Equipment and Items

GM: “Alright everyone, time to gear up! For starting equipment, I’m using the resource system, so we won’t track individual coins, just assume you have what you need for basic survival and starting out. Everyone gets reasonable starting resources.”

GM: “Pick one of the basic explorer kits, add any gear that makes sense for your character concept, and don’t forget weapons if your character uses them.”

Robin: “How many guns can my gunslinger carry?”

GM: “Let’s be reasonable—maybe two pistols and a rifle at most. Any more and you’d be a walking armory, which sounds exhausting.”

Robin: “Ha! No bag full of guns where I just toss one aside and grab the next?”

GM: “Not yet anyway. Though I’m not sure how fun lugging around fifty pistols would be.”

Robin: It could be a bag-of-holding!

GM: Or side holster that keeps replacing the gun, but that sounds like something to find in the future - not when you start.

Robin: Ok.

Sage: “Can I have a book written in otherworldly script?”

GM: “Absolutely! That could be the very tome that first cursed you. Fair warning though - that gives me plenty of plot hooks to work with.”

Sage: “Ooh, maybe I should reconsider… no wait, that sounds perfect! I want the dangerous book.”

Quinn: “I’m thinking classic soldier gear: sword, armor, maybe a shield. Can my blade be a family heirloom?”

GM: “Definitely! In fact, let’s make this interesting. Everyone should pick one item that has personal significance. An heirloom, a memento, something with history. Usually it’s a weapon, but it could be anything meaningful to your character.”

Robin: “So we each get a special item along with our regular starting gear?”

GM: “Exactly. One meaningful piece, one basic kit, weapons if you use them, and whatever other reasonable gear fits your concept. Just run your list by me, nothing crazy, but if it makes sense for a starting character in our setting, you’re good.”

Sage: “Should my significant item be the cursed book, or something else? Maybe a protective charm from my grandmother that keeps me anchored when dealing with cosmic horrors?”

GM: “Either works beautifully! The book is obviously central to your story, but a protective charm could explain how you’ve maintained your sanity despite everything you’ve learned.”

Robin: “I want one of my pistols to be my heirloom. Maybe it belonged to the person who taught me to shoot, before everything went sideways in my life.”

GM: “Perfect! That adds instant backstory and could tie into your pride issues. You’re carrying on someone’s legacy every time you draw that gun. If you want, both pistols could be, a matched set.”

Robin: “Yes! A pearl handle, and an onyx black handle. I love it, but now, I really won’t want to swap them out.”

Quinn: “My father’s sword, then. It’s part of why I became a soldier. Trying to live up to his reputation.”

GM: “Love it. Here’s the thing about these meaningful items - they can evolve as you do. They might start as ordinary gear, but as your legend grows through the campaign, these significant pieces could develop special properties reflecting your adventures.”

Sage: “So my forbidden tome might reveal new secrets as I grow stronger?”

Robin: “And my mentor’s guns could become supernaturally accurate as I master my craft?”

GM: “Exactly! These items become part of your story, not just equipment you’ll eventually replace. I will handle how they grow, but I will work with you to make sure it matches how you are roleplaying your character. Now, which explorer kits are you thinking? Sage, the Scholar Kit probably fits your research-focused character…”

Sage: “Perfect! Plus extra writing materials for documenting my otherworldly discoveries. I also think maybe something random, like a deck of playing cards.”

Robin: “Explorer Kit for me: compass, rope, and survival gear. Everything a wandering gunslinger needs.”

Quinn: “I’ll take the Devotee Kit. The holy symbol and healing supplies match my paladin concept perfectly.”

Equipment represents the tools, weapons, armor, and possessions that help your character navigate the dangers and challenges of their adventures. In Multiverse, equipment serves multiple purposes: it provides mechanical benefits through improved capabilities, creates opportunities for creative problem-solving, and helps establish your character’s background, personality, and place in the world. The gear your character carries tells a story about who they are, where they’ve been, and what they value most.

The availability and nature of equipment varies dramatically based on your chosen campaign setting. A medieval fantasy world might feature enchanted swords and mystical armor, while a modern urban campaign could include cutting-edge technology and specialized professional tools. Some settings blend these elements, offering steampunk contraptions, alien artifacts, or items that blur the line between technology and magic. Always work with your GM to understand what equipment exists in your world and how it functions within the established tone and themes of your campaign.

Important This chapter provides examples and guidelines rather than exhaustive catalogs, as the specific items available depend entirely on your setting’s technological level, magical presence, and cultural background. The goal is to give you frameworks for understanding how equipment functions mechanically while leaving room for creative adaptation to match your campaign’s unique needs.

Wealth and Resource Management

Different settings require different approaches to wealth, from traditional coin-counting to abstract buying power. Your GM will establish which method best serves your campaign’s tone and pacing.

Wealth as Buying Power

This approach treats wealth as your character’s overall economic capability rather than specific currency amounts, avoiding detailed transaction tracking that can slow storytelling. Your wealth level determines what you can purchase routinely versus what requires special effort or sacrifice.

• Struggling ($) - Characters at this level live paycheck to paycheck, often struggling to meet basic needs like rent, food, and transportation. They might delay medical care due to cost, buy used clothing, and carefully consider even small purchases. Large expenses require significant sacrifice or borrowing.
• Stable ($$) - These characters can meet their basic needs reliably and occasionally afford modest luxuries. They might rent a decent apartment, buy new clothes when needed, and eat at restaurants occasionally. Major purchases like vehicles or home improvements require planning and saving.
• Comfortable ($$$) - Characters at this level enjoy middle to upper-middle class lifestyles with financial breathing room for regular luxuries. They can afford quality housing, reliable transportation, and don’t stress about routine expenses. They might own a home, take vacations, and purchase quality equipment without extensive deliberation.
• Affluent ($$$$) - These characters have substantial wealth that generates passive income, allowing them to focus on pursuits other than earning money. They can afford most everyday purchases without concern and typically own significant assets like property, investments, or successful businesses.
• Wealthy ($$$$$) - Characters at this level possess extraordinary wealth that borders on the supernatural, often backed by the Wealthy ability (Batman and Ironman for example). They can make most purchases without financial impact, though extremely extravagant expenditures might require brief periods of reduced spending while their resources replenish.

Your GM can adjust these levels based on character choices and story developments, rewarding smart decisions with increased prosperity or creating tension through financial setbacks. Most starting characters begin at Stable ($$) unless their background suggests otherwise.

Wealth Growth and Loss
Characters’ wealth levels can change during the campaign based on their choices, successes, and failures. Smart investments, successful business ventures, or completing lucrative missions might increase wealth levels, while poor decisions, economic disasters, or generous philanthropy could reduce them.

These changes should always serve the story rather than feel arbitrary. A character who consistently makes wise financial choices and pursues wealth-building opportunities should see their economic situation improve, while someone who prioritizes helping others over personal gain might remain at lower wealth levels but gain other rewards.

Wealth as Resource Management

Some campaigns benefit from traditional resource management where characters earn and spend specific amounts of money. This works particularly well when economic survival forms part of the challenge, characters start from humble beginnings, or resource scarcity creates dramatic tension. Under this system, characters track their expenditures against accumulated wealth, creating meaningful choices about spending limited resources.

To prevent excessive bookkeeping, many groups use weekly or monthly upkeep costs covering basic living expenses like food, lodging, and routine purchases. Characters automatically pay these costs when they have sufficient funds, maintaining resource scarcity for significant purchases while avoiding the need to track every transaction.

Traditional resource management can become less engaging as characters accumulate significant wealth through their adventures. GMs might introduce new expense categories like property maintenance or business investments, or transition to the buying power system once basic survival is no longer a concern.

Optional Rule: The Royal Grape and the Universal Coin
Across the infinite realities of the Multiverse stands The Royal Grape inn, with Russel as its eternal proprietor. Every world, every town, every settlement seems to have one, though no one finds this strange. Of course there should always be a Royal Grape, just as there should be sunrise and gravity. The inn’s sign always features a cluster of grapes beneath a fallen crown, marking it as more than just a tavern for those who know to look for the symbol.

The Royal Grape has established what many consider the universal standard for hospitality: one coin buys a good meal and a safe night’s rest, regardless of local currency or economic conditions. A gold piece in a medieval kingdom, a credit chip in a cyberpunk metropolis, or a bottle cap in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The Royal Grape accepts all forms of payment as equivalent for their basic services. This “single coin rule” provides a useful baseline for GMs establishing costs in their settings.

More importantly, every Royal Grape serves as a Sanctuary and Waypoint (see Wanderer’s Journal), offering neutral ground where conflicts are suspended and all visitors can find safety, especially Travelers. Beyond this single institution, the grapes-and-crown symbol appears on other inns throughout the Multiverse, indicating establishments that follow the same principles of universal hospitality and neutral sanctuary. For characters who travel between worlds, this sign represents safety, reasonable prices, and protection from the dangers that might otherwise follow them across dimensional boundaries.

Starting Equipment Guidelines

New characters should begin their adventures with basic equipment that reflects their background and provides reasonable functionality without overshadowing character growth through the campaign. Think of starting equipment as the foundation upon which your character will build, not as the peak of their material capabilities.

Every character needs basic adventuring equipment appropriate to their setting and background, whether that’s a scholar’s books and research tools or a former soldier’s military-surplus gear and weapons. Your equipment should tell the story of your past and current situation, and a wealthy character might have higher-quality versions of basic items, while someone from humble origins could carry makeshift gear that still functions adequately. The key is matching equipment to your character’s history.

Most characters should also have one or two items of personal significance that serve important roleplay functions rather than mechanical benefits. A family heirloom, gift from someone important, or trophy from a past achievement can become crucial plot elements as the campaign develops. Starting equipment should provide basic functionality without overshadowing the character abilities and growth that drive advancement in Multiverse. Focus on a few well-chosen items that enhance your strengths or create tactical options rather than extensive lists of basic gear.

Work closely with your GM throughout this process to ensure your equipment fits both your character concept and the campaign’s established parameters. What seems reasonable might not match the GM’s vision for the setting’s power level or technological capabilities, and this collaborative approach helps establish consistent expectations for what equipment can accomplish in your particular world.

The equipment you start with should enable your character to contribute meaningfully to early adventures while leaving room for exciting discoveries and improvements as the campaign progresses. Think of it as giving your character the tools they need to survive their first challenges, not everything they’ll ever need.

Optional Rule: Encumbrance
Encumbrance is considered an optional rule in Multiverse, as the general belief is the accumulation of items is based on what makes sense. However, for resource intensive campaigns, encumbrance can be a fun way to remind players choices are constantly needed. The Athleticism trait helps determine a characters max encumbrance.

Encumbrance Penalties:

• Lightly Encumbered (up to maximum): No penalties
• Heavily Encumbered (up to 1.5x maximum): -2 to Agility and Athleticism checks
• Severely Encumbered (up to 2x maximum): -4 to Agility and Athleticism checks, movement reduced by half
• Overloaded (over 2x maximum): Cannot move until weight is reduced

Common Item Weights:

• Dagger: 1 lb
• Shortsword: 2 lbs
• Longsword: 3 lbs
• Battleaxe: 4 lbs
• Leather Armor: 10 lbs
• Chain Mail: 40 lbs
• Plate Mail: 65 lbs
• Shield: 6 lbs
• Backpack (empty): 2 lbs
• Rope (50 ft): 10 lbs
• Torch: 1 lb
• Healing Potion: 0.5 lbs
• Basic Explorer’s Kit: 25 lbs

Once again, we encourage the Rule of Fun. Does adding encumbrance add to the fun of the campaign? That is for the GM to decide.

Equipment Categories and Examples

The following sections provide examples of different equipment types commonly found across various campaign settings. Remember that these are starting points for discussion with your GM rather than definitive lists, and the specific items available in your campaign may differ significantly based on setting, technology level, and thematic focus.