---
title: SPORTS HORSE
author: dozens
---

You are an equiludologist. A student of Horse Sports. You also have a
gambling problem. Your goal is to build a stable full of the finest
Sports Horses in all the land. In this game you will:

-   Create horses

-   Build their spirit

-   Bet on your horses

-   Win fabulous prizes

-   Horse cloning!

-   HORSE SPORTS


## YOU WILL NEED

-   These instructions!

-   A whole bunch of six-sided dice. Like maybe 12 or 15.

-   Maybe some pen and paper to chronicle the adventures of your horses.


## STYLES OF PLAY

1.  **TIMED**: Play two rounds of HORSE CHAMPIONS and see how wonderful
    are your horses

2.  **FREE PLAY**: Play forever, just you and your horses.

3.  **SOLO**: Play by yourself!

4.  **AMONG FRIENDS**: Play with others.

5.  **MULTIVERSAL OMNIHORSE**: Import and export your horses, taking
    them with you between games!


## GETTING STARTED

To make a horse, determine your Qualities. Then use the tables below to
give them a Look and a Name. Finally, gather up your dice for your
Spirit pool.

## HORSE QUALITIES

Every horse has three basic qualities. Assign +0, +1, and +2 to each of
the following.

1.  **RAZZLEDAZZLE (RAZ)**: speed, agility, precision, showmanship

2.  **GUMPTION (GMP)**: brawn, boldness, impulse, aggression

3.  **MOXIE (MOX)**: cunning, smarts, know-how, insight


## HORSE LOOK

To determine the look of your horse, choose or roll (twice) for Base
Color and Markings.

  ---- ------- ---------------------------
  d6   COLOR   MARKINGS
  1    Black   None
  2    White   White stockings and blaze
  3    Gray    White splotches
  4    Red     White spots
  5    Brown   Black dots
  6    Tan     Star
  ---- ------- ---------------------------


## HORSE NAME

Roll d6 to determine how many times to
roll on the name tables.

  ------- --------------------------
  d6      ROLL...
  1 - 3   Adjective Noun
  4 - 6   Adjective Adjective Noun
  ------- --------------------------

To roll d66, roll 2d6 and read them in order from left to right to
create a two digit number between 11 and 66. e.g. if you roll a 2 and a
4, that is 24.

  ----- --------------- ----- -------------------------
  d66   ADJ             d66   ADJ
  11    Bucket Of       41    Too Much
  12    We Bought The   42    Eldritch
  13    Exceptional     43    Her Imperial Majesty's
  14    Understood      44    The People's
  15    Electric        45    Coal Miner's Daughter's
  16    Lunar           46    Your Very Own
  21    Wild            51    Randy
  22    Soupy           52    Clever
  23    Balanced        53    Punctual
  24    What            54    My Favorite
  25    Humble          55    Effectual
  26    Tropical        56    Reliable
  31    Proud           61    Mister
  32    Give Them       62    Doctor
  33    Let Them Eat    63    Eventual
  34    Perfect         64    Naked
  35    Handsome        65    Soaking
  36    Ugly            66    Blistering
  ----- --------------- ----- -------------------------


  ----- ----------- ----- ----------------
  d66   NOUN        d66   NOUN
  11    Wizard      41    Commitment
  12    Apple       42    Ransom
  13    Farm        43    For The People
  14    Dancer      44    For The Win
  15    Cheese      45    In A Box
  16    Shrubbery   46    Under The Sea
  21    Panic       51    Filibuster
  22    Chocolate   52    Know It All
  23    Horror      53    Bluster
  24    Queen       54    Tornado
  25    Tropic      55    Gravity
  26    Thunder     56    Mess
  31    Pride       61    Aristocrat
  32    Holiday     62    Royalty
  33    Hangover    63    Slander
  34    Cake        64    Twenties
  35    Smoke       65    Hope
  36    Echo        66    Science
  ----- ----------- ----- ----------------

## HORSE SPIRIT

Start every game with a pool of at least nine dice. This is your Spirit
pool. It represents your horse's wild, untamed, noble essence.

At some point, you will choose to gamble away your horse's Spirit in
order to win competitions.

If you finished last session with more than nine dice in your pool,
begin the next session with that many. If you finished last session with
less than nine, begin the next session with nine.


## HORSE SPORTS

Each Horse Sport has an associated Horse Quality. To compete in a Horse
Sport you will assemble and roll a Horse Sport dice pool. Your Horse
Sport dice pool is made up of a Gift, your Quality modifier, and Spirit:

-   Always start with 1 dice. This is a Horse Gift. Don't question it,
    accept it. You never look a horse gift in the mouth.

-   Add a number of dice equal to your Horse Quality modifier (+0, +1,
    or +2) for this kind of Horse Sport.

-   Add as many dice from your Horse Spirit pool as you are willing to
    gamble, between 0 and all of them.

Once you have assembled your Horse Sport dice pool, then it's time to
roll all those dice! Here's how to interpret the results.

-   **WHINNY**: If any die shows a 1, then you win! Describe a favorable
    outcome. Add 1 die to your Horse Spirit pool.

-   **NEIGH**: If there are no 1s, then you have lost the challenge.
    Describe a less than favorable outcome, or a setback or a
    complication. Also your horse loses Spirit: any dice you have
    gambled from your Horse Spirit pool are lost.


### RAZZLEDAZZLE SPORTS

These Horse Sports require agility, precision, and showmanship.

1.  **Ring Jousting**: the horse must carry its rider so that they can
    spear and capture a ring with their jousting instrument

2.  **Lemon Sticking**: the horse must carry its rider so that they can
    pierce a lemon on the ground with their jousting instrument

3.  **Chariot Racing**: the horse must draw a two-wheeled chariot

4.  **Ballroom Dancing**: the horse must dance with elegance and poise


### GUMPTION SPORTS

These Horse Sports require brawn, initiative, and aggression.

5.  **Basket Duck**: played with a live duck in a basket. The first side
    to deliver the duck back to their home ranch wins.

6.  **Polo**: smashing balls through hoops with mallets

7.  **Horseball**: similar to basket duck, but the ball is a ball
    instead of a duck, and it must be passed through large vertical
    hoops in order to score.

8.  **Running And Jumping**: the runningest, jumpingest horse is the
    winner.


### MOXIE SPORTS

These Horse Sports require cunning, smarts, and know-how.

9.  **High Dive and Swimming**: a high dive competition, with a
    synchronized swimming event

10. **Horsegammon**: it's like backgammon but for horses

11. **Social Etiquette**: manners and social grace

12. **Rhyming and Riddling**: a battle of horse wits


## HORSE CHAMPIONS

A Horse Championship Game consists of one Horse Sport of all three
types. If your horse wins all three games, they become a celebrated
Horse Champion.


## HORSE CLONING

At any point you can create a new horse by splitting your current SPIRIT
pool into two piles. Keep one pile for your original horse, and give the
other one to your new horse.

Give your new horse some Qualities, a Look, and a Name.


## HORSE RETIREMENT

There may come a time when it is appropriate for your horse to retire
and go out to pasture. This might be because they have had a long and
accomplished Horse Sports career. Maybe they had an injury or their
Spirit is broken by a particularly devastating defeat.

Nothing mechanically needs to be done for this. Just imagine a beautiful
grassy pasture for them to graze in. You can visit them any time you
want, and they will be happy to see you.


## HORSE IMPORTING AND HORSE EXPORTING

Hey are you into tabletop roleplaying games? Do you maybe play some kind
of Sword and Sorcery fantasy and wish your character had a horse? Lucky
for you! You can easily export any of your horses from SPORTS HORSE into
your other games! Similarly you can import a horse from any other game
into SPORTS HORSE.
