[S&W WB] Equipment Lists and Prices

[Finarvyn]

Two questions here. Please vote for one in answers 1-5 and one in answers 6-9. ;D

Topic the First: Equipment List Quantity
Essentially, what I want to know here is how extensive an equipment list would you like to see. The OD&D list is pretty short and the AD&D list is very detailed.

Topic the Second: Prices
Do I maintain the costs as per the LBB (example of Plate Mail at 50 GP) or migrate to a more "realistic" model? (In AD&D, I think that Plate Mail was 300 GP, off the top of my head.) Clearly, the OD&D model was more about just counting coins, but the AD&D model gets into coin type, etc.

What do you think?

[coffee]

I'm fine with the LBB lists.

Too many options lead to information overload. Studies have shown that 3-7 options, centering on 5, are a reasonable amount for people to understand and be able to choose between.

[foster1941]

Prices definitely all in one coin (with multiple items -- 6 torches, 12 iron spikes, etc. -- in a bunch to equal 1 GP where necessary). The equipment list should be fairly close to the OD&D list (closer than to the AD&D list) but there are a few items worth adding, both weapons (hammer, sling, javelin) and misc. gear (tinder box, grappling hook, etc.). The 1981 D&D Expert Set has a good list.

[mythmere]

I like long equipment lists because they serve to give players ideas - especially new players. It's almost a preview or a trailer for the dungeon environment. I remember buying garlic and wolfsbane before going into B1 for the first time -- and I had thoughts of vampires and werewolves. It was pretty cool.

On the other hand, I can see the value of the short list. There's always a trade-off between unspecified and short rules/info and on the other hand, rules/info that sparks the imagination. In S&W I have generally gone for the unspecified and short. So that's an argument for using a short list (not identical), and leaving someone to make an expanded list in an article for Knockspell, in a free download (hopefully I will get the capability to store files for this), or in a separate publication.

So, I suppose I vote for shortening the list, although perhaps not all the way. Crowbars and grappling hooks just belong there, IMO.

[Finarvyn]

Jun 19, 2008 10:16:20 GMT -6 coffee said:

Studies have shown that 3-7 options, centering on 5, are a reasonable amount for people to understand and be able to choose between.

Is that directed at the AD&D equipment list or the way I wrote my poll question?

[coffee]

That's directed at the equipment list. I got that from Delta's D&D Blog, this post:

deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2007/04/magic-number-seven.html

(took me a few minutes to find that back...)

[jrmapes]

I voted Like the LBB simple is best but also somewhere in between.

What I mean by that is keep the simple LBB and the single coin BUT if there are a few items that is commonly recognized from the expanded list then go ahead and move them over, converting the coin. The trick would be to not get carried away of course and over populate the LBB list.

So a little expansion would be ok. A lot of expansion would be bad as would mixing the coin. That is just NOT LBB look and feel.

Again, I know I sound like a broken record. But if someone wants to come up with expanded equipment lists or specialized equipment lists than that would be better served as a submission to Knockspell.


Jerry




Jerry