Building Bhakashal - Outdoor and Urban Chase Rules
Going through the mounted chase rules I made up on the spot reminded me of the rules I came up with for chasing through open areas or crowded / indoor areas. Both were essentially home brewed at the table at different times, the first years ago, the second about 3 years ago.
There have been a few pursuits in open areas, or on roads, when the action is essentially linear, I wanted an easy and simple way of resolving those that didn’t reduce to comparing movement rates. Similarly, I have a lot of urban encounters, so there are a lot of chases around in alleys and stuff. I wanted a system to determine when a party of pursuers has caught up to a fleeing party that wasn’t just comparing their movement rates and somehow captured something about the nature of urban chases.
Open Areas
When chasing through an open area, with no meaningful obstacles (a road, an open field), consider the speed of the fleeing party. If it is more than 6” faster than the pursuing party, the fleeing party will outrun their pursuers in 3 rounds of flight.
If the difference in speed is 6” or less, start as follows: the faster party must roll a d20 under their movement rate, if they fail they lose half their lead that round, if they succeed they gain a half of their current lead again. Bonuses for INT and CON apply to lone riders or groups with a designated leader.
Next round the slower party must roll under their move on a d20, if they fail the faster party gets another bonus of a half their regular lead. If they succeed the faster party loses half of their regular lead. Bonuses apply for INT and CON for lone riders or groups with a designated leader.
Then the faster party rolls a save again, if they win they get an extra half of their movement rate divide, if they lose they lose half. Then the slower party rolls again, etc. When the faster party’s lead increases by 6 times (six cumulative half leads) they have outrun their opponents
Example - Party A - Faster
Round 1
Faster party fails first roll, lead reduces to half
Slower party makes first roll, lead reduces half again, slower party overtakes
Example - Party A - Faster
Round 1
Faster party makes first roll, lead increased by a half
Slower party fails roll, lead increased by another half
Round 2
Faster party makes roll, lead increased by another half
Slower party fails roll, lead increased by another half
Round 3
Faster party fails it’s roll, lead decreased by half
Slower party fails it’s roll, lead increased by half
Round 4
Faster party makes its roll, lead increased by half
Slower party fails its roll, lead increased by half, now it has increased by half 6 times, so the faster party has got away.
Those rules work for open areas with no obstructions.
When you are indoors or in an outdoor area with many obstacles, the challenge isn’t just speed, it’s cornering and maneuvering around obstacles without slowing too much. So the rules see if you make a misstep, and if you do your pursuers get a chance to grab you.
Bhakashal Indoor or Urban Pursuit
Note base movement rates for all involved in pursuit, if the leading party’s movement rate is more than 6” faster than their pursuers, their pursuers can be shaken off after 3 rounds of flight.
Otherwise, all those in pursuit pick a target (random roll) from the fleeing party, then compare results pair by pair (fleeing party/pursuer).
First map out the route of the fleeing party, to the end of the fastest base movement rate member of the group (e.g. 12” if the fastest member of the fleeing party moved at 12”)
Then note the number of obstacles on the route, obstacles include objects in your path (barrels, wagons, poles) or corners where you have to make sharp turns.
Take the number of obstacles [“O”] and the per round distance of the fleeing party [“D”], and this gives you O/D, the odds that you will be delayed by an obstruction (fail to make the turn and crash into something, trip when you try to jump the barrel).
Now, compare pairs, if the fleeing party is faster than the party in pursuit, then the fleeing party rolls the O/D odds of being delayed by an obstruction. Deduct one obstacle per day for every bonus point of DEX or INT as desired.
If they roll that they are delayed, the pursuing party gets to attack or attempt to restrain/tackle the fleeing party and they are in melee.
If they are not delayed, they move to the end of their distance for the round with their pursuers hot on their tail.
If the pursuing party is faster than the fleeing party, the pursuing party must roll the O/D odds of being delayed by the obstacles in place (use the distance of the fleeing party and the number of obstacles on that much of the route), and if they are delayed then the fleeing party has evaded them this round. Deduct one obstacle per day for every bonus point of DEX or INT as desired. If they are not delayed then the pursuing party gets to attack and they are in melee.
If a fleeing party is faster than their pursuers and they have made three successful obstacle checks in a row, they pull away and cannot be caught, or can hide without being seen to do so.
Example.
The party was investigating an elevator shaft when displacer beasts appeared and set chase. The party members had movement rates of PC1 - 20, PC2 - 16, PC3 - 16, PC4 - 12, PC5 - 12 and PC6 - 12. The displacer beasts had movement rates of 15, there were 5 of them. Each picked a target (random roll) and they were off.
PC1 - DB 3
PC2 - DB 1
PC3 - DB5
PC4 - none
PC5 - DB 2
PC6 - DB 4
Down the line.
The route (pictured here) had 5 potential obstacles. It started at "S"
The party monk was the fastest and went the furthest of the party members being pursued, so I mapped out the route ending at his maximum range (point M). There were 5 obstacles in his path (labelled 1-5). He was faster than the displacer beast following him, so he had to make the roll. His max range was 20”, so that gave him a 5 in 20 or 1 in 4 chance of being delayed by the twists and turns in his path. He rolled a 2 and was fine. So his displacer beast failed to catch him and he finishes this round at “M”.
The next up was the party ranger, she was slower than her pursuing displacer beast, so the displacer beast rolled to see if it was slowed by the route, the distance was 12” for the ranger (up to point R on the line), so the displacer beast faced 3 obstacles on the way to capture the fleeing ranger, a 3 in 12 or 1 in 4 chance. It rolled a 3, so was not delayed, caught the ranger, and attacked. It hit the ranger for minor damage and they were now in melee.
Next up was the party fighter, who was just faster than the displacer beast, so he had to roll to see if he would be delayed. His distance was to F1, 16”, with 4 obstacles, so 1 in 4 chance of being delayed, he was not, and ends up at F1, with the displacer beast in hot pursuit.
Then came the other party fighter, moving at 12”. He was slower, so the displacer beast had to make the roll, it was successful, so it wasn’t delayed, and it attacked the fleeing fighter, doing damage and knocking him down.
Now, the party priest was being pursued as well, he had a movement rate of 12”, so the displacer beast had to roll as it was faster, in this case it was delayed, so the priest got away. However, he saw his comrade down, and ran over to join the melee there.
Finally, the party magic user was not paired with a displacer beast, and moved her full 16” for the round, being beside the party fighter at F1.
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