To the Races

[kasubot]

I have a couple of different Campaigns i am running. Namely a Starwars and Steampunk campaign. I got a great idea while playing Kotor to have my players participate in a race in order to advance in the campaign but the problem arises when i try to think up the mechanics of the race.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how they do it or places to look for some rules?

[rollfrenzy]

The way we usually run any kind of race is you have opposed rolls of wahtever type. Whoever wins the roll pulls ahead by that much. Just keep the game moving and keep the tension high. Worry less about mechanics and more about keeping the thrill of the race. I wish I knew some crunch to point you to.

[Lemur]

First of all, it's not going to be very interesting to the players if it's just a normal race. If this is gonna affect the plot, the players have to be more involved than just moving their characters around.

If it's a vehicle race, then you could determine things with the speed and manuverability of the vehicle and making the user make pilot checks. There should probably be obstacles that will slow or stop racers who can't deal with them. Stuff like, dodge a rock, jump a rift, escape the tentacle monster. You know, that sort of thing.

If it's a footrace, it should probably be more like an obstacle course than a straight race. Have them go over various terrain, to force climb, balance, move silently, hide, jump, and swim checks, or any others, in any order or combination. You could throw in some other things, like making the runners shoot at targets or break their way through things, for some combat roles. Maybe even have creatures attack them while moving.

Heck, you could even mix the two, and have part of the race on foot, part on vehicle/mounted. Feel free to add all sorts of crazy and twisted stuff, like hidden traps or dangerous terrain.

[Matthew]

Yeah, I like Rollfrenzy's idea. An alternative is to set DCs for each stage with consequences for failure, but that's probably more work.

[Dairun Cates]

Yeah. Races are handled best with skill rolls. If you want a bit less luck involved, let the players do specific actions and give them pluses on their rolls according to the cleverness of the ideas. You might also do some split paths and such for variation.

Edit: Actually, BESM d20 had some pretty nice rules for chases and races; car bashing and sideswipes and all. I'll have to look them up later and tell you if I find anything of note.