There's a good chance PC's will be chased on their way out of town next session. How do I run a tense, exciting chase scene, especially when D&D uses constant move speeds?
His ongoing example for that article is specifically building an interesting chase sequence; you could likely adapt it.
I'd also recommend a lot of his other articles. I don't like the writing style, personally, but it's very well thought out material; even if you don't agree, it will make you think and really sharpen your "DM chops".
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I forget the book I was reading because I've since sold my Kindle, but there was a very good book on world building that included the concept of a "crisis." It taught me a lot and changed how I set up a lot of challenges. A "crisis" is basically a complex situation that requires a series of checks/rolls/saves as it progresses. Instead of making the same roll over and over, like a straight up repeated athletics competition, you mix it up:
Max move speeds are a constant, but they can be limited by terrain or obstacles. Picture the classic knocking boxes over in an alleyway--avoiding it is a dexterous action, so you would have your character(s) roll an Acrobatics check. Running up a hill or periodically checking if movement speed is lost in prolonged chase (which can apply to the pursued as well) would be an Athletics check. The pursued ducks into a crowd and tries to blend in, or takes a turn and another turn the character doesn't see, Perception.
(Example: I was once chasing someone. I was losing them in a crowd and I tried to make the crowd turn on the person in some way, based on some kind of prejudice. I rolled poorly, and maybe thought poorly: It's a port town and we were by the docks, and I tried to cast the person I was pursuing as a dangerous outsider. They all saw "dangerous outsiders" every day. I lost ground in chasing him.)
Terrain and setting are huge factors here that can work to your advantage as a DM. Chasing someone through a forest (or swamp!) gives you all kinds of opportunities to use terrain to manipulate movement speed, forcing rolls to get up to that 30. This can be applied to whoever the party is chasing, as well, so that they can feel competitive and feel like they're really in a contest with someone, there are stakes and the actions or rolls they take matter. In a city, or even a town, there are so many obstacles you can put in the way!
Overall, I would boil it down to these things:
Variety: Test characters' different skills and players' thinking with more than one kind of obstacle.
Terrain: The more you describe what's around players, the more immersive it'll feel.
Contest: Having the NPC(s) roll in the open against your players will create a sense of competition, a winner and loser, which is ultimately what the stakes of a chase are.
I run chases in their own encounter style, which I have set rules for-- It seems to work alright, so maybe you'll find a nugget of inspiration.
When a chase encounter begins, I set up how far ahead the escapees are from the pursuers. For my most recent chase scene, that number was "5". What is 5? An extrapolation. It just means that the pursuers must close a distance of 5 in order to catch up.
Each round of a chase encounter begins with a set piece. Here's an example where the players are the pursuers:
You're racing through a busy street which is thick with townsfolk watching a fire juggler perform upon a wooden stage haphazardly thrown together with crates. Buildings loom on the sides of the streets, one of them the tavern, with its sign-post dangling above the heads of the crowd. The (escapee) disappears into the crowd. What do you do?
I've set up a scene that the players need to somehow get through, which I leave up to them. If they sit there saying 'Uhhhh...' I prepare a small list of options (like, you can push through the crowd, you can interrupt the performance, you can swing over the crowd...) which they can then attempt at varying DCs. Usually though, the players jump on an idea, often ones I didn't think of, sometimes the ones I did. They cast spells, attempt to use their class features, or just make a skill check.
Depending on what they do, they'll close the distance by an amount, or increase the distance. I determine that with a previously set DC. I may set DC10 as a gain of 1, a DC15 as a gain of 2, and a DC20 as a gain of 3. So the more difficult way to break through the obstacle, the more distance they close. However, with failure comes risk-- They might find the escapee gains another space ahead of them when they don't meet the DC they go for.
Once the players have decided what they'll do, done it, and made progress, I introduce the next set piece. This isn't like a combat encounter where everything happens in 6 seconds-- I cut out all of the mindless running, and go to an interest piece like jumping on the rooftops of buildings, or trying to find where the escapee might have hidden in the street market, or avoiding guards when you accidentally enter a restricted area. I usually aim for 4-6 set pieces for a chase, ensuring that the number I pick makes it possible to catch/escape, while still having enough tension that failure means something.
You can visualize this for your players on a grid if you'd like, as well. Set them and their escapee/pursuer up on a grid with the proper number of spaces between them.When they succeed, you can move them forward, when they fail you can move their opponent forward.
Additionally, I find its helpful to know how to end your chase scene. If you don't, it won't end. The players won't have a reason not to keep following. So if the party fails if they haven't caught up in 5 scenes, then have a narrative way for the escapee to get away. Think of it like that trope where the enemy gets on the helicopter at the last moment and flies away while the heroes are out of options. It's easier to end if the party is being chased-- If they get caught, then the pursuers have succeeded and either engage in battle or capture them. Knowing how it ends when the party succeeds or fails, however, is very useful in ensuring that your chase scene doesn't turn into a chase session.
There's a good chance PC's will be chased on their way out of town next session. How do I run a tense, exciting chase scene, especially when D&D uses constant move speeds?
I think one of the best articles I've read about setting up this sort of thing is How to Build F$&%ing Awesome Encounters! by The Angry DM.
His ongoing example for that article is specifically building an interesting chase sequence; you could likely adapt it.
I'd also recommend a lot of his other articles. I don't like the writing style, personally, but it's very well thought out material; even if you don't agree, it will make you think and really sharpen your "DM chops".
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
I forget the book I was reading because I've since sold my Kindle, but there was a very good book on world building that included the concept of a "crisis." It taught me a lot and changed how I set up a lot of challenges. A "crisis" is basically a complex situation that requires a series of checks/rolls/saves as it progresses. Instead of making the same roll over and over, like a straight up repeated athletics competition, you mix it up:
Max move speeds are a constant, but they can be limited by terrain or obstacles. Picture the classic knocking boxes over in an alleyway--avoiding it is a dexterous action, so you would have your character(s) roll an Acrobatics check. Running up a hill or periodically checking if movement speed is lost in prolonged chase (which can apply to the pursued as well) would be an Athletics check. The pursued ducks into a crowd and tries to blend in, or takes a turn and another turn the character doesn't see, Perception.
(Example: I was once chasing someone. I was losing them in a crowd and I tried to make the crowd turn on the person in some way, based on some kind of prejudice. I rolled poorly, and maybe thought poorly: It's a port town and we were by the docks, and I tried to cast the person I was pursuing as a dangerous outsider. They all saw "dangerous outsiders" every day. I lost ground in chasing him.)
Terrain and setting are huge factors here that can work to your advantage as a DM. Chasing someone through a forest (or swamp!) gives you all kinds of opportunities to use terrain to manipulate movement speed, forcing rolls to get up to that 30. This can be applied to whoever the party is chasing, as well, so that they can feel competitive and feel like they're really in a contest with someone, there are stakes and the actions or rolls they take matter. In a city, or even a town, there are so many obstacles you can put in the way!
Overall, I would boil it down to these things:
Thanks, you two!
I am very curious about the book. Do you think it might be on your Amazon Kindle library? If so, you might be able to find the title and author =D
I run chases in their own encounter style, which I have set rules for-- It seems to work alright, so maybe you'll find a nugget of inspiration.
When a chase encounter begins, I set up how far ahead the escapees are from the pursuers. For my most recent chase scene, that number was "5". What is 5? An extrapolation. It just means that the pursuers must close a distance of 5 in order to catch up.
Each round of a chase encounter begins with a set piece. Here's an example where the players are the pursuers:
You're racing through a busy street which is thick with townsfolk watching a fire juggler perform upon a wooden stage haphazardly thrown together with crates. Buildings loom on the sides of the streets, one of them the tavern, with its sign-post dangling above the heads of the crowd. The (escapee) disappears into the crowd. What do you do?
I've set up a scene that the players need to somehow get through, which I leave up to them. If they sit there saying 'Uhhhh...' I prepare a small list of options (like, you can push through the crowd, you can interrupt the performance, you can swing over the crowd...) which they can then attempt at varying DCs. Usually though, the players jump on an idea, often ones I didn't think of, sometimes the ones I did. They cast spells, attempt to use their class features, or just make a skill check.
Depending on what they do, they'll close the distance by an amount, or increase the distance. I determine that with a previously set DC. I may set DC10 as a gain of 1, a DC15 as a gain of 2, and a DC20 as a gain of 3. So the more difficult way to break through the obstacle, the more distance they close. However, with failure comes risk-- They might find the escapee gains another space ahead of them when they don't meet the DC they go for.
Once the players have decided what they'll do, done it, and made progress, I introduce the next set piece. This isn't like a combat encounter where everything happens in 6 seconds-- I cut out all of the mindless running, and go to an interest piece like jumping on the rooftops of buildings, or trying to find where the escapee might have hidden in the street market, or avoiding guards when you accidentally enter a restricted area. I usually aim for 4-6 set pieces for a chase, ensuring that the number I pick makes it possible to catch/escape, while still having enough tension that failure means something.
You can visualize this for your players on a grid if you'd like, as well. Set them and their escapee/pursuer up on a grid with the proper number of spaces between them.When they succeed, you can move them forward, when they fail you can move their opponent forward.
Additionally, I find its helpful to know how to end your chase scene. If you don't, it won't end. The players won't have a reason not to keep following. So if the party fails if they haven't caught up in 5 scenes, then have a narrative way for the escapee to get away. Think of it like that trope where the enemy gets on the helicopter at the last moment and flies away while the heroes are out of options. It's easier to end if the party is being chased-- If they get caught, then the pursuers have succeeded and either engage in battle or capture them. Knowing how it ends when the party succeeds or fails, however, is very useful in ensuring that your chase scene doesn't turn into a chase session.