Help with Chase Scene

[Nikroecyst]

I am currently running an Eberron game in which the pcs have been tracking a paticular villian. They have just caught up to the carriage they were chasing and I had to cut the game for the night setting an excellent spot for a cliff hanger. This also gave me some time to think about how to run a "Chase Scene".

The PCs (5 of em) are all on horse back. The carriage they are chasing is 150 ft ahead of them down the road. For those of you who are familiar with Eberron, the road they are on leads from Zilspar to Tolanport. They are two days from Trolanport with the King's Forest on thier left and the coast of the Straits of Shargon on thier right.

The PCs each are riding Magebred horses and the carriage itself is being pulled by 4 Magebred horses. There is only a driver up top, a mysterious sorcereress, and two ghouls hiding in the carraige.

My original plan was to have the ghouls climb out of the carraige as it rumbles down the road and attack anyone who attempts to board the coach or act as a shield for the driver should anyone attempt ranged attacks to take out the driver. The ghouls have a couple leves in Rouge which helps thier climb, and balance while riding the top of the carraige down the bumpy road at 120ft/rnd.

What I need help with, rather what im looking for, is a good MECHANICAL system for a chase scene. I suppose I could use the standard rules from the core books but I was looking to spice it up a bit and make it a little more cinematic. I've never run a chase scene before, much less one this complicated. So any ideas would be greatly appriciated.

 

[Pinotage]

What I need help with, rather what im looking for, is a good MECHANICAL system for a chase scene. I suppose I could use the standard rules from the core books but I was looking to spice it up a bit and make it a little more cinematic. I've never run a chase scene before, much less one this complicated. So any ideas would be greatly appriciated.

You could try 'Hot Pursuit: The Definitive d20 guide to Chases'. It's from Adamant Entertainment and could very well be exactly what you're looking for.

Pinotage

 

[Ltheb Silverfrond]

WotC's Stormwrack had rules for ship-to-ship pursuit and combat that could be adapted to a chase. It was simple; all you had to do was do some skill checks once per round, and you only had to track the distance between the PCs and the Carriage.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Now, if one of the PCs has Warp Wood and can get close enough...

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

If you happen to have access to Spycraft, they have some pretty good chase rules that could be adapted.

 

[Ant]

I'd recommend the Dungeon #143 Dungeoncraft article "The Perfect Chase" written by one Wolfgang Baur.

 

[Merkuri]

I think the DMG II has rules and suggestions for a chase scene.

Early in our current campaign the DM had a chance scene happen while the PCs were in several carriages and being chased by raiders on horseback. I don't know if you want to do it the way our DM did, but he assumed that everyone was moving at the same speed and kept the minis in place. When somebody fell from the running horses or the carts they fell so far behind in just one round that they were just removed from the board. One tactic we discovered early was to cast grease on the ground a short way in front of the riders (the grease spot moved instead of the minis). We could basically pick off riders one at a time like this. I think we had to make balance checks to move around on top of the carriages.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

You could try 'Hot Pursuit: The Definitive d20 guide to Chases'. It's from Adamant Entertainment and could very well be exactly what you're looking for.

Pinotage

I would say "Hot Pursuit" is exactly what you are looking for... IIRC one of the samples in the book is horseback pursuit of a carriage

 

[Piratecat]

Privateer's "Five Fingers: Port of deceit" has great chase rules, written by Wolf Baur. In brief:

1. Take total move (in feet) for the round, and divide by 10. That's your base modifier. (ie, a running man = 30x4 = 120, so base modifier is +12.)

2. Add a stat modifier. Dex for first eight round of the chase, con after that. for a horse race, also use wis.

3. The chasers roll against one another. There's a big table of fun modifiers for different situations, but you can probably fake that.

4. The winner moves his base movement rate closer to / away from the loser.

We used it last night. Before the encounter, two players said "I HATE chases in D&D! They always suck." After the encounter, they said "Hey, that was fun! And fast!" So it gets the thumbs up in my book.

 

[barsoomcore]

You could try 'Hot Pursuit: The Definitive d20 guide to Chases'. It's from Adamant Entertainment and could very well be exactly what you're looking for.

Good idea!

And you can buy it on RPGNow for the low low price of $6.50!