering items you can carry in various types of containers.
Note: If this is my home game and we're doing inventory on note cards, keep each of these as a separate card.
Wearing - Armor, clothing, hats, etc.
Since all of this stuff is dispersed around your body, it all counts as half weight. Chainmail in your backpack takes up four slots, but on your body it only takes up two. Hats, scarves, etc I don't even bother counting.
By the by - all the bags and belts below weight nothing if worn and are one encumbering item if carried. So no infinite bags in bags, but this way I'm also not a jerk. New characters get two of these things for free because see the above line.
Hands - 2 Slots
You're using these! Right now! How exciting. However, only list something here if you are literally ALWAYS CARRYING IT. That saber, for example, will prolly spend most of it's time in its sheathe. If you tell me you're fooling around with a lock, and suddenly monsters come, I WILL make you spend a turn picking your damn sword up.
Belt - 2 Slots & Bandolier - 3 Slots
Items in these containers are immediately accessible: as long as you have an open hand, you can grab whatever you want. So you should keep a free hand open. If you have 10 different things in here that are non-encumbering I suppose that makes you batman.
If you get smacked around, these items are the first to go. I'll probably start rolling randomly to see what breaks.
Sling Bag - 4 Slots
A sling bag takes a turn to rummage through to find whatever you need.
Back Pack - 6 Slots
If you want to take something out, you need to straight up take it off. And THEN you need to look through it. So that's two combat turns, as opposed to everything else.
Big Sack - 8 Slots+
Giant sacks carry a lot of stuff, but you need to drag them around with your hands.
Other - ? Slots
Maybe you carry your bow strung across your torso. Maybe you have boot daggers. As long as it makes real world sense, that's awesome. Write it down mate.
None of this shit is terribly original. I am indebted to more people than I can know. Literally: the OSR is just one incestuous orgy, and sometimes you end up with this thing on your hands and you don't know which dude it's from or who's done what to it.
But it was playing in Cole's game that inspired me to write this, so you could call him the father.
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