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Author Topic: How Much Mundane Equipment Is Too Much?  (Read 2039 times)

RPGPundit

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How Much Mundane Equipment Is Too Much?
« Reply #30 on: November 12, 2018, 01:52:39 AM »
7-10 pages is good.
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DavetheLost

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How Much Mundane Equipment Is Too Much?
« Reply #31 on: November 12, 2018, 07:51:20 PM »
I tend to prefer games that don't have a lot of equipment related crunchy detail mechanics. Thus I don't need pages of detailed item descriptions for up to near future equipment. Cost, weight, and damage if it's a weapon is usually enough.

There are certainly games that make gear customization a mini-game in it's own right.  FFG Star Wars does this in spades, lots of items are described with a number of hard points and all sorts of accessories that can be added to tweak the performance in all sorts of ways.  I've seen games that give formulas for deriving game stats for any firearm from real world ballistic performance data.

My players seem to need detailed equipment lists to shop from. If I just ask them "what do you want to buy?" they come up blank every time.

Christopher Brady

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How Much Mundane Equipment Is Too Much?
« Reply #32 on: November 13, 2018, 12:39:30 AM »
I'm with Tenbones and Spinachcat, I LOVE gear, especially stuff that allows one to get a 'feel' for the setting.  For example, my favourite section in Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog is the food and drink, as it has details on the culture that makes the stuff.  My 5e Halfling Spear fighter doesn't touch ANY sort of cheese, because of what the hallucinogenic properties of Lurien Spring Cheese does to his kind.  But he also loves apples and the northern ciders.  It adds DETAIL to a character.  No, it's not necessary, but it makes the world feel LIVED in.  And that to me, is important in a setting.

So I LOVE gear books, even if they don't have stats.
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Opaopajr

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How Much Mundane Equipment Is Too Much?
« Reply #33 on: November 13, 2018, 03:11:40 PM »
Spells are just Exclusive Exceptional Gear. So yeah, I love Gear Books, because they are Generalized Foundational Gear. They logically expand the setting's coherency and give it real teeth. Otherwise the game can become just a widgeteer circus of exclusive gear that allows setting exceptions. Enough exclusive exceptions and why pay attention to the world -- setting the  becomes fungible background noise.
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RPGPundit

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How Much Mundane Equipment Is Too Much?
« Reply #34 on: November 16, 2018, 04:52:36 AM »
I think the only exclusively 'gear' book I ever got was the WFRP 2e equipment book.  That was a pretty good book, I'll admit.
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you've played 'medieval fantasy' until you play L&D.


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