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Video Game Items and Inventory
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Tropes about things that a player can own, hold and use. If it goes in your bag or your pocket (or wherever the heck you put it), it goes here.
Tropes:
- 1-Up
An item or event which increases the number of Video Game Lives the player will have to continue following death.
- A.K.A.-47
Guns resemble real-life guns, but are given different names to avoid legal issues.
- Always Check Behind the Chair
...because there might be an item there.
- Antidote Effect
Inventory items designed to be Not Completely Useless but have such specific uses that they become a waste of space.
- All Swords Are The Same
All of your weapons/items of a specific type will look and play identically.
- Armor of Invincibility
That nigh-imprenetrable shield or suit of armor that makes even the final boss struggle to hurt you.
- Attack Drone
A small, mobile, unmanned weapon system sent out to do the fighting in place of its commander.
- Surveillance Drone
A small, mobile, unmanned, usually unarmed robot that simply watches you.
- Attackable Pickup
An item which can be attacked before picking up to modify its function in some way.
- Awesome, but Impractical
An item or spell that is good in theory, but in practice the drawbacks outweigh the benefits.
- Bag of Holding
In Role Playing Games, an object which contains many other objects in hammerspace.
- Bag of Sharing
In Role Playing Games, there are many characters but they share one inventory.
- Bag of Spilling
Items, skills and experience do not carry over to the sequel.
- BFG
A ridiculously big, flashy, overpowered gun.
- BFS
A ridiculously huge sword.
- Breakable Weapons
Weapons that break after using them too much, becoming totally useless if there's no way to repair them.
- Bribing Your Way to Victory
The game developers will sell you items or skills (for real money) to help you achieve your goals.
- Chaos Emeralds
Optional MacGuffins tucked away in Bonus Stages. Gotta Catch Them All!
- Combinatorial Explosion
The challenge in developing games that allow you to use any item in your inventory on any other item, environmental object, character, or monster.
- Commonplace Rare
A mundane, everyday item (e.g., a rope or a bottle) that is difficult to obtain for your inventory for some reason.
- Cosmic Keystone
That doohickey that the entire world is dependent on for its continued peaceful existence.
- Day Old Legend
Item Crafting + Flavor Text = Blatant Lies
- Destroyable Items
Pickups are volatile and can be accidentally destroyed by collateral damage.
- Disc One Nuke
An exploit where a powerful item or technique is achieved early on in the game.
- Elaborate Equals Effective
Better-looking items, swords, guns and armors will be more powerful.
- Elemental Crafting
The most important aspect of a piece of armor? What material it's made from!
- Eleventh Hour Superpower
A powerful, unique weapon or ability suddenly obtained near the end of the game to help the hero get through the final challenges.
- Emergency Energy Tank
A valuable inventory item which replenishes hit points.
- Emergency Weapon
When you're out of ammo, all you've got left is a weak weapon with crummy range and infinite uses.
- Encounter Bait
Random Encounters aren't so random anymore when you use this.
- Encounter Repellant
For avoiding those random encounters.
- The Enemy Weapons Are Better
You're willing to trade your issued weapons for the enemy's the first chance you get.
- Enough to Go Around
Many players need a unique item to continue their quest, so infinitely clone the item so that everyone can win.
- Equipment Spoiler
Finding an unusable piece of equipment means that someone able to use it will join the party at some point.
- Escape Battle Technique
The emergency "Get Me The Hell Out Of This Battle Free" card.
- Escape Rope
The emergency "Get Me The Hell Out Of This Dungeon Free" card.
- Evolving Weapon
A weapon that gets stronger as you gain levels or kill things with it.
- Exclusive Enemy Equipment
A weapon that can only be found by searching the bodies of enemies.
- Experience Booster
An item that increases the amount of Experience Points gained.
- Exploding Barrels
Because barrels full of gunpowder or combustible toxic acid are an essential element in any interior or exterior furnishing, and make a great place for enemy guards to take their ten-minute breaks.
- Give Me Your Inventory Item
An NPC demands that you hand over a useful item from your inventory.
- Hammer Space
The ability to whip out a particular item out of seemingly nowhere, regardless of its size.
- Hyperspace Arsenal
There are virtually no limits to how many weapons, pieces of armor or other items you can have in your inventory — you can produce any one of them on demand.
- Healing Potion
Liquid substance usually used as an Emergency Energy Tank.
- Healing Shiv
Weapons which heal you instead of killing you.
- Heart Container
A way to increase your Life Meter in Action Games or Action Adventure games.
- Hearts Are Health
Healing items often are in the shape of hearts.
- Holy Hand Grenade
A weapon that uses The Power of Good ... to inflict bodily harm.
- Homing Projectile
A ranged attack or projectile that seeks out targets so you don't have to.
- Improbable Accessory Effect
Equippable items which have effects you really wouldn't expect.
- Improbable Weapon User
Anything can be used as a weapon, regardless of what it is supposed to be.
- Infinity+1 Sword
The ultimate sword. Period.
- Infinity–1 Sword
The second-best thing, for those times where getting the Infinity Plus One Sword is just too plain hard.
- Penultimate Weapon
What everybody else thinks is the Infinity Plus One Sword — but isn't.
- Interchangeable Antimatter Keys
Any key fits in any door, but as soon as you use the key, it (and sometimes the lock or door) will disappear.
- Inventory Management Puzzle
Games that limit how much inventory you can carry and force you to manage resources.
- Grid Inventory
You have a limited grid or space to fit items of various shapes and sizes.
- Invincibility Power-Up
A Power-Up that makes the player invincible for a short period of time.
- It May Help You on Your Quest
It's dangerous to go alone... Here, Take this random item! You'll be glad you did.
- Item Crafting
Creating your own items and equipment out of handy-dandy ingredients.
- Item Get
Whenever even minor items are obtained, a big fanfare and flashy sequence plays.
- Joke Item
A weapon or object that is so ridiculously useless that you can't help smiling.
- Lethal Joke Item
An item that seems ridiculous at first, but has a hidden property that overshadows your other, more mundane items when used.
- Kleptomaniac Hero
Nobody complains or even seems to notice when you walk into their house, rummage through their cupboards, smash their clay pots, and otherwise take whatever isn't nailed down.
- Level Locked Loot
When you must be mighty enough to equip a particular item.
- Live Item
A collectible item which is, well, alive and walking around.
- Loot Drama
An item so rare and powerful in MMORPGs that drama ensues over its possession.
- Lost Forever
If you don't pick this item up at your first opportunity, you won't get another. Hope the item wasn't important.
- Magic Tool
A universal hand tool whose user can magically fix any machine or structure simply by waving it at the target from close range.
- Money for Nothing
Games in which amassing money isn't very useful at some point.
- Money Multiplier
Increase the amount of or chances of loot you gain.
- Money Sink
Virtual taxes to reduce the ever-increasing supply of money in a MMORPG
- Nerf Arm
Any logically less-than-lethal weapon which ends up being otherwise just as effective as its "real" equivalent.
- Ninja Looting
The act of dishonorably acquiring items at the scene of a kill in an MMORPG.
- Nitro Boost
A Power-Up that makes you go really fast for a short period of time.
- Non-Combatant Immunity
Nothing will try, or be able, to kill you before you're armed and suited up.
- Not Completely Useless
An item which is useless for 99% of the game but turns out to be one of the best ways to survive a certain sequence.
- Orbiting Particle Shield
- Organ Drops
Where enemies drop items that are actually its body parts.
- Pickup Hierarchy
Collectibles in Platform Games have different weights and reward potentials.
- Plot Coupon
Collect enough MacGuffins and redeem them for one free climax!
- Poison Mushroom
An item that behaves like a Power-Up but has negative effects when used.
- Power-Up
Something which is found in the game environment that bestows an immediate benefit.
- Meta Power-Up
A powerup that has an effect on other skills (making them more effective or lasting longer).
- Power-Up Food
A Power-Up presented as an edible item.
- Power-Up Letdown
A powerup or item that takes a lot of time to get and is extremely underwhelming and/or useless once you get it.
- Power-Up Magnet
Pulling in dropped items to the player.
- Quad Damage
A Power-Up that yields temporary boost in speed, power, or damage for a character.
- Quick Melee
A melee weapon that is activated by pressing a button, rather than switching to it. Usually seen in shooter games.
- Random Drop
Kill it, it might give you something useful.
- Rare Candy
Item that increases a character's level instantly.
- Real Money Trade
The purchase or sale of online game equipment, currency, or even powerleveling services for real money to a third party without the involvement of the game's publisher.
- Real Time Weapon Change
Changing weapons without needing to pause for the menu or use power ups.
- Reduced Mana Cost
Some item or equipment that reduces the magic points necessary to cast spells.
- Removable Turret Gun
Just because a BFG is fixed to the ground doesn't mean you can't take it with you.
- Ring Menu
Sometimes a circle is the shortest path between two weapons.
- Score Multiplier
Something that increases your score.
- Selective Historical Armoury
Weapon selections in games which forego historical accuracy in place of featuring cool or famous guns.
- Shiny Sense
Items which give off a pulsating light as their primary means of indicating their presence on screen.
- Short Range Shotgun
Video game shotguns pulverize targets at close range and tickle them from afar, a huge exaggeration of their real-life capabilities.
- Single Use Shield
- Skeleton Key
A key that will open any and all doors or locks in a level/game. One step up from Interchangeable Antimatter Keys.
- Skill Point Reset
A (consumable) item that resets a Player Character's skill and ability scores, allowing you to redistribute them.
- Smart Bomb
Kills all enemies on the screen for a brief breather.
- Sniper Pistol
Bullet-shooting weapons in video games have similar range.
- Socketed Equipment
A weapon that allows you to add abilities or statistics by use of slots or sockets to attach gems or similar.
- So Long, and Thanks for All the Gear
Annoying effect of having potentially great equipment stolen from you because the character wearing them is rendered inaccessible for some part of the game.
- Sorting Algorithm of Weapon Effectiveness
You will acquire consistently more useful items and equipment as your progress through the game.
- Sprint Shoes
An item, ability or spell that enables the player character to move faster.
- Standard FPS Guns
You got yer shotgun, yer sniper rifle, yer grenades and, when all else fails, yer CHAINSAW!
- Standard RPG Items
We got potions, ethers, remedies and revives, and dang it if they aren't all the same color!
- Star Shaped Coupon
A Plot Coupon shaped like a star — symmetrical, five-pointed and shiny.
- Starter Equipment
The equipment you begin the game with by default.
- Stat Sticks
Weapons equipped for their stat bonuses and not for their value as weapons.
- Stuck Items
These are slots in your inventory that must always be filled.
- Sword of Plot Advancement
A sword that is important to the story, though usually not the best of its kind.
- Teaser Equipment
Shopkeepers sell powerful and expensive equipment that you won't be able to afford until later in the game.
- Too Awesome to Use
It's so awesome, you don't want to use it because you're afraid of it not being there.
- Universal Ammunition
The same bullets can be loaded into multiple types of guns.
- Unusable Enemy Equipment
Enemies drop stuff that disappears instantly or is somehow incompatible with your hands.
- Upgrade Artifact
Items with Improbable Accessory Effects that unlock more of a character's potential.
- Use Item
You can use the command "use sword". Nobody bothers asking what, exactly, that means.
- Useless Item
The developers include a weapon for the hero to use, but don't provide any enemies that are vulnerable to it.
- Utility Weapon
A weapon which is also used to bypass obsticles.
- Vendor Trash
An item that's useless for anything but selling for cash.
- Video Game Tools
Items or equipment that are used to solve puzzles and pass by obstacles.
- With This Herring
You start on your quest with the lowest-ranked equipment available, and nobody will give you the good stuff for free.
- Warp Whistle
A quick shortcut to enable rapid travel in an open-world setting, but usually only to places you've already been before.
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