Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[WahookaTG]

Hi everybody, recently I've been pondering about the subject of horses. How they would/should react to all the scary stuff in the Weird West, to be precise. I'm stuck between two thoughts. So I thought I'd post the subject here.

When calling for fear checks, I've never really bothered with the posse's steeds. Basically they go where their riders go. Occasionaly a horse gets shot or eaten, but otherwise they have no real role.

But then I started thinking: horses get scared too, right?. What if a horse panics while the hero is still on it? That could be a lot of fun
I think most of you can imagine what happens when a horse panics from, say, a wall crawler. It will probably rear and bolt. And unless the hero is a skilled rider, he will be thrown off, trampled and/or taken for a wild ride.
But aside from being another way to hurt players, I believe it might actually add something to the game. It forces players to think about when it is safe to take their horses and when to dismount and walk. Buying a "brave" horse would actually be usefull. Being a skilled rider becomes more rewarding. It somewhat balances the malfunctions that stream wagons (the alternative ride) tend to have. And, obviously, it's more realistic.

There is one major downside to this whole train of thought, which has kept me from acting on it: more dice rolls. Since we play Classic, there is a lot of dice-work going on already. I'd hate to get stuck in details and draw away too much attention from the action. The 'just ignore them' approach is working just fine, but I am still somewhat intrigued with the other option.

Any thoughts on the subject would be welcome.

[catalac]

well i think the answer would be yes. i don't know about classic but when they came up with the pregen characters for reloaded the one that had a el cheapo horse had the horse have yellow. this would have no in game effect if horses didn't make fear checks.

[Jordan Peacock]

I've occasionally called for Riding checks for riders to keep their horses calm when something scary happens (explosions, huge monsters appear, etc.) with the same penalty as any Guts checks the others make. If there's someone standing NEXT TO his horse, he can still make the Riding check to calm the beast. Multiple handlers trying to calm a horse (or other mount, as per the setting) can attempt a cooperative roll.

I apologize if this is more complicated than it needs to be, but at the time it seemed natural enough. Also, I'm approaching this from the Savage Worlds / Reloaded angle.

* Raise: Horse is calmed for the time being, and this does not take up an action.

* Success: Horse is calmed for the time being, but it takes an action for the character to calm his beast.

* Failure (skilled check): Both horse and rider are Shaken, but rider's presence keeps horse from bolting. (This is non-damaging; if the rider was already Shaken due to failed Guts check, this doesn't become a Wound.)

* Failure (unskilled check): Horse bolts and runs. If rider is atop the horse, he must make an Agility test at -2 or get tossed from the horse (1d6 damage, exploding); otherwise, he's on a runaway horse, and only a skilled animal handler has any hope of calming it anytime soon.

* Critical Failure: Horse bolts and runs, as with an unskilled check failure, and even a skilled rider isn't going to be able to bring the horse back under control until the encounter is over with (at the very soonest).

There might be situational modifiers (Beast Friend Edge, etc.) but that'd fall under GM call.
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[GranFalloon]

Horses are pretty skittish. They can be trained not to be, of course, but they are prey animals, and thus can be jumpy. Hell, take a horse trip into the mountains sometime, chances are they'll smell something out in the woods and start getting nervous.

So yeah, I would have horses get freaked out pretty easily, requiring Ride checks to keep them under control. The upside is that an attentive rider should get some warning when danger approaches. Can't see anything, but the horses are skittish? Might be time to make sure your rifle is loaded. Still can't see anything, but the horses' eyes are rolling about and they're whinnying like nobody's business? Yeah, maybe you should high-tail it outta there.

[UndeadParrot]

[Cutter XXIII]

I agree with the general sentiment: The horses should have to roll Guts too.

But if they're subject to Guts rolls, and all the terrible things that can happen after, the horses should also be counted as allied Extras with the same chance to gain Advances as any other. It's pretty cool when their horses survive many threats to become grizzled (brave) veterans.
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Matthew Cutter
Deadlands Big Bug (Brand Manager)
Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Inc.

[catalac]

[WahookaTG]

Thanks for the feedback y'all. You've convinced me to give it a try in my next game

[Landale]

Another possibility, just my own two cents.

Since you're playing Classic, Animal Wranglin' could be useful here. Obviously, you have the horses make guts checks, but maybe the players can roll Animal Wranglin beforehand to give them a bonus to their horse's guts checks, or even replace the guts checks entirely.

The benefit to using Animal Wranglin would be that players can put points into it (as opposed to having a static horse guts check that can never be increased). It also provides a very concrete need for the skill in a mounted party. The brave horses would still be useful for players with a terrible Mien.

I dunno, just a thought. =)