Building Bhakashal - In Game Rulings and Improvisation - Mounted Chase Rules
I have always enjoyed how AD&D pushes you as a referee to constantly improvise, create and adjudicate. Yesterday’s session was a great example. The party was fleeing from a tower, mounted on giant boars, when the tower opened up and 4 riders on horses came after them.
Now, oddly enough, AD&D doesn’t really have mounted chase rules, though it has movement rate rules, and rules for aerial combat. In the past I have just hand waved this stuff and compared movement rates, telling the party that the pursuers catch up or they don’t.
The big problem with mounted pursuit is essentially the big problem with any form of movement modeled by an abstract system: granularity. You have to break the process down into pieces as movement rates are in feet per movement round (whatever your system uses), and two parties are moving at the same time within that same round, so if one is faster, when in the round do they catch up?
It also doesn’t take into account attempts to ride faster, your movement rate is an average rate that applies over units of game time, there is no mechanic for “riding harder” to escape.
I decided on the spot to improvise something, using two insights that occurred to me on the spot, one, that aerial combat breaks your movement into thirds, and that tracking your movement during a chase need not be the same as your movement during regular combat/exploration. I made a 2 column table for recording distance at the end of each chase round. I decided that for each chase round you moved your move/3 in 10’ increments, e.g. movement rate of 12 means you move 40 feet per chase round. If your end of round total meets or exceeds the target you are pursuing, you have overtaken.
This is what I came up with in game, tidied up and clarified for repeat use. In essence as I tackled each problem during the chase (different movement speeds, attempts to increase speed, difficult terrain, obstacles, melee attacks, missile attacks) and I improvised a rule for it on the spot. My goal was simple, I would track the distance travelled by each party, when the distance travelled by the pursuer equalled or exceeded the distance travelled by the pursued in that chase round, the pursued have been overtaken and melee can begin (after an initial charging attack by the pursuer).
The advantage of this system is that it is deterministic and uses simple math, so it resolves quickly and isn’t hard to understand. It uses existing mechanics and allows room for some tactical thinking (should I speed up knowing I can only do so a few times, should I speed up on rough ground, should I stop and shoot as they may catch up, etc.)
One thing I love about “on the spot playtesting” is that you get immediate feedback on the mechanic. The PCs loved this system, in each round they had to either decide to speed up on their own or in response to their pursuers, they considered moving to rougher ground so their pursuers might fall, that sort of thing. The use of multiple saving throws means there is a bit of a cushion for failure, and excitement every time you have to roll, and the possibility of dismount isn’t lethal, but it is dangerous and can injure your mount so it can’t flee at speed.
I'm sure there are other systems around, and that they work well, but this worked on the spot perfectly well, and we had a great chase scene (one I will reproduce below in an example of play). Here's to improvisation!
Chase Rules - Bhakashal
Divide mount speeds by 3, this is your movement per chase round (MCR)
Go to the mounted chase tracker, for the round 0 row enter 0 in the pursuing party column and the distance between parties in the pursued party column.
Then add each party’s movement per chase round to the amounts in the 0 row, this is your distance at the end of round 1 of chase, enter this in the round 1 row. If the pursuer’s score exceeds the pursued they have overtaken.
If neither the pursuer or pursued wish to try and speed up, continue the process until the pursuer’s score is equal to or greater than the pursued.
In any round, including the first, if either tries to speed up the other may respond by doing the same.
To speed up or “push” the mount, it must save versus paralyzation (a 2 hd giant frog saves as a second level fighter [14]). Apply the rider’s CON bonus to the save as well as any “+” on the HD. If they make the save, the mount adds 2 to their MCR. Calculate their distance for that round at the new MCR and add it to the previous round for the new distance.
Then the other party has the option to speed up, same process, and calculate new MCR and get a new distance as of this round. If the pursuer’s distance exceeds that of those pursued, they have overtaken.
If you push your mount in uneven or difficult conditions (rain, on slope, through forest) you must make additional saving throw versus paralyzation to avoid crashing, d6 damage to mount, d4 to rider, rider’s DEX bonus or INT bonus can be applied to this save. If the mount is reduced to less than 1/2 HP by a crash they are injured and movement rate is reduced to 1”.
If you crash and your pursuers are 100’ or less behind you, they will arrive before you can remount and flee.
You can push your mount a number of times per day equal to their HD. Attempts beyond that require an extra save versus paralyzation, if that save fails the mount collapses from exhaustion, d6 damage to mount, d4 damage to rider, and if the mount is reduced to less than 1/2 HP by the crash they are injured and movement rate is reduced to 1”.
Obstacles in the path of a fleeing party require a saving throw versus paralyzation to avoid, add bonuses for rider’s INT, WIS, DEX and CHA to the save. If the save is failed there is a crash for d6 to mount and d4 to rider (less than ½ HP remaining then mount is injured, movement rate reduced to 1”), if they succeed they pass the obstacle unharmed. Pursuing parties have to make the same rolls.
Missile fire requires the rider to stop and shoot. At the beginning of the round when a rider wishes to shoot note the distance between parties. Add 2 to the weapon speed of the missile weapon, and multiply by 10, this is the number of feet to add to the pursuer’s distance while the attacker is repositioning to shoot. They may ride away as soon as the shots are taken.
Melee attacks by pursuers with weapons from a mounted position are treated as a charge for the first attack, they get a +2 bonus, but the charger takes a 2 point AC penalty. On charge, longest weapon strikes first. Any subsequent melee attacks by mounted riders take a -2 penalty.
Example
The party approached a wizard’s tower in the forest, it had been taken over by bandits, and they fired off a few catapult shots at the party before they turned to flee on their mounts (giant boars, movement rate 12”- PCS), when they fled a group of mercenary soldiers pursued on horses (movement rate 18” - MERCS).
There was 100 feet between them when they started the chase. In the row for Chase Round 0 we put 0 for the mercs and 100 for the PCS.
Chase Round 1 - MCR is 12/3 = 4 for the party and 18/3 = 6 for the mercenaries. That’s 4x10=40’ per chase round for the party and 6 x 10’ = 60’ per chase round for the mercenaries. Both groups decide to travel at regular charging speed for the first round, so by the end of Round 1 the party has travelled a total of 40+100=140 feet, the mercs 60 feet.
Chase Round 2 - the mercs decide they need to pour it on, so the four of them roll saves, their horses are 2+2 HD, so they get a +2 on their saves, say all four make it. They increase their movement per chase round, this round it will be 8, so this round they will move 80 feet, for a total of 140 feet, the party maintains speed (e.g. does not choose to speed up this round in response to the mercs speeding up), and by the end of round 2 is at 180 feet.
Chase Round 3 - the pursuers decide to pour it on again, this time 2 make their save and 2 fail, so 2 of them move to 200ft and 2 of them move to 220ft, the party decides to pour it on as their pursuers are advancing, so they all roll saves, two fail, two succeed. The two that fail move 40 feet to 220 feet, the two that succeed move 60 feet to 240 feet. So at the end of round 3 of chase, two of the mercs have caught up with 2 of the party members.
Chase Round 4 - The mercs who have overtaken have swords and attempt to slash at the fleeing party, they are charging so they get a +2 to hit but take a 2 point AC penalty, since the party has weapons out as well and will try to strike as the mercs attack, longest weapon strikes first, and the mercs, with longswords, strike before the PCs with broadswords.
The mercs both miss, one of the PC’s hit, does 4 damage, the merc has 3 HP, and dies, falling off his horse. The second merc and the two party members are now in melee combat until one chooses to try and disengage.
At this point the rest of the group begins to ride down a rough hill.
Meanwhile The two party members out front pour it on, rolling saving throws to see if they can push their mounts. Both succeed, and move 60 feet this chase round, and then they must roll to see if they dismount on the rough terrain. Both make their saves. By the end of round 4 they are at 300 feet.
The two mercs still in pursuit also pour it on, one makes the save, one does not. However both must save to avoid crashing as they are on challenging ground. The one who failed their save fails this one as well, and crashes to the ground. The mount takes 5 hp of damage, less than half, and is not injured enough to impact speed. The merc takes 2 hp of damage and is alive.
The one that made the first save to speed up makes the second as well, so does not crash and will travel 80 feet. However, since they have pushed their mount a third time, and it has 2HD, the mount must save again to avoid it crashing from exhaustion. They make that save as well, so now the 2 party members in the lead are at 300 feet and the one merc is at 280 feet
Chase Round 5 - The two PCs in front are halfway down the hill and decide to push their mounts again, one fails the save, one makes it. The one that fails makes an additional roll and fails, so he crashes. His mount takes 6HP damage and is reduced to less than half HP and damages it’s leg in the fall, movement rate reduced to 1”. The second PC travels to the 360’ point. The merc that didn’t fall keeps going, pushing his mount, this requires a save to push, which he makes, and a save for the uneven ground, which he fails, dismounting him. If he made this save he would have had another for pushing his mount past his HD limit.
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