Ye Olde Inn

Just curious to know how you and your players like to see the Armory laid out before them.

The "going shopping" experience is always an exciting part of any quest session, and offers a big pay off for all the Heroes' hard-earned treasure hunting. It's an important consideration!

When I print my cards the premise will be that each and every card represents one specimen of the shown and described item.
That's gonna be true for equipment as well as spells and skills.
I want every little special rule to be laid out in front of the hero. My heroes have Hero Decks, and we call it that.

I think most would prefer the option they played as kids/first experienced.
I payed the Danish version with cards and I can't help but smile and shake my head at the cardboard screen

They both have their merits though...

Did you play what the card system implied, namely that every piece was only available once?

Gary Chalk cards all the way

Goblin-King wrote:I think most would prefer the option they played as kids/first experienced.

This probably has something to do with it

knightkrawler wrote:Did you play what the card system implied, namely that every piece was only available once?

I don't think we did when we were younger and we definitely don't now. I actually recently bought an extra 2 sets of equipment cards so there are enough for each Hero to buy at least one of everything.

knightkrawler wrote:Did you play what the card system implied, namely that every piece was only available once?

Mostly, yes. But the water becomes a little muddy with items found during quests.
You have found a helmet. Take the helmet equipment card. But the dwarf has already bought said equipment card...
Did you just find "Nothing!" then or do you just write "Helmet" on your character sheet?

if I recall correctly some versions had (correct me if I'm wrong) 2 helmets and 2 shields. That strongly suggest a limited armory.
Which I actually like! They have to distribute the equipment the best way instead of everybody having chain mail, shield and helmet.

Goblin-King wrote:

knightkrawler wrote:Did you play what the card system implied, namely that every piece was only available once?

Mostly, yes. But the water becomes a little muddy with items found during quests.
You have found a helmet. Take the helmet equipment card. But the dwarf has already bought said equipment card...
Did you just find "Nothing!" then or do you just write "Helmet" on your character sheet?

if I recall correctly some versions had (correct me if I'm wrong) 2 helmets and 2 shields. That strongly suggest a limited armory.
Which I actually like! They have to distribute the equipment the best way instead of everybody having chain mail, shield and helmet.

That's why I asked. It was a major point of discussion when we first played, and as you say, the versions with 2 helmets and 2 shields (German 1st edition) establishes the theory.
The fact that they replaced 1 helmet and 1 shield with bracers and cloak doesn't mean they reconsidered but merely that they could continue with a 64 card printing sheet.
The chart in the NA version is a major change of rule "implied" that surprised and excited me when I got back into the game 4 years ago.
I wouldn't wanna miss that ruling, but I also want to rely heavily on cards. I like my Hero deck (and Evil Wizard player deck, too, for that matter) very much.
ALL players keep telling me it's awesome to actually see or quickly find what you have and can do. If you shot your one-time chance (as with a spell) you turn the card face down and back after the quest. Bewtween quests, there's cards to be picked and exchanged, not only equipment, but also spells, skills, and others. So that brings another attractive phase between quests when I prepare for the next one.
I plan there to be NO writing things down when I've finished. Points are already kept track of with blips and point pools.
But I digress...

Cards also open up the option to have a tiered armory system.

However, if you wanted to also have the NA chart with a tiered system, you would need to make a separate chart for each tier. Slowly revealing options as the heroes get more powerful is the point of a tiered system, so that would make sense, yeah?

Having an Armory that unfolded an additional selection of equipment after so many quests were completed would be a cool reveal moment for the heroes.

All in all I'd prefer if it was strictly card based.
The solution to aforementioned problem could be to simply never include equipment as found treasure.
Gold, potions and artifacts should suffice.

Goblin-King wrote:All in all I'd prefer if it was strictly card based.
The solution to aforementioned problem could be to simply never include equipment as found treasure.
Gold, potions and artifacts should suffice.

Truth. Also encourages Heroes to purchase items! I do have a tendency to "reinvent the wheel" when it comes to making custom creations for HQ, thereby creating never-ending work for myself. (I still haven't shared my new idea about a progressively-generated overworld hex map!)