So, has anybody thought of a horse generator yet? Something that would include a "traits" table. I hate to use generic horse stats and I am not familiar enough with horses to come up with traits.

A short-&-sweet guide to horse behavior will be nice too. Are they panicky kind of animals? Independent like cats or team-players like dogs? Or totally unlike these two animals whose general character I know well? What types of commands/tricks they can be taught?

I think there was something that dealt with Horse traits in 1e DnD or HAckmaster....I dont recall.

As far as a generator, Im not sure that I need any more detail than average stats in my game.

Why would you really need one? A horse is a horse of course of course.

And if the horse is Mr Ed then just say so. I cannot fathom this need for charts and tables for bit of roleplaying minutiae.

I picked up a little spreadsheet program soembody out out a while back that is an ostler program. You plunk in some variable, and it puts out some nicely varied horse stats. I use the combined stats for horse and rider variant rules, so in that case, "a horse is a horse" does not apply. Some horse really are better horseflesh than others. Made the player with animalcraft - horses fully appreciate their skill while others did not have such a discerning eye.

The 1e DnD Wilderness Survival Guide had Flee/Panic/Attack percentages for horses and other pack animals that I still use.

Traveller uses a similar mechanic.

In my notes on the Jedes Fair, I worked up simple rules for generating horses.

download/file.php?id=605

Skip to page 8.

The scheme is based on the Ostler's skill level, and generates both the horse and it's "fair value". The example is given of a 5* ostler generating a superior destrier worth about 1800d. You could make a spreadsheet to do this automatically very easily.

It's not a "Horse Generator" but it is one thing I toyed with some years ago:

A different and perhaps better linktext instead of the normal linktext

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"Corpora lente augescent cito extinguuntur" - Tacitus
Fenhorn's Hârnpage

Very useful, thank you.

A horse is definitely not just a horse. If you read anything written by people prior to the age of the car, you will see how much attention they pay to horses. Say, "Three Musketeers".

I don't want too much detail but I want characters to know that horses are not just vehicles and/or fighting platforms. Specifically, I want horses to have a simple personality described in a few words, similar to how you would describe a dog. This will make horses this much valuable and desirable to characters, plus will have an impact to some in-game situations.

I believe that HarnManor includes a table for randomly generating basic personality descriptions for villagers. It probably wouldn't take much effort to modify that to horses.

Here are a couple of decent articles on equine personality types:
Types: Quiet, Interested, Nervous, Extremely Nervous, Treacherous, Stubborn
http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-train ... y-800.aspx
Types: Introverted, Extroverted, Right-brained, Left-brained (and combinations of these)
http://www.parellinaturalhorsetraining. ... ty-horses/

It would be fairly easy to use these in the charts Krazma mentions from HârnManor.

Very very informative, thanks! Personality descriptions in the first link seem custom-fit for Harn. Place them in a table, add d100 distribution, assign cusp range where personality types mix and it's good to go.

I have thought about a horse generator, but also making the horse size, carrying capacity, will, etc. similar to that of true terrn breeds the horses are modeled after. Here are some rough ideas for types -

1) The Draft - Modelled after the "Fjord Horse, thought to be the most similar to early draft type horses (and of of the orginal 4 types of Horses)

Height - 13-14 hands, weight 880-1100, cold blooded

2) The Arab - 14-15 hands, 800-1000 pounds, hot blooded

3) Akhal Teke - 14-16 hands, 900-1100 pounds Hot Blooded

4) European Warhorse - Modelled after a handful of type, most notably the Lippizzaner, Frisian and Andulusian - These can be made more sepcific if need be 14-16 hands, 1000-1200 pounds. Warm Blooded

5) The "Celt" - This is more of a horse I came up with, perhaps similar to the warhorses used by the Celts in Europe, with some breeding with native european stock, and not a huge organized focus on selective breeding.

13-14 hands, 850-1050 pounds, warm blooded. Would also be considered the Rouncy of Middle Ages fame.

6) The Chelni/Hodiri Pony - Modelled after the Fell pony, this is a great fit. Usede by the Romans in war, also bred with other horse in Britain to produce a British warhorse from native stock. Has many aspects of a hot blood, including nimbleness, speed, and carrying capacity for weight. It's temprment was more like a warm blood though.

12.5-14 hands, 900-1050 pounds

A few notes:

Hot Blooded would have higher agility, speed, and will
Cold blooded would be lower in speed and will, average in agility
Warm blooded would be a combination
Ponies - Good agility, speed, average will.

Maybe 3D6 for will, Cold blooded re-roll any 6's, Hot bloods re-roll any 1's?
Agility - Hot Bloods and Ponies re-roll any 1's


Carrying capacity before encumberance begins:
Hot Bloods and Ponies - 27.5%
Warm Bloods - 25%
Cold Bloods - 22.5%

The star rating of the breeder would effect stats to an extent, and would effect beginning initiative even more.



Just some preliminary ideas here

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Hmm Gurthang. What a nice name for a sword....

From doing some research on an accurate "BMI" for horses, it seems like the weights on AVERAGE should be about like this:

Hands Ht Wt KG Wt Pounds
12 250 550
12’1 602
12’2 298 655
12’3 707
13 345 759
13’1 783
13’2 367 807
13’3 844
14 400 880
14’1 922
14’2 433 953
14’3 988
15 465 1023
15’1 1053
15’2 492 1082
15’3 1113
16 520 1144


Arabs, Mustangs, Akhal Tekes run about 5% lighter, Draft horses about 10% heavier, the "Baroque" horses (Horse breeds that seemed to have been most like the Middle Ages Warhorse, including the Friesian, Extinct Neopolitan, Andalusian, Lipanzzer (the Lipanzzer was a more 17th century breed, but from most experts accounts it seems to have the size and bloodlines of the Ealrier warhorses)- these breeds run somewhere in the +5-10% range. Ponies also seem to run in the +5% range, though this can vary on breed. The Fell pony runs about +5%.

Also, found a real horse that fits my "imaginary Celtic Horse, the Small Breton Draft. A little info on that one:






The small Breton draft seems to be the closest descendant of these Celtic horses. It stands about 13.3 hands high, and weighs about +5% per the above charts.

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Hmm Gurthang. What a nice name for a sword....