Running a chase scene

[Greenfield]

A small update.

I ran the Wild Hunt scene yesterday.

One of the PCs actively interfered, which made him a target for them. He then asked my character (who was in NPC mode for this scene) to help him, which would make my character a target as well. He couldn't refuse a friend, so he helped him escape.

Two summoned Celestial Hippogriffs later and they were off and away. The pack had to split.

The pursuit rules worked fairly well, though I had to keep notes on every obstacle/challenge as they were encountered so the pursuers would have the same obstacles/challenges to face. So it's a bit paper-intensive.

The main target ran like the wind until the panic effect from the Sluagh wore off, then cast Fly and made the pursuer's live miserable by leading them over every terrible obstacle he could find.

When that spell ran out he cast Alter Self and changed to Avarial (Winged Elf), and continued the tactic. He got spotted by the huntsman himself though and drew some arrow fire, so he dove back low and dodged through the streets.

When he reached the edge of the city he went over the wall, still in the air, and headed out.

I had half the pack that was after him Shadow Walk to get ahead, and start moving back towards the city. They didn't know where he was, but they wanted him caught between the two.

When he heard them ahead, he made a mistake. He could have just flown over them or switched directions. Instead he hit an irrigation canal and cast Alter Self again, switching to aquatic Elf. That was his last AS, so he was done with flying.

Even that might have worked to get past them, but he reversed course and right back towards the city. The huntsman spotted him under the water and began shooting.

He tried several tricks, and was making a real run of it. At one point he fireballed the huntsman, which barely singed his hair, but it killed his Phantom Steed, so he was grounded as well. Incidentally, it also lit a fire in one of the fallow fields, which interfered with the Sluagh scent tracking. (Of course, they weren't scent tracking any more, they had him in sight.)

He pulled every trick he could think of, but got pinned to a tree by a critical and it was over.

The others, who fled on Hippogriff back, changed course as soon as they were out of sight and headed straight out of town. The Sluagh missed the course change (rolled a 1) and headed to the river, where the characters had first said they were going. By the time they found the scent and caught up, there was less than an hour to dawn.

One PC had done Alter Self and changed to Trog'. If the Sluagh were going to scent track him, he was going to make them pay for it.

But the characters could hear the hounds behind them when the other one came up with a plan. Meld into Stone, at his level, was good for 70 minutes. So the Trog ran in circles to confuse the scent track, back trailed and doubled back again, then the pair of them stepped into a stone wall until after dawn. They survived.

If not for that final trick, we would have had most of the party dead.

Anyway, that's the final chapter on this little saga. I just thought I'd share with you friends, since you helped me with both the Wild Hunt and the pursuit rules.

 

[kitcik]

Sounds fantastic. Too bad I cannot XP.

 

[Water Bob]

The pursuit rules worked fairly well, though I had to keep notes on every obstacle/challenge as they were encountered so the pursuers would have the same obstacles/challenges to face. So it's a bit paper-intensive.

Did you follow the Pathfinder link that someone posted above? Those rules suggest using cards or post-it notes for "sections" of the chase. You write down the details of the chase on that section card, then pop it down in front of the players. They see the chase evolving not unlike following their characters through a flow chart.

I've thought about following that advice since my chase is very linear. There isn't to many directions the PCs can go since the chase happens among inter-linking tree limbs. But, I think if a chase was set, say, across the roof tops of the slum district in a major city, then the Pathfinder rules would not work so well. I think the GM either needs to wing it, calling the shots as the PCs throw him curveballs, or the Hot Pursuit rules should be used (I'd lean towards the Hot Pursuit rules).

What I did for my chase was just put some columns on a sheet of paper. One column per participant in the race. On the left margin, I'd indicate where checks need to be made. Each line on the paper represents 10' (the the scale can be changed, if I need a bigger or smaller unit). As the chase runs, I just pencil in dots showing where each person is relative to the ther (distance, not spacing).

 

[Greenfield]

I looked at them, but opted for my dice method. Yeah, randomly generated obstacles/opportunities may seem lazy, but it removed any suggestion that I, as temporary DM, was "out to get" the other player's PC.

I used to write up our game sessions as stories, when I hung out on a different forum. One of our ex-players who is ill and can't attend any more has asked me to write up this particular scene and e-mail it to him.

I might post it someplace on Enworld, if it doesn't suck too much.

 

[kitcik]

I looked at them, but opted for my dice method. Yeah, randomly generated obstacles/opportunities may seem lazy, but it removed any suggestion that I, as temporary DM, was "out to get" the other player's PC.

I used to write up our game sessions as stories, when I hung out on a different forum. One of our ex-players who is ill and can't attend any more has asked me to write up this particular scene and e-mail it to him.

I might post it someplace on Enworld, if it doesn't suck too much.

A little too late, but these got a good review from the ENWorld Newsletter.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=6669384]Greenfield[/MENTION]
Turns out I'm running a game with the Wild Hunt and I though I'd resurrect the thread to ask you about your experience? In my case the PCs are tracking the Hunt overland and aren't (a least initially) being actively hunted.

 

[Greenfield]

It really depends on how you've designed your Hunt. I know that there's a Hunt spelled out in one of the MMs, though I can't recall exactly which one off hand.

It also depends on your group's level and ability.

My group was about 8th level when I ran it, and I ended up custom designing my Hunt.

First thing I did was tone down the Huntsman. For story reasons (my Hunt scene was run in China, not Ireland) I had the leader of this group be someone other than the demi-god that leads it in actual Irish Mythology. I also toned him down from the less powerful Master of the Hunt from the afore-mentioned MM volume.

The next thing I did was design my own Sluagh. I toned down the individual members, but increased their number. The MM had the Hunt consist of something like 6 of the hounds. I wanted 30, a pack big enough to give the PC's a feeling of inescapability.

I based them on the Shadow Mastiff, advancing them a couple of HD and raising the Save DC on their howl by a few points. The standard Will Save DC is 13. I think I bumped it to a 15 or so. I also added a Shadow Walk ability 3 times a day. They already have Shadow Blend, which is in many ways better than Invisibility. They're normally a CR 5 creature, I think I bumped them to 7s or 8s.

According to the MM write up, their home plane is the Plane of Shadows, and I stuck with that. Being aspects of a divine function, I added the Celestial template to them as well. Remember that the function of the Hunt was to sweep up the souls of the dead and take them to Tor, the Celtic land of the dead. I also made the tireless, the way undead and/or constructs are. No CON score at all.

One thing to consider: Their terrifying howl can affect not only PCs but their horses, Familiars and/or Animal Companions as well.

Another aspect to consider adding: When the Huntsman sounds his horn, mortals within 300 feet must make a Will Save (set your DC appropriately for your group). If they fail they will either run with the hunt that night as additional hunters caught up in the madness of the moment, or they'll flee from it, and end up being hunted.

Usually mortals caught up in the madness usually run with/from the hunt until they drop from exhaustion. The Hunt won't actually hurt them when this happens, since their true quarry are the souls of the dead.

Now in your case, what they're doing seems kind of strange. Sort of like following the Assassin into that dark alley to see what he's up to. They're actively hunting a divine hunting party.

Can you fill in a few blanks? Like level, party size and/or composition, how or why they're doing this?

 

[Water Bob]

I developed some pretty easy-to-use chase rules here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-legacy-discussion/316986-thinking-about-d20-chases.html

If you end up using them, I'd like to hear how the chase went.





You can find a longer version of the rules in that thread above, but here's the quickie version...

d20 CHASE RULES - THE SLICK VERSION that helps use of these rules on the fly


These rules can be as detailed as you want to get, but they can also serve as a quick-n-easy set of mechanics that get the job done.

If you're interested in easy, here's how you can use these rules....





First off, only use these DC's.

Flat Terrain           +/-  5' Speed
----------------     ------------------
DC 0     CRAWL              20       
DC 5     WALK               15
DC 10    HUSTLE             10
DC 15    RUN                 5

The d20 rules recognize two types of terrain: Standard and Difficult. When using these Chase rules, choose terrain as you would by the rules. Assume Standard terrain unless the terrain is rough enough to be considered Difficult. If the terrain is Difficult, then cut a character's Speed in half. Penalize the amount of ground covered during the round but leave the DC as-is.

If you do this, using the rules I laid out above, then a character will not move faster than his base Speed unless a total of 20 or more is thrown. That's an easy flag in the game to recognize. When the total is 20+, then check to see if the character improves his base Speed that round.

Typically, your chases will happen at the Hustle movement category because this is the highest speed a character can move and still navigate obstacles. The Run category is reserved for straight-line, non-obstructed movement.

If you've got other terrain features that would normally encourage you to alter the DC, instead of changing those base DC's, consider the terrain feature as an obstacle. Avoidance of obstacles is considered part of movement and not a separate action.

Note that these rules will provide for hair-raising chases in the James Bond vein (set in a Swords & Sorcery setting, of course). Remember that roof top chase in the Bourne Ultimatum with Jason jumping across streets from balcony to balcony, through rooms, across the roofs of Tangiers. Use your imagination and think of a Conan chase like that across the roofs of Shadizar in the Maul. That's what you can do with these rules.

You (the GM) can pre-plan a chase on grid paper, or you can run the chase totally in your players' heads keeping track of only the distance between the character being chased and the characters chasing him.

Tactically, chases will go on for a long time unless one of two things happens: The person being chased fails an obstacle roll, allowing the pursuers to catch up with him, or the pursuers find straight-aways, allowing them to run, while the person being chased is stuck with avoiding obstacles (because Running at 4x Speed is double Hustling at 2x Speed). If Speed is different--as with a character with the Fleet Footed or Run Feat--then that will have a huge influence on the outcome of the chase as well.







QUICK EXAMPLE OF USING THESE RULES:

The PCs are strolling through the bazaar of Shadizar when the GM says, "Up ahead of you, you see that thief--the one that stole your bag of silver from the room when you were in Arenjun. He's leaning over a vegitable cart, probably plying his trade. He sees you the moment you see him, and he immediately darts off in the opposite direction."

The players respond by chasing him, and the race is on.

This particular chase is spurr-of-the moment. The game was getting a bit bogged down, and the GM wanted to spice up things before calling it quits for this night's game session.

The GM says it's about 30 yards from lead PC to badguy. That's 90 feet. So, that's the beginning distance between the thief and the PCs.

The bad guy is moving as fast as he can, but with all the people and the quick turns needed, the fastest Speed allowed is the character's Hustle movement. This means that the chase starts out at a DC 10. Throwing 20+ on the Chase roll will improve Speed by 5 feet for that round. Throwing a negative number on the Chase roll (possible with negative modifiers to the Chase roll) means that Speed for that round is decreased by 5 feet.

Because of the thick throng of people, all the carts, and the business of the marketplace at this time of day, the GM decides that the Chase checks will be made using the character's DEX attribute instead of their CON scores.

Roll initiaitive as normal. Run the Chase like a combat round. Keep track of the distance between the lead PC and the fleeing Thief. And, throw in some exciting, hair-raising obstacles from time to time--just make 'em up as you go.

Boom. You're off to the races.

 

[Quickleaf]

Thanks, it sounds like you run the Hunt following closely it's link to the dead. What ended up happening with the player of the dead PC? It sounds like they were recaptured?

Now in your case, what they're doing seems kind of strange. Sort of like following the Assassin into that dark alley to see what he's up to. They're actively hunting a divine hunting party.

Can you fill in a few blanks? Like level, party size and/or composition, how or why they're doing this?

In my game I'm running the Hunt a little more on the fey side than the divine/undead side, though really it's an ambiguous figure. The PCs are after a magic rite known only to the Horned Lord of the Hunt, Cerunnos; this rite has the ability to restore anyone to life no matter how long they've been dead and no matter the condition (or absence) of the body. They intend to convince the Horned Lord to share it with them.

This is a Planescape campaign, and the setting for the adventure is the Beastlands. The Wild Hunt has traveled to the Beastlands in pursuit of a herd of magic planewalking horses called the Nic'Epona; the Horned Lord desires to tame them as mounts. So the PCs have learned the Hunt is on the Beastlands and are just about to step thru a portal and begin tracking.

They might succeed in their quest on the Beastlands, they might need to track the Hunt onto other planes, or the tables could turn and they become hunted or, as you point out, they could be driven mad and compelled to ride with the Hunt.

The five PCs are 7th level, we have a cavalier, a druid, a sniper rogue, a monk, and a crossbow wielding modron artificer. Btw our group is playing 4e, but I'm using lots of 2e and some 3e stuff, not to mention Celtic myths, and the Witcher video game, so the ruleset matters less to me than the story.

 

[Greenfield]

The player of the dead PC started a new character in the game. His old character, having failed to evade the hunt, became one of the Sluagh. That's the nature of the game when you challenge the Hunt: You win and you get to live. You lose and you are part of the Hunt forever. You never reach the next life, and incidentally you can't be raised.

Now there have been many takes on the Hunt in fiction. Simon Green, in his Nightside series, wrote of Hern the Hunter, essentially a proto-deity, as the head of the Hunt.

Seanan McGuire, in her October Daye series (Fey based) wrote of Blind Michael, one of the children of Oberon, as the head of the Hunt. In that version of the tale, Blind Michael stole away children to become his mounts and hounds. Again the theme of Hunter or Hunted.

Jim Butcher, in his Dresden Files series, referred to The Erlking as the supernatural sort-of Fey leader of the Hunt. That rendition didn't use hounds at all, but goblins and the souls of the dead, but the "predator or prey" theme was still present.

The version I ran was tied to Celtic mythology, which might be thought of as just another form of fiction. But it's old fiction and that gives it an element of respectability.