I’ve written a bit about inventory systems lately, so let’s get practical. I’m going to make an inventory system for a game that doesn’t exist.

I mentioned recently I was fantasizing about making a zombie game. Let’s make one for that. I want to prioritize a gameplay loop of exploring and scrounging. Why do the PCs going into the “dungeon”? Survival. They need supplies all the time. The inventory system has to reflect that.

I don’t know what the actual system of the game is going to be, but let’s pretend the PCs will have stats that range from 6-12. Yes, I have an idea about why, but it’s not important to inventory. Lets say each PC has Strength +2 slots. That gives us between eight and twelve.

How big is a slot? Let’s use one day of food and water as a standard. That’ll likely mean the PCs will need somewhere to stash excess.

Things that could fit in a slot:

• One day of food and water

• A pistol

• 50 bullets

• 25 ft rope

• Hatchet

• 1/2 a rifle (it would take two slots)

• Two bowie knives

• 1/2 a sword with a long blade

• Crowbar

Okay, easy enough. So with the system I’m thinking about, each PC would have either 8, 10, 12, or 14 inventory slots. I want them to be able to lose shit. Let’s number those slots, aside from the first two. Why not the first two? Those are safe. It’s meta knowledge that the PC will never lose the stuff in there. If the PC would lose something, they’ll roll a dice equal to the amount of the remaining slots. Boom, that item is gone.

I also want items to degrade over time. Let’s give each item three usage boxes. If the player rolls a crit fail while using an item, mark off a box – it’s that much closer to breaking. Want to use an item in a way it isn’t meant for? Trying to use a sword to break down a door? Okay, I’ll let you attempt it IF you want to mark off a usage box. That’s a fun decision, ain’t it?

Finally, I do like the idea that the player might not know when something is about to run out, like a battery in a flashlight. These types of items will have usage dice . Whenever they use the item, roll the usage dice. If it’s a one, reduce the dice by one size (a d8 becomes a d6, a d6 becomes a d4, etc.) If you roll a 1 on a d4, you’re out of the item.

But I don’t want that for bullets. I want them to seem like a really valuable item. Blasting a zombie away from a distance keeps you safe, but is it worth spending the bullets to do it? I think usage dice will be for things where the “quantity’ of uses isn’t easily identifiable, like things ran by a battery.

And there we have it. The basics of an inventory system for a zombie TTRPG. Is there anything you would add or change? Also, was this interesting? Should i create more of this game in blog posts? Is it fun to see the process? Or does it not really effect your life? Either his reply and let me know or post about it in the Discord.

Talk soon,

-James