What is the best way to handle a chase scene?

[Ratinyourwalls]

So my PC's are now running away from the Goblin King and his forces. They are fleeing the Winterbole Forest at high speed on three caravan carts.
How would you suggest I run such an encounter?


I don't even know where to begin on the scripting....

 

[Quickleaf]

So my PC's are now running away from the Goblin King and his forces. They are fleeing the Winterbole Forest at high speed on three caravan carts.
How would you suggest I run such an encounter?


I don't even know where to begin on the scripting....

Well, you've overcome the largest hurdle already: getting the PCs to actually run away

So...is there a safe place the PCs can reach, like, say the goblins won't pursue them outside of Winterbole Forest? Or there is a settlement that the Goblin King won't enter? That gives you a rough idea of an end condition to the chase, e.g. "If the Goblin King can't catch the PCs within 4 rounds, then they escape Winterbole Forest and live to fight another day."

Say the chase lasts 4 rounds. Each round throw some obstacles at all the chasers, maybe come up with a random list you can roll on or use Paizo's chase cards. Something to spice it up.

Now depending on if you want a chase where it's all about who can push their carts/wolves/themselves faster...check out the Threat Detected chase rules...Threat Detected: Chase Rules July 2011

If you want a chase with well-rounded rules that's better for one on one, check out this blog: Life In The Big City – Chase Rules | Geek Related.

Or you could run an Obsidian-style skill challenge with a time limit to accrue a certain number of successes.

It's really up to your preference and what fits the specifics of your chase scenario best.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

I'm just backing up QL here -- he's got a lot of great ideas, and the bottom line is that anything --really anything -- can work, depending upon what you want to do.

I'd be inclined to play around with the format a bit -- if the PCs are on three wagons, then what you're running is really three parallel skill challenges, not just one. Or, at the very least, someone needs to spend their "round" driving each wagon.

Some options:

1. Come up with a series of "locations" that the wagons must navigate. Each location forces a specific set of rolls. The GameMastery chase deck can be a cool way to do that, but you don't need that -- you can just invent them on their own. Imagine scenes in a movie chase through the woods -- what are the challenges:

- Fallen log (acrobatics/athletics check to hold on; endurance check or take damage from being slammed around; nature/thievery check to keep the cart moving)
- Muddy Creek Bed (hard nature check to plow through - PCs who get out to push for the round can assist)
- Hairpin turns downhill/uphill (nature/acrobatics to stay on the wagons; pursuit ranges while in this zone are all treated as one step shorter)

.... and so on. In each round, a PC who is not engaged in the skill checks to keep the wagons moving can try some other actions -- create diversions, try to slow down pursuit, attack pursuers, etc. In each round there are goblins who can attack the wagons -- pickets who have been alerted by war drums and the racket created by the PCs attack as the Pcs go by, and worg-riders are right on their tails. You might want to have the worg riders concentrate on one card -- and try to attack the horses, rather than the PCs -- try to bring the cart to a halt, rather than kill the Pcs. Once the cart has been stopped, the rest of the goblin horde can finish the fight.

2. Try a version where you put the PCs in charge. Think of it as a game of "horse" (the basketball shooting game). The PCs are the ones running, so they pick the paths. There are roads, open meadows, game trails, and a host of other choices, so just leave it up to them.

Start with the pursuit (a bunch of goblins, some riding worgs) and the Pcs. Set up a set of boxes on the table for range bands -- Melee Range, Short Range, Long Range, Keeping Up.

The PC drivers pick a DC, and a skill (Dm's approval, of course). This represents the PCs picking the path they're going to take. Each goblin in pursuit has to make the same skill check.

- If all of the Pcs make the skill check, then the goblins must also make the skill check. Any that fail drop back a range category.
- If all of the Pcs fail the check, the goblins automatically advance a range category
- If some of the Pcs fail the check, those that succeed can choose to either hang back with the PC wagon that failed (and accept the failed result) or leave their companion behind. If they leave their companion behind, you can either split the whole thing into different challenges, or just allow the PCs that got ahead to escape automatically (but take them out of the encounter).
- At the end of the chase resolution each round, the goblins attack depending upon the range band they've managed to achieve. PCs who are not driving can also fight back. Once again, you might want the Goblins to attack the horses pulling the wagon rather than the Pcs -- once those horses are dead the chase is over, and the goblin horde can overwhelm them.

Really, anything goes -- just imagine the chase scene you'd like to see the PCs play through, and try to make it work. I kinda like the latter idea -- letting the PCs pick some DCs feels like a fun reversal, and the potential fun when one of the PCs rolls badly and holds everyone else up (or is left behind) could be a lot of fun.

-rg

 

[Mistwell]

I recommend you run it as a skill challenge, as detailed here by PirateCat. I will reprint it here for ease of reading:

Let's take the skill challenge I set up for this last game. The 10th level party has been teleported to Capria, the heart of civilization. This is the headquarters of The Enlightened, a guild of kenku assassins who (for whatever reason) have a contract out on the party's shaman Bramble. My skill challenge had a couple of goals:

- underscore the unique nature of The Enlightened
- create a tough fight that's unwinnable by normal means, and give the PCs a chance to win or solve it
- get the PCs to see or experience a few of the unique landmarks in this part of the city (some from this brainstorming thread, which my players should not read.)
- encourage the PCs to have a running chase, in which they kept moving and where each round happened in a different location
- make a cinematic, memorable battle/chase
- try to kill Bramble with pigeons

...ah, who am I kidding? That last one was the important one.

So here's the skill challenge. I set the DC high - DC 23, half way between the new "difficult" DC of 21 and the old non-errata one of 25. The group needed 12 (!) successes before 3 failures to succeed.

Attacked by pigeons

Difficult skill challenge: (12 successes before 3 failures.)

Goal: escape or slay the thousands of pigeons trying to rip Bramble to pieces.

Skills: Open to the PCs, but generally any skill that can be used to evade, hide from, confuse or kill pigeons.

Special:
- Using skills and attacks while running gives a +2 bonus, while staying still gives a -4 penalty.
- Attacks (bursts or blasts only) can be used in lieu of skill checks. They must hit a defense of 23 to be successful. A burst or blast gives +1 to another skill roll from that round for every 5 points of dmg it inflicts, or can count as its own success if it is not an at-will.
- Every round, Bramble takes 2d6 damage for every success not yet attained out of 12 (reduced by half if Bramble's own skill check that round is successful). This damage increases to 2d10 per success left if the PCs have 9 or more successes, as the few remaining pigeons fly into a frenzy.
- If other PCs surround Bramble, damage is shared.
- If the skill challenge is failed, there are consequences - but I don't want to share them here, since my players read this.


I only told the group some of this information: the bonuses for running and the way attacks can be used instead of skill checks. I didn't tell them that they could reduce Bramble's damage by helping shield her, or how much damage she'd be taking and why.

The group started on Conqueror's Bridge in round 1. An awning became a net (and then an impromptu pigeon-bludgeoning club), alchemical items were thrown, fire blasts filled the air, a DR-granting spell was cast, and there were hundreds of dead birds - with thousands more winging in from blocks away, all focusing on Bramble with their hard little black eyes. Remarkably, 5 successes and no failures. Pigeons swarmed the shaman, pecking and tearing for 30-odd points of damage. Never has "coo, coo" sounded so scary.

Because they said they were running, at the end of the round I described how they came off the bridge - thousands of pigeons blackening the air behind them - and had a choice of going left down the Forest of Slaves (an avenue lined with the crucified skeletons of a slave rebellion 15 years back) or right into the Spice Markets. Round 2 took place in the middle of the spice market, with customers screaming and ducking while tarps were ripped, spices thrown and incendiaries set off. Cobalt used an athletics check to shield Bramble with his own body while running, Logan used alchemical fire to ignite the fine dust of thrown spices, Caldwell used a nature check to cause the pigeons to shy away from the smell of their own dead, and Strontium blasted a huge number out of the air with fire scythe. Bramble, being clever, healed herself. Burning pigeons rained down onto the spice market as the group ran for the fortified counting house; the first failed skill check allowed some pigeons to swarm into the building along with the heroes. With 4 more successes (and one failure) under their belt, they finished round 2 inside. Round 3 finished when Cobalt used a thrown dagger to drop a massive chandelier on himself and Bramble, killing the remaining pigeons who had gotten in to the building. He unfortunately said "I'll pay for this!" before he knew it was worth 45,000 GP. The skill challenge ended with 12 successes and 1 failure, and the group took shelter and explained themselves while pigeons slammed against the closed door and windows, sounding like hailstones in winter.

My players should weigh in, but for me the skill challenge/chase/fight was a lot of fun. Even better, it managed to communicate the feel of the city while still keeping the PCs focused on staying alive. And my total design time, start to finish? 5 minutes. I'll argue it's just as easy to do this sort of skill challenge as it is to make one dry, boring and tedious.

 

[SonataMaginvox]

Looks like everyone's made some excellent and well thought-out suggestions. I only have one to add, and it's rather silly - the addition of the Yakety Sax music taken from Benny Hill.