Multiple vehicles in chases

[Aldus Vertten]

Today we had our first chase using the dramatic conflict system. And it didn't end well... so i have a few doubts... probably very easy ones,

My partner and me where driving a sports car, being chased by a squad of 8 minions using motorbikes. The other player was driving, but his agent only had a few levels in drive, and it was a martial artist. (mine had zero drive skill, we're screwd)

So in a situation like this, 8 vs 1, how do you handle it? How do you do multiple oponents against only one prey?The prey chooses one strategy and the predator one for each motorbike? do u keep track of each motorbike lead?

Is there any penalty to attack while moving top speed in a car?

So i want to shoot to one of the minions? Can i make a called shot against the Motorbike? How?

i'm gonna check the core, see what i cand find...

[Daedalus4096]

I've always had the same problem.  The players are *never* all in one vehicle, maybe just to screw with me.  None of the solutions I've tried have really worked, either.

[Toccata]

You could treat the minions as making a team check for the acrobatics/maneuver check and put them all at the same lead. It's a bit of an abstraction, but it does reflect the way those sorts of chases usually happen in movies pretty well.

[Gentry]

In line with Toccata's notion, each Crash inflicted on the predator group of motorcycle-goons can knock one of them out of the chase.  This is also very cinematic, as in mass chases like that each separate goon gets to crash in a separate spectacular way.

[meadicus]

I'll answer the one I can off the top of my head,

So i want to shoot to one of the minions? Can i make a called shot against the Motorbike? How?

You have two options:

• Shoot the driver who will benefit from the cover provided by his bike, which I've just checked is none, and his own Defense.
• Make a called shot on the vehicle choosing 'occupants' as the chosen target. Look up vehicle damage and called shots (page 289-290).

Note that in both cases the targets defense is modified by the vehicle's relative acceleration and turning ratings.

[Mister Andersen]

Or simply hit the brakes so he runs into the back of the car and pitches off over the roof, then floor the acelerator again and run the minion over

[Krensky]

* Hands Mr. A an action die.

[TheTSKoala]

Okay.. I've run into this just like Daedalus.  I've found a slightly simpler solution if your team works well together.  I normally have one person designated as "lead driver" and everyone else tries to mimic what he does.  Very rarely do my players try to split up.. as we all know.. splitting up is BAD! lol.  As for Multiple minions in a scene.. I normally make them into one minion granting a +1 bonus per minion after the first.  (Swarm tactics).  Every crash subtracts a minion, thus reducing the bonus by one.

[Salsa]

I so hate when I have to do multiple vehicle chases, or when it happens all of the sudden it's worse cause I can't avoid it... So here's my solution


Use the multiple chasers rules in page 364 if they are pairs.

In your case it's multiple "same minion type who's probably gonna die" situation (and it rhymes). Just pick one and run the whole chase using him as the base for all calculations (range distance, lead, etc). Because you can't say one bike is closer than the other in game terms cause that's gonna affect the lead. You can do it for cinematic purposes but you have to explain this for the players "IT WILL NOT AFFECT DCs" in advance.

The less numbers you have to keep track, the faster the conflict will be. For instance if multiple players are in the same car explain that everyone shooting won't help because the shooter needs space to be effective. And pick only two shooters (probably the driver will shoot once in a while bring the total to 3). Have as much of the chase thought out ahead, pre-calculate most used values, etc.

I've seen cooperative checks for a Crisis once. Driver rolls drive for crisis, players roll Athletics to push a box of tools out of a van's back in order to make the other car crash. It increases the roll and the characters aren't actually shooting but are using their actions.

By the way, dramatic conflicts it's where you really need music in the background Otherwise, waiting players can get bored. And rocket launcers in chases are baaaaad... really baaaad. hehe

[Alphastream]

I think the key is really fun. The multiple chase rules are good for tactical analysis, but are seldom as fun as what others described here. Multiple roles just slow down everything for little gain. Going descriptive and rewarding player ideas works better than agonizing over the rulebook.

In one LSpy mod we had a chase involving two groups on foot (one of two enemies, one of most of the players) plus a van (with two players). We tried to run it per the rules, and it just stripped out the cinematic quality and made it an endless series of checks. Players were frustrated. We were all learning, but it would have been better (hindsight 20/20) to have allowed the players more actions and to combine group rolls.

Teos

[Salsa]

I think the best and most cinematic chase I've ever GCed was in the end of Shadow for LSpy.

(click to show/hide)

Boy that NPC have some driving skills . And since you know where the chase is leading to you can have the scenery change over time and the fact of having more NPCs shooting from the flatbed only makes it more thrilling. My players were a little late to discover the whereabouts of the humvee so they had to speed up and that also caught the attention of local police.

It was great and it all ended up well.

[Crafty_Pat]

Deleted your first non-spoiler post, Salsa. Hope that helps.

[Psion]

When I ran a game for Alex and Scott, this came up. They recommended using the aid other rule with every chaser past the first. Which works well enough.

One thing I also learned real quick is that while your typical espionage style SC game, pistols are great, you want better range and higher caliber in a chase. (If you are feeling generous, you can have the players face of with some lackeys with the ubiquitous AK-47 right before a chase, so players who haven't figured this out have a better chance at range.)

Armor piercing ammo is good, too. Also, I roll against the damage save of the targeted object instead of the vehicle damage save on a called shot.

[Salsa]

Deleted your first non-spoiler post, Salsa. Hope that helps.

Thanks, I guess? (totally lost )

I didn't realize it stayed there. I thought I had edited it on the same post.

[Crafty_Pat]

Deleted your first non-spoiler post, Salsa. Hope that helps.

Thanks, I guess? (totally lost )

I didn't realize it stayed there. I thought I had edited it on the same post.

Hehe. Nope. You quoted yourself, creating a second post. I figured the second one was what you wanted so I went back and deleted the first. I only let you know so it didn't look like I was randomly deleting stuff.