alright i’ve got a doozy for y’all. who wants to take a crack at explaining how “rolling your horse” works mechanically in the failed riding test section?
so let’s get hypothetical:
step 1 - i fail an ob6 riding test by 3
step 2 - the GM chooses “rolled your horse” as a consequence
step 3 - now, you flip to the rolling your horse page and…what is this “ob 4 riding test to stay on your horse after the roll”? i think i must not understand fully what rolling a horse is, because i’m envisioning belly-up barrel roll, and you just aren’t staying mounted during that. are you preventing the roll from occuring? or…something else?
step 4 - so now damage. does passing step 3’s test prevent this part? i’ll be damned if i know. let’s just assume it rolled and you are taking blows. they say use “thrown against the wall” mechanics with a few modifiers for ground type. determining power is easy enough, but how do you get IMS? well, you flip to thrown against the wall and find that it is a versus test, making you wonder, should the horse now roll power against my…um…riding?
the best part about this post, i’m doing it from memory without the book in hand, because the “rolling your horse” mechanic has been so agonized over in our group that it has become something of a running joke.
alright burners, there you have it. somebody please save us, because our group of PhD candidates can not even make a passable patch for this mechanic.
I’m no equestrian, but I think staying in the saddle after your horse rolls can mean either that you do just that and hope that the horse’s weight is on parts of it that you aren’t on or it can mean you got free and managed to spring back into the saddle before the horse regained its feet. As usual, BW isn’t specific on the details, just the results: meet the Ob, and you’re still on your horse afterwards.
Once your horse rolls, you’re taking damage. The Ob 4 test is for retaining or regaining your seat in the saddle. Either way you’ve just been hurled into the ground.
How the damage works isn’t clear to me either, but I’d crib from the collision rules and use the degree by which you failed your first riding check as the net successes on the “throw.”
When a horse rolls it drops onto it’s side, potentially crushing the rider’s leg or even breaking their back(the potential damage caused). Often they do this to test their rider, (Step 1). Luke explains what a roll is on pg538
Since to attempt to avoid that damage, the rider has to move his leg, or lay against the horse in a full roll, plus gravity is now pulling his seat out of the saddle, only a skilled rider can hope to stay in the saddle when the horse stands up again (step 3).
As far as step 4 goes the book is explicit… “It is an Ob 4 Riding test to stay mounted after a roll.” (Doesn’t say you have to try).
A Mark hit is the horse’s power plus/minus the material modifier.
The only issue is generating successes to determine severity of damage. I’d say either throw person against no action, using horse’s power(Ob 1/2 Speed), or treat the initial failed riding test like a versus test (Damage successes = Ob - Riding successes).
I think you’re using Horse roll as a wrong consequence if you’re imagining it like a car crash. It’s pretty normal during training or with a new rider. Horse gets sick of you goes down on it’s belly and rolls to get you the fk off. If it’s bucking it could kick you while your scrambling for the reins and run off(etc). There’s plenty of videos of horses rolling on youtube.
