Chase+Rules


 * Chase Stress**

//Requires: none// //Optional: Vehicle Stats// Chase Stress is a measure of how effective you are in the chase. It’s a catch-all stress track, and can cover losing ground in a chase to vehicular damage. Drive determines the stress track length. When your chase stress is filled, you are out of the chase in a manner determined by the Taken Out condition.

If you’re only using Chase stress, but are using vehicle stats, you may allow the higher of Body or Speed to modify the Drive skill for determining stress track length.


 * Durability Stress**

//Requires: Vehicle Stats// The Durability stress track relates directly to a vehicle’s condition. Its length is determined by the vehicle’s Body stat. When it is filled, the vehicle is undriveable and is out of the chase. “Undriveable” can cover a lot of situations and should be determined by the Taken Out conditions.


 * Vehicle Stats**

//Requires: None// Vehicles have two stats: Speed: It’s a combination of acceleration, cornering, and top speed. I tried making a chart with Speed and Handling divided up, but honestly most of the cars came out with speed and handling either equal or with a difference of only 1 point or so. If there is going to be a significant difference between speed and maneuverability, use Stunts or Compels. Body: Durability stress, surviving collisions, ramming, passenger protection, and plowing through obstacles. Body is mass and weight and toughness. Note that it’s not armor - if you have an actual armored car, you should have Armor above and beyond its Body.

A vehicle’s Speed and Body are usually not rolled directly. Instead, they modify their driver’s Drive skill. Most of the time a driver will be able to describe their action in such a way to gain the maximum benefit from their vehicle, but sometimes a wily opponent or a well-timed Compel might force you to deal with your vehicle’s disadvantages.

Vehicle Speed Body Motorcycle 5 0 Sports Car 5 1 Police Car 4 3 Muscle Car 4 2 Coupe 3 1 Sedan 2 2 SUV 2 3 Pickup 1 4 Truck 0 5


 * Do You Know Where You’re Going? Chases Without Maps**

//Requires: Chase stress//


 * Goals**

The quarry’s objective is to Take Out their pursuers by filling their chase stress tracks. The pursuer’s goal is to fill their quarry’s chase stress track and Take them Out instead.


 * Initiative**

Initiative happens a little differently in a chase. The quarry goes first, then that quarry’s pursuers take action in descending order of Drive skill. If there’s a tie, PCs go before NPCs.


 * Striking Distance (sorry, Bruce Willis)**

The default during a mapless chase is a situation where all participants might be able to see their quarry/pursuers, but they are not close enough to ram them off the road or shoot them at will. To get close enough to take offensive actions, you have to tag an appropriate Aspect for effect, just like initiating a grapple in unarmed combat. When you do, you are considered to be within Striking Distance of your target. It’s a condition that’s a prerequisite for many actions during a chase. The intention is to make the chase about maneuvers and descriptions, not about a simple gunfight on wheels.

Please note: Striking Distance can be maintained over several exchanges if the Aspect you tagged was sticky. It also means that in these situations, your opponent can be considered within Striking Distance of you for any actions they wish to take.


 * What You Can Do on Your Turn**


 * Shake Pursuit**

Shaking Pursuit is a special action only available to the quarry. Choose a difficulty and roll Drive against it, describing the insane risks you’re taking to escape your pursuers. If you fail to beat your chosen difficulty, you take chase stress equal to the degree of failure.

The benefit of taking the Shake Pursuit action is that each one of your pursuers must now roll Drive against the difficulty you chose. Failure inflicts chase stress to their vehicles equal to the margin of failure. In this way, one skilled quarry can evade multiple lesser pursuers without having to target each opponent individually. If a pursuer beats both the chosen difficulty and their quarry’s own effort, they move up to Striking Distance as if they had tagged an appropriate fragile Aspect for effect. If the pursuer was already at Striking Distance, they inflict chase stress on their quarry equal to the margin of success between their roll and the quarry’s roll.

As the quarry, therefore, you want to choose a difficulty low enough for you to beat, but not too low, else your pursuers will easily beat it as well, giving them a chance to beat your roll and move into Striking Distance. If you choose too high a difficulty, however, you’ll take chase stress and then any pursuer who can beat the chosen difficulty will automatically beat your roll and move into Striking Distance.


 * Maneuver**

Maneuvers are the most widely useful action in this kind of chase, and any participant, driver or passenger, can usually justify a maneuver. Maneuvers generally work as normal, although the importance of having Aspects to tag for effect in order to move within Striking Distance cannot be overstated. In addition, the GM should take into account the ever-changing environment in a typical high-speed chase when deciding if a given Aspect is fragile or sticky.


 * Attack (requires Striking Distance)**

Once you’re within Striking Distance of your opponent, you can attempt to inflict stress on them. The skills involve can vary depending on the tactics used. Some common ones are listed below:

//Ram / Trading Paint / P.I.T. / Sideswipe//

You ram your vehicle into your target. Roll Drive to attack (modified by Body). Your target may choose to avoid the collision (roll Drive, modified by Speed) or welcome to chance to force you off the road (roll Drive, modified by Body). If you beat your opponent’s roll, you deal stress to their vehicle equal to the margin of success. If they are avoiding your attack and succeed, they may choose to put themselves within Striking Distance or they may move you out of Striking Distance. However, if they are countering your sideswipe with their vehicle’s own bulk, then treat it as a simultaneous attack roll. Highest effort deals stress to the losing vehicle equal to the difference in rolls. Optional: If you are using Vehicle stats, add the difference in Body to the stress inflicted. If your opponent’s vehicle has a high enough Body to reduce the stress below zero, YOU take the resulting stress. Don’t sideswipe a bus with a motorcycle.

//Shoot the Car//

You make a ranged attack on the opponent’s vehicle. This usually is a Guns roll, but it might be Discipline if it’s a lightning bolt or something. The opposing driver avoids the attack with Drive. We generally even out the would-be penalties for firing from a jostling, speeding vehicle with the would-be bonuses to hit a large vehicle.

If the shooter is also driving, don’t forget the -1 supplemental action penalty. Optional: The target’s Drive roll is restricted by Speed, this will make it a little easier to hit slower trucks and the like.

//Shoot the Driver//

If you’re shooting your opponent’s vehicle and beat their defense by 3 or more, you may apply that attack to the driver or a passenger. Optional: Stress inflicted should probably be counted as if the defensive Drive roll was 3 higher, else every attack 3 points over the victim’s defense will be some sort of devastating headshot. Or you can reward the good rolling/FP expenditure and apply the full margin of success. It’s messier but it’ll resolve the conflict faster.

//Shoot the Tires//

Shooting out the tires is something best handled as a sticky Maneuver or as a Consequence of stress inflicted.


 * Block (requires Striking Distance*)**

Blocks in chases work pretty much like blocks everywhere else in the rules, except generally you have to be within Striking Distance to pull them off in a chase..


 * Sometimes the specific circumstances of a Block might not require Striking Distance. It’s situational and should follow from the narrative.