Improvised Items: Knicknacks and Clutter
I HATE EQUIPMENT LISTS!
HiBRiD
is a game of action, not accounting; a game of improvisation, not lists. In
addition to listing and describing your character’s clothes, weapons, and items
required to support your character concept, rather than listing every single
item and trying to account for every item your character might need to carry, you
will also be given a number of generic, unidentified items referred to as Improvised Items.
Improvised
items are like placeholders. They represent any of a number of nameless items that
any character might need at any given time that they would have no way of
knowing they would need beforehand. Perhaps your character, stranded on a rural
dirt road and camping out until help arrives, feels a sudden need for a bag of
marshmallows? Perhaps your character was mystically transported from a rain
forest to a desert and suddenly finds a real need for a canteen of water? What
if your character went to the library expecting to find a book to answer a
riddle, only to find a secret passage and a sudden need for a flashlight?
Improvised Items come to the rescue!
Improvised
Items Defined
Improvised
items are classified as one of two types. The first type of items, Clutter items,
are simple with few if any moving parts, fit into a large pants pocket or small
purse, and possess low or no monetary value, typically less than five dollars,
euros, or whatever the base unit of exchange would be, based on the genre
description. The second type of items, Knicknacks, may be of moderate complexity, no larger than a breadbox,
and must be able to be purchased commonly by anyone of a cost less than a
hundred dollars, euros, or whatever the base unit of exchange would be based on
the genre description.
There
are few restrictions to what your character may declare as an Improvised Item,
however items that are rare, not part of the genre of the game, or extremely
expensive may not be declared as Improvised Items. Likewise, weapons,
ammunition, or equipment related to your character concept may also not be
declared as Improvised Items.
Using Improvised
Items
To
use an Improvised Item, you simply need to declare the item you wish your character
to possess and integrate the type of Improvised Item your character will be declaring
into the description of your character’s action, e. g. I pull out my flashlight
Knicknack, throw in a few batteries from the Clutter in my pockets, and light
it up to get a good look around”.
You
may declare as many Improvise Items as you wish at a time, as long as you have enough
items remaining on your character sheet to do so. You may also choose to
declare one Knickknack as if it were two pieces of Clutter or vice versa as a
general rule, though if the situation arises, the director may alter this
exchange rate for purposes of keeping the story moving along or game balance.
For example, if a flashlight needs two batteries, the director may rule that
two batteries make up an item of Clutter rather than two.
As
you declare each item, you will cross out the current number of items of the
appropriate type your character possesses and decrease it by the appropriate number
of items you have declared, then record the specific item in the appropriate
location on your character sheet to keep track of it.
Your
character receives a number of Knicknacks as well as a number of Clutter items
equal to the Heroic Factor of the campaign.
Determining Improvised Items
In HiBRiD, all characters receive a number of Improvised Items equal to the Heroic Level of the campaign. For OSR/d20/3E/5E games, characters begin play with one and gain an additional item each level of experience.
Directing
Improvised Items
Over the
course of the game, the director, rather than describing every item in a
location, may choose to describe in terms of the number of Clutter items and
Knicknacks a party or character finds. In these cases, the director can simply add them to the number
of items your character has not yet declared. When doing so, the director should award them in aliquots of N items, where N is the number of players in the party to make distribution as easy as possible for the group.
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