I like goats. This is a well documented fact. I like table-top role playing games, as documented by the existence of this blog. Naturally, I'm going to combine the two.
Back in the summer of 2021, I ran some Knave for my friends. As I was preparing for the first session, what did my eye spy? Goats! For only 10 copper pieces, an aspiring adventurer could purchase a goat. I was intrigued. Of course the players would have to obtain goats to ferry supplies to and from the dungeon. This led me into an hours long research delve into the viability of pack goats.
The short of it: yes, people use goats to haul supplies! A well-conditioned goat can haul between 40 to 60 pounds of equipment. Naturally, I've wanted to include goats as pack animals in every game I've ran since. And I will.
Note: Chimera, fauns, and certain demons are often described in terms of goat-like features. For the sake of brevity, I have not included those references and only included references to actual goats. I also haven't been entirely consistent about this.
OD&D (White Box)/Delving Deeper - The Figure of Wondrous Power in the form of three Ivory Goats appears in the Miscellaneous Magic Table IV of Supplement I - Greyhawk. The three goats are: The Goat of Fleeing, The Goat of Fighting, The Goat of Slaying. Tanngjost and Tanngrisner, the two magical ogats of Thor who pull his chariot are listed in Supplement 4: Gods, Demi-Gods, and Heroes. They each have 4HD, AC 3, 2 hoof attacks (d10) and two horn attacks (d4). Giant Goats are a potential mountain animal encounter in Supplement 3: Eldritch Wizardry.
Fantastic Medieval Campaigns/Swords and Wizardry: WhiteBox - No reference to goats.
Iron Falcon - Goats are listed under Rams for the purpose of game statistics (AC 7, HD 3, 1 headbutt attack (2d4)) (p.75). The Figure of Wondrous Power can be found in the form of Three Ivory Goats, The Goat of Slaying, The Goat of Traveling, The Goat of Travail (p.113-114). In the Iron Falcon Handbook of Monsters, Giant Goats are listed (AC 7, HD 3+1, 1 headbutt attack (2d8)) (p.62).
Swords and Wizardry: Core/Swords and Wizardry Complete - Goats, wild or mountain appear in the hills encounter table for both books (Core - p.83, Complete p.86).
Basic Rules (Holmes Blue Book) - No reference to goats.
Basic/Expert Dungeons and Dragons (Moldvay/Cook) - The D&D Expert rulebook lists Goats under Herd Animals (1 or 2 HD) (p.28).
Labyrinth Lord - Goats are listed under Herd Animals, AC 7, 1 to 2 HD, Atk 1 headbutt (1d4) (p.81). Goats are listed in the Advanced Edition Companion in the equipment section for 15sp (p.27). The Companion also also includes the Figurines of Wondrous Power which can take the form of Ivory Goats, The Goat of Traveling, the Goat of Travail, and The Goat of Terror (p.95-96).
Old-School Essentials - Goats are listed under Small Herd Animals, AC 7, HD 1 to 2, Atk 1 (1d4) (Advanced Fantasy Referee's Tome p.67). The Figurine of Wondrous Power can take the form of a Trio of Ivory Goats, The Goat of Travelling, The Goat of Travail, and The Goat of Terror (Advanced Fantasy Referee's Tome p.170-171). In Carcass Crawler Issue #3, Tieflings can possess Goat-like hooves (p.14,19).
Basic Fantasy RPG - Lists beasts of burden on p.63 of the core rules. The Equipment Emporium, p.30, lists the cost for a goat (1gp) and p.31 has their description and says to use the stats for a wild ram (Field Guide vol. 1). Field Guide vol. 3 has a Spellgoat - a goat who ate too many scrolls.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Goats are listed under livestock for 1gp in the Player's Handbook (p.36). A druid can summon Giant Goats with the Animal Summoning I spell (DMG p.44). Goats can be found in a bag of tricks (AC 7, HD 1+1, HP 8, attack deals 1d6 damage) (DMG p.138). The Figurine of Wondrous Power can take the form of Three Ivory Goats, The Goat of Travelling, The Goat of Travail, The Goat of Terror (p.144). Giant Goats appear on the Conjured Animals table for clerics and illusionists (p.222). Giant Goats appear in the Monster Manual (AC 7, HD 3+1, 1 attack (2d8)) (p.47).
OSRIC - Imps can possibly polymorph into goats (p.224). On the Common Miscellaneous Magic Items table (p.313), a Figurine of Wondrous Power in the form of three Ivory Goats can be rolled. The items description is on p.337-8. The three goats are: The Goat of Traveling, The Goat of Travail, and the Goat of Power. In Malevolent and Benign II, Hakutaku (six-horned, white haired, lion-like servants of good) can polymorph into a goat (p.42).
Dark Dungeons - Goats are listed under Herd Animals (p.209). Cyclopes are mentioned to herd goats (p.227).
For Gold & Glory - The price of a goat is listed at 1gp (p.46) but no additional details are provided. The Boots of Varied Tracks can potentially create goat tracks behind the wearer (p.256). Goats can potentially be pulled from a Bag of Tricks Type B (p.262). A goat has AC 7, HD 1+1, and a single headbutt attack (1d6). A Figure of Wondrous Power (p.282) can be in the form of three Ivory Goats, in the same forms as in OSRIC. Goats are listed again in Appendix C: Bestiary as "small livestock animals commonly raised for their meat and milk" (p.301). They are given a charging attack with +2 to attack and 1d2 bonus damage. On the next page, they are given stats: 5d4 appearing, AC 7, MV 15, HD 1+2, THAC0 19, A headbutt attack (1d3), save as Fighter 1, Small size, 8-10 morale, XP 65.
Low Fantasy Gaming (Basic/Deluxe/Companion) - No reference to goats.
Maze Rats/Knave/Cairn - Goats are included in the Terrestrial Animals table in Maze Rats. This allows for such results involving goat-features to show up in the magical mutations table. Goats could also be required as a magical ingredient. Knave lists goats in the equipment list for 10cp. Bucolian has Giant Goats in their Knave Bestiary.
Vaults of Vaarn - Newbeasts can be New-Goats (Vaults of Vaarn Deluxe p.15). Goat legs are a potential Cacogen mutation (VoVD p.20). A petty god of Vaarn can have goat iconography (VoVD p.62). Faa Nomads can have goats as livestock (VoVD p.75). Lowly Goatherds can be found trading at a trade post (VoVD p.86). Lesser deities in Gnomon can have a goat aspect and could potentially accept white goats or black goats for sacrifice (VoVD p.117). A goat herder appears on the "Random Drama" table and rogue goats appear on the "Street Hassle" table (VoVD p.120). The [x] Goat appears on the "Tavern Name" table (VoVD p.129).
Into the Odd/Electric Bastionland - A goat is a starting item in the Alternative Starter Packages (ItO Remastered p.143). Prize Breeders can be Tiny Goat breeders (EB p.95). Mockeries can take the form of a Mock Goat (EB p.283). Jaw-Goats appear in the random encounter table for the Yelling Mountain (EB p.307).
Weird North - Goatherds using dark arts can be randomly encountered in a hex (p.39).
Into the Odyssey - Goats are listed (twice) in the "Other Goods" list for 6 drachma (p.17).
Dungeon Crawl Classics - PCs with the farmer occupation can start with a goat if there are multiple farmers in a group of level zeroes (p.23). On the "Blood magic" result for a spell's Mercurial Magic effect, goats are one of the suggested sacrifice victims (p.111). A character gaining goat-like legs or horns are a potential result on the "Major Corruption" table (p.118). A character's head likewise turning into a goat's head is a potential result on the "Greater Corruption" table (p.119). Summoning a pile of severed goat horns is a potential result of the spell Animal Summoning misfiring (p.129). As a result of spell corruption when attempting to cast Ventriloquism, a caster's voice could change to permanently resemble goat's braying (p.158). Possessing goat horns or herding goats are possible attributes on the random tables for developing humanoid monsters (p.380). Goat-headed beast-men are a possible type of Subhuman monster (p.429). At the end of the adventure "The Portal Under the Stars," an alien benefactor resembling a goat-man could make an appearance (p.456).
A black goat appears as a witch's familiar in Beyond the Black Gate (DCC 72 p.7). Dozens of blackened goat skulls hand from an oak tree at the start of The Abbot of the Woods (DCC 74 p.27). Goat paths exist on the glacial wall in Frozen in Time (DCC 79 p.3). Goats are some of the animals raised in the Shudder Mountains (DCC 83 p.19). A servant of Modeca can have their right leg turned into a goat leg as a result of patron taint (DCC 83 p.33). A demon in the Shudder Mountains has such a leg (DCC 83 p.131). The Bad Lick Beast has the legs of a goat (DCC 83 p.137). A goat skull appears in The Infernal Crucible of Sezrekan the Mad (DCC 89 p.55). In the village of Eng, goats are being killed in the night at the start of The Queen of Elfland's Son (DCC 97 p.3). Marrow's farm contains a goat pen in the same adventure (DCC 97 p.5). Three goats wander the deck of the Star of Nostro in Creep, Scrag, Creep (DCC Horror 5 p.6). In 2 Worm 2 Furious, butchers have 1d3 goats as trade goods (2W2F p.43).
Mutant Crawl Classics - A spider-goat is used as an example creature in the morale rules (MCC p.138). The stats for the spider-goat (also called a Caprapod) are give later (AC 15, HD 4d6, paralytic poison attack) (MCC p.189).
Gongfarmer's Almanac - In the Gongfarmer's Almanac, the 9th day of the 5th month is a special day called the Burning of the Goats (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2015 Vol 5 p.9). It is left unclear if the name is literal or not.
The goat-crab Mongondu is mentioned at the beginning of the solo adventure The Giant's Gullet (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2016 Vols 1-8 p.5). The lich lichen travels with a goat servant, the Twilight Goat (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2016 Vols 1-8 p12-13). A reanimator slime can have the form of an extra-large goat head (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2016 Vols 1-8 p.38).
Seelie Faeries may have goat horns (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2018 Vol 1 p.22). A Goat'o'war is a potential class for DCC (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2018 Vol 1 p.28-30). Habithid, messanger of Ildavir, Goddess of Nature has great goat horns protruding from its head (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2018 Vol 3 p.26). Goat kids are a potential starting item for Manimal Herders in alternative character creation rules for MCC (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2018 Vol 4 p.16). A spider-goat kid is a potential beginning equipment in the same rule section (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2018 Vol 4 p.20). Goat is a possible Manimal form in alternative rules for Manimals (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2018 Vol 4 p.23). Goat horns appear in a basement in the adventure Witch Cult of the Ardennes for Trench Crawl Classics (DCC for WWII combat) (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2018 Vol 6 p.48).
"Women-type" creatures created using the Beastomatic can have goat eyes (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2019 Vol 9 p.24). Characters created using the "Gonzotronic Professions" table with the Occultist Zealot background start with 1d6 goat skulls (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2019 Vol 12 p.50).
In the adventure Dead Dragon Peak, mountain goat bones appear in the Beast's Chamber (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2020 Vol 2 p.35). Frozen mountain goat meat appears in the Wizard's Chamber in the same adventure (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2020 Vol 2 p.40). In Hoard of the Metal Goddess, PCs who have been magically paralyzed can expierence visions of a demonic toad-goat rampaging through a temple (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2020 Vol 2 p.50). A book found in the same adventure, entitled Lesser Demons is bound in goat hide (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2020 Vol 2 p.50). That same creature, Tilutan, who has the body of a frog and the head of a goat appears later in the adventure in the flesh (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2020 Vol 2 p.56-59). Rules are provided for turning a goat into a wizard's familiar (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2020 Vol 9 p.46). Old Mirna's, found at the Cursed Cauldron Inn, chickens and goats keep disappearing (Gongfarmer's Almanac 2020 Vol 10 p.31).
Weird Frontiers - There exists the Elder God The Black Goat of the Woods (Shub-Niggurath) who can turn turn an Occultist, on a Greater Corruption roll, into a goat-like being (p.162). She may also be served as a patron (p.591-600). One result of patron taint results in goats and sheep following the caster, with stats give (Init +0; Atk bite +0 melee (1d3) or trample +2 melee (1d5); AC 12; HD 1d5; hp 3 each; MV 40’; Act 1d16; SP trample prone targets; SV Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +0; Path WtL) (p.595). One of her patron spells, One Thousand Young, can manifest as spawning tiny black goats with forked spine tails (p.599). In Never Swallow the Worm, mutated cultists have goat-like features (NStW p.7,9).
Mork Borg - The Basilisks could possibly demand of you "the year's first-born goat" (p.37) and there is a picture of a handsome goat on the back cover. Mork Borg Cult: Feretory has Tar-Pelted Goats whose meat "tastes like sulfer and vomit" (p.16) on the random wildlife table for Kergus (the barren ice-wracked plains to the north).
Troika! - Goat men are an example of demonic creatures that the Demon Hunter stalks down (Troika! p.9).
Fungi of the Far Realms - Toothy milkcaps have a goaty aroma (p.202). Those who ingest a concoction made from the alyambas will leave the material plane and enter the spirit realm to be guided by three spirit animals. A goat can be one of those animals (p.231).
GURPS - oh god probably i'm not looking through the GURPS books to find all the references they have books on everything, why did i even include it here
Thousand Thousand Islands - Wardens of Ngelalangka can follow a goat-headed guide up the mountain paths (Ngelalangka The Road of Hoofless Horses, "Ngelalangka's Wardens").
Wanderhome - In the Hillocks exist the story of The Goat Who Slept For A Hundred Years (p.151). In the Metropolis, folk tell stories of The Night-Goat of Vermilion Street (p.167). While not listed specifically, a goat would be a good fit for The Peddler playbook (p.76-79).
This was mostly a silly project for me to use to procrastinate from other, more important, tasks. I guess the takeaway is that goats usually get a passing mention as a reskin of a different herd animal. Giant goats are almost a staple of the of old-school RPGs. Games derived from OD&D or AD&D usually incorporate the ivory goats of wondrous power, though their names may vary and giving goat hooves/legs or horns as a mutation is very popular, especially if dark/demonic magic is involved. The most creative uses of goats are probably the spellgoat from BFRPG and the spider-goat from Mutant Crawl Classics. I personally like the Tar-Pelted Goats from Mork Borg. I don't think any of the book I've looked at explicitly treat them as potential pack animals, however.
No comments:
Post a Comment