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Ah, chases. A wonderful mechanic providing great fun, as long as the party is level four or lower, or the chase is taking place in an antimagic zone. If not, flight and teleportation break everything. They're either an instant-win, or restricted in artificial ways. I mean, how many chase challenges are "climb the wall" or "get past the gate" or "push through the crowd"? Potion of Fly shoots all of those to hell, so a GM can pretty much either say "OK, fine, you win the chase" or say "I'm going to rule that that doesn't work in this situation." Neither one is much fun. If there's a better solution, I'd be eternally grateful to learn of it.
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Ah, chases. A wonderful mechanic providing great fun, as long as the party is level four or lower, or the chase is taking place in an antimagic zone. If not, flight and teleportation break everything. They're either an instant-win, or restricted in artificial ways. I mean, how many chase challenges are "climb the wall" or "get past the gate" or "push through the crowd"? Potion of Fly shoots all of those to hell, so a GM can pretty much either say "OK, fine, you win the chase" or say "I'm going to rule that that doesn't work in this situation." Neither one is much fun. If there's a better solution, I'd be eternally grateful to learn of it.
Depends on the card. I ran a PFS chase at tier 10-11 and everyone busted out their potions of fly. Turned out that they weren't that great when they needed to find the secret shortcut that the person escaped through.
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I happen to like the chase mechanics, but higher level spells would tend to short-circuit them. I've run God's Market Gamble and Rise of the Goblin Guild multiple times each, and found the chase to be an enjoyable part of the game. I do try to make them very cinematic, and use common sense to adjudicate going off the rails, but my the majority of my players have said afterwards that they enjoyed the scene. I'm actually looking for other scenarios to run that have them.
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The main things I do to enhance the experience are:
* I do not place the board down in front of the players. That just seems to turn the whole thing into a boardgame. Instead I keep the board behind the screen under a sheet protector and use a dry erase marker to note character positions. I describe the scene and present the players with their options. If, looking at the next square, I anticipate the character having difficulty, I will narrate a "shortcut" that handles the double-move mechanic (while pointing out the risk of getting stuck).
* The chase rules discuss characters doing things other than the two rolls provided (such as casting spells). Due to the time constraint, taking 10 isn't generally possible, but aiding another certainly is. The high-strength plate tank standing at the wall isn't going to climb or squeeze through, so he just tosses the gnome and Halfling over. Or the guy with the grappling hook sets it and leaves the rope to give a bonus to everyone after.
* Yes, I do have to fudge a bit: if the rogue unlocks the gate, I might be able to say "it closes after you, relocking", but if the tank knocks it down, folks behind him don't find it magically restored.
* I try to be as descriptive as possible, and encourage the players to do the same. Since we're off the square map, I allow maneuvers that feel right ("Sure, you can get into flanking position") and make the encounter interesting. For many younger players, this is the first time they've experienced "old school" roleplay encounters, and while it can be disconcerting at first, they usually get into it (after I assure them that other encounters will be done on the map :) ).
Like I said, most of my players have enjoyed the chases I run, and I have been seeking out more.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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In my expience, the chase mechanics requires the players to INDIVIDUALY make skill rolls ("no take 10 on a chase"), and each player must do the same rolls.
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For example: You are presented with 2 skill rolls, such as a Disable Device (to open a lock) & a Climb check (to climb a wall). It does not matter if the 3 other characters in your party all unlocked the door - once you get to it, you are required to again make the same roll.
nosig, you're suggesting that the chase rules require the GM to run the way you're describing, that a GM "using common sense" is breaking the rules of the chase mechanics.
That's not how I read the rules. As you might imagine, the advice "Be Creative!" factors over the design of chases, from the decision about what obstacles to use to the determination of success. Nowhere do the rules require player characters to succeed or fail on their own. Nowhere does it suggest that one character opening a locked door still requires every other character to unlock it as well! The chase rules encourage the players to try different things, like casting spells or otherwise gaining advantages. The chase rules implicitly encourage players to work together: if I cast expeditious retreat on your character, you get a significant bonus on every attempt to overcome obstacles. (You had a GM ho suggested that expeditious retreat has a duration of the recipient's next standard action? Could you kindly explain to me why that's the fault of the chase rules?)
So, some GMs in your experience have run chases very strictly, against the spirit of the rules. Others, here on the boards, report that chases, when used with the same common sense and discretion as every other facet of the game, aren't as terrible as you make out.
Fine. You have the right to complain that you haven't had a fun time.
But, hey, lay off the suggestion that GMs who let the chase rules model and simulate the kinds of cinematic chases that they're trying to simulate, are not "running the chase mechanics as written", and are cheating.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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nosig,
In my original reply, I suggested that the chase cards did a good job modeling the chase when the PCs pursued the skulk in First Steps, Part II. The scenario doesn't provide for any information about what's down there when the skulk jumps down the tunnel. There is no way to run that chase except (a) entirely freeform, or (b) using the chase mechanics. I reported that I'd done so, to good results. (How would you run the chase, if your players decided to pursue? What do they find down there? Bats? A cave-in? How hard is it to find the skulk, who might have a 6-second head start?)
Is there a write up on chase mechanics you've missed? I don't know. Have you read the ones in the GMG, and in the Chase Deck? Have you read the sidebar in "Race for the Runecarved Key"?
And, once again, I object to your implication. Allowing creativity, and allowing player cooperation is running the chase mechanics as written.
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or for UMD or on a swim check in Stormy Water, or whenever the Judge says you can't (he may know something you do not).Taking 10 doesn't take any longer than a normal action. The restriction on Take 10 is that you cannot do it when in immediate danger or distracted.sigh... I thought I pointed out that you can't take 10 during a chase.
"That takes 10 times as long and you don't have that much time."
I generally treat any significantly stressful situation as being either in immediate danger or distracted. In fact, until I double-checked the rule, I was going to say the limitation was a "stressful" situation, but I'm guessing that's a holdover from 3.5 in my head. I'm still finding places where my 3.5 expertise is working against my Pathfinder rules mastery.
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I don't mind them so much, but out of two modules my players have had a bad experience 100% of the time. The worst one was the Half-Orc Fighter that couldn't hit a DC 12 Intimidate in three rounds of trying, when he was the closest to the villain.
Dice are dice, but no one likes to be singled out as being unable to contribute. And if the chase mechanics do anything well it's single players out.
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Mrs Camelot ean a chase where we were the ones being chased and the chaser was a Tsunami. That was fun even though I was caught and buffeted around the streets.
The thing about chases is that common sense rules. The GM should know how he is setting up the chase, how things play when the chased person is caught and what happens if the chased person gets away.
If common sense is used you shouldn't get the unlocked door situation. The rules actively encourage creative solutions and as such the chase rules should be used to create an exciting diversion rather than an illogical adherance to a set of rules.