Chase (House rules)

[Sanke]

Hello everyone.

 

Next session, my players will have to face a Hunting Horror. After a few rounds, they will (I hope) notice they can`t beat it, and we will move to a chase scene, emulating that picture in the book with a car being chase by this flying monster. The problem is that looking at RAW, Hunting Horror flying speed is 11, and a standard car has speed of 12 (at 20's). So that would mean there is no chase.

So I'll try to adapt JAMES BOND RPG chase rules for CoC 7th edition. What do you think?

 

Steps:

1. GM determines range at which the chase begins for the first round, the range in subsequent rounds will be determined by the maneuvers undertaken.
2. Bidding round 
3. Winning side declares which side goes first.
4. Side going first declares which maneuver will be used.
5. Maneuver is resolved. If successful the results are applied immediately, if unsuccessful determine whether a mishap has occured.
6. First side can fire any weapons it has.
7. Side going second declares maneuvers, resolve as per step 5
8. The second side can now fire its weapons.

Repeat until the chase is over.

Step 1 Five range categories, Close, Medium, Long, Distant and Extreme.

Step 2 GM and players engage in a bidding war, first one side bids then the others. Initial bid starts at Difficulty Normal, and bids can be done by adding penalty dies (up to +2) or increasing difficulty. GM bids for all NPC's at once. If the PC's are in separate vehicles they bid separately, if they're in the same vehicle the driver bids. Difference in MOV  limits the highest number of increases that can be bid without risking a mishap by player or GM.

Example bid:

GM - Normal 

Players - Normal + 1 penalty die

GM - Normal + 2 penalty die

Players - Hard

Step 3 Winning bidder announces whether his character will go first or last. GM decide's which order the remaining PC's go in.

Step 4 If a PC is going first they describe what they want to do and they and the GM decide which maneuver fits the action. If the NPC's go first the GM decides one maneuver for all of them.

Step 5 The first side now resolves its maneuver. If successful the effects apply immediately. If it fails a mishap may occur, a Safety roll is made. If the Safety roll (rating determined by the maneuver attempted and any other modifiers) succeeds there is no mishap. PC's can spend Luck on either roll as normal.

Step 6 The first side may attempt to attack another participant in the race, range permitting.

Step 7 The other side now resolves its maneuvers

Step 8 As per step 6 for the second side.

 

Maneuvers

Pursue/Flee - Safety Rating modifier +1 (gets +1 penalty die or difficulty gets one level higher if already at +2 penalty die)

An attempt to either close or increase the distance between parties involved in the chase. You can change ranges based on difficulty rolled:

-          Normal: 1

-          Hard: 2

-          Extreme: 3

-          Critical: 4

This maneuver cannot be used if the speed difference between the two vehicles is too great e.g. a character on foot cannot puruse or flee a character in a vehile (unless the character is superhumanly fast or the vehicle is uncommonly slow)

 

Force - Safety rating modifier +2

An attempt to physically interfere with another vehicle in the chase in order to cause a mishap or apply an aspect. The characer performing the maneuver receives bonus (or penalty) die equal to the difference between their vehicle and the targets Build. If the maneuver is successful the victim must make a safety roll against same difficulty. If they fail they suffer a consequence.

Maneuver can only be attempted at Close range.

 

Quick Turn - Safety rating modifier +2

 

An attempt to have the pursuer lose track of you by taking an evasive maneuver. If successful the pursuer must make a Spot Hidden roll against same difficulty. If it is succesful, range becomes close. If not, there is a chance the chase ends.

 

Double Back - Safety rating modifier +2

 

Turn 180 degrees and pass the pursuers who are now going in the wrong direction. If successful your range with the pursuers becomes Close. If the pursuers do not use the Double Back maneuver (and receive the same number of Shifts as you did) then at the end of the round your range becomes Extreme. the pursuer can optionally perform a Force maneuver.

This maneuver cannot be used by the pursuer and can only be used at Close and Medium range.

 

Trick - Safety rating modifier +3

 

A catch-all category for the kind of miscellaneous actions that can be attempted in a chase, popping up on two wheels to cut through an alley, jumping a canal, etc. If the GM disallows the trick the PC suggests the player can choose another action. If the Trick is successful the pursuer must make the same roll. A failed attempt will result in the pursuer suffering a consequence unless they succed in a Safety roll.

If you dont get at least Hard difficulty on the roll the vehicle gains a temporary aspect to reflect it coming through not quite intact.

 

Mishaps

These occur if you fail a Safety roll, the vehicle suffers a Consequnce. If you bid higher than difference in MOV you will need to make a safety roll even if your maneuver succeeds. If you fail your maneuver and you bid higher than difference in MOV you will have to make two Safety rolls.

The character driving can choose to suffer a consequence in place of the vehicle.

[rsanford]

Is the chase happening in a city? If so the party will have to follow streets while the horror can cut across city blocks as the crow flies. Also if they are in a city they can’t go full speed. When I did this was drew a city map with intersections points...

[Sanke]

26 minutes ago, rsanford said:

Is the chase happening in a city? If so the party will have to follow streets while the horror can cut across city blocks as the crow flies. Also if they are in a city they can’t go full speed. When I did this was drew a city map with intersections points...

No, it is on the woods, but I also intend to throw some obstacles at them. Using these rules, they can use "Trick" to bypass them without major issues, or add complications (damage, penalty die) to their other actions.

 

 

[Atgxtg]

Considering how tough Mythos nasties can be, and how zealous some of the followers can be, I could easily see the bad guys bidding a really tough bid and either because they are resistant to injury (Mythos nasties) or fanatics (cultists), This could cause some troubles for the players if they get stuck with a suicidally high difficulty, and a sort of kamakaze result.

 

[mvincent]

22 hours ago, rsanford said:

Is the chase happening in a city? If so the party will have to follow streets while the horror can cut across city blocks as the crow flies. Also if they are in a city they can’t go full speed. When I did this was drew a city map with intersections points...

Excellent suggestion. This would apply to backwoods roads too (which are seldom straight, and often have switchbacks due to terrain requirements). It seems like printing out a some back roads maps from Google Maps would be pretty easy, and could add to the fun.

I'm not a fan of using complicated mechanics for a chases, as it tends to take everyone out of roleplaying to focus on those mechanics. I often tend to wing it (to allow the players to do just about anything).

Edited December 13, 2018 by mvincent

[Son-of-the-Furies]

My first comment is that I think you were a bit quick to move away from the official RAW - they state "If the fleeing character is significantly faster than his or her opponent...", but in your case the difference was only 1 MOV, so IMO the chase was on. Further considering potential hazards, taking corners, etc. would mean the ground-based flee-er (there's some quality grammar for you) is at a disadvantage to the flyer, which means again, the chase was on.

Further, I'm not a big fan of the short-cut e.g. 'flying over buildings', woods etc. because realistically, it means intentionally losing sight of the quarry AND possibly making an assumption as to which way they are heading, which in the city, or woods, could be disasterous. I'd only do this to my players if the hunter was on home ground or otherwise knew the terrain so well they are sure to know where they need to fly to in order to ambush/catch-up with their quarry.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Son-of-the-Furies
typo

[Joe Kenobi]

I recently ran 7th edition Chase rules in a campaign for the first time and it went over a lot better with my players than I'd feared. I thought it would feel mechanics-heavy and and like a mini-game, but my players said they thought it built tension and worked really well.

My one piece of advice from this very limited experience: Throw obstacles/hazards at your players, but give them choices in how they address them. If they have a few options for handling the hazards--some that involve skill rolls, some that involve less-than-desirable choices--you'll keep agency in your player's hands. I raise this because while our chase was a car chase of equal-speed vehicles, I'd think the way to keep a chase of different-speed participants entertaining would be to give choices that will sometimes result in the characters slowing down or taking a less-than-optimal path by their own choice, rather than simply the luck of the dice roll.