Here’s an idea I had for a custom move to facilitate chases.

Here’s an idea I had for a custom move to facilitate chases.

Here’s an idea I had for a custom move to facilitate chases.

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New range tag: Away (Beyond shouting distance).

Distance by range:

1: Hand (Captive), 2 : Close, 3: Reach, 4: Near, 5: Far, 6: Away (Escaped).

A chase begins between 2 and 5 and ends at either 1 or 6.

When you are party to a chase, Roll+Dex in a complex area or +Con in an open area:

If you are fleeing:

* On a 10, gain +1 Distance. 

* On a 7-9, no change, but an obstacle or complication must be overcome to continue fleeing (A 10 against this obstacle grants +2 Distance as you navigate it more swiftly than your pursuers. A 7-9 grants +1 Distance if something you value is lost or broken as you flee. A 6 inflicts -2 Distance).

* On a 6, take -1 Distance.

If you are pursuing, the reverse:

* On a 10, take -1 Distance. 

* On a 7-9, no change, but an obstacle or complication must be overcome to continue pursuit (A 10 against this obstacle grants -2 Distance as you navigate it more swiftly than your quarry, or a 7-9 grants -1 Distance if something you value is lost or broken as you pursue. A 6 inflicts +2 Distance).

* On a 6, gain +1 Distance.

19 thoughts on “Here’s an idea I had for a custom move to facilitate chases.”

  7. The difference between reach, close, and hand isn’t all that profound, no more than a meter or two. How about reducing the list of distances down to 4 instead? Too many gradients prolongs the chase too much.

  8. Peter Johansen Fair call! That’s why I posted it here. I can’t comment until I run it, but the intention was to make the closing gap intense by emphasising each increment. I haven’t looked at how to handle groups, either. Maybe the lowest dex/con score is used when fleeing, and the highest when pursuing?

  9. That’s a good call on groups, I like it.

    I’m a member of the “less is more” school of thought for rolls, so here’s how I would word it:

    Hand/Captured—Reach—Near—Far—Away/Escaped

    When you are party to a chase, roll+DEX in a complex area or +CON in an open area. *On a hit, increase or decrease the distance by one, your choice. *On a 7-9, choose one:

    – You have to go in a direction you didn’t originally intend to for a while, either away or towards something else undesirable, but the chase is still on

    – The terrain turns dangerous or an obstacle appears in your way, you’ll have to deal with it before continuing the chase

    – Something slows the both of you down, giving your foe a brief chance to strike back before you change distances

    – You attract unwanted attention

    – You lose something important

    *On a 6-, the GM chooses to increase or decrease the distance by one.

  10. I really like Peter Johansen ‘s version. It seems rooted more in the fiction than mechanics. The original felt more like skill checks from dnd 4e. Brilliant idea to start it Matt Horam

  11. Peter Johansen I like it but I would condense the options on a 7-9. The first two options don’t work with the fiction for me – if you change direction or an obstacle appears, how did you improve your chance of finishing the chase? That seems more like a no-change result to me. The third option is interesting but seems like something that could be rolled into the fourth. I would just go with these for 7-9:

    -You attract unwanted attention

    -You lose something important

  13. How’s this concise version?

    New range tag: Away. Beyond shouting distance.

    Distance by range:

    1: Hand (Captured), 2: Close, 3: Reach, 4: Near, 5: Far, 6: Away (Escaped).

    When you are party to a chase, Roll+Dex in a complex area or +Con in an open area:

    * On a 10 or a 6, shift 1 Distance appropriately.

    * On 7-9, an obstacle or complication interrupts the chase; defy this danger to shift 2 Distance appropriately (A 7-9 against this danger demands a sacrifice to shift 1 distance).

  14. Noah Tucker  They’re intended to be partial successes, or success with a cost.

    For the first one, you may be trying to run away not only from your pursuer, but also the pursuer’s base of operations. Or you wind up further away from your hideout than you would have liked, so you have to get across town after losing the pursuer.

    For the second, obstacles open up other attributes to be used to resolve the chase. If the chase moves through a crowd and you just start tossing people out of the way, you may make the next leg of the chase with STR instead of DEX. I should add that bit in.

  15. Peter Johansen If you frame the interruption as Defy Danger, that opens up to all stats, hence my wording in the more concise version. Does that help?

  16. Sort of. It might make a 7-9 too appealing though, since it gives an opportunity to get 2 distance on a completely different stat on your next roll. So, I wouldn’t call it Defy Danger per se, maybe just state that it can change the stat you use on the next round. Like I said, less is more.

    And I still stand by my decision to drop close from the list.

  17. It’s just the 1 Distance you didn’t get on the previous, plus another 1 from overcoming the obstacle, but I get your points.

    I’m not ready to let go of “close” until I run the thing. I think I’m motivated by OCD and having a list of six distances.

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