Chases in Mothership
I have been looking into decent chase rules for Mothership beyond a basic speed check for a while. First, I found the rules for the old 007 game (no longer published, but a clone was made as a game called Classified with essentially the same rules). These seem fun but are a little more complicated than what I was looking for. Next I turned to the Mothership Shipbreaker’s Toolkit, which has rules for ship engagements that can work as a chase. Building from these two sources, and after some adjustments after trying them out in my PBP game, I think I’ve come up with something I like. It is streamlined enough to drop into a session without a ton of explanation, but adds a bit more complexity and tension than a basic check.
Chase Basic Rules Chases consist of a number of opposed checks in rounds, with the standard being a Speed check. A character can make a number of chase checks equal to 1 + 1 for every 10 points in their Body save before they are exhausted and must stop to rest at least 10 minutes. They might gain extra checks from certain equipment, drugs, or cybermods.
As a chase begins, determine the starting distance apart measured in the standard range bands: Adjacent, Close, or Long (perhaps Extreme if the pursuer is supernaturally fast or large).
Both sides make a Speed check. If one side succeeds, the distance between them changes in their favor. If one side rolls a critical success they make progress even if the other side succeeds. If one side rolls a critical failure they must roll on the accident table and the opposing side makes progress even if they fail their check. All other results result in neither side making progress. Skills such as Athletics may be used to give a bonus to this check.
Stunts During the chase either side may choose to make a check to perform a stunt in place of their Speed check, for example ducking down an alley to hide, turning around so the pursuer overshoots them, pulling objects in the way to slow the pursuer, making an attack, looking for a shortcut, or tackling their opponent.
The check required should match the stunt, such as Strength to pull shut a heavy door or Intellect to spot a shortcut and is modified by skills as usual. It is assumed you are still moving while you perform your stunt. Taking a stunt is risky. If the stunt fails, the chase distance changes in your opponent’s favor even if the they fail their check.
Many stunts can effectively end a chase, such as ducking away and hiding, or tackling an opponent (in which case combat would likely break out instead).
Accidents If a party critically fails a roll during a chase they have suffered an accident, and they will have to roll on the accident table to determine the consequences.
d10 Result 1: Take 1 Stress 2-5: Take 1d5 damage or Stress (whatever makes more sense) 6-9: Disadvantage on next chase check 10: Fear save or Panic
Or if there is a unique consequence that fits for an accident, use that instead.
Obstacles Obstacles can crop up during a chase and complicate matters, for example running into a dead end street, road block or impassable terrain, the sudden appearance of a hostile force from another direction, changing weather conditions, or malfunctioning equipment.
An obstacle might require a stunt to bypass, impose disadvantage on a roll, or trigger an accident roll on a normal failure instead of a critical failure. The Warden should declare any obstacles that appear at the top of a chase round, so players can react accordingly.
Resolving the Chase After the contested check the Warden determines if the chase continues. If a fleeing party ends the round at Extreme distance from their pursuers then they escape. Likewise, the chase may end if one party collapses from exhaustion, is tackled, starts combat, is killed or incapacitated, or if someone pulled off a stunt that would end the chase such as successfully hiding.
If the chase continues, the current distance apart is determined and a new round of contested checks begins.
NPCs NPCs use their Instinct value instead of Body save to determine the number of rounds they can chase. This can be adjusted to make sense (especially for human NPCs with high Instinct). This means many alien and supernatural beings can chase flat out for a long time, and will require successful stunts or other actions to flee from (or chase down).
Other considerations Failed checks gain Stress as normal. If you’re involved in a chase in Mothership, it’s probably a pretty stressful situation!
Treat ranges as flexible for determining how far a chase carries out. A chase taking place in twisting back alleys might be shorter overall then one taking place over an expansive field. Likewise, these chase rules likely don’t make sense to use in truly confined areas where it’s difficult to escape.
For a critical success, it may make more sense to award some kind of bonus (This might take the form of an additional chase check as they gain a burst of adrenaline, or advantage on their next check) in addition to making progress.
In the rare case of a double critical success, it may feel boring to simply have a no progress result. Optionally the Warden can give some bonus as well. However both sides should gain a boon in this way.
Optionally, if a side wants to try to push the chase when they are out of moves they can make a Body save. On a failure they immediately collapse, and either way they suffer disadvantage to rolls until they can rest at least 8 hours.
Another optional rule: For every subsequent chase that occurs before resting, you get one fewer checks total. This resets with at least 8 hours of rest.
Summary The chase rules in short:
- Determine starting distance (Adjacent, Close, Long) and any obstacles.
- Make an opposed check. Use Speed or perform a stunt using an appropriate check.
- Continue until the parties end a round in Extreme range, or the chase ends from a stunt, damage, or exhaustion.
Table of results
| Critical Success Side A | Success Side A | Failure Side A | Critical Failure Side A | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Critical Success Side B | No Progress. Optional Bonuses. | Side B moves. | Side B moves. | Side B moves. Side A rolls an Accident. |
| Success Side B | Side A moves. | No Progress. | Side B moves. | Side B moves. Side A rolls an Accident. |
| Failure Side B | Side A moves. | Side A moves. | No Progress. | Side B moves. Side A rolls an Accident. |
| Critical Failure Side B | Side A moves. Side B rolls an Accident. | Side A moves. Side B rolls an Accident. | Side A moves. Side B rolls an Accident. | No Progress. Both sides roll Accidents. |
Vehicle chases Note: I’m planning on some point making a catalogue of vehicles for Mothership which is where things like this would come into play. Currently there aren’t really any formal rules or stats for vehicles beyond the one in the Shipbreaker’s Toolkit.
In the case of a vehicle chase, fuel is used instead of limited checks (similar to ships on the Shipbreaker’s Toolkit). Different vehicles will have different amounts of fuel, but starting around 10 works, or 5 + 1d10.
The side attempting to flee must spend a minimum amount of fuel based on the starting distance (but can spend more):
Adjacent: 3 Close: 2 Long: 1
The pursuer can spend any amount of fuel they like. Whoever spends more gets advantage on their chase check. The driver of a vehicle decides on the fuel consumption for a round.
The two sides then make an opposed check as above, using the equivalent of a Speed stat for the vehicle (like Thrusters for ships). If there is a top speed listed, use half the top speed as the Speed stat. As above, a stunt can be substituted for a normal Speed roll. The driver of the vehicle decides whether to perform a stunt and makes the roll, or can delegate the roll to a passenger (for example, to fire a weapon out of the window).
If a living thing is involved in a chase with a vehicle it gets a number of checks based on its Body save or Instinct as normal. If the vehicle spends more than its minimum by range as above in a chase with a creature it gets advantage on the check.
Any accidents in a vehicle affect all the passengers, but any Stress or Damage rolls made for a result on the accident table is rolled twice and uses the lower result, as the vehicle affords some protection.