Our rulebook talks about Supply Bags, a mechanic that allows us to carry multiple item cards that don’t have associated phys reps, or use the same phys rep for multiple items. Here’s how we’ve learned how to use them at Dystopia Rising New York (DRNY), while remaining within the letter and the spirit of the rules.
First, a recap of the rules, along with some local interpretations.
A Supply Bag must have the word “Supply Bag” on it.
You have to keep your item cards in your Supply Bag, but you don’t need to have anything else in it.
The Supply Bag must fit six refillable 12 ounce water containers, and six plastic 10 ml syringes. Our local policy, however, is that we won’t check the size of your Supply Bag for legality.
You can only have one Supply Bag on you at a time. You don’t need to have your Supply Bag on you at all times - you can leave it somewhere when you don’t need it.
You can’t cover your Supply Bag under your clothes or inside other bags. If it’s not on your person you can hide it, but don’t put it on or under your bunk, as those are out of game spaces.
Supply Bags can’t be broken with the Break skill.
It takes 30 seconds to loot a Supply Bag, as well as everything else on a person.
The Supply Bag is the phys rep for all scrap, herb, forage and salvage cards your character owns. You need a Supply Bag on your person to trade or use these cards.
If you have a physrep for an item, that item isn’t “in” your Supply Bag, it’s “with” the item. In DRNY, we ask you to keep those cards on your person if you’re not carrying your supply bag.
Example: Jones walks around with nothing but a weapon and armor. We don’t care if he has a Supply Bag, as long as he has the phys reps, and carries the items on his person. However, without a Supply Bag, he couldn’t accept herb or scrap cards.
The reason to have strict rules about Supply Bags is theft, in particular, Basic Larceny. Here’s a recap of the rules around Basic Larceny.
If you want to steal an item that has a phys rep, you have to place the clothespin on or close to the item. Respect a person’s personal space when you’re doing so.
If you pin a clothespin to a person’s supply bag, you get one random item card from the bag.
You don’t need Basic Larceny to steal an unattended object; just notify a guide that you’re stealing it.
Remember, your physical comfort and safety is more important to us than any Supply Bag; we just want to make sure everyone is still playing fair when it comes to Larceny. As such, we have a few best practices for you.
Best practices
Separate the item cards for which you have phys reps from the cards you don’t, and put those in your back pocket.
Work with us to figure out how to phys rep a bag that’s comfortable for you. We’re okay with a small empty sack as long as it says “Supply Bag” on it.
As long as your bag is not under or on top of your bed you don’t have to have it on your person.
Remember, we use these practices for your physical comfort and safety, not to give you an advantage against Larceny. There are rules about the size of the Supply Bag and if you’re walking around with a tiny dice bag to minimize your risk of pick-pocketing we’ll ask you to get a bigger bag. It’s all about making sure we’re safe and fair.