Chases

Common skills: running, driving, piloting, jumping, climbing, stealth, bluffing, swimming.

A chase is an opposed extended task. The first to reach six wins is the winner of a chase situation (although the GM can modify this for longer or shorter chases). Multiple people can be involved in a chase, each making their own checks.

A simple foot chase simply involves STR or AGI checks, along with the running skill. A vehicle chase may instead use AGI and driving, or a starfighter chase may use AGI and piloting. 

A more complex chase involves other skills. The target chooses the action (they might elect to climb a wall, dive into an asteroid field, jump a canyon, and so on), and the pursuers must match it. Examples of actions can be seen below.

Foot chases

• • Climb a wall (climbing vs. climbing)

  • Jump an alleyway (jumping vs. jumping)

  • Disappear into a crowd (stealth vs. perception)

  • Swim a river (swimming vs. swimming)

  • Squeeze through a tight gap (acrobatics vs. acrobatics)

  • Balance along a narrow ledge (acrobatics or climbing)

  • Use a hidden shortcut (local knowledge vs perception)

  • Cause a distraction (bluff vs. perception)

  • Cause an obstruction or obstacle (varies)

  • Duck into a blind alley (stealth vs. perception)

  • Get somebody to give the pursuers false directions (bluffing vs. local knowledge)

Vehicle chases

• • Jump a canyon (driving vs. driving)

  • Fly though a twisting canyon (piloting vs. piloting)

  • “Ski” a vehicle through a narrow gap (driving vs. driving)

Space chases

• • Dive into an asteroid field (piloting vs. piloting)

  • Hide in a nebula (stealth vs. computers)

Speed

Different characters, creatures, vehicles, and ships have different speeds. While skill is the most important factor, speed is also very important. Anybody involved in a race or a chase can add +1d6 to their checks if they have a Speed of 10 or more, and +2d6 if they have a Speed of 20 or more.

Random Terrain

One way to adjudicate a chase is to randomly determine terrain and obstacles at each stage. Some basic examples using 2d6 can be seen below, although you are encouraged to devise your own tables tailored to your setting. Each obstacle gives the participants opportunity to devise how to use or circumvent them.

You may allow a PC an automatic win if they have a way to circumvent an obstacle which their opponent lacks— a PC with a jet pack automatically succeeds at crossing a canyon, for example.

2d6 Foot, Urban Foot, Wilderness Vehicle Space

2 Slick footing Cliff Broken bridge Temporal distortion

3 Gap/hole Mud patch Construction work Gravitic anomoly

4 Barrels or crates Steep incline Hairpin bend Unusual star

5 Twisting alleyways Dense trees Slow-moving vehicles Asteroid field

6 Slow passing vehicle Tangled undergrowth Crates and barrels Debris

7 Straight Straight Straight Straight

8 Wall Rock formation Busy junction Nebula

9 Ladder Unsure footing Canyon Gas cloud

10 Crowded street River Market square Convoy

11 Shortcut Animal herd Children in the road Wandering comet

12 Pool/river Canyon Funeral procession Ship graveyard