1.13.1 Encumbrance

All equipment worn or carried by a character counts towards encumbering him/her. Depending on the total amount of encumbrance, the character will gain a bonus or suffer a penalty on all dice rolls based on his/her CO (representing extent to which speed and balance are affected by encumbrance).

To calculate how heavily encumbered a character is:

First, work out the character's encumbrance limit; this is equal to 12 plus the result of a dice roll based on his ST+Athletics (Lifting/Carrying capacity). This should be rolled once a day; for convenience.
Next, work out the character's current weight carried. This is basically the total of the weight of all the items he/she is wearing or carrying. However, items that are worn on the body (e.g. clothing, armour) and items that are carried on the character's back encumber a character less, so count as half their weight for the purposes of calculating the current weight carried. The current weight carried will vary during the course of an adventure, so the player (and referee) may need to monitor this.
Finally, compare the character's current weight carried with his/her encumbrance limit on the following table to determine the bonus or penalty on his/her dice rolls based on CO.

Character's current weight carried	Bonus/Penalty on CO dice rolls	Difficulty of dice rolls to avoid tiredness
Character's current weight carried	Bonus/Penalty on CO dice rolls	Light exercise	Medium exercise	Strenuous exercise
Up to encumbrance limit x 0.25 kg	+2	1	4	7
Up to encumbrance limit x 0.5 kg	+1 1/2	1	4	8
Up to encumbrance limit x 0.75 kg	+1	1	5	9
Up to encumbrance limit x 1 kg	+1/2	2	6	10
Up to encumbrance limit x 1.25 kg	+0	2	6	11
Up to encumbrance limit x 1.5 kg	-1/2	2	7	12
Up to encumbrance limit x 1.75 kg	-1	3	8	13
Up to encumbrance limit x 2.0 kg	-1 1/2	3	8	14
Up to encumbrance limit x 2.25 kg	-2	3	9	15
Up to encumbrance limit x 2.5 kg	-2 1/2	4	10	16
Up to encumbrance limit x 2.75 kg	-3	4	10	17
Up to encumbrance limit x 3 kg	-3 1/2	4	11	18
Up to encumbrance limit x 3.25 kg	-4	5	12	19
Up to encumbrance limit x 3.5 kg	-4 1/2	5	12	20
Up to encumbrance limit x 3.75 kg	-5	5	13	21
Up to encumbrance limit x 4 kg	-5 1/2	6	14	22

The last three columns of this table are explained under tiredness (see 1.13.2).

A character can lift up to his/her encumbrance limit x 8 kg, but can only stagger around when doing so, and is likely to fall over or drop the weight at the slightest provocation.

Rules for encumbrance are modified if the character is swimming.

Effective use of the Martial Arts skill is heavily affected by the ability of the character to move unimpeded. Accordingly, for all dice rolls involving Martial Arts skill and the CO characteristic, the modifier to CO for encumbrance (see above) is doubled.