Speed shouldn’t matter. In most RPG systems characters, mounts, and vehicles are going to have a specific maximum distance they can move in any given round. Some include modifiers for things like difficult terrain or pushing the character/mount/vehicle to the limit, but regardless of the specifics, with a bit of math it should be easy to determine an objective maximum speed for any character.
So, given that, all chases should be a simple matter of figuring out which character moves fastest, right? If a velociraptor can move six hexes per round, and is chasing Dr. Erin Rivers, who is limited to no more than four hexes per round, than it’s inevitable that no matter how far apart they begin, eventually our heroic paleontologist is going to be a raptor snack, right? Or, if Dr. Rivers finds a motorcycle which can also travel at six hexes per round, then they’re doomed to continue an unending pursuit, like two mythical figures locked in an eternal struggle, neither ever gaining ground on the other, forcing the gamemaster to check the rulebook to see if there are any guidelines for implementing exhaustion, starvation, or perhaps even velociraptor boredom.
Of course not! Movement rate shouldn’t be completely discounted, but if you want to make your chase encounter fun and exciting, then relative speed should only manifest as a minor bonus or penalty to other checks involved in the chase.
So, what are the ingredients for a good RPG high speed pursuit?
Location, Location, Location!
Whether the characters are trying to outrun an enraged triceratops on an island forgotten by time, escaping enemy starfighters in the debris field of space junk and dead satellites orbiting a forgotten world, or racing Mini Coopers through the back alleys of London, it’s important that the setting be interesting.
There’s a reason action movies rarely take place on a flat, empty plane.
Skills to pay the Bills
The vast majority of tabletop RPGs include some sort of subsystem to represent the abilities a character has, and as a gamemaster you should be encouraging their players to think creatively about using those skills. A chase encounter should be no different.
Certain skills are going to be obvious for a chase: If the characters are on foot, things like athletics, climbing, or even swimming and acrobatics are going to be useful. Riding or animal handling if the character is using some sort of animal, or driving or piloting if there’s a vehicle involved.
What if the character is particularly skilled at social interaction, though? If they’re on foot or mounted, and there’s a crowd, why not let them attempt to convince the bystanders to slow down or detain the person chasing them? Stealth could be used to blend into a crowd, or duck down an alley without being seen. Some sort of familiarity with their environment might allow the character to figure out a short cut, or how to use the terrain to their advantage. A working knowledge of the local criminal element could allow the character to lead their pursuer to a more dangerous area of the city.
If nothing else, a high bluff check might be used to convince the other party members that a tyrannosaur’s vision is based on movement, giving one character the opportunity to run away while everyone else stands around like a bunch of suckers, waiting to be eaten.
The important thing for a GM is to be flexible. Your players might surprise you, and that might lead to an awesome moment.
Environmental Hazards
Regardless of where the chase takes place, there should be plenty of obstacles to contend with. You can describe a really interesting and thematically appropriate location, but if you don’t use it, you might as well have set the scene in an empty hallway.
If the characters are running through a busy open air market, there could be dense crowds, local law enforcement, and oblivious fruit sellers pushing their cart across in the path. If the pursuit is done on airboats in a mad scientist’s experimental jungle biome, there could be sandbars just under the water, territorial wildlife – i.e. pteranodons and spinosaurs – and sudden dangerous whirlpools. Trying to follow space pirates through an asteroid belt, the characters could have to contend with the asteroids themselves, or perhaps the pirates seeded the belt with mines they’re able to activate after they’ve already passed, or maybe whatever material the asteroids are composed of is interfering with the players’ ship’s sensors.
Don’t be afraid to provide opportunities for the players to be awesome. Put an obvious ramp in place to let them bypass a bridge by leaping their motorcycle across the narrow river. Give them the chance to leap from their stage coach and on to a bounty hunter’s horse.
How the players and NPCs are able to deal with these hazards, either through role-playing or rolls should determine how the chase goes. Go into the challenge with a number of successes required for the players to “win” the chase.
Of course, then you have to figure out what happens when the characters being chased escape, or – perhaps more interesting – if they’re caught.
