Encumbrance – But what has it got in its pocketses, eh?

“Then they brought up their ponies, and carried away the pots of gold, and buried them very secretly not far from the track by the river, putting a great many spells over them, just in case they ever had the chance to come back and recover them.” J.R. R. Tolkien – The Hobbit.

Encumbrance has many rewards simply because of its effect upon the play of the best old game. Without being exacting in every respect with regard to the many incarnations of the rules the following sets out some basic tenets for the consideration of the Ref and players. Enforcing encumbrance will definitely change your game! Note it is difficult to implement mid game and best to begin with from the outset lest players feel the Ref is taking something away from them! Note – there is no part of the rules that cannot be discussed; common understanding makes for a better game.

XP are not awarded until the end of any session. A common understanding/interpretation of this is that only the treasure which can be carried away back to civilization, the safe town or keep the players use as their rest area, is then counted towards character level progression.

I would make the distinction that ignoring the encumbrance rules makes for a poor game. Encumbrance, perhaps one of the least implemented rules of the game, can dramatically affect the way in which player characters progress through levels, prepare for player tears if the rule has been previously disregarded.

In the following example a character, Gruff Stonebeard, is carrying 68 lb of equipment and can only move 60/30′. A character may only carry a maximum of 160 lb and this means that Gruff Stonebeard has 92 lb of encumbrance left. Because Gruff Stonebeard is carrying over 60 lb the movement defaults to the rate for 80 lb, 60/20′.

Picture this, Gruff Stonebeard has got one hit point left and narrowly defeated the monster, thousands of gold coins are present and then it just comes home to the player, Gruff Stonebeard’s maximum carry load is 160 pounds; that’s 1600 coins or gemstones regardless of type, and the character would have to chuck all their armor and weapons just to carry that. No, they would never make it out of the dungeon alive much less cross wilderness unarmored and unarmed to get back to town. Gruff Stonebeard’s current encumbrance is 68 lbs meaning the character can carry 92 lbs of loot and a bit more if he discards his equipment, rope, etc. Movement at 160 lb will be 30/10′. Without discarding any equipment that’s only 920 stinking coins regardless of type! What to do? If Gruff Stonebeard leaves the remaining treasure where he found it there’s no guarantee the Ref won’t re-distribute that elsewhere in the dungeon the evil git! You, the player, just know it.

So the Ref is faced with whether or not the encumbrance rules should be enforced. I admit it, as a Ref I didn’t implement the encumbrance rules very strictly. Encumbrance is one of those bean counting things that has the potential to just ruin everyone’s day. Most Refs likely just house rule a ceiling on what treasure can be carried (typically 160 lbs) and reduce movement rather than bother the players with with counting. However,because treasure equals experience points that means permitting vast hoards to be carried back intact and this allows player characters to progress at a very unnatural rate. Low level play can zip by. As a Ref whatever you do should be decided from the outset because the players won’t like having something taken away from them and it’s best to be fair.

Because encumbrance restricts the amount of treasure that can be carried away it can be a pretty painful experience for characters to realize that they will have to leave behind hard won treasure.

Note – There are 10 coins in a pound. Gems and Scrolls are 1 Coin in weight, Jewelry, Potions and Wands are 10 coins in weight.

A character can only carry a maximum of 160 pounds in total (160 x 10 = 1600 coins). Players may suddenly realize they will have to discard or stash some of their equipment in order to collect the most experience points from treasure. Choosing carefully matters, Gold coins are better than Silver coins and so on. Gems, which are the weight of a coin are worth more at the same weight. Erin Smale has kindly provided his OSE Equipment Calculator for MS Excel which makes any accounting of encumbrance easier.

The following are Characters taken from the Gloomland Travel Stone adventure (the PDF is free); Burly Barleycorn, Gruff Stonebeard, Hamfist Strongthorn, Heyou Halt, Magus Astra, Rowan Treefriend, and Tertius Lumina. A Gloomland Travel Stone blank character sheet, designed by yours truly, contains what I consider important and relevant, including notably encumbrance which is worked out for each one. I like to start out the characters at 3^rd level but without XP so the players still have to earn their way from First to Fourth Level and beyond. The character sheet is compatible with BX-ish games like OSE and Labyrinth Lord.

Treasure will not stay put if left unguarded in the labyrinth. It will be found by Monsters to be added to their hoards. Treasure left behind by player characters should be hidden or protected in some manner to reduce this risk.

However, as limiting as the encumbrance restriction is it can lead to all sorts of in game fun. The player characters simply can’t carry away all the treasure they find even when they are allowed to carry away 160lb of treasure (1600 coins); meaning other solutions must be found:

• Players have to find places to stash and later recover the hard won treasure they can’t carry; hoping that someone else or some creature doesn’t find it in the meantime. Carry a shovel! In the Hobbit, Gandalf presumably, cast protective and/or concealing spells over the treasure recovered from the cave of the Trolls. I think we can infer the purpose of those spells were to prevent the buried treasure from being discovered. Exactly what those spells were we may have difficulty finding equivalents to in our role playing game, or we have to invent them. Of the spells with permanency that we do have in most core rules, Invisibility, is undoubtedly the most applicable and useful, Hallucinatory Terrain is another.
• Floating Disks, per the magic spells of varying descriptions, are of limited use in carrying off treasure. While such disks can carry 500 lbs (5000 coins) the spell has a poor duration, only 6 turns! Which limits its usefulness.
• Domesticated beasts of burden can reliably help with the recovery of treasure. A Mule for example moves 120’ and can carry 200 lbs of treasure (2000 coins), or 60’ 400 lbs (4000 coins). In games where encumbrance rules are seldom enforced you will not see such useful beasts taken to or even into a dungeon. When left in the wilderness they must be protected and kept or they wander off.
• The veritable Bag of Holding is undoubtedly one of the most useful magic items a player character can ever have as it can carry up to 10,000 coins at a weight of 600, 60 lbs. Seeding the game with one or two of these can solve logistical problems for the group but the effect this has on character progression should be noted and considered. Personally I dislike the idea that 10,000 coins can be carried. I’d house rule that lower.

For the Ref, any treasure that must be left behind is a gold mine of potential adventure. It’s much more fun to add a twist to the recovery of buried treasure than it is to simply remove it from the game. Various plots suggest themselves, let us presume there is a 1-in-8 chance the buried treasure will be discovered, 1-in 12 if it has been hidden with magic:

• The buried/concealed treasure is taken by a monster and a trail must be followed to recover it.
• The above monster has not only taken the treasure but put a trap in its place.
• Some monster now regards the treasure as its own and is now guarding it.
• Something gets added to the treasure, a cursed item.
• Some villain leaves a cheeky note saying that after a certain task is performed for them the treasure may be returned.
• Some Robin Hood type character has taken the treasure and distributed much of it to the poor.
• The treasure is still hidden but Bandits have got wind of it and they trail the party looking to take some of it. They follow the player characters to learn where it is, and attempt to rob the player characters either as they recover the treasure or as they transport it home.
• Change the terrain/setting, the treasure is somewhere in the same area but the dungeon or wilderness doesn’t look the same any longer due to supernatural forces.
• The treasure is now at the center of a maze.

Encumbrance can also affect the carrying fallen or injured comrades. Can they and all of their equipment be carried? Can something heavy, like a statue, carcass of a monster, or other object be carried?

I think encumbrance is worthwhile; what do you think?