To explain how I use encumbrance (in terms of items carried), I first need to explain how I’ve changed movement in my version of DW. Instead of saying that everyone moves at 2.5m per Combat Round, I use a
Movement Rate which is calculated by (Strength + Reflexes) / 10.
Example:
Aescwine the Barbarian has a Strength
score of 15 and a Reflexes
score of 10. Aescwine’s Movement Rate
is (15 + 10) / 10 = 2.5, rounded up to 3.Characters can walk at
Movement Rate x4 in a Combat Round and run at
Movement Rate x8.
This presumes that the character is "Encumbered" as their normal state of affairs (as though they were typically equipped adventurers). Movement Rate can be affected if carrying more or less, as follows:
Unencumbered (+2 bonus to Movement Rate): unarmoured and no more than a third of the maximum number of items allowed are worn or carried.
Light Encumbrance (+1 bonus to Movement Rate): sort or hard leather worn and bearing no more than half the maximum allowed number of items.
Encumbered: studded leather, chainmail or plate armour worn and up to a full load carried.
Very Encumbered (–1 penalty to Movement Rate): armoured and lifting up to twice the maximum number of items.
(Note – it is not possible to fight when Very Encumbered.)
It's a bit "rough and ready" and may require some GM calls for borderline cases, but worked in the games I ran. Note that it becomes possible to move faster by discarding items and armour.
Armour is a principal limiting factor for movement. I've noticed that when wearing heavy armour (chainmail in my case) that movement in combat is not much impaired, but it acts like an upper limit on the speed at which you can run; I just couldn't reach a decent top speed.
Quote:
Just been musing on possible simple formula:
I quite like that formula and may "adopt" it for my own use.
Quote:
Note that considering DW's very simplistic encumbrance rules, I have no idea how much a character can carry when over-burdened...
See above.
Moving on...
Quote:
Senses is the characteristic that principally affects Perception. It reflects how good the character's eyesight, hearing etc is.
Does this mean you did away with the rules for Stealth and Perception in your version of DW? Or does
Senses have an effect on Perception?
Quote:
I think it was inspired by Call of Cthulhu originally, which is based on Runequest I believe.
Makes sense: both games published by Chaosium - so using a similar mechanic.
Quote:
HP doesn't advance unless the character does something to increase his or her Constitution.
That's certainly an option - and it's how the rules work in Pendragon, Cthulhu, etc. It would be something of a disadvantage for Knights and Barbarians, though... Do they get something "in exchange" to balance this out?
Quote:
I was kind of proud that my rules were still close enough to the original game in key respects that I could still pick up any of the published adventures with minimal modification, despite being so different fundamentally.
Nice one. That's pretty much the guidelines I set for myself.