Shattered Kingdoms

Just a thought, but I think it would be a neeto keen idea if maybe people had to learn to ride like they learn to swim. Maybe if you fail your roll you could stop and if you fail it bad you can be thrown and take damage.

I think that would be cool.

That does sound swell. Horseback riding is dangerous, after all.

i'd like to point out that if this was a modern day set game that yes, a riding skill would be quite realistic. However, in the time period it is in, other than walking, its the primary form of transportation. Most people would be riding since they were young...do you expect a 100 year old elf to never have ridden a horse?

I don't see any need for it.

people take drivers ed classes and learn to drive cars...

I didn't. My parents taught me, very much like how parents would teach a young child to ride a horse in the olden days.

yep, first time i was behind the wheel of a car i was 3 years old sitting in my daddy's lap. and i started driving tractors and such when i was about 8.

It is just assumed by the game that by creation your character has had a chance to learn how to ride a horse. If you want to RP it out that they haven't, then that is fine. That is no reason to limit someone else who may be RPing a noble background which may imply riding lessons, though.

You just have to take it as every appropriate race has "Innate: riding (mastered)." Otherwise you need to make griffons and sprites learn to fly themselves, under the same assumption that they haven't been taught to master flying. And we should see some griffons/sprites falling from the sky at younger ages. If you want complete realism, we should have centaurs and giants have a skill that is checked to see if they do not stumble over themselves or bump into walls, etc.

All of this you can RP, though, and it should stay that way so as not to restrict everyone.

Orac has a point though. Horseback riding was common in the 'olden days', yes, but it certainly wasn't something accessible to everyone. Much like access to a car/driving skills depend on social class, culture, and ideology. I understand that for some (perhaps especially Americans), it might be natural to consider having driving skills an 'inherent' matter, but I'm sure you are aware that there are plenty cultures around the world where it is anything but common to drive - and I'm not just talking poor nations.

While it is true that access vastly expanded in the middle ages via the feudal system, most commoners would never own a mount, let alone know how to ride it. Mounts were incredibly expensive in maintenance, and especially horses required specialized feed, care, and proper shelter. Even after the middle ages it was not common to own a mount, unless you belonged to the nobility.

That aside, I'm also not convinced that SK culture supports innate riding skills. I don't find it a natural matter that dwarves or deep-elves know how to ride. Elves? At least one of the three races aren't particularly prone to travel, and since they prefer woods to plains, I'm not sure I see how riding would automatically be part of elven culture either.

Centaurs and griffons obviously dont make sense on top of another mount. Sprites and giants? Can't think of anything in either culture that would encourage them to develop riding as an innate skill either.

While it is true that riding was much more common 'back then', it has never been something everyone knew. The initial comparison to swimming is pretty good in my book, or to a second language: you may have fairly easy access, and some might know, but I don't see why it should be inherent. If we use the argument that it limits choice by not having it, then same argument could be used for not limiting *any* skill, and simply make it the choice of the roleplayer. Alas, I'm not sure we're ready for that just yet. Like Orac I find it reasonable that riding should be learned, unless it is determined an innate skill for a specific race/culture.

I can see some bad things happening as a result of failing a ride check.

Why dont we make it so the Ride skill costs PE per move.
Just because it is true to life doesnt make it improve the game. Yes in history people might not have had contact with a horse to learn to ride. Guess what in History people couldnt communicate mentally across the world.
Ride skill will make SK less newbi friend. I ask what is the point of it beyond that?