BITS of Bullets and RPG Ammo

We already talked at length about when and why and how to reload when things go wrong in RPGs.

This post takes a look at when the tools a fictional character uses runs out of gas / bullets / arrows / batteries / fuel / et. al. From single rounds to bottomless bins of bullets, the BITS system has it covered. Tiers are for reference only, but could be applied to a game’s economy for availability or cost:

Tier	Uses	Example
0	NA	Any object used as it is or otherwise remains self sufficient. Crowbars, swords, and furniture are all examples of this. So too are magical lightsabers, perpetual fusion power packs, the Energizer Bunny, and, in effect, a sun. Think: Tools that use no resource, such tools as melee weapons or near-magical objects.
1	1 and Done	Using this uses it up. A grenade, signal flare, match, mine, and medical needle are here. So are nuclear bombs. Sometimes spending out the thing makes it prohibitive to re-equip during any reasonably short amount of time. Priming and loading a second cruise-missile onto a platform during a fight is farfetched no matter how many are in stock. Draining the power source of some cyber tech skeleton-key makes sense for a novel firewall-cracking device. Reserved for both the simplest and the most overpowered of tools.
2	1-6 Shots	A salvo of shots. A single arrow in a bow, a flare in a flare gun, the twin-projectiles of a Halo SPNKr launcher or the twin-barrels of a sawed-off shotgun, and a cowboy’s six-shooter (and revolvers in general) match here. Each shot is reloaded individually unless some special tool replaces the entire salvo. Where rounds for the shot come from can be something like a box-of-bullets, which can critically run out when reloading like the magazine in the next tier. (Gunslinger in The West uses this mechanic.) Here powerful shots get tempered, more than the magazine-based tiers below. This is an excellent option for strong-in-context tools.
3	1 Reload	A magazine, battery, fuel cell, etc. Abstraction of multiple uses until critically failing when in use, thus running out of the resource and requiring a reload. (This is the “box of bullets” above.) Assault rifles, high-powered flash lights, a pluck or handful of arrows, and Super Soaker tanks fall here. A single belt fed into a device also counts, such as that fed into the MG42 used by Jin Roh Wolf soldiers.
4	2-6 Reloads	Can be used multiple times and fail multiple times without stopping. Only once the last reload is ‘marked’ does the entire tool need refilling. Extended magazines, Tommy Gun drums, gaping quivers, belt-fed M249 SAW boxes, and cable-powered laser guns.
6	After Action	When the dust settles after a large encounter or the end of an adventure mission, it is time to take stock. Only then will / might the tool run out of steam. Mounted turrets, vehicle fuel, and other supplies that seemed plentiful in the moment are found to have been spent (if used at all). Refueling, reloading, and rearming need to happen before these tools are ready to roll.
10	Indefinite	See tier 0 – things here go and go and go and …

Nothing New Under the Sun

Games are but levels of abstraction.

When it comes to kinds of expendable resource, abstraction needs to play a key role.

Video games do this excellently – at most, they tie ammo to a very small set of weapons (e.g. round X goes to weapon X), or abstract the kinds of available resource to the broad category of the tool.

‘Batteries’ or ‘power packs’ for flashlights and sci-fi gadgets alike, liquid ‘fuel’ for flamethrowers and cars, ‘shotgun shells’ for all gauges, ‘bullets’ for small arms, ‘artillery shells’ for tank main guns and recoilless rifles. Rockets, missiles, and torpedoes (I make this mega-missile category for the likes of cruise missiles). Grenades, charges, bombs.

Just as how ‘coin’ can be split into gold, silver, copper, and more, just as how ‘grain’ becomes wheat, maize, barley, and more, when it comes to deciding on resource types, do what feels right. Always seek to KISS, and things will go swell!

In This Economy?

A hierarchy of value exists in all things.

Resources apply the same way. While more thought needs to be put into this, a simple split would be:

• Sufficient Shot* – This is cheaper-than-cheap resource. Rocks for a sling, potatoes for cannons, grass for alternative fuels, or bullets in a bullet factory having a fire sale.
• Cheap Shot – Mundane fuel and resource that comes standard in both civilian and military use (context depending).
• Money Shot – High-value, high-impact ammunition. Jet fuel, missiles, you get it.
• Such Shot – Exotic. Best of the best. Fusion cores,blessed silver bullets, nuclear bombs, et. al.

* I was going to call this “S- Shot” and I choose to be less vulgar 🙂

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Simple, right? That is what BITS works to be.

No need to overthink what tools gobble-up what they use to run, how to keep the fires going. Determine if a tool ever runs out of uses and if that is after every use, every critical failure of use, multiple uses / failures thereof, or never!

I hope you take benefit from this synopsis in your own game designs. This is yet another page into my own compendium of game design reference, so expect to see design themes from here echoed in future work.

Cheers to all you do in the meantime ~