D&D 5E Running Chases w/ Fixed Movement Speed

[Fauchard1520]

The best chase scenes I've seen in D&D were mid-4e Skill Challenges, that incorporated both individual and group checks. 5e has retained group checks, so you could lift an SC structure directly if you're already familiar.
If not, you could use the DMG system, at least as a starting point.
Or you could just stick to the play loop, the bad guy runs for it, the PCs declare the actions they'll use to try to catch him, you narrate the results, calling for checks where there's uncertainty.
If part of the point is to get the whole party caught up with the quarry so they can capture/kill/defeat it, then group checks could still be a useful tool, in that, based on the terrain and situation. Athletics for a flat-out sprint, Streetwise for following through narrow alleys without much line of sight to the quarry, acrobatics for a precarious environment and/or one with many obstacles like swinging through a jungle canopy or navigating a crowded marketplace or running on rooftops, endurance to exhaust and run down a faster quarry, etc.

Is there any place to check out a 4e Skill Challenge style race done properly? Maybe an especially good module that features 'em?

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I'm also in the "chases are skill challenges" camp. The one caveat is that there's always a chance that someone will just try to attack the fleeing target. Depending on the type of chase, I might tell them that they can't get a good line of sight on the target, or let them do so but count it as a failure in the skill challenge.

 

[Fauchard1520]

I'm also in the "chases are skill challenges" camp. The one caveat is that there's always a chance that someone will just try to attack the fleeing target. Depending on the type of chase, I might tell them that they can't get a good line of sight on the target, or let them do so but count it as a failure in the skill challenge.

Same question as the guy above: Do you have any examples of a published chase encounter that I could check out for comparison?

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I do not...I never ran a single module in 4e. That group was only gaming once a month back then, and considering how long combat took, I didn't want to spend a year on a single module that would've taken 2-4 sessions in any other edition.

Same question as the guy above: Do you have any examples of a published chase encounter that I could check out for comparison?