ED4 Chase scenes

Discussion on game mastering Earthdawn. May contain spoilers; caution is recommended!
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The Undying
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Re: ED4 Chase scenes

Post by The Undying » Tue Dec 27, 2016 12:17 am

Slimcreeper brings up a pretty core point to the entire chase mechanic: base movement speed. While I, personally, am still not a fan of rolling for chase movement or anything like that, I think base movement speed does play a pretty core element in the length and tenor of a chase. Elf chasing an Obsidimon? The Elf is going to win unless the Obsidimon is crafty. Obsidimon chasing an Elf? Obsidimon better get crafty and try to cut him off somehow.

More than that, though, is the trade-off that Slimcreeper identifies: a group can only move as fast as its slowest member, and that can make a huge impact. If your player group is composed of a bunch of fast races with one or two slower races, what are they doing? Are the faster ones leaving the slower ones behind or not? If they are, if/when the party catches their prey, I'd make/force the faster guys to have a couple turns with their target before the slower ones catch up (which can be risky if the squishy folks ran ahead of the tank but they HAD to lest the enemy get away).

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Kosmit
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Re: ED4 Chase scenes

Post by Kosmit » Tue Dec 27, 2016 7:48 am

Obsidimon? xD

Lys
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Re: ED4 Chase scenes

Post by Lys » Tue Dec 27, 2016 8:31 am

Kosmit wrote:Obsidimon? xD
Obviously it's a kind of slow but very powerful Digimon whose body is made of obsidian.

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The Undying
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Re: ED4 Chase scenes

Post by The Undying » Tue Dec 27, 2016 9:35 am

Yeah ... I don't have an excuse lol. For some reason, whenever my brain thinks of the rock-ish Namegiver race, obsidiMON always comes out. I'll go sit in the shame corner with the shame hat on (it's kewl, though, it's Named, so that's good ... right?) :D

Telarus
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Re: ED4 Chase scenes

Post by Telarus » Tue Dec 27, 2016 8:24 pm

Now I have the image of an Obsidimon Troubador with one of those woven headdresses that looks like dreadlocks in my head. :lol:


I've been taking notes from this thread, as part of the Airship rules-redesign involves a chase mechanic that I would like to make generally applicable.

Let me gather some notes, and I may have a bit more to say (most of this week has been focusing on Crews).

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The Undying
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Re: ED4 Chase scenes

Post by The Undying » Tue Dec 27, 2016 11:35 pm

It's times like this I wish we had a resident sketch artist. We really need a sketch of our Level 57 Obsidimon Digimon and our Circle 3 Rastafarian Obsidimon Troubadour...

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Mataxes
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Re: ED4 Chase scenes

Post by Mataxes » Wed Dec 28, 2016 3:49 am

So... here's my philosophy on chase scenes. Note: This is not the only way to do it, but the way I like to do it.

Primary goal: If you're going to do a chase, it should be interesting. If it isn't interesting, move on to the interesting part.

I don't generally deal with the simulation minutiae of round-to-round movement rates. I find it kind of boring. I think about where the chase is taking place, and what the scale is -- is it a short sprint or a long haul? City or wilderness? I then think of a few interesting complications that could delay or make things difficult for the pursuers, and how the abilities available to the player characters might come into play (whether they are chasing or being chased).

For me, encounters/complications should generally either offer characters a choice, or affect the resources available when the chase concludes.

Example: Pursuit through a town, the PCs are chasing somebody, and he spooks a horse pulling a cart. The horse gallops down the street, toward a crowd of innocent bystanders. Do the PCs dodge the cart and let it injure (and possibly) kill those people? Do one (or more) of them try to stop the cart, giving the quarry more time to hide or slip away? Perhaps the Beastmaster can use his abilities to turn this complication into an advantage?

I picked this up from an old TSR supplement -- the "Dungeon Master Design Kit" -- which laid out a chase as a series of encounters; a flowchart going from scene to scene with branching paths based on what happens in each. (That whole supplement was really good, honestly. I still have it on my shelf. The ideas presented in it are applicable to more than just D&D.)
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The Undying
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Re: ED4 Chase scenes

Post by The Undying » Fri Dec 30, 2016 12:11 am

I love this approach. Thanks for sharing it.

Slimcreeper
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Re: ED4 Chase scenes

Post by Slimcreeper » Tue Jan 03, 2017 12:49 am

That is good, Mataxes. Guiding principle is always tell a story.

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