Thursday, January 21, 2021

0129 - Off We Go Again - Part II (Horse Trading)

 0800 12 AUG 2000, Dobrodzień, Poland
===================================

Time for a bit of shopping. In trade we have one of the trucks, as the team definitely does not need two.

The basic cost of the 2.5 ton truck is 20,000 but the reliability of D will reduce the price by 30% or 6,000, leaving a rest price of 14,000. That should be enough to fund some of the equipment the team needs. One possibility would be to mount the team on horses with pack animals for the transport of the supplies.

I have adapted the horses from v2.2 (combined with the v4 data) and they have the following stats:

  • ----------
  • Horse
  • ----------
  • Type: Horse Combat Speed: 2/2 Travel Speed: 3/2 Front Armor: 0 Side Armor: 0 Rear Armor: 0
  • Crew: 1+1 Cargo Capacity: 25
  • Notes: Requires three rations of grain and water and one shift of grazing per day. Price: 500 Availability: Common
  • Description: Used as a mount, pack animal or draft animal.

We cannot ride the horses bareback, so we will need horse tack:
  • ---------------
  • Horse Tack
  • ---------------
  • Type: Field Gear
  • Weight: 3 Price: 50 Availability: Common
  • Description: Saddle, bridle, straps, stirrups, saddle blanket, and so on.

I have also added grain to the list of foodstuffs:
  • ----------
  • Grain
  • ----------
  • Type: Food
  • Notes: Price and weight per ration.
  • Weight: 1 Price: 10 Availability: Common
  • Description: Grain used to feed animals (horses and mules)

Also, let's not forget about water:
  • ----------
  • Water
  • ----------
  • Type: Drink
  • Notes: Price and weight per ration.
  • Weight: 0.5 Price: 5 Availability: Common
  • Description: A ration of clean water

One could argue that we do not need clean water for the horses but I believe it makes sense and adds a bit of complexity for the characters. They would not drink dirty water, why should their horses?

Now come the problem with horses. Effectively, once the Horse Tack is added to the animal (and assuming there is one rider), the animal can transport 22 Encumbrance Units (EU) of Gear. Each day, the animal will need 3 EUs of grain and 1.5 EUs of water (total 4.5 per day). The rider will need another Encumbrance Unit for his rations per day (assuming water and domestic food), total of 4.5 EUs of rations per day. Therefore, each horse can carry 4 days of rations for itself and its rider and nothing else. If the team needs to carry more, they are going to need pack animals, but first a short summary:

Item Cost EU
Horse 500 --
Tack 50 3
12 rations of Grain 120 12
16 rations of Water 80 8 (12 for the horse, 4 for the rider)
4 rations of Domestic Food 40 2
     ===== =====
Subtotal     730 25

One possibility would be to use mules as pack animals, as this has a long tradition in the military. The mules have also been adapted from the v2.2.
  • ---------
  • Mule
  • ---------
  • Type: Animal Combat Speed: 2/2 Travel Speed: 3/2 Front Armor: 0 Side Armor: 0 Rear Armor: 0
  • Crew:  1 Cargo Capacity: 16
  • Notes: Requires two rations of grain and water and one shift of grazing per day. Price: 300 Availability: Common
  • Description: Sterile hybrid offspring of a horse and donkey. Used as a pack and draft animal.

We will need a pack saddle for the mule:
  • ----------------
  • Pack Saddle
  • ----------------
  • Type: Field Gear
  • Weight: 2 (empty) Price: 40 Availability: Common
  • Description: A saddle especially designed for cargo. The cargo capacity of the horse is increased by 10 when using a pack saddle but the animal may not be ridden.

Same game here; pack saddle and 4 day of rations (grain and water).

Item Cost EU
Mule 300 --
Pack Saddle 40 2
8 rations of Grain 80 8
8 rations of Water 40 4
     ===== =====
Subtotal     460 14

We still have 8 EUs left for gear. So assuming 10 horses (one as a spare) and 2 mules, we are looking at 8,820 in costs. Now we need to do some horse trading.

I would be helpful to have an NPC in the market, a merchant of sorts that could be our Go-To guy when we need something. Luckily, there is a generator and he can help us here. Introducing our new merchant Metody Kasak  (name randomly generated):
  • Metody Kasak, merchant in Dobrodzień, Poland
  • ====================
  • Template: Merchant
  • Faction: Polish
  • Primary Motivation: Very Sociable
  • Secondary Motivation: Coward

  • STR: C (D8)
  • Close Combat: D (D6)

  • AGL: C (D8)
  • Driving: D (D6)
  • Ranged Combat: D (D6)

  • INT: C (D8)

  • EMP: C (D8)
  • Persuasion: B (D10)

  • Hit Capacity: 5

  • [
    • Weapons:
    • --------
    • AKR
    • --------
    • Type: Submachinegun Reliability: C (D8) ROF: 5
    • Ammo: 5.45x39 Damage: 2 Critical: 3 Range: 4 Armor: +1
    • Weight: 1 Reloads: 2 Price: 300 Availability: Common
    • Description: The standard Eastern Bloc military submachinegun (with few exceptions), the AKA is merely a cut-down version of the AK-74. Although a bit heavy for a submachinegun, it has good accuracy and stopping power.

    • -------------------------
    • Colt Police Positive
    • -------------------------
    • Type: Revolver Reliability: B (D10) ROF: 2
    • Ammo: .38 Special Damage: 1 Critical: 3 Range: 2 Armor: +2
    • Weight: 0.5 Reload: 1 Price: 75
    • Description: The Colt Police Positive service revolver has been in production since before World War I and was used by many Western nations as a standard service pistol in both World Wars and as a police weapon. Despite the non-traditional caliber, it remains in widespread use.

    • ----------
    • Knife
    • ----------
    • Type: Melee Weapon
    • Damage: 2 Critical: 3 Armor: +0
    • Weight: 0.25 Reload: 1
  • ]

  • [
    • Gear:
    • -------------
    • Backpack
    • -------------
    • Type: Field Gear
    • Weight: 0 Number of Items: 1 Price: 50 Availability: Common
    • Description: Can be used to carry a number of encumbrance units equal to your STR die size, in addition to your combat gear. Carrying a backpack gives a -2 modifer to all MOBILITY rolls.

    • ----------
    • Grain
    • ----------
    • Type: Food
    • Notes: Price and weight per ration.
    • Weight: 1 Number of Items: 2 Price: 10 Availability: Common
    • Description: Grain used to feed animals (horses and mules)
  • ]

The fact that he is somewhat cowardly and is a horse merchant with grain in his backpack makes him a perfect fit, even if he was randomly generated.

First we need to get some credit by selling the truck. Klasha is our expert in wheelin'  & dealin' (and other forms of persuasion), with EMP B (D10) and Persuasion B (D10). It will be an opposed roll against Metody's EMP C (D8) and Persuasion B (D10), meaning Klasha needs to get more successes than Metody to succeed.
  • Task: Sell the 2.5-ton truck and increase the price
  • Ability Die: Empathy B (D10)
  • Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10)
  • Modifiers: --
  • Mod. Ability Die: Empathy B (D10) [Umodified]
  • Mod. Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10) [Unmodified]
  • Ammo Die: --
  • Roll: 3,4,--
  • Result: No successes

Hopefully Metody does worse.
  • Task: Sell the 2.5-ton truck and increase the price
  • Ability Die: Empathy C (D8)
  • Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10)
  • Modifiers: --
  • Mod. Ability Die: Empathy C (D8) [Umodified]
  • Mod. Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10) [Unmodified]
  • Ammo Die: --
  • Roll: 2,8,--
  • Result: 1 success

So, the price is going to stay at 14,000, which is still a lot of money. Now to buy some horses.

The horses and so have Supply Rating of Common and we will assume, for simplicity's sake, that the roll is for a horse complete with everything. In order for a Common item to be available, we roll a D6 and need 3 or more to have 1D6 items available. The first roll is a 3 and there are 6 horses available. The total price for six would then be 4,380 but maybe Klasha can haggle a bit.
  • Task: Reduce the price of the horses by 10%
  • Ability Die: Empathy B (D10)
  • Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10)
  • Modifiers: --
  • Mod. Ability Die: Empathy B (D10) [Umodified]
  • Mod. Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10) [Unmodified]
  • Ammo Die: --
  • Roll: 2,4,--
  • Result: No successes

He is driving a hard bargain, I guess.
  • Task: Reduce the price of the horses by 10%
  • Ability Die: Empathy C (D8)
  • Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10)
  • Modifiers: --
  • Mod. Ability Die: Empathy C (D8) [Umodified]
  • Mod. Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10) [Unmodified]
  • Ammo Die: --
  • Roll: 4,1,--
  • Result: No successes

Oh well, it was worth a shot. 4,380 it is. We still need another 5 horses though. The next supply roll is a 6, with one horse available. Same procedure as every purchase.
  • Task: Reduce the price of the horses by 10%
  • Ability Die: Empathy B (D10)
  • Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10)
  • Modifiers: --
  • Mod. Ability Die: Empathy B (D10) [Umodified]
  • Mod. Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10) [Unmodified]
  • Ammo Die: --
  • Roll: 2,8,--
  • Result: One success

He is driving a hard bargain, I guess.
  • Task: Reduce the price of the horses by 10%
  • Ability Die: Empathy C (D8)
  • Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10)
  • Modifiers: --
  • Mod. Ability Die: Empathy C (D8) [Umodified]
  • Mod. Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10) [Unmodified]
  • Ammo Die: --
  • Roll: 1,7,--
  • Result: 1 success

So close, but still not enough. Throw another 730 on the pile. Now we have a total of 6 horses, five to go. Unfortunately the next supply roll is a 2, meaning no more horses are available. There is still the point regarding the mules. The supply roll here is 6 with 6 mules available. We will assume that they come with the complete package. Again here, an opposed roll is needed:

  • Task: Reduce the price of the mules by 10%
  • Ability Die: Empathy B (D10)
  • Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10)
  • Modifiers: --
  • Mod. Ability Die: Empathy B (D10) [Umodified]
  • Mod. Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10) [Unmodified]
  • Ammo Die: --
  • Roll: 3,9,--
  • Result: One success

Yay, one for Klasha.
  • Task: Reduce the price of the mules by 10%
  • Ability Die: Empathy C (D8)
  • Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10)
  • Modifiers: --
  • Mod. Ability Die: Empathy C (D8) [Umodified]
  • Mod. Skill Die: Persuasion B (D10) [Unmodified]
  • Ammo Die: --
  • Roll: 1,8,--
  • Result: 1 success

Oh well, no tricking this guy. It probably makes sense to buy all six, as we have a lot of credit, which will cost 2,760. So far we have spent 7,870.

In the future, the animals wil need to eat so we can try to get some bags of grain.
  • -----------------
  • Bag of Grain
  • -----------------
  • Type: Food
  • Notes: Price and weight for eight rations.
  • Weight: 8 Price: 75 Availability: Common
  • Description: Grain used to feed animals (horses and mules) in a 25kg bag

The supply roll is 4 (meaning they are available), with 2D6x2 (or 5x2) = 10 bags laying there, ready to be snatched up. This will cost us another 750 but it will be worth it later. We have enough animals to carry it back. Not going to argue the price, as we have not had great luck at it and we have a lot of credit left (7,220).

One of the things the team could use is a large tent.
  • ---------------
  • Large Tent
  • ---------------
  • Type: Field Gear
  • Weight: 8 Price: 150 Availability: Common
  • Description: Gives a +1 modifier to SURVIVAL rolls for making camp. Fits ten people.

Metody has some in the back (actually, six) but we only need one. For 150, it is ours. This will give the team a bonus when making camps.

Since Can-Can burned out, we have been missing some gear, chief of which would be sleeping bags.
  • -----------------
  • Sleeping Bag
  • -----------------
  • Type: Field Gear
  • Weight: 1 Price: 50 Availability: Common
  • Description: Allows for a +1 bonus to STAMINA rolls at night to avoid hypothermia while sleeping. I can be worn as a blanked during the day but incurs a -1 modifier to all mobility rolls while it is being carried and must be dropped like a backpack.

Again, Metody comes through with 5 in the back that can be ours of 250. We will take them and put the remaining money (5,880) down as credit. Enough horse trading for today.

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