I want items to matter.
The default way of looking at items comes from video games like Final Fantasy. You buy a bunch of potions, then glug them down after (or during!) a hard fight. You pick up your Phoenix Downs to revive a party member instead of retreating all the way to a church to revive them.
And it leads to a classic problem: do I really need to use this now? Is it better to use my Max Potion, or should I drink 20 normal potions and save that one for when it really matters?
It’s realizing you’re finishing the game with dozens of alchemist’s flasks and full revives because what if there’s a better time to use them later?
Stop it
When I was in college, I played On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode Three. I plan to talk more about this game in one of my “Things I Love” posts, but for now let me say two great things about the game: it’s funny, and it does items right.
When I first realized how items worked, I could feel something in my mind turning over like a car’s ignition. They don’t go away! If you buy a potion, you get to use it every fight. (Additionally, if you lose a fight, you can immediately try it again, no need to grind or go back and lose your progress. But I don’t want to lose the thread here).
This simple change revolutionized how I saw items! There was no need to hoard them, or wait for the best moment. I was simply looking for the best moment in this fight. It stopped being a question of if I would use the item, and started being a question of when and how.
I didn’t have to worry about having enough potions, I just used the one I had. It became a resource to spend instead of a careful balancing act. And best of all? It removed the burden of inventory management!
Cyberrats
I adapted this approach into Cyberrats, and I want to see it in more games, video and tabletop alike. In Cyberrats, if you buy a jetpack or a grenade, you get to use it on every mission. You can upgrade your jetpack, make it fly further or carry more people. Make your grenade more dangerous, or have a bigger boom. It’s another piece of your loadout.
Want more uses? Buy more jetpacks! One of our early playtesters, Ty Pitre of Mindstorm, remarked,
“You know you’re in for something special when you’re making your little mutated rat and you discover that, YES, you can strap on three (3) jetpacks at the same time. This is the high-octane, loaded-cybernetics rat game you’ve been looking for!”
I love that quote! It’s exactly what we want to be about. Don’t buy 3 jetpacks because you want to use them on 3 missions. Buy three jetpacks because you want to use them in a row!
Encourage use
People still think of items as “less” than their other gear. Part of that is our fault: we didn’t restrict the number of items you can bring on a mission. If you only let people bring 2, they become important.
But we did try to mitigate it: using an item doesn’t cost an action. You get two actions on your turn, but powers and items are free. They still don’t get used as often as I’d personally like, but many players see the value of a free source of movement, damage, or utility on their turn.
Take take take
Make cool items! Get rid of inventory management and saving up for the best moment! Remove the regret and guilt of realizing you could have made your life easier if you’d used the thing THEN instead of now.
Items should automatically replenish every mission. Let the players feel cool. Even if an item is totally busted, so what? They can wreck house once a mission. They still have to complete the rest of the mission!
You gotta root for your players, and part of that is giving them tools they can use to be awesome.