Knave is a great OSR-style RPG. However, I personally dislike tracking individual minor items. So, based on the Usage Die from the Black Hack, I came up with the following rules for an Equipment Die subsystem.

  • instead of tracking individual equipment, track one abstracted unit (β€œEquipment Die”)

  • it fills up slots in your inventory, like a normal item

  • you being play with however many slots you want, paying 50 cp / slot (the Knave standard is copper, remember)

  • whenever you want to get something out of your backpack, you roll

  • 1d6, if the item is common and you most likely have thought to bring it (rope, bedroll, torches)

  • 2d6, if the item is rare and you might have it (lockpicks, bear trap)

  • 3d6, if the item is unusual and you most likely didn’t think to bring it (the rare herbs required to neutralize the poison of an exotic spider)

  • you reduce the number of slots by the number of 1s rolled

  • in fiction, this can be interpreted as you losing items as you’re digging into your messy backpack

  • or you have to combine and sacrifice several other items to juryrig what you need (MacGiver style)

  • you get what you need if you have at least one slot left

  • you can replenish slots in a civilized location, paying 50cp/slot

That’s all!

I came up with this for my own solo Knave campaign. I am not a fan of keeping track of individual minor items. Some people are. For those, carry on and ignore this post :)


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