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Not sure that you have to read it that literally (the one sentence that gives me pause is the listing for Martial in the table, "May borrow one pony or boat if in region of origin", but I think this may just be unnecessarily specific). I think you could interpret that section as reading that passage with enough ponies to carry baggage for all companions requires a number of characters @ Prosperous standard of living that is at least half the total number of companions or whatever combination works out to the equivalent, e.g., { 2 characters @ Rich SOL + 1 character @ Prosperous + 5 characters @ Martial, Frugal, or Poor }. (Ignoring the Martial cultures and region of origin caveat for simplicity.) But this doesn't necessarily have to mean 4 ponies for a 4 person party, or 8 ponies for the fellowship in the example. I think we are supposed to understand the expense = 1 share in the passage, or 1 share in the fatigue reduction bonus, not 1 pony. I think LMs could come up with a number of ponies that makes sense for story or other reasons. Loss of ponies should, I'm guessing, affect all companions.

Working through it, I think maybe that "one pony or boat" is really just to clarify that Martial folk can only pay for their own share where ponies are concerned--though it would seem to make sense that an elf borrowing a boat from the Woodland realm would be able to transport others in it, so that's a bit odd I agree.

uhu79 wrote:if he/she cannot afford it (and noone else is jumping in) then he/she will not benefit from the effect.

I'm not sure that you can just apply the affect to those that can afford it--this wouldn't make any sense with a boat journey. Though I suppose you could explain it--those that couldn't afford it have worse quarters/conditions so don't get the fatigue benefit? Not sure. I would think it would make more sense to say that the company cannot secure passage if they cannot afford it according to the SOL rules. The ponies and boats section says that, "the adventurers must be able to afford the expense," which makes me think its a group calculation from the plural.

Two complications to all this are that Rohan switches the price for horses into monetary values, abandoning the SOL model, and Journeys and Maps doesn't add any additional information or clarifications about acquiring boats--even for the new sea journeys.

Have to say, this is not the easiest ruleset to wrap your head around.

I like to think of the SoL ponies/boats as being rentals, and the ones in Rohan as being purchases (not that there wouldn't be a deposit on such equal to the value, but that a hero might put down coin from SoL with the hope of recovering it to spend on other expenses later, and puts down coin from Treasure with the expectation that the money is spent and gone). There's not any really clear text one way or another, but to my mind it helps explain the discrepancy.

As for the number of ponies required, I agree that counting pounds, stones, or other units of weight are not what the game wants. I think the SoL calculations are the best way to go, bearing in mind that different Cultures/Standards of Living might have different standards for what number of animals/boats are 'necessary'.

As for the bigger ships, I notice that almost all of the sea-worthy craft are found in areas that the rules haven't yet touched on. Also, big ships are unlikely to be owned outright by the heroes. Hopefully we'll get some more clarity in a future supplement.

zedturtle wrote:
As for the number of ponies required, I agree that counting pounds, stones, or other units of weight are not what the game wants. I think the SoL calculations are the best way to go, bearing in mind that different Cultures/Standards of Living might have different standards for what number of animals/boats are 'necessary'.

While it may not be used by the game, knowing that a pony can carry half its own mass is useful for the fiction the game supports.

This is said in plain character in the rule: Pony can carry 50 point of Encombrance.

Terisonen wrote:This is said in plain character in the rule: Pony can carry 50 point of Encombrance.

Where?

Ooops, It is a house rule: not a canon one. Sorry.