Tracking Might Cost for Wearing Armor

Question

In Numenera, wearing armor with which you aren't trained causes you to spend Might points (pg.81 Core Rulebook) each hour. While all glaives start with abilities that mitigate part of this cost, nanos and some jacks may not.

At my table tracking this Might cost is causing problems. From the storyteller's side, most of the time I completely forget it. However, I suspect it's actually an important concept from the storytelling perspective - it causes players to think about when they are wearing armor.

When I do remember, tracking time seems like a book-keeping chore. I have to consider how long the players have been in a dungeon, how long they track beasts across a wild expanse, etc.

How can I better track Might loss due to wearing armor?

Answer 1

Track it per encounter

This is a house rule, but I suggest you track the cost in advance during encounters. So, if it costs 1 point of Might every hour, you don't reduce the Might pool after an hour, but before any encounter happens.

So, they walk into encounters with a reduced pool, instead of tracking time. Most encounters shouldn't take more than an hour, and characters are allowed to rest during the day to recover lost Might normally. As such, you simply tell them to take another point of Might due to their armor at the beginning of every new encounter. If you don't know how long it has passed between an encounter and another, you could simply roll 1d6 and ask them to reduce that many points of Might.

I admit that this is not the best mechanic for this, but the official ruling kind of sucks in this regard. It should just reduce the Might and Speed pool really, so armor would be wear and forget about it until the next time you take damage.