Durulz Cavalry/Chariots

[HreshtIronBorne]

I have some players that wanted to roll up some Noble Durulz. The equipment list has two riding animals but, the Bestiary has Ducks with 00 as their Ride skill. Are Ducks incapable of riding animals, or is it just uncommon for them? Can they ride giant frogs like the newtlings in Prax? (I seem to remember newtlings in traskers somewhere.)

 

The other skill that shows up is Drive chariot, which i think would also be rad for ducks. Maybe some sorta lizard drawn chariot or something?

[PhilHibbs]

9 hours ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

I have some players that wanted to roll up some Noble Durulz. The equipment list has two riding animals but, the Bestiary has Ducks with 00 as their Ride skill. Are Ducks incapable of riding animals, or is it just uncommon for them? Can they ride giant frogs like the newtlings in Prax? (I seem to remember newtlings in traskers somewhere.)

It seems to me that the base Ride (00) is primarily about horses and other traditional mounts. There's no specific prohibition, they can learn to do it if they can find a suitable sized animal.

9 hours ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

The other skill that shows up is Drive chariot, which i think would also be rad for ducks. Maybe some sorta lizard drawn chariot or something?

Sounds awesome, but a lizard's tail is going to get caught up in the chariot's wheels.

[Psullie]

What about war canoes pulled by giant catfish

[jajagappa]

10 hours ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

The other skill that shows up is Drive chariot, which i think would also be rad for ducks. Maybe some sorta lizard drawn chariot or something?

Giant snails! 😉 Slow, but dependable.  And there are plenty of good dinosaurs around (maybe not the spinosaurus though)

17 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

but a lizard's tail is going to get caught up in the chariot's wheels.

Just need long poles so the chariot is well back behind them.

[Brootse]

10 hours ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

I have some players that wanted to roll up some Noble Durulz. The equipment list has two riding animals but, the Bestiary has Ducks with 00 as their Ride skill. Are Ducks incapable of riding animals, or is it just uncommon for them? Can they ride giant frogs like the newtlings in Prax? (I seem to remember newtlings in traskers somewhere.)

 

The other skill that shows up is Drive chariot, which i think would also be rad for ducks. Maybe some sorta lizard drawn chariot or something?

Perhaps one like this:

[Jape_Vicho]

Well, 00 does not mean a hard prohibition, but if you want to talk realistic a Dululz would not be able to ride a horse, as most of the work you need to do in order to ride it is done with the legs, and Durulz's are too short for that. Ofc ducks themselves are not realistic and you can do whaterver you wish. What I would do is give him other equipement to make up for that, maybe a cool enchanted canoe, a powerful iron sword or something like that. Otoh a duck should be able to ride a chariot, even though he might need to stand upon a tool in order to see anything, or maybe his chariot is drawn by animals smaller than a horse.

[Brootse]

The duck thane could also have two slaves and a shield:

[coffeemancer]

chariot pulled by herd men.

or riding a donkey

[HreshtIronBorne]

My players have a strong distaste for herd-men. I don't see the Durulz as having that elevel of animosity or disregard for their human neighbors. Even if they tend to get picked on. 

 

One of the players LOVES the idea of ducks riding snails or with snail chariots! Are rhere non-chaotic snails anymore?

[HreshtIronBorne]

I saw another message thread on some old site while I was googling around. The original message was aking about Durulz cavalry. Greg was laughing along and suggested ostriches. Others from the thread included pygmy hippos, warthogs, antelope (some kind of swampy one someone mentioned), and maybe even capybara? 

I think the sillier the better. I honestly just don't know much about what creatures live near Duck Point/Sartar/Beast Valley that make sense for ducks to use as mounts. 

 

I have not been able to find Traskar stats anywhere, though I remember encountering them in the Zola Fel when I was playing adventures long ago in the before times. 

[jajagappa]

50 minutes ago, coffeemancer said:

chariot pulled by herd men.

Zombies!!!  Of course that's why the ducks deal with Delecti - a plentiful supply of uncomplaining labor!

[jajagappa]

23 minutes ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

One of the players LOVES the idea of ducks riding snails or with snail chariots! Are rhere non-chaotic snails anymore?

Yes, of course.  Used by ducks for all sorts of things.

Just look over some of the pics in this thread for ideas.

FAMOUS DUCKS OF THE HERO WARS! - Glorantha - BRP Central - The Chaosium forums (basicroleplaying.org)

(Has other good ideas for duck conveyances too.)

[coffeemancer]

dragonewts ride bipedal birds

so ducks should ride bipedal reptiles

[Stew Stansfield]

(Trying to reply to this while cooking tea. One or both of these processes is bound to go badly wrong.)

Way back when, in Greg's campaign, Charlie played Alexander Yellowbelly - the duck who found Temertain. (Which turned out well.) Alexander was also a duck noble, but overcame the frankly unacceptable prejudices people have over ducks and their conveyances by forming the Two-Horse Show: a group of altimetrically challenged entertainers who lived and worked aboard a platform secured above two warhorses. (Incidentally, Charlie originally referred to this as the 'One-Horse Troop'. So I can only assume that, by 1626 S.T., they've supersized and become the Three-Horse Revue, sure to take Dragon Pass and/or Pavis by storm.)

 

As to other modes of travel, I have come across weird ducks who like a slightly less sedate form.

Chariots, as mentioned, are another option, of course! I particularly like the idea if waterborne chariots. Unfortunately, this was from during my period of wondering if ducks have boobs—"Back off, man: I'm a scientist."—but hopefully the idea of a spirit-drawn chariot holds.

Speaking of snails, I do somewhere have a sketch of my proposed Road to Duck Point adventure-pack cover. But like most things I do, I suspect it'll never be finished. It's basically a pastiche of this (with the ducks riding a dragonsnail).

 

Ducks riding ostriches is an interesting idea! Which doesn't stop ostrich-riders riding ducks, of course (or using them as training mounts)...

 

[Brootse]

2 hours ago, Jape_Vicho said:

Well, 00 does not mean a hard prohibition, but if you want to talk realistic a Dululz would not be able to ride a horse, as most of the work you need to do in order to ride it is done with the legs, and Durulz's are too short for that. Ofc ducks themselves are not realistic and you can do whaterver you wish. What I would do is give him other equipement to make up for that, maybe a cool enchanted canoe, a powerful iron sword or something like that. Otoh a duck should be able to ride a chariot, even though he might need to stand upon a tool in order to see anything, or maybe his chariot is drawn by animals smaller than a horse.

It could be done in mahout style. One driver, one noble warrior, perhaps a tail gunner too.

[Ian Absentia]

1 hour ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

My players have a strong distaste for herd-men.

No one suggested that they eat them.

!i!

[Leingod]

1 hour ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

antelope (some kind of swampy one someone mentioned)

That's probably the sitatunga (also called the marshbuck), a semi-aquatic, medium-sized antelope from Central Africa that dwells exclusively in swamps and marshes.

Edited February 2, 2021 by Leingod

[FungusColombicus]

14 hours ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

I have some players that wanted to roll up some Noble Durulz. The equipment list has two riding animals but, the Bestiary has Ducks with 00 as their Ride skill. Are Ducks incapable of riding animals, or is it just uncommon for them? Can they ride giant frogs like the newtlings in Prax? (I seem to remember newtlings in traskers somewhere.)

 

The other skill that shows up is Drive chariot, which i think would also be rad for ducks. Maybe some sorta lizard drawn chariot or something?

Imagine the Durulz cavalry using Alinxes... What a unstoppable force. (plus there are several instances of cats used in chariots AND Alinxes are short tailed)

[Stephen L]

On 2/2/2021 at 5:58 AM, HreshtIronBorne said:

Ducks incapable of riding animals

I had always assumed that Duck’s did not make natural riders because they’ve short legs, and splayed (i.e. webbed) feet.  However, I wouldn't have thought that means it’s impossible for them to ride, just that they’re not natural.  (With the Caveat that I’ve never ridden, but I’ve always felt that a lack of knowledge should never hinder holding a strong opinion on a matter.  Indeed, it’s almost a pre-requisite).

However, I can’t see why short legs and webbed feet would make riding side saddle, for example, impossible.

On 2/2/2021 at 4:14 PM, jajagappa said:

And there are plenty of good dinosaurs around (maybe not the spinosaurus though)

For the Duck in my campaign, his sole life goal was to be a dinosaur rider.  Which, after many adventures, he’s finally achieved.  He has rescued the last surviving hadrosaur, of a tribe that was massacred by a pair of Spinosaurs.  The party killed, not one, but both Spinosaurs, in ways that made me, the referee, laugh.  (But then by definition, a Spinosaurus is going to require some ingenuity, as any plan involving hitting it as hard as you can has drawbacks in this instance).

The duck has just had a seat made for said hadrosaur.  He sees it a bit like a throne.  Everyone else thinks of it as a child seat.  But it works.  And even if everyone laughs, if you're on the back of a Hadrosaur, they'll be doing it very politely!

[Beoferret]

I could totally see Durulz using standard light chariots (or maybe something smaller in size) pulled by ponies or smaller horses (e.g., the size of icelandic horses). The question that comes to my mind is how often and for what purposes would a people who are culturally oriented towards rivers and marshes use chariots? They'd probably be of little use in actual Durulz warfare/military tactics. But, I can totally see important Ducks using chariots as a way to signal status and to project a certain image when dealing with human communities. They'd be even more of a relative extravagance than they already are for human nobles and warriors. Whether humans would take chariot-driving Ducks more seriously is an open question. And I could see a Duck noble's chariot being decorated in some pretty fun ways (like feather wreaths slung over the necks of the team pulling it around.)

 

[Leingod]

25 minutes ago, Beoferret said:

I could totally see Durulz using standard light chariots (or maybe something smaller in size) pulled by ponies or smaller horses (e.g., the size of icelandic horses). The question that comes to my mind is how often and for what purposes would a people who are culturally oriented towards rivers and marshes use chariots? They'd probably be of little use in actual Durulz warfare/military tactics. But, I can totally see important Ducks using chariots as a way to signal status and to project a certain image when dealing with human communities. They'd be even more of a relative extravagance than they already are for human nobles and warriors. Whether humans would take chariot-driving Ducks more seriously is an open question. And I could see a Duck noble's chariot being decorated in some pretty fun ways (like feather wreaths slung over the necks of the team pulling it around.)

 

Well, if you could make some kind of amphibious chariot, like if the cart itself is designed to be buoyant and the animals pulling it are strong swimmers as well as capable of drawing the cart on land (such as, perhaps, the marshbucks mentioned above, which might be imports from Maniria or the Zola Fel), then if nothing else the sheer shock value and ability to run into the water if the battle doesn't go well might be worth all the costs associated with it. And even if it wouldn't realistically be worth it, I'd still do it IMG because it just sounds fun.

[jajagappa]

26 minutes ago, Leingod said:

the animals pulling it are strong swimmers

Manatees, water lizards, crocodiles, river horses (special gifts from Engizi),...

[Leingod]

7 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

Manatees, water lizards, crocodiles, river horses (special gifts from Engizi),...

Well, most of those options wouldn't really be good at the "amphibious" part of that idea; manatees have no legs, crocodiles are belly-draggers who only really move well in short bursts on land (and are also carnivores, who are more costly to feed), etc. River horses would probably work perfectly, but might be something you need a successful Heroquest to obtain.

[Squaredeal Sten]

On 2/2/2021 at 12:17 PM, Stew Stansfield said:

As to other modes of travel, I have come across weird ducks who like a slightly less sedate form.

Chariots, as mentioned, are another option, of course! I particularly like the idea if waterborne chariots.

The frog pictured above looks capable of pulling a small amphibious chariot.  I have doubts  about a two- or more frog chariot though, because training your frogs to pull as a team would challenge an amphibian's low INT.

And duck cavalry  (froggelry?) mounted on frogs that big should be capable of some tremendous jumps.  This opens up a whole new realm of cavalry tactics: When confronted by a phalanx, they jump over it and take it in the rear. 

 

Edited February 3, 2021 by Squaredeal Sten
odd word

[FungusColombicus]

39 minutes ago, Leingod said:

Well, most of those options wouldn't really be good at the "amphibious" part of that idea; manatees have no legs, crocodiles are belly-draggers who only really move well in short bursts on land (and are also carnivores, who are more costly to feed), etc. River horses would probably work perfectly, but might be something you need a successful Heroquest to obtain.

for amphibious mode on chariots... maybe using otters, beavers or even platypuses are about the correct size for the job. The issue will be the tails and the transition between water to land (though... small draining holes in the bottom of something looking like a bathtub and a tricycle configuration of the wheels may be a possible solution to the problem.)

EDIT: The entire basket for the chariot can be made from reeds and duck friendly materials... axles and other metallic parts could be made in Aluminum aiding to reach neutral flotation including the reinforcement of the wheels and harnesses. Definitely not something a duck from the poorer side of Clearwine can buy.

Edited February 3, 2021 by FungusColombicus
missing part of the text.