Horsin’ Around
Mostly adapted from Dice Goblin’s Giddy-Up for Horses.
Horse stats
Horses are strong, quick, easy to spook, and not good at defending themselves.
Unlike other NPCs, Horses have the following saves (because they’re our special giddyup pals):
- BODY: Haulin’, tramplin’, endurin’
- AGILITY: Runnin’, pivotin’, jumpin’
- CONTROL: Disobeyin’, gettin’ spooked, gettin’ ornery
They also have the following additional attributes:
- Threat. When converting from other systems, use their HP stat. This is used as a DV when saving against any horsin’ around and the DV when racing against another horse.
- Injuries. Same amount of injury slots as any PC.
- Burden (saddlebags, body). An average of 25. A rider takes up 12 slots, meaning on average, a horse can take 2 people, though with difficulty.
Horses can pull wagons and carts and help you carry more burden (but draft horses cannot be ridden while haulin’). Travel speed on riding horses is doubled on flat terrain and roads. Otherwise, they keep pace with humans through difficult terrain.
Horseplay
Unmounted horses must make CTRL saves when confronted with beasts or monsters and when they suffer an injury, or else they will flee.
Mounted horses use the rider’s CTRL save instead to make the save.
If a horse fails their save, they will throw the rider.
The horse will not flee far and can be recovered. A thrown rider suffers a moderate injury (thrown from a horse).
To avoid being trampled by a horse, make a BODY save against the horse’s Threat level. Suffer a moderate injury on a failure (trampled).
Horses must make AGI (Agility) saves when avoiding obstacles, jumping, or trying to outpace or keep up with someone or something (like another horse, a train, or predators). Set DVs appropriately (0 for easy, 4 for difficult, 8 for near impossible).
Horse Racing Procedure and Racing Hazard Die
When racing against other horses, all horses must make an AGI save. The position of each horse is ordered by
- All horses who made their saves, ordered from highest to lowest
- All horses who failed their saves, ordered from lowest to highest
Place each horse one after another. Determine how many checkpoints the race will last.
| d6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Challenge. The horse behind you challenges your horse. Your horse must make an AGI save vs their Threat or be passed. |
| 2 | Fatigue. Your horse gets tired. You may choose to (1) slow down for a turn and fall behind 1 horse, or (2) make a BODY save vs the Threat of the horse behind you; on a fail, your horse suffers a lesser injury (fatigue) |
| 3 | Expiration. A checkpoint is reached. After a set amount of checkpoints, the race is over |
| 4 | Locality. Terrain change or encounter, determined by racetrack table. Your horse must make a save (depending on the encounter type) vs the Threat of the horse in front of them in order to pass them |
| 5 | Opportunity. The horse ahead falls behind. Your horse must make an AGI save vs their Threat to pass them |
| 6 | Advantage. You find a shortcut or other advantage. You may choose to make a CTRL save vs a DV equal to the Threat of the horse you want to pass + the number of places ahead of you they are |
Example Racetrack Terrain Changes and Encounters
| d4 | Obstacle Type | Save | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Terrain | BODY or AGI | Bog, stream, puddle, deep sand/snow, hill |
| 2 | Animal | CTRL | Predator (bears, panthers, wolves), herd (bison, sheep, antelope) |
| 3 | Barrier | AGI | Pit, low-hanging branches, passing train, narrow bridge, narrow pass, fence, fallen tree, barricade |
| 4 | Weather | BODY | Dust cloud, sun beats down, rain/hail/snow intensifies |