The most primitive barbarians rely on their own bodies for transportation. If they need to cross a desert, they walk. If they want to haul carcasses, they hoist them on their backs. A basket or shoulder sling helps, but transporting goods across long distances remains an exhausting proposition. Even the healthiest warrior can manage no more than a few dozen miles a day on foot.
In cultures with domesticated animals, the barbarian's ability to get from place to place increases dramatically. Arctic barbarians train wolves and wild dogs to pull sleds. Jungle barbarians use elephants as mounts. Plains barbarians ride horses. Elsewhere, buffalo, yak, donkeys, and camels are used as beasts of burden.
Advanced cultures also benefit from wheels, which may be nothing more than ordinary logs, jammed beneath sleds to make them easier to pull. Disks cut from trees are attached to the ends of the log rollers, making them crude axles. Wheeled transport, however, remains limited. For the most part, barbarians lack the know-how to incorporate wheels into devices more sophisticated than carts and wheelbarrows.
Land Transport[]
Sleds. Designed for snowy terrain, a runner sled consists of a rectangular frame made of wood or bone, about 8–12 feet long and 2–3 feet wide. A rider stands on a wooden platform attached to one end of the frame. A team of 6-10 dogs or wolves is tied to a lattice on the opposite end. Wooden runners, greased with fat, are secured to the bottom.
A sail sled, also called a bikik, can be made from a runner sled by erecting a mast in the center of the frame. A sail of light hide, about four feet square, catches the wind to propel the sled at impressive speeds. Only two dogs or wolves are required to pull a hide sled, a small sled that holds one man or his weight in goods. Used primarily as an emergency vehicle in arctic climates, a hide sled is made by stacking three or four deer hides, gluing them together with a paste of mud and animal hair, then soaking them with water. While the hides freeze, a pair of slits are cut near the edge of the stack, and leather strips are inserted to be used as reins.
In the temperate plains, barbarians ride in an enclosed sled, pulled by a single horse. The sled resembles a small hut resting on a pair of wooden runners, secured with leather strips to a yoke around the horse's neck. The hut consists of a frame of branches, roughly shaped like a cube, with leather walls. Flaps in the walls allow passengers to look at the scenery.
The roller sled can be considered a primitive wagon. It's nothing more than a wooden platform with logs inserted through leather loops secured to the bottom. A roller sled can be pushed by a man, or dragged by a mule or horse.
Passenger Wheelbarrow. Used for transporting people, this device consists of a flat wooden frame attached to a pair of 3-foot wooden handles. A stone or wooden wheel, 2–3 feet in diameter, is affixed between the slats of the frame, mounted on an axle made from a small log. One or two riders perch on the frame, while a carrier holds the handles and pushes. Vines or leather straps attached to the handle and looped over the carrier's shoulders provide support.
Travois. This is made from two long branches in a v shape. The point of the V drags on the ground, and the ends attach to the flanks of a dog or horse. Bundles of goods may be tied to a wooden lattice secured between the branches.
Water Transport[]
Canoe. The plank canoe is little more than a slab of wood, roughly rectangular, with half-moon indentations carved in the middle of the longest sides. The rider straddles the slab, his legs firm against the indentations. He propels the canoe with his hands or small paddles.
A sturdier canoe, the dugout canoe, is made from a log at least three feet in diameter and six feet long. The log is hollowed, with one side scraped flat to prevent capsizing. A dugout canoe comfortably seats one passenger.
Coconut Raft, This barge-like craft consists of hundreds of coconuts lashed together with vines or leather strips, forming a circular platform up to 30 feet in diameter. The buoyant raft can support several hundred pounds of cargo and one or two passengers, who propel it with long branches pushed against the river bottom. If a coconut splits or cracks, it can easily be replaced; passengers drink the sweet milk from it and eat its sugary meat.
Kayak. Fast-moving and easy to maneuver, the kayak is made from a 10-foot wooden frame covered with the hides of seals or similar water-dwelling creatures. Once attached to the frame, the skins tighten as they dry, and are then coated with animal fat for water resistance. The passenger squeezes through a hole in the top, sitting with his legs extended into the bow. Water-resistant animal products, such as wolf skin or whale intestines, are stuffed in the hole, sealing in the passenger. A single oar with a paddle on each end propels the kayak.
Kufa. This vessel resembles an immense tub, made of skins attached to a lattice of reeds. Used by river riders, it's propelled with poles, much like a raft.
Palm Boat. Used by tropical fisherman, the palm boat looks like a narrow raft made from strips of woods. A half-dozen large palm leaves, erected like sails, catch the wind. A single passenger who sits near one end steers the craft with a flat paddle.
| Vehicle | Value (gp) |
Cargo (lbs) |
Mvmt Rate* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bikik | 20 | 700 | 21 |
| Passenger wheel- barrow |
20 | 300 | 9 |
| Sled | |||
| Runner | 15 | 700 | 15 |
| Enclosed | 20 | 300 | 15 |
| Hide | 5 | 200 | 21 |
| Roller | 5 | 300 | 21 |
| Travois | 2 | 150 | 15 |
| Canoe | |||
| Dugout | 15 | 500 | 15 |
| Plank | 2 | 200 | 12 |
| Coconut raft | 50 | 1,000 | 6 |
| Kayak | 30 | 250 | 20 |
| Kufa | 20 | 250 | 9 |
| Palm boat | 10 | 200 | 6 |
| |||||||||||||||||||