so… the fact that I’m figuring out how much a horse, a camel and a cart can carry, and nobody else seems to have bothered with this…
…does that mean I’m writing good and useful trade rules or ones nobody has ever needed?
so.
Published
so… the fact that I’m figuring out how much a horse, a camel and a cart can carry, and nobody else seems to have bothered with this…
…does that mean I’m writing good and useful trade rules or ones nobody has ever needed?
Tattered Remains of Tartary 
“what an animal or vehicle can carry” is way more useful to me as a DM than the usual amateur economist fussing that goes into trade and economy rules.
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Pretty sure it’s in ACKS and bx
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I’ve never been able to bring myself to read all of acks!
OK, back to the drawing board.
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hrrrgh I have not done due diligence. 5e has carrying capacity for horses, mules, camels etc.
OTOH I’m pretty sure their numbers are nonsense.
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It’s in B/X
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So what we need are different + accurate numbers! Glorantha fans just had a huge flame war over whether we can have barrels or only amphorae, I see a great need for more detail.
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Anything that reckons in real world weights tends to end up too fiddly for me in practice. What’s your abstraction?
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I actually haven’t looked at b/x in several years.
……it’s in the animal writeups in x and it’s wronggggg dammit
They have horses carrying up to 300lbs or 600lbs at half speed (in a pinch). Fair enough I guess. And then draft horses and warhorses can carry around 400lbs. OK so far, given the enormous margins for error (I’m deeply skeptical about that top end for the draft horse but fine I guess. I’d roll for injury).
But then they give the same numbers for camels! And even little Bactrians can carry 600lbs long-term. Arabian/Bactrian hybrids (not uncommon in period) can carry 800-1000.
tch.
And 5e shows power creep (like of course but I’m still weirded out by it in this context): riding horses and camels carry 480lbs each (oddly specific) and warhorses carry 540lbs (even odder).
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Brendan S right now I figure anyone who’s bothering with trade won’t mind working in tons or camel-loads. A standard Sindbad camel-load* is a quarter of a ton, you need 10 ordinary horses or mules to carry a ton, or 2 elephants.
And then standard carts can carry a ton of grain and can be pulled on roads, slowly by 1 horse. They’re 6×8 with 2′ high sides. If you want a bigger cart you need more animals to pull it.
*that standard Sindbad pack is historically attested and mighty handy – the Venetians call it a cantar and there’s a whole technique to assembling them that makes them perfect for carrying mixed goods, smuggling precious stones or silks etc. etc. It should be enough for all of one adventurer’s equipment + any treasure that can be gathered without organizing special pack animals, or food and water for 10 men for a week.
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Cantaro is also a word for a crapper.
Btw in AFG not only I list how much a mule can carry, but also how much a bushel of oats costs, and also how many calories are in a mule (both laden and unladen)
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Have you looked at Ultraviolet Grasslands? It is not a realistic simulation but it’s got a lovely abstraction of weeks-of-supplies-and-what-conveyances-can-carry-what.
Plus it’s just fucking awesome in a bunch of different ways.
drivethrurpg.com – The Ultraviolet Grasslands – Free Introduction
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goddammt Paolo Greco I read the whole of AFG why isn’t that in my mind?
Will go back and reconsult.
Adam Thornton I’ve been leafing through UVG first because it sounded like Tartary and then because I liked Luka’s style. I haven’t figured out what I think yet but he does say “get informed before you buy trade goods,” which is not common!(?!)
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