No one has ever regretted having twenty yards of silk rope in their pack. That said, I just let my players buy, like 100g of "assorted dry goods" and then they can pull whatever common goods out of their pack at a later date and we all understand that it was in their pack all along in a state of quantum superposition.
Retconning equipment purchases is a very important thing for a good game. As you the player aren’t a professional hero, you’re just playing one in a game. So there are things characters would have taken because they aren’t stupid.
I think Blades in the Dark has mechanics for this on magic items. You just spend the gold via retcon.
For magical items, you can do that too, or dice roll for a very specific and unlikely case, such as bringing a potion of under water breathing into the desert. But the same roll would be much easier if your adventure was involving a boat ride.
Fabula Ultima, a silly JRPG inspired system, has this codified in the rules. You've got "inventory points" and then you spend those on potions. Want a health potion? Sure, you spend 3 inventory points. You bought it last time you were in town cause you knew it would come in handy. Next time you're in town you spend some money to replenish your inventory points and now your inventory is back in the quantum superposition of health potions, mana potions, etc.
Other miscellaneous adventuring gear is handled by your character's concept. If your character concept includes that you're a thief you have lockpicks when you need them, end of story. The thief doesn't forget her lockpicks.
Having played a little of both styles, I can't imagine what makes people think extremely crunchy systems are in any way better or more fun than abstract systems. Abstraction is just so much more fun, cooler, and smoother at every single step of the way.
Yeah, we're all here for fun. I just like being the Swiss army knife character
No one has ever regretted having twenty yards of silk rope in their pack. That said, I just let my players buy, like 100g of "assorted dry goods" and then they can pull whatever common goods out of their pack at a later date and we all understand that it was in their pack all along in a state of quantum superposition.
Retconning equipment purchases is a very important thing for a good game. As you the player aren’t a professional hero, you’re just playing one in a game. So there are things characters would have taken because they aren’t stupid.
I think Blades in the Dark has mechanics for this on magic items. You just spend the gold via retcon.
For magical items, you can do that too, or dice roll for a very specific and unlikely case, such as bringing a potion of under water breathing into the desert. But the same roll would be much easier if your adventure was involving a boat ride.
Fabula Ultima, a silly JRPG inspired system, has this codified in the rules. You've got "inventory points" and then you spend those on potions. Want a health potion? Sure, you spend 3 inventory points. You bought it last time you were in town cause you knew it would come in handy. Next time you're in town you spend some money to replenish your inventory points and now your inventory is back in the quantum superposition of health potions, mana potions, etc.
Other miscellaneous adventuring gear is handled by your character's concept. If your character concept includes that you're a thief you have lockpicks when you need them, end of story. The thief doesn't forget her lockpicks.
Having played a little of both styles, I can't imagine what makes people think extremely crunchy systems are in any way better or more fun than abstract systems. Abstraction is just so much more fun, cooler, and smoother at every single step of the way.
Bit of rope, some tent pegs, toolkit, some Semtex, some gauze... you can resolve a lot of situations with a practical mind.
I think games often have an adventurers kit or something like that