Horses Aren't Medieval Motorcycles - Page 4

Turhan's Bey Company · 10-28-2012, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCurwen3

Could work as a supplement in the Low Tech series?

The consensus of the authors of the Low-Tech books has been no. Despite a glancing mention of domesticated animals in LTC3, they're really not part of a series which focuses on low-tech gear. First and foremost, horses and other domesticated animals were (and in places still are) important in adventuring applications well beyond TL4. Cowboys, the Pony Express, and the 7th Cavalry, after all, are all solidly TL5. Moreover, animals don't really count as gear. GURPS has, or at least wants to have, distinct series for gear (*-Tech) and animals (Bestiary), even though there hasn't been a 4e Bestiary volume yet.

But, of course, the series to which such a book attaches is but an administrative detail. The important bit is for someone with the expertise and writing chops to actually commit it to paper. Or magnetic media. Whatever.

SonofJohn · 10-29-2012, 08:08 AM

A 4th Edition Bestiary would be cool too.... if not to say in serve need...

a supplement on animal allies would be also nice dealing with horses, dogs, hawks, tamed monkey and these.

A good exampe is getting ausaulted by a lion as stats are given in the basic books. The lion will stand before you and try to hit you with his claws, contrary to the expected behavior of jumping at you bringing you down and carve you open with his claws.

RyanW · 10-29-2012, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SonofJohn

A 4th Edition Bestiary would be cool too.... if not to say in serve need...

I seem to recall discussion of making 4e Bestiary a series instead of a single book. GURPS Bestiary: Noble Steeds, GURPS Bestiary: Maneaters, etc. I don't recall though if that was any kind of official thought (I'm sure it wasn't an announcement) or if it was just a fan-to-fan discussion.

Anders · 10-29-2012, 10:43 AM

I won't be happy until I get GURPS: Manatees. I wonder what powers a manatee familiar would grant?

William · 10-29-2012, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

I won't be happy until I get GURPS: Manatees. I wonder what powers a manatee familiar would grant?

Shapeshift (Mermaid), Siren Song... pretty expensive familiar only for the elite mage, really.

Cheomesh · 10-30-2012, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanHoward

http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html/?id=4776

Thank you very much for this, Dan!

I have a would-be knight(ess) in my group and I've been trying to figure out just how to handle her horses.

I'm that jerk-level GM who will let you have nice things only if you take care of them.

I worked on a horse farm about 10 years ago and that article just goes to remind me how fragile a horse can be. It really is a completely different case (dare I say...animal?!) than a bike - petrol powered or otherwise.

I recall having read a fair number of Standard Medieval European Fantasy novels, plus some REH stuff. Oddly enough, only the grim-and-gritty tales of High Adventure by Robert E. Howard mentioned killing horses by overriding them.

M.

Polydamas · 10-30-2012, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheomesh

I recall having read a fair number of Standard Medieval European Fantasy novels, plus some REH stuff. Oddly enough, only the grim-and-gritty tales of High Adventure by Robert E. Howard mentioned killing horses by overriding them.

M.

Howard was a small-town Texan in the 1920s, so he knew horses. I don't recall any of his heroes spending much time tending their horses or kit though ... and he seems to have honestly believed that barbarians just knew how to fight and didn't need to practice or exercise.

Blood Legend · 11-01-2012, 06:08 AM

Since it was mentioned, in the hopes that anyone working on such a bestiary sees this thread; I've always disliked alphabetical bestiaries. Finding a Lion next to a Lich bothers me to no end. When I look through a bestiary, it's usually not with the intent of looking for something I already know I want to throw at the players, it's with the intent of looking for something I might want to throw at them, otherwise I would have made the monster myself; "Ooh...maybe I could use a lich!" instead of "Now where are those Lich stats?"

I'd prefer if it was sorted by class (the number of people online who fail to do this amazes me), and that the individual entries would be sorted by power level. For instance, Doomchildren would feature first in the Demons section, but the Prince of Darkness would be last. (You can always arrange them alphabetically in the index)

Animals (With Dire and Giant lenses and categories like Birds, Insects and Sea Creatures.)
Celestials (Strangely missing from Class types in DF2.)
Constructs
Demons
Elder Things
Elementals
Fae (I find it interesting that Dragons are in this category..)
Hybrids
Mundane (With humanoids cordoned off so I can find bandits instead of squidopi.)
Plants
Slimes
Spirits
Undead

My greatest need of a bestiary is just an extensive list of mundane animals. I do a lot of games without fantastic or magical beasts and it'd be nice to know where on the power scale players are in comparison to an actual wolf pack, or a couple of gorillas.

RyanW · 11-01-2012, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blood Legend

I'd prefer if it was sorted by class (the number of people online who fail to do this amazes me), and that the individual entries would be sorted by power level. For instance, Doomchildren would feature first in the Demons section, but the Prince of Darkness would be last. (You can always arrange them alphabetically in the index)

I'd prefer that to be handled by the index. Have them arranged like 3e Bestiary: alphabetically under a few, broad categories (Natural creatures, prehistoric creatures, fantasy creatures, etc.). Then make an index table arranged the way you suggest.

When I'm looking specifically for a maneating mold, I don't like trying to guess whether the author considers that a plant or a slime. Really, it comes down to whether you want to cater to directed or undirected searches, and I always find undirected searches easier in a compact table. And with a table, you can get away with listing that maneating mold as a plant and a slime.

Bruno · 11-01-2012, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RyanW

And with a table, you can get away with listing that maneating mold as a plant and a slime.

Undead berserk slime from HELL!

That's the killer for me - it's like the fundementals proper database design. The key value is the unique value, the thing that is unique to that record/monster/whatever. You always sort on the key.

If you need other organizations that require the key value to appear in multiple places, that's a secondary listing (a query, a table that refers back to your key value and all its data, etc).

Nothing honks me off more in a list of spells, monsters, advantages, etc than hitting a "ABC: See ABC on pXX" entry.

"ABC: See XYZ on pXX" is different, as ABC is an alias of XYZ.

10-29-2012, 08:08 AM	#32
SonofJohn Join Date: Dec 2009	Re: Horses Aren't Medieval Motorcycles A 4th Edition Bestiary would be cool too.... if not to say in serve need... a supplement on animal allies would be also nice dealing with horses, dogs, hawks, tamed monkey and these. A good exampe is getting ausaulted by a lion as stats are given in the basic books. The lion will stand before you and try to hit you with his claws, contrary to the expected behavior of jumping at you bringing you down and carve you open with his claws.

10-29-2012, 10:43 AM	#34
Anders Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Gothenburg, Sweden	Re: Horses Aren't Medieval Motorcycles I won't be happy until I get GURPS: Manatees. I wonder what powers a manatee familiar would grant? __________________ “When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” Marcus Aurelius

11-01-2012, 06:08 AM	#38
Blood Legend Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: The Fine Line Between Black and White	Re: Horses Aren't Medieval Motorcycles Since it was mentioned, in the hopes that anyone working on such a bestiary sees this thread; I've always disliked alphabetical bestiaries. Finding a Lion next to a Lich bothers me to no end. When I look through a bestiary, it's usually not with the intent of looking for something I already know I want to throw at the players, it's with the intent of looking for something I might want to throw at them, otherwise I would have made the monster myself; "Ooh...maybe I could use a lich!" instead of "Now where are those Lich stats?" I'd prefer if it was sorted by class (the number of people online who fail to do this amazes me), and that the individual entries would be sorted by power level. For instance, Doomchildren would feature first in the Demons section, but the Prince of Darkness would be last. (You can always arrange them alphabetically in the index) Animals (With Dire and Giant lenses and categories like Birds, Insects and Sea Creatures.) Celestials (Strangely missing from Class types in DF2.) Constructs Demons Elder Things Elementals Fae (I find it interesting that Dragons are in this category..) Hybrids Mundane (With humanoids cordoned off so I can find bandits instead of squidopi.) Plants Slimes Spirits Undead My greatest need of a bestiary is just an extensive list of mundane animals. I do a lot of games without fantastic or magical beasts and it'd be nice to know where on the power scale players are in comparison to an actual wolf pack, or a couple of gorillas. __________________ . ( )( ) -This is The Overlord Bunny o(O.o)o -Master of Bunnies O('')('') -And Destroyer of the Hasenpfeffer "This is the sort of relatively small error that destroys planetary probes." ~Bruno Last edited by Blood Legend; 11-01-2012 at 06:59 AM.