This game has really cool crafting mechanics, I swear!
Probably not, but at least I try!
Crafting mechanics mostly suck. To be honest, I have very limited experience with them and as soon as I read them I don't care about them. Even in Blades in the Dark I found free-form crafting as a downtime project to be boring. The only time I find crafting interesting is when it comes as improvisational, diegetic and with minimal mechanics: The Chemist describing how they mix some potent acid from a utility closet, the Wildling building an elaborate trap from some string and wood or the Tinkerer who improvises a pneumatic dart thrower. It's pure player ingenuity and imposes a form of physical reality into the shared fiction. When it's somewhat plausible and within the characters capabilities, it doesn't even warrant a roll to determine success (although it might determine the cost).
In Grass & Rubble players explore post-collapse ruins. It's The Last of Us and Roadside Picnic aesthetics. It's overgrown brutalism, derelict suburbs and full of mossy melancholia. I try to flirt with OSR, take from storygames without going there and don't shy away from gamism. So naturally it does need some kind of gear, loot and crafting mechanics, doesn't it?
Once again I took inspiration from The Last of Us. It's the one videogame where I really liked how scarcity worked and how field crafting items made me clutch my pearls during heated moments. Last years extraction shooter hit Arc Raiders implemented similar rules to great effect. But most of the time putting videogame mechanics into a ttrpg is a doomed endeavor.
Warning: None of this has been playtested. It may very well fall apart at first contact with real players.
First let's take a look at the rules for inventory and load:
Gear
Slots: Weapons, tools and trinkets are noted as gear on your character sheet. You have 6 slots. All items except basic supplies and your light fill 1 slot, no matter their size. Big or heavy items are tagged as bulky and can’t be concealed. If you carry more than two bulky items, your movement is hindered. In a tense situation the GM might ask you to specify what items are at hand and which take a moment to be pulled out.
Supplies: Small, basic utility items like nuts and bolts, a pocket knife, rations, a few metres of paracord, duct tape, a lighter, etc. count as supplies that are assumed to be part of a player's gear but aren't tracked. The GM has the last word if an item would count as a supply. As a guideline: if something appears on the item list or would be worth 1 or more Scrip (note: G&R's currency), it doesn't.
Flashlight: Every Vulture is assumed to carry a flashlight or other portable lamp.
Just like any other gear, the GM can ask for Gear Checks to see if supplies are depleted or the flashlight stops working.
Gear Check
After repeated use, when put under strain or as a cost or consequence, you make a Gear Check.
- On a 1 it’s broken or depleted.
- On a 2-3 it has one use left or depletes shortly. If rolled again, count as a 1.
- On a 4-6 it’s fine for now.
So far, so good. Pretty basic stuff. A slot based inventory with a very limited number of slots, Into the Odds bulky rules and QZ's (by Jason Tocci) simple use of the Luck Roll. Now let's see how crafting comes into play.
Components
Useful salvage that can be used to field-craft items is abstracted into three types of components:
- Parts: Mechanical parts, fabrics and base materials.
- Tech: Circuits, batteries and electronics.
- Agents: Reagents, substances and chemicals.
You have one special slot for each type. Stacking more than 3 counts as bulky. You won't get Scrip for components but you might use them in a trade outside of town. Buying components from a trader usually costs 1 for a stack of 3.
Field-crafting
Complex, high quality items need to be bought or manufactured by a professional. But field-crafted items can be created with the right components at any time during an incursion, as long as a player has learned the blueprint for the item. Field-crafted items are always single use. You can craft a single item as a rest action, no roll required. Many field-crafted items can be bought, but most traders will only have a few in stock.
Components are common loot that players find by scrounging abandoned areas, as salvage from broken robots or taken from other Vultures (dead or alive). It's a resource that's meant to be used. Except for a few basic ones, blueprints are rare and valuable finds. After studying them during downtime, the player unlocks the item to be field-crafted. Field-crafting an item costs up to 3 components. Here are six examples:
- Shiv (1 Parts): A concealable blade that cuts, slices and stabs.
- Smoke Bomb or Trap (1 Parts, 1 Agent): Explodes in thick, white smoke that obscures view. Throwable bomb or wire triggered trap.
- EMP Fryer (3 Tech): Magnetic charge that unloads itself in a powerful surge. Fries or reboots electronics.
- Adrenaline Serum (2 Agents): Take the condition "amped up" that clears during rest. Dynamic physical actions are helped, calm actions are hindered.
- Scrappers Sight (2 Tech, 1 Agent): Thermal camera and a small screen. Shows thermal signatures at a distance of up to 20m unobstructed and 4-5m obstructed. Drains after 10 seconds.
- Quick-patch foam (2 Agents): Spray can of durable sealing foam that hardens in seconds.
Between the three component types, the special inventory slots, the ultra light crafting rules and the single-use limitation, everything is very, very gamey. But I'm curious to see how it turns out. The biggest risks I see are:
- Players hoard items and components
- They forget about the blueprints and items
- The effort of finding components, crafting one per rest and a single-use isn't worth it
- Blueprints aren't creative or effective enough
If it doesn't work as intended, I'll probably go back to a very basic, bulky-based inventory. But for now I'm excited to playtest them!