Mounted Combat: Taking a Step

A while back I ran an old west sample combat that involved a lot of horses, and a lot of shooting from horseback while moving. One rule we noticed is that "If you are controlling a vehicle or riding a mount, take a move maneuver to spend the turn actively controlling it". But what if you aren't actively controlling your mount? what happens then? A trained warhorse has a lot more initiative than a motorcycle, and is both able and willing to make its own decisions. And they don't exactly stop moving just because their rider is no longer spending all of their energy moving them forward. We ended up allowing players to use their "Steps" to send subtle adjustments to their mounts.  Here is our system:

Horse Sense:

The first thing to remember is that Mounts are NPC's with their own ideas about what they should be doing. A well trained horse will follow orders, but it will also guess orders, and give input about where it thinks they should be going. 

A mount's basic priorities are to avoid obstacles, to go where it thinks its rider wants to go, and to not do unnecessary work. Not necessarily in that order. Some horses will be timid and try to stay away from things that seem dangerous. Some mounts will be lazy and slow down at an possible excuse. And some mounts, whether through training or through instinct, seem to know what their rider wants before the rider does. Still, the rider can give small bits of guidance without too much trouble, in the form of commands:

Commands

Each of these commands takes the place of a step in a maneuver while mounted.

Go Faster: This command increases the speed of the mount by 1 yard.

Slow Down: This command decreases the speed of the mount by 1 or 2 yards. If an obstacle is in the way, the mount may interpret this as a full command to stop.

Turn: move the horse a little to the left or right, up to 15 degrees. If an obstacle is in the way, the mount may interpret this as a command to go around the obstacle. 

Ride On!

This is a really simple set of rules, but it forms a great starting point for working with horses as NPC's. Why do you want a smart horse? because he'll figure out what you need him to do before you can. One of the reasons I love RPG's is its ability to explore unfamiliar worlds, and the world of horse-riding is actually quite foreign to modern people. I hope this helps you run mounted combat, and I hope this makes you want to run a game with mounts!