This is the single most important thing that most GM's skip over. It's a fantastic system that I pull out of my proverbial rear-end and it's just always doable. I always go by the rule of the fleeing party starting 1 or 2 obstacles ahead of the opposition chasing and I usually view "rooms" as obstacles. You do not need to TPK. You do not need to religiously track your heroic recovery/last point. The chase system IS the answer that most people don't know about. It's up there with attitude/disposition; influence; fly/swim sink/fall mechanics. Really well done and balanced; skipped often for homebrew (unfortunately) For tracking; there's theripper93's Progress Tracker (premium) which is pretty fancy and visual. Blades in the dark "Progress Clocks" is a good free alternative that's simple. As a fellow PF2e GM/Creator it's always good to see somebody else with a passion for this great system and I ain't the only one making crucial videos that more people need to watch.
I love the way you used the battlemap and markers for the chase! I never would have considered that! Chases always just defaulted to theater of the mind in my head for some reason! Can't wait to find an excise to implement a chase now!
I'm going to be running Fall of Plaguestone soon, and in that adventure there's a chase that states "A PC who accumulates 4 points catches Phinick at that location, and if no PC gains 4 points after attempting checks at all five locations, Phinick escapes... a PC with more points reaches new locations before a PC with fewer points, but once the chase is over, the rest of the PCs catch up." This seems to imply that each PC is tracking their progress indivdually. Is that something they put together just for that adventure or are there situations in which each PC makes their own progress, despite taking the same route?
That'd be an exception from the norm- but perfectly reasonable! Rather than running as a group (as they might if they were trying to escape), it's designed so even a single person can push through and succeed. Makes plenty of sense to me!
An adult black dragon has a flying speed of about 24 dragonfeet or 120 normal feet. Surely it would catch all the party members, even if they split up? Or is suspension of disbelief the order of the day? =)
The Chase subsystem is meant to avoid the "if speed > enemy's speed, then you can just run away for free; otherwise, you can't run at all" style of play to create more engaging games, yeah! I personally don't view it so much as "suspension of disbelief" as much as just a different style of gameplay to cater to a unique story type.
In the open field for sure. I could see the party having an easier time running away through the forest or other rough environments with a lot of cover.
It's recommended to have half of the obstacles require a number of checks equal to (Party Members - 1) and the other half be (Party Members - 2), but you can go higher for particularly difficult obstacles- be wary of combining difficult DCs with high numbers of successes, as that might prove too difficult!
This is the single most important thing that most GM's skip over. It's a fantastic system that I pull out of my proverbial rear-end and it's just always doable. I always go by the rule of the fleeing party starting 1 or 2 obstacles ahead of the opposition chasing and I usually view "rooms" as obstacles. You do not need to TPK. You do not need to religiously track your heroic recovery/last point. The chase system IS the answer that most people don't know about.
It's up there with attitude/disposition; influence; fly/swim sink/fall mechanics. Really well done and balanced; skipped often for homebrew (unfortunately)
For tracking; there's theripper93's Progress Tracker (premium) which is pretty fancy and visual.
Blades in the dark "Progress Clocks" is a good free alternative that's simple.
As a fellow PF2e GM/Creator it's always good to see somebody else with a passion for this great system and I ain't the only one making crucial videos that more people need to watch.
I love the way you used the battlemap and markers for the chase! I never would have considered that! Chases always just defaulted to theater of the mind in my head for some reason! Can't wait to find an excise to implement a chase now!
Love the explanation and thought you put into your videos! Looking forward to seeing more!
very interested to see how you track chases in foundry
I'm going to be running Fall of Plaguestone soon, and in that adventure there's a chase that states "A PC who accumulates 4 points catches Phinick at that location, and if no PC gains 4 points after attempting checks at all five locations, Phinick escapes... a PC with more points reaches new locations before a PC with fewer points, but once the chase is over, the rest of the PCs catch up."
This seems to imply that each PC is tracking their progress indivdually. Is that something they put together just for that adventure or are there situations in which each PC makes their own progress, despite taking the same route?
That'd be an exception from the norm- but perfectly reasonable! Rather than running as a group (as they might if they were trying to escape), it's designed so even a single person can push through and succeed. Makes plenty of sense to me!
An adult black dragon has a flying speed of about 24 dragonfeet or 120 normal feet. Surely it would catch all the party members, even if they split up?
Or is suspension of disbelief the order of the day? =)
The Chase subsystem is meant to avoid the "if speed > enemy's speed, then you can just run away for free; otherwise, you can't run at all" style of play to create more engaging games, yeah!
I personally don't view it so much as "suspension of disbelief" as much as just a different style of gameplay to cater to a unique story type.
In the open field for sure. I could see the party having an easier time running away through the forest or other rough environments with a lot of cover.
Is the number of checks adjusted for the number of PCs?
It's recommended to have half of the obstacles require a number of checks equal to (Party Members - 1) and the other half be (Party Members - 2), but you can go higher for particularly difficult obstacles- be wary of combining difficult DCs with high numbers of successes, as that might prove too difficult!
@@lexchxn Thank you very much.