Overview
Qualities of items that might be useful in game play (if the system supports it) are modeled
as item properites. Value, encumbrance, capacity, “slot” for clothing, and so forth.
Other qualities, usually used to randomly place and equip items, are handled through tags.
Properties
- name
-
The name of the item in a syntax that indicates both singular and plural (including
indefinite plural) usage. Examples: Pop’s Root Beer Hard cand{y|ies};
{|pairs of }Mary Jane shoes; stick{s} of beef jerky). If no plural is
provided, we assume the plural ends in s. Names include brands, styles, and color, since
these attributes don’t matter in game terms and are just flavor text.
- title
- Non-serial items with titles (e.g. books).
- image
- URL to an image for the item.
- enc
-
The encumbrance of the item (generally working on the limit of 70 + (Strong*10) as the
maxium encumbrance a person can carry). The value is derived from both the size and weight
tags, if it is not explicitly declared.
- value
- The item’s value (in some abstraction of currency).
- consumes
- A tag for what this item consumes (e.g. ammo:22)
- frequency
-
The frequency of the item’s occurrence where it normally occurs. Everything is rare
to find somewhere (common, uncommon, rare).
- condition
-
The condition of the item, usually for memorabilia. Condition adjusts an item’s value, but
in the future, it may also be used to determine if something is broken and/or fixable
(poor, fair, good, excellent, mint).
- series
-
One of a series of items, usually applied to publications or any other item that might be
collectible in a game. For example:
{
"name": "comic book",
"series": {
"title": "Giggle Comics",
"issue": 99,
"total": 133,
"pubDate": "Sunday 24 Nov 1957"
}
}
- title
- The title of the serial.
- issue
- The number of the item in a series.
- total
- The total number of items in this series.
- pubDate
- Date of publication.
- bundled
-
Bundles are not containers, they are items that contain specific amounts of other items.
For example, a box of ammo, a book of matches, or magazine for a firearm.
{
"name": "box{es} of .45 ammo",
"bundled": {
"item": "ammo:45",
"count": 20,
"actual": 18
}
}
- item
- Name of the item this item includes
- count
- The number of said items this bundle normally contains or includes.
- actual
- The actual number of said items this item contains or includes.
Qualities
These can apply to anything regardless of category.
-
condition - items can degrade through use to the next lowest condition, if it’s
useful to game play. For example, if a character falls and fails an Agile roll, as a
penalty you consider the scope of that character’s rifle to have broken off, leaving it in
fair condition (no longer usable at very long range). This would be fixable with the help
of a gunsmith.
- poor - no value, not fixable or usable, and broken
- broken - poor condition not usable, but fixable
- fair - usable, but may have issues or break, should be fixable
- good - normal condition
- excellent - like new
- mint - rare (never taken out of the box)
- toy — a toy version of item
-
container — most containers are furniture and handled by container generators,
but even containers like backpacks and toolboxes will be handled by the container
generator. Bundles are handled by the item generator.
- useful — useful item (in post-war period)
- luxury — luxury item (in post-war period)
- sport — was used in sports, may sometimes be armor or clothing
- valuable — would be secured in pre-war period
- secured — would be secured in post-war period
-
collectible — comes in a series of variants that are collected and valuable in
post, generated by the collectibles generator
-
make: { electronics | pottery | wood | cloth |
mechanical } — a short list for workshops, not a long list for crafting like
Fallout 4.
- genre: { western | 50s | scifi }
- era: { pre | post }
-
enc: { tiny | hand | small | medium |
large | huge } -
corresponding to enc .5, 1, 3, 8/10, 20, and 40. heavy (for size) doubles the
encumbrance. Carrying capacity target is currently 70 + (10*Strong).
-
profession: { gang | 50s | science | military |
guard | western | worker | explorer }
- religion: { christian | occult }
Categories
-
currency
-
clothing
- gender: { male | female | unisex }
-
slot: { feet | legs | torso | neck |
head | body }
-
legs
- pants
- skirt → +gender: female
-
body
- dress → +gender: female
- jumpsuit
-
torso
-
accessory
-
{ wrist | finger | neck | waist | head }
- jewelry?
-
armor
- { torso | legs | body | head }
-
weapon
- { melee | firearm | explosive }
-
melee
- knife — hunting knife
- spear — sports javelin
- club — police baton
- mace — mallet
-
firearm
- pistol
- rifle — long arms, semi-automatic, and machine guns
-
explosive — dynamic (+tool), grenade, molotov cocktail (+criminal), land
mine
-
cons - consummable
- battery
-
drug
-
food
- { fresh | preserved }
-
fresh
- meat - for butchers, hunters, etc.
- preserved
- ammo - ammunition
-
tool
- sewing
- woodworking
- metalworking
- blacksmithing
- construction
- automotive
- lockpicking → +criminal
- safecracking → +criminal
- publication - book, magazine, technical document
- stationary
- trinket - something found in a pocket, purse, or backpack
-
travel
Locations
The trick here will be to define a constrained set of categories. Specific locations can
further define a set of items specific to that location.