Sell Me On A Chase Mechanic

[IronWolf]

I have heard many good things about Hot Pursuit, but I have never picked it up.

I have played with Pathfinder's Chase Rules that someone linked to earlier. They can be fun with the right amount of prep. I also have posted a sample winter scene chase in an urban environment as well as an example setup using the Pathfinder Chase Rules.

 

[Janx]

Here's a terribly effective mechanic:

pull out some dog poo and squish it between your hands.

Tell the player that if they get caught, so does their PC.

Then say "Run."

At that point, it's a simple matter of chasing after them. They'll be highly motivated to avoid you.

Note: The dog-poo system works well for sword training as well. You'd be surprised how much more realistic the dodging gets when there's dog poo on the end of your practice blade.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

I've got Hot Pursuit and used it back when I ran 3.5. For 4e, more often than not, I'll use a skill challenge-based system to handle a chase.

I also have the deck of chase cards that Paizo produces -- pretty cool quicky chase system that could be easily adapted to 4e.

Doing that is pretty simple, and it can be pretty flexible:
- Each participant in the chase participates in their own challenge -- they track their own successes.
- Runners start with 4 successes. Pursuit starts at 0.
- Each round there's an obstacle to overcome -- it can be the same sort of challenge (in the case of a flat-out run across a plain) or something different every round.
- Everyone makes skill checks to deal with the obstacle. (It would be best to make sure there are a couple of skills PCs might use, with DCs based on how stupid their ideas are, etc).
- Participants that succeed gain a success.
- At the end of a round, any pursuit character that is 7 successes behind the closest runner drops out of the encounter (they've fallen too far behind).
- At the end of a round, any pursuit character that is on the same number of successes as one or more runners can make a skill check (pick something) to force an encounter, which stops the chase for those characters.
- Pursuit and Runners who don't drop out of the chase can keep going (the chase continues for them, until the runners escape or the pursuit forces another encounter)
- Pursuit or Runners who would like to can join an encounter that has started, delayed one round for every success between where they are and where the encounter is taking place. (so, if the fighter stops the fleeing goblin on success #13, the cleric on success #11 will arrive at the start of round 3, and the other fleeing goblin on success #14 would arrive at the start of round 2.)

Throw in the chase cards to mix up the skills being used, and encourage your PCs to get creative (make an intuition check to find a short cut through a bathhouse rather than following on the street, etc).

-rg

 

[halfjack]

There's a great chase system in Diversifying Diaspora (Diversifying Diaspora v1.0 | Diaspora | RPGGeek) that's designed for FATE systems but could be very easily adapted to something else.

 

[Water Bob]

I've created some extremely simple Chase Rules using the exisiting d20 3.5 mechanics. Easy-Cheesy Chase Rules.

This is what I'm currently using in my campaign.

I like it because it's easy and it uses existing rules.





1. When you have a chase break out, and the characters or beasts have different Speed ratings, you don't need any rules. Just run movement normally.

2. When you need these Easy-Cheesy Rules is when racers have the same Speed rating (because it is unbelieveable that one will not be even a little bit ahead of the other).

3. When using the Easy-Cheesy rules, simply roll an opposed CON check between the chase particpants (with the same Speed rating). If the difference of the result is 5 or less, then both characters move at their Speed ratings. If one of the characters throws at least 5 points higher than the other, then that character moves at full speed while the other moves 5' less than the race leader.

In this way, the race is excting, with the participants changing places. It takes several rounds and several CON check wins to have one character pull ahead of the other (which makes sense since all have the same Speed rating).

And, the CON check is a lot like many example throws provided in the rules--like Climbing, where failing a throw by 4 points or less means no advancement, and failing by 5 or more means the character fell.


4. If more than two characters are racing each other, always compare the runner's CON throw to that of the race leader--not each other--determine position in the race.

5. Use DEX instead of CON if the terrain calls for agility.

6. The GM should throw in obstacles that test skills like Jump, Swim, Climb, Balance, as appropriate, during the chase.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Hot pursuit is nice because it formalizes what generally would be off the cuff rulings and provides some very evocative examples to keep the chase from being a dry dice rolling opportunity. The biggest key to me was to expand what the players could potentially do during a chase scene.

The basic assumption is that everyone keeps up with each other using a normal move action. They can use a standard action to do other things, such as take shortcuts, create obstacles, break through obstacles... and they can chose to drop back a zone in order to attack.

The end result is that individual choices matter and as long as the players are given either enough detail to work with or some latitude in creating details, the chase scene can be memorable.

That being said, when I have time I am coming back to this thread to poke at all the other links upthread!

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

In general terms, how do Hot Pursuit and Spycraft's mechanic work?

Been too long since I've used it, and I lost my cards, but...

In Spycraft, it does not use a map. Real handy, compared to Modern, where map sizes with driving are huge. Each turn the drivers gets a maneuver, and I think the person who wins initiative puts down their maneuver second.

A simple one might be "Red Line" where you just try to drive faster. Another might be "zig zag", which makes it more difficult for someone to hit you. A more complicated might be "clip-driving", where you drive through clutter (such as gravestones in a graveyard).

Each maneuver has a modifier against another maneuver (much like old-style psionic combat). Fortunately, the rules are much simpler. Going second (so winning initiative) gives an obvious benefit here. I don't recall if you roll initiative once or every round in Spycraft (I never used it, generally preferring Modern).

One driver would be the "predator" and one the "prey". They start a certain number of narrative spaces apart (I think it's 2d6). If the prey gets far enough away from the predator (I think it's 20 or 30), they escape. Needless to say, winning or losing maneuvers changes how far apart the drivers are narratively.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

No muss, no fuss, no conversion. Easy to explain and implement at a moments notice.

Just the way I like it!

Chases - PRD

Looks fun!

Tangent: Without getting into edition-wankery, I did laugh a little when I read the PF advice about choosing DCs for chase obstacles based on the PCs' level. The context is better explained than it is in the 4e DMG, but the concept is the same.

"They get away" & "Roll to grab 'em" do happen often enough anyways given the disparity of movement speed (and maneuverability and other stuff) between monsters and at at least the bog standard PC races. Sometimes you're just faster, sometimes they are. Sometimes the dragon can just fly away, sometimes the wizard teleports.

1. When you have a chase break out, and the characters or beasts have different Speed ratings, you don't need any rules. Just run movement normally.

It's true that sometimes the dragon just flies away, or the wizard just teleports. But I'm trying to generally steer away from auto-chases. "Who's got the higher speed? Okay, you win" isn't exciting, and it defeats my secondary purpose: which is to give PCs the chance to chase down or evade faster runners.

 

[howandwhy99]

It's true that sometimes the dragon just flies away, or the wizard just teleports. But I'm trying to generally steer away from auto-chases. "Who's got the higher speed? Okay, you win" isn't exciting, and it defeats my secondary purpose: which is to give PCs the chance to chase down or evade faster runners.

Just take it into account. In most cases, when a creature is significantly faster than another it is going to escape a chase. However, the number of rounds (and won initiatives) until that point is reached depends on how fast, where they run, what the pursuer does, etc.

For example: The orcs run from the halfling party:
>The orcs move 2x faster and aren't stopped due to losing initiative or some other time determinant.
>The halflings switch to ranged weapons and attack.

>Perhaps they take another one or two out before cover is reached or they are out of range?
>Perhaps tracking is taken up as the chase could continue with different resources at stake, like endurance and long term strenuous activity (running).
>Perhaps they fireball these orcs just because they can?
>Perhaps they ignore them and shout curses after?
>Perhaps they teleport to the top of the ridge and surprise the orcs all over again?

Or perhaps they run after them and just try and stay in sight. That'll last a few rounds (minutes) depending on the terrain until sooner or later the PCs need to do something other than just run as the orcs move 12 and the halfings move 6.

Speed should matter in a chase IMO. It doesn't have to be everything, but not every P&E is going to be "The Searchers" [starring John Wayne] or a worthy of a movie scene.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Start with a basic contest of attribute/skill.

Anyone who mentions shucking & jiving gets a +1 bonus

Anyone who yells " YEE-HAW" gets a +1 bonus

Anyone who refers to themselves as lost sheep get a +1 bonus

Anyone who says "we gotem now" gets a -1 penalty

Anyone who refers to themselves as red dog gets a -1 penalty

Anyone who mentions a little buddy gets a -1 penalty.


All bonuses and penalties stack. Loser buys drinks at the Boar's Nest.