From: Roderick Robertson (ROBERTSON@sc.intel.com)
Date: Mon 21 Jan 1991 - 09:56:33 EET
A few notes about Andrew's riding article:
> From: bell@cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell)
> Subject: Riding unfamiliar animals
>In RuneQuest, riding is treated as a separate skill for each type of
>animal. However, there is certainly similarity between riding a horse
>and riding a zebra, or sable, or even a rhinoceros, bolo lizard, or
>griffin. In "Elder Secrets", Chaosium gives their first hint of what
>this similarity should be when it says that hippogriff riding skill is
>half of one's ride horse skill. The following uses that as a guideline
>in establishing similarity factors for various riding skills.
If I ran the Zoo (Well, I do in My games... :-)):
Figure that 1/2 of the Ride skill is balance, keeping your seat, etc. The other is how horses (or camels, or whatever) behave, and appropriate things to do to get the beast moving/turning/stopping/etc. This part includes use of goads, spurs, sugar cubes, etc. This is the part that you lose when you go to another species. On top of this, Andrew's Movement type modifiers would apply (after halving the skill), to show the difference in balance needed when changing animals drastically. (I would add Quadruped-Biped to the list).
The character would get their Ride/2 + the Movement Type modifiers below for the first time they get on the other species, and until they develop the Ride (other) skill (When they gain at least 1 point from experience or training.) Ride (other) starts as Ride/2. Note that if the entire culture rides some weird species (Say, Camel), then that would be their 'normal' animal instead of Horse.
>Temperament: A temperamental mount is more likely to throw its rider,
>although it can be trained to be a better combatant. Note that there
>really is a continuum between passive and combative, but I break it
>down like this for simplicity.
The temperament of an animal should modify riding a different animal of the same species (Mare/Gelding vs. Stallion). A different species will have different methods of showing their displeasure with their rider, For instance, a Horse may buck, a Camel Spit or bite, & an Elephant try to trample or reach back with it's trunk (& don't p**s off the griffon...). I would determine the temperament of the animal when offering it to the PC's. You could give it a TEMP stat, from -4 to +4, (or -20:+20) to characterize how docile the animal is. The TEMP is added to the RIDE (animal) Skill to simulate the normal riding problems. Dealing with the temperament of a different species should require multiplying the penalty by two, or halving the bonus.
Also note that a aggressive animal will more often be willful, while a docile animal might be hard to keep moving. There is a good article on horses and their advantages/disadvantages in the August 1990 ROLEPLAYER magazine (Steve Jackson Games, written to the GURPS system, but easily modified).
>Body Shape:
> ...
>Normal vs. Wide: The normal/wide breakdown is whether a normal saddle
>can be placed on the animal. It's easier to hold on when your legs can
>clamp around the sides of the creature. Note that giants might find
>elephants to be "normal", while pixies might find ponies to be "wide."
>Difficulty modifier for "wide" creature: -10
Note that some "wide" animals are not ridden by the traditional method, but would have a Howdah on the back (look at the asian use of elephants, but animals of a similar configuration (Triceratops ?) would probably work as well). The Ride skill would then be a Drive skill (to make the beast go where you want), and a modifier to combat due to movement for those in the howdah. (a couple of movies to see: "Octopussy" & "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (Errol Flynn, no basis in historical reality, but fun) for looks at shooting from a moving elephant) Also, if the beast is wide enough, you would ride it by sitting or kneeling on its back, rather than trying to ride astride.
>Movement Type: The technique by which the creature moves.
> "walking" (horse, elephant, rhino)
> slithering (snake)
> swimming (dolphin)
> flying (griffin)
> special (earth elemental, kangaroo, tree sloth)*
> Skill in
>R Wa Sl Sw Fl
>i Wa 0 -10 -20 -30
>d Sl 0 -20 -30
>i Sw 0
>n Fl 0
>g
>* Handle special creatures and skills on a case by case basis.
(What happened to Swim-Fly?)
Add Quadriped/Biped (-10) to this list. This only applies to walking animals,
though similiar penalties might apply within the other categories (Griffon
vs. Draconid vs. Giant Eagle, Porpoise vs. Eel vs. Ray, Python vs.
Sidewinder) Let's also not forget the Insect kingdom (I only have RQ II
Trollpak, figuring that the new Troll realms/Gods/etc were the same,
rehashed. Any comments on them?) how about the difference between Spider
(nice & gentle, but watch out for climbing walls & ceilings) and Preying
Mantis (The flight is a rush, but the landing is hell) and Bee/wasp (Fast
fast fast -- see "Honey I shrunk the kids")?
> ...
Of course, how detailed you want to be depends on how the players view animals. In my current campaigns (English Civil war), horse are like taxis, just a part of the transportation system. If they want to have a favorite horse (Trigger?), then I'll hit them with HERO SYSTEM/GURPS style horses, with their own *unique* personalities.
(I tend to scrounge ideas/rules/etc. from other games. I like the idea of advantages and disadvantages (and a bit more 'experienced' PC's) from HERO/GURPS style systems)
Roderick Robertson
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