War Pig and War Goat

[Reagren Wright]

Okay I'm guessing by now everyone has seen Battle of the Five Armies. I have to admit of all the mounted animals I ever
thought I would see, they wouldn't be the War Pig rode by Dane. And the four War Goats rode by Thorin, Dwalin, Fíli, and Kíli.
Would you use them as mounted animals in your game or are they just to silly? Debate please.

[McFacemelt]

Without a doubt! Why ride a horse when you can ride a raptor?

[kiralon]

War Boar yes, War Goats no

[zyanitevp]

We had a very popular gnome character who rode a saint bernard, so definitely yes!!

[URLeader Hobbes]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Seriously Peter Jackson went that route?? LOL what a dolt.. Thanks for saving me the $10.00 for a ticket to that.

[glitterboy2098]

Actually as a big Tolkien fan.. I liked it. People get hung up on the books, but even Tolkien recognized he was writing a modern mythology, and that mythologies change with each retelling. The movies set up themselves right at the start as 'the rest of the story', that what we see is going to be the stuff Bilbo left out of the red book.. either because he himself was not there to see it in person, or because it did not flow as well in prose.

Tolkien wrote the hobbit using Anglo Saxon story telling style.. which focuses on a single hero to the exclusion of the companions with him.. but which automatically makes it subject to the untrustworthy narrator problem. Think about it.. in Beowulf the hero arrives with a company of highly skilled, battle hardened warriors, some of the best warriors of the Geats... but when grendel arrives, no further mention is made of them in the fight. Just the hero, Beowulf. Now, an Anglo Saxon hearing the poem.. would remember the companions and mentally see this epic battle. But in a strict depiction based on the poem? Those warriors stand around or run around, getting slaughtered with no fight.

Tolkien, like ancient storytellers.. say instead of show. They leave out bits of the story to move things along. They generalize and simplify descriptions, leaving the listener to fill in gaps.

In a film you gotta show. And the hobbit without additions is frankly a boring film. Great warrior dwarves run away from battles, get beat up with little opposition, get captured without a fight, complain for hundreds of pages.. then it ends with an epic battle the main character never sees and doesn't describe.


And it isn't like Tolkien provided a ton of details on Dain's army.. the hobbit was rather scanty on details compared to LotR.


My biggest beef was 'where were those goats kept?' They just kinda appear, we don't see them earlier with dain or the elves.

[AzathothXy]

I loved my dwarf's battle ram in WoW.

[smashed]

I am definitely pro War-[Insert Animal Type Here]

[pblackcrow]

Please...War Boar, not pig. The frightening thing is that there are boars a lot larger then that.

[glitterboy2098]

honestly, in fantasy, non-equine mounts really should be more common.

i mean, in the real world we have Moose, Reindeer, Oxen, even Buffalo with documented domestication and use as draft or riding animals.
and with fantasy being well, fantasy, animals that in the real world were never employed as such, like Rhino's, ought to be within reach as well. especially for non-human races.

[Lukterran]

War Rhinos are the way to go!!

[pblackcrow]

I want a war hippopotamus for Solstice
Only a war hippopotamus will do
Don't want a doll
No dinky tinker toy
I want a hippopotamus to go to war with and destroy.

I want a war hippopotamus for Solstice
I don't think the king will mind do you
I won't have to ride about upon
A dirty old gryphon
So just bring him on the lawn
That's a simple thing to do

[Lukterran]

You could get all "Dune" like and ride on Sandwyrms.

However, riding one some Mologoths would be pretty epic. All you got to do is get them under control with the right magic spell or ability. A beastmaster linked to one of these things would make a bad day for anyone that crossed their path.

[Razorwing]

Goats were fairly common in Norse Mythology. Thor's chariot was pulled by two goats... which Thor and his companions could also eat and have the goats restored the next day... though he asked those that enjoyed the meal not to break the bones (or the goat would suffer a similar wound when revived). One guest did break a bone to get at the marrow... and had to serve Thor afterwards to make amends.

Okay... some Norse legends are a little weird... but no stranger than most fantasy settings.

[SolCannibal]

War Rhinos are the way to go!!

Do war buffalos serve?
http://s2.glbimg.com/iDCMjRC5MWyGhqjKQB ... oure_1.jpg
http://s.glbimg.com/jo/g1/f/original/20 ... falo11.jpg
http://guiadolitoral.uol.com.br/imgnoti ... 090109.jpg

From Marajo, an isle near the Amazon's delta, where they are so common and well adapted to the terrain they have basically replaced horses, cattle and most vehicles in day-to-day use. For some reason i never understood it become the "Republic of Bahia" in Rifts South America, even though Bahia's state capital, Salvador, is about 1000 miles away from the isle.

[Library Ogre]

War Rhinos are the way to go!!

http://www.giantitp.com/Images/CafePress2013/UnicornPrincess.png

From here.

[kiralon]

lol, I like the advanced stealth dinosaur.

[SolCannibal]

lol, I like the advanced stealth dinosaur.

Classic OOTS joke with Varsuvius familiar.