Items & Inventory

"Your stuff matters. Not because it's powerful—because it's yours."

How Items Work in Netghosts

In Netghosts, items aren't tracked on a traditional equipment list. Instead, they become Item Tags on special Inventory Cards. This keeps your gear integrated with the rest of your character's Tag-based mechanics while keeping it separate from your core identity cards.

Items work just like other Tags: when you take an action and an Item Tag is relevant, you count it toward your dice pool. The difference is that items can be gained, lost, used up, or broken more easily than the Tags on your character cards.

Inventory Cards

Each player starts with two Inventory Cards. Unlike your character cards, Inventory Cards are simple—they're just containers for your stuff.

What's on an Inventory Card

An Inventory Card contains:

  • One Main Tag: The card's name, describing where this inventory is or what it represents (e.g., "My Trusty Backpack" or "School Locker")
  • Twelve Positive Tag Slots: Each slot can hold one Item Tag, with a checkbox for tracking use

That's it. Inventory Cards do NOT have:

  • Negative Tags
  • Experience tracks
  • Levels
  • Inherits or Upgrades

They're purely functional—a place to write down your stuff.

What Inventory Cards Represent

The Main Tag of an Inventory Card determines when and how you can access what's stored there:

  • "Pockets and Bag" - Items always on your person, accessible anytime
  • "School Locker" - Items you can only access when at school
  • "Hidden Stash Under the Bed" - Items at home, requiring you to go there
  • "Emergency Go-Bag in the Car" - Items you keep for specific situations

Choose Main Tags that reflect how your character organizes their life. The narrative context of the Inventory Card matters—you can't pull something from your school locker if you're in the middle of a fight in an abandoned warehouse.

Accessing Inventory in Play

Your Inventory Cards should be kept near your character deck but separate. When you take an action, you can look at any Inventory Card that's narratively accessible in the current scene and count relevant Item Tags toward your dice pool, just like Tags on your character cards.

If an Inventory Card isn't accessible (you left your backpack at home, your locker is across town), those Item Tags aren't available. Plan accordingly.

Item Tags

Items are represented as Tags written in the slots on your Inventory Cards. When you buy, find, or receive an item, you write it as a Tag and place it in an empty slot on the appropriate Inventory Card.

Like all Tags, Item Tags should be evocative and specific:

  • Good: "Quality lock picks from my older sister"
  • Good: "Smartphone with cracked screen but works fine"
  • Too vague: "Phone" (what kind? does it have any special meaning?)
  • Too specific: "iPhone 14 Pro Max 256GB in Pacific Blue" (this is just a catalog listing)

Write Item Tags that tell a story. Where did you get this? What does it mean to you? What can it do?

The Three Permanence Tiers

Item Tags come in three tiers that determine how long they last and how they're used:

Permanent Items

Always available. Doesn't degrade through normal use.

Permanent items are things built to last. They don't get consumed when you use them. You can invoke them in as many actions as make sense without checking them off or erasing them.

Permanent items might still be lost, stolen, or destroyed through narrative events—if an enemy takes your knife or your laptop falls into a river, it's gone. But simply using it doesn't consume it.

Examples: A good pocket knife, a quality leather bag, a smartphone, a bicycle, a musical instrument, a sturdy flashlight, decent headphones, a reliable backpack.

Cost: Most expensive tier. Typically costs more than multi-use items of similar function.

Multi-use Items

Can be used several times before depleting.

Multi-use items have a limited number of uses. Each time you invoke this Item Tag in an action, you check the box next to it and write down the number of times it's been used. When the item reaches its use limit (typically 3-5 uses, set when purchased), it's depleted and you erase the Tag.

Multi-use items represent consumables that last for a while but eventually run out—packs of supplies, limited-charge batteries, things that degrade with use.

Examples: A pack of cigarettes (for bribing or calming nerves), a first aid kit, prepaid phone credits, a portable battery, ammunition for a weapon, a set of disposable disguises.

Cost: Mid-range. Cheaper than permanent, more expensive than single-use.

Single-use Items

One and done. Consumed immediately upon use.

Single-use items are consumed the moment you invoke them. Use the Tag in an action, gain the benefit, then erase it from your Inventory Card—it's gone.

Single-use items are cheap but ephemeral. They're for one-time advantages, emergency measures, or things that only exist for a specific moment.

Examples: A one-time event ticket, a specific piece of blackmail material, a single dose of medicine, a burner phone (used once then discarded), an emergency flare, a bribe envelope prepared for a specific person.

Cost: Cheapest tier. You can afford more of these, but they won't last.

The Same Item at Different Tiers

The same type of item might exist at different permanence tiers depending on quality and price:

  • Cheap earbuds: Single-use (they'll break soon)
  • Decent earbuds: Multi-use (good for a while)
  • Quality earbuds: Permanent (built to last)

When shopping, you decide which tier you're buying. Pay more for permanence, pay less for temporary advantage.

Acquiring Items

There are several ways to gain new Item Tags:

Purchasing Items

The most common method. Use the Shop Downtime Activity (costs 1 Cool or Trouble Point) to visit shops in a city quarter. Spend currency to buy items at the prices determined by the Facilitator.

Prices depend on the item's permanence tier and the currency denomination. See the Currency page for examples of what each denomination can buy.

Finding Items

During adventure, you might find useful items: a weapon dropped by an enemy, supplies in an abandoned building, a mysterious device in a hidden cache. When you narratively acquire an item, write it as an Item Tag on an appropriate Inventory Card.

The Facilitator determines the permanence tier of found items. Most found items are Single-use or Multi-use unless they're clearly meant to be permanent.

Receiving Items as Rewards

The Facilitator might award special items for completing missions or achieving story goals. These often have narrative significance beyond their mechanical benefit—they're not just "a quality knife," they're "the knife your mentor used before they disappeared."

Reward items are typically Permanent unless their temporary nature is part of the story.

Crafting or Modifying Items

If your character has relevant Tags—skills in engineering, hacking, crafting—you might be able to create or modify items. This requires:

  • Appropriate Tags to justify the knowledge and ability
  • Time to work (usually during Downtime)
  • Materials or components (which cost currency or require acquisition)
  • Facilitator approval

The result is a custom Item Tag that reflects your creation.

Using Item Tags

Item Tags work exactly like other Tags:

  1. When you take an action, check which Item Tags are relevant
  2. Count those Tags toward your dice pool (along with Tags from your character cards)
  3. Roll and resolve the action
  4. If the item is Single-use, erase it immediately after use
  5. If the item is Multi-use, mark a check next to it. When it reaches its use limit, erase it
  6. If the item is Permanent, nothing happens—it's still there for next time
Example: Using Items

You're trying to pick a lock. Your character cards have "Learned to pick locks from my older sister" as a Tag. Your "Pockets and Bag" Inventory Card has "Quality lock picks from my older sister" as a Permanent item and "Emergency lock-picking kit" as a Multi-use item (3 uses left).

You count all three Tags: the skill Tag from your character card, and both item Tags from your Inventory. That's 3 dice. You roll and succeed. Because both items are being used, you mark one use off the Multi-use item (now 2 uses left) but the Permanent item stays untouched.

Losing Items

Items can be lost in several ways:

  • Used up: Single-use and Multi-use items eventually run out
  • Stolen: Enemies might take items during conflicts
  • Destroyed: Narrative events might destroy items (explosions, water damage, etc.)
  • Confiscated: Authorities, security, or other forces might take items
  • Sold or traded: You might choose to give up an item for currency or other benefits

When an item is lost, erase the Item Tag from your Inventory Card. That slot is now empty and available for a new item.

Managing Your Inventory

With only 12 slots per Inventory Card (24 total by default), you'll need to make choices about what you carry. Some tips:

  • Prioritize versatility: Items that apply to many situations are more valuable than hyper-specialized ones
  • Balance permanence: Don't fill all your slots with Single-use items—you'll run out fast. But don't avoid them either—they're cheap and effective
  • Consider narrative access: Keep your most commonly-needed items on Inventory Cards you can always access (like your bag). Save location-specific inventory for less urgent stuff
  • Don't hoard: If you're not using an item after several sessions, consider selling it to free up the slot

Example Items by Category

Here are examples organized by function to inspire your shopping:

Everyday Carry

  • Permanent: Pocket knife, sturdy water bottle, quality pen, reliable flashlight
  • Multi-use: Pack of tissues, emergency cash stash, portable phone charger
  • Single-use: Spare batteries, single meal ration, emergency taxi money

Tech & Electronics

  • Permanent: Smartphone, laptop, quality headphones, encrypted USB drive
  • Multi-use: Portable battery pack, backup SIM card, cheap Bluetooth speaker
  • Single-use: Burner phone, one-time access code, emergency data wipe tool

Combat & Defense

  • Permanent: Reinforced gloves, protective jacket, sturdy boots
  • Multi-use: Smoke grenades, flashbang devices, armor patches
  • Single-use: Emergency escape smoke, single-use EMP, decoy device

Infiltration & Stealth

  • Permanent: Lock picks, compact binoculars, dark clothing
  • Multi-use: Disguise kit, fake IDs, voice modulator
  • Single-use: Specific false credentials, one-time access badge, pre-recorded alibi

Medical & First Aid

  • Permanent: Professional first aid kit (well-stocked), medical tools
  • Multi-use: Bandages and basic supplies, pain medication, antiseptic
  • Single-use: Emergency adrenaline shot, single dose of antibiotics, trauma patch

Netghost-Specific

  • Permanent: Netghost interface device, specialized Shell maintenance kit, encrypted data storage
  • Multi-use: Temporary power boosters, Shell repair supplies, energy supplements
  • Single-use: Emergency stabilization patch, one-time evolution catalyst, data overload device

Items and Character Building

Your Inventory Cards should complement your character's skills and playstyle, not replace them:

  • A character with no lock-picking skill but great tools is still just rolling one die (the tool Tag). Better to have both the skill and the tools.
  • A character with combat Tags and no weapons can still fight effectively using their skills. Weapons add dice, but aren't required.
  • A character focused on tech should invest in quality tech items. Items that match your character concept are more likely to be relevant.

Think of items as enhancers rather than replacements. They make you better at what you already do.

Items Are Yours

Items in Netghosts aren't just mechanical benefits—they're possessions with history. That knife isn't just "+1 die to combat rolls," it's the knife your brother carried before he disappeared, and every time you pull it out, you remember why you're fighting.

Write Item Tags that mean something. Choose items your character would actually carry. Make your inventory reflect who they are, not just what's mechanically optimal.

Your stuff matters. Not because it's powerful—because it's yours.