Dark Quest Games: Fur and Feather volume 1, In the Saddle
It weighs in as 101 page PDF, which as usual these days comes with both the colour version, with colour sidebars and the Black and White less print intensive version.
Layout is a two columned affair (non justified), with coloured Chapter and section headings, surrounded by coloured side-bar borders. The art included throughout the book is all black and white, and good quality and more importantly appropriate to the sections and issues being discussed where it occurs.
Written by: Michael Hammes, Neal Levin, Gillian Pearce, Darren Pearce, and David Woodrun
Edited by: Neal Levin and Deanna Levin
Cover Art by: Kallen
Interior Art by: Gillian Pearce
Design/Layout by: Duncan Fielden
Primary Fonts: AJensonPro, Saber, LibertyD, CronosPro
The Book begins with a nice little narrative to set the scene by Darren Pearce and the rest of the book is then broken down into ten Chapters
Chapter 1: Horses
Chapter 2: The Riding Beast
Chapter 3: Racial Views
Chapter 4: Improving Your Mount
Chapter 5: Riders
Chapter 6: Prestige Classes
Chapter 7: Chariots
Chapter 8: Items
Chapter 9: Mount Related Magic Items
Chapter 10: Bestiary
CHAPTER ONE: HORSES
This chapter covers things such as where horses are found, the basic kinds of horses available (namely Mares, Stallions and Geldings) and the pros and cons of each, the types of horses (being the roles they fill Riding horse, Destrier, packhorse and the like) and the breed of horses commonly available like Desert runners, Steppe Ponies and Great horses. This is then followed by the tables necessary to determine random horses on the fly by making a number of % rolls to determine characteristics. Following this is the information necessary on reading a horses body language and caring for the horse such as feeding and grooming, shoeing and the like, also included here is information on the typical kinds of care mounts may need as varies by the season, included with it are helpful healthcare tips for the new mounts that appear in the bestiary in Chapter 10 also. This chapter finishes by detailing some mount specific diseases which can occur.
Pro's: This Chapter is very well researched and provided in a sensible arrangement, which by the end of the chapter provides the reader all the basic information they would need relating to the care and types of mount available. Very light on mechanics just concentrates on the relavent information.
Con's: The Breeds of horse available although good doesn't cater for more fantasy type breeds one would expect, such as Halfling Ponies, and Elven Horses, instead just the standard feudal fare of horse breeds. Although this wasn't a huge problem a little more "fantasy" style variation in that part would have been nice. I would also have liked to see some rules provided for capturing wild horse and breaking them yourself but none were provided.
CHAPTER TWO: THE RIDING BEAST
This short chapter provides recommendations on the kinds of mounts that are best suited to the kinds of situations where they would be warrunted and points out the benefits of the various creatures when in these situations. Such things covered are Beasts of Burden, Mounts for Fighters, Mounts for Thieves, Paladin Mounts, Prestigious mounts, Mounts for Scouting, Mounts as Familiars, Mounts for use udnerground and finally Mounts for Entertainers.
Pro's: No unnecessary mechanics in this sections, well thought out benefits to having the various mounts used in the respective situations.
Con's: Quite short and I would have liked to see which mounts would have been ideal for Mages, Priests and Barbarians specifically also as most of the other classes were covered in a way.
CHAPTER THREE: RACIAL VIEWS
This is a particularly interesting chapter, which covers the main races (elves, Humans, Dwarves etc...) views of mounts and the kinds of mounts and what they are used for in thier respective cultures.
Pro's: Some interesting ideas are presented here, no unnecessary mechanics.
Con's: none it is all it needs to be.
CHAPTER FOUR: IMPROVING YOUR MOUNT
This chapter as the mname implies covers the various ways in which mounts can be improved, such as by Training them feats (these have to be maintained in various ways for a mount to keep them available), it lists all the feats that a mount can learn and how they affect the mount in question. Next in this chapter are Horse Tricks these are the animla traits like Backing Up, Carrying a rider, Fighting beside troops and the like and the actual effect of each. All Tricks have the same set amount of time to teach and the same basic DC to learn. Horse Triacks are also split into two sections Normal Tricks and Unusual Tricks, which take a little longer and are a bit more difficult to learn.
Pro's: There are some really nice ideas presented here and will make mounts very individualistic and customisable. the Tricks presented and feats available to them are all balanced choices as well which is important. Also the need to maintain feats is very good as it causes the player to actively take an interest in thier mounts if they wish to get the best out of them.
Con's: none a very good chapter.
CHAPTER FIVE: RIDERS
This chapter is less abount the mount and more about those who ride them. It provides one new skill (Heal:Veterinary) and some helpful horse and rider related uses for old skills like Craft: Blacksmithing for making tack and shoes, Proffession: Stable hand and similar.This is proceeded by the New Feats the book provides, 9 of them to be exact these are things like Bardic Riding that allows the use of the perform skill while riding without suffering a penalty, or Nap Riding, which allows you to get the equivelant of sleeping rest, just by uneventful riding to a degree. Next come the spells all new, 19 of them in fact and there is at least a spell or two for every spellcasting class provided. The spells themsevles cover things like enhancements for the mounts, creating food for them, Healing them and making life in the saddle less difficult for thier riders.
Pro's: I really like this section the new skill is balanced, the new uses for old skills are appropriate and useful without the tendency to provide super benefits that border on the realm of feats as is want to do by many companies these days. The feats are all useful and sensible and again balanced and the spells are interesting and will only go to further making mounts more interesting than turning them into super beasts instead keeping them firmly in the domain of mount and beast as they are intended.
Con's: Well there wasn't really a downside to this chapter except it wasn't as long as I would have liked! but isn't that always the way
CHAPTER SIX: PRESTIGE CLASSES
This chapter provides the books new Prestige classes, there are 8 in total and also a new Core class. The prestige classes are Fog Riders (Bandits who use magical fog to hide thier approach), Galloping Trollop (Female con women who take advantage of lonely men), Moon Rider (Warriors who use the power of the night to aid thier travels), Mounted Arcane Spellcaster (Specialist mounted spellcasters), Phantasmic Scout (Ghostly riders and illusionists), Saddleback Explorer (Someone who builds thier career around exploring off the back of a horse and roughing it), Travelling Collector (Mounted Bounty Hunters), and Wandering Merchants (Mounted Peddlers and Tradesmen). The New Core class is the Mongol it is as expected a 20 level class based on the Nomadic peoples of the same name and like fighters recieve bonus feats that are used to pick from thier own bonus feat list of mainly mount and archery related feats. Included with this class are the deatails for Mongol weapons and armor and the stats for the Mongol Horse.
Pro's: The Phantasmic Scout is a pretty atmospheric Prestige class and brings to mind many films like Sleepy hollow and Dick Turpin and will likely find use in my own game.
Con's: To be honest this chapter is the one I liked the least, the majority of the Prestige classes are aimed at evil groups and hence more likely only for NPC use. Also the vast majority of the Prestige Classes don't really have a real need or don't really have a firm grounding in the Mounted theme. for example you would probably expect to see something like Mounted Cavalier or Border rider, Mounted Messenger or similar definitely horse themed type PRC's but instead the ones provided for the most part barely need or justify the need for a horse or mount of any sort, such as Galloping Trollop she rides from town to town swindling lonely men, that actual period between her doing what she does is the only justification for inclusion in the mount book...she rides from town to town, anyway the prestige classes were a bit of a disappiontment for me. also the mongol class although well thought out and excellent if you are playing a historical game has massively limited use in theme in a fantasy setting. I felt the write up and approach for this class would probably have come across a little better if just presented as a Horseman class and left it at that.
CHAPTER SEVEN: CHARIOTS
Thew Chariots Chapter starts off with a historical view of Chariots and thier use. It then moves on to the cost and benefits of the basic chariots, details how combat and spellcasting works with chariots riding. Continuing on it provides another New Skill: Charioteering and 5 new Chariot related feats. following this is the Famous (and Infamous) Chariots, which basically unusual chariots tied to various group and races like the Ambush Chariot of the Endmarsh Lizardfolk and the Gnomish Junkwagon and so on. all these have a background write-up and are statted and ready for use.
Pro's: this is another good chapter and provides you everything you need to have chariots in your own campaigns. The feats are variations on the basic mounted feats but for use with chariots, which was quite creative without being boring. And the charioteering skill is a sort of variation on the basic ride skill.
Con's: It would have been nice to see if charioteering could be taken in place of ride for those classes with it, or if it was added to any basic class, but no such mention is made. Also the Famous and Infamous chariots was really good but no Market prices were given for any of them which was a shame. also I would have hoped to see the appropriate craft skill for building your own chariots detailed, and details for repairing them provided.
CHAPTER EIGHT: ITEMS
Well like the name says this chapter covers all the Riding and rider related items one would expect including the unusual mounts provided in the later bestiary themselves. All are given a re brief write up and carrying capacities are mentioned, prices given and wieght provided. The Items are broken down into four sections Care and Feeding items such as feeding bag, Horse Tarps, Grooming kits and the like. Saddles of which a great many varieties are provided all of which have a teheme and may provide a small bonus or benefit of some sort. Transportation, this covers things like Plows, Gypsy wagons and similar. And finally the Riding Mounts themselves (just the new mounts in the book as basic horses are in the PHB).
Pro's: The items provided are all really appealing and relevant and the saddles in particular are good with some great illustrations.
Con's: I was a little disappointed to see the various breeds of basic horse were not provided different prices, nor were the prices given for trained or untrained animals. A sample and some information on Horse Traders and horse Markets as they occur in a fantasy setting would have been nice also, possibly with quick referenetables for determining the mounts available for sale in a particular Trader/Market.
CHAPTER NINE: MOUNT RELATED MAGIC ITEMS
This chapter is as you would expect it details of magic horseshoes as magical weapons and which magical properties can be applied to them. Then a selection of other magical horseshoes as Miscellaneous type items followed by Magic Barding, Magic Masks and Magic Saddles. Followed up finally by magical transport all in all there is a great selection of magical horse related items as one would expect of such a chapter.
Pro's: As mentioned a great selection of items all provided in the usual DMG type format (Description/Effects/Caster level/Prerequsities/Weight/Market Price/and Cost to Create).
Con's: Not so much of a con as an oversight I fear, but in the magic items department the rideris mostly forgotten, almost all of the items either affect only the mount are benefit only the mount. Again like I say this isn't really a problem, but one or two more items that benefitted the rider such as magic Riding stirrups or Riding gear, or Riding Helms, or Riding Crops would have been good also.
CHAPTER TEN: BESTIARY
The final chapter of the book provides the write up and stat blocks for the 19 new and original type mounts it provides. Namely the Banded Howler (think worgs from LotR), Barbcat, Battle Goats, Boghoof, Croaker Wurm, Dragguswulfe, Dreadmare, Duneflap, Frost Fox, Fungglutton, Gabbergib, Ghastmare, Haintshag, Riding Hare, Rockbeak, Rock Sloth, Saddle Hopper, Trudd and finally Warsnout .
Pro's: Almost all these creatures are illustrated with the excpetion of the Battle Goat, two of the creatures the Dragguswulfe and Trudd are illustrated elsewhere in the book this was a particulare good point for me as I cannot stand of all new things, creatures without pictures so I was pleased that DQG had really made the effort and Gillian Pearce really did the creatures justice. All these creatures are appealing for the most part, for me the Banded Howler, Dragguswulfe, Dreadmare, Ghastmare, Riding Hare, Rock Sloth and Saddle hopper particularly shone...but the others aren't bad they just look stranger <bg> all the mounts are sensibly statted and benefitted also, nothing too overpowering or perculiar is given to the mounts so they can fit in almost any game without problem I would say and will go a long way to adding heaps more atmosphere on the mount front.
Con's: None really this was a good chapter, just the missing battle goat as a bad point if any at all had to be noted.
OVERALL:
Overall I really liked this book there were some holes in the subject that were overlooked and some sections could have used a little bit more consideration for a fantasy approach and the bad Prestige classes let it down a little, but on the whole the book provides a very good and well written reference for mounts. I would also have liked to see information on the more standard beast mounts like Elephants/Mammoths, Dire Beast mounts like Dire Wolves and Dire boars, also more mundane mounts like Ostriches, Camels, Bulls etc.. Though I imagine these will be covered in another mount book, as I hear more are planned including the Aerial Mounts book, which I will look forward too also. On the whole this is a good book with few substantial bad points so if I had to give it a rating I would give it 4 stars out of 5, missing out on the final star for the oversights and PRc issues as mentioned.
you might also spot a cameo in that story :>
