How To: Racing

[Sociotard]

I have some characters planing on having athletic (runner) origins, and I thought it would be apropos to include some physical competitions in the campaign somewhere. Thing is, how do you make a moderate race (I'm calling any race from 100 Meters to 5k moderate) interesting? As it stands, it looks as if it'd be just

 

GM: "How many inches per turn do you have"

Player: "Um, all together? 80" noncombat."

GM: "Do you have enough END to keep that pace up for 4 phases?"

Player: "Sure"

GM: "You win."

Player: "Yay."

 

See? Boring. If he's faster, he wins, if he's slower, he loses, unless he pushes. Now in a STRENGTH competition, a guy with STR 18 could possibly beat someone else with STR 23, though the odds are against him. You can use a str roll, or even a series of Str rolls to make the competion as intense for the player as any combat. The uncertainty makes it that way.

 

So how would you simulate the 500 meter dash?

[cutsleeve]

Re: How To: Racing

 

hmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

How about you take their full segment non combat movement divide it by 5 rounding down anything left over.

 

Now what you do is you set up how far you want them to go in inches.

 

now you just have them roll there respective number of dice according to their speed on every segment they go.

 

Allow them to attemp any pushing they want, adding 1 die in heroic and 2 in super heroic settings.

 

Count up how much body each one rolls on the dice and multiply by 2.5" and rounds it up to the nearest inch. This is how far each one of the characters have gone in inches each segment.

 

Both characters expend endurance equal to the amount of movement they are trying to use each segment as apposed to what they end up moving.

 

Describe the process of getting from point a to point be over the course of the turn or however long it takes for one of them to cover the distance. while totaling up how far they both have gone. the one who covers the alloted distance or the most distance in the alloted amount of time wins

 

Recoveries would be by Gm's choice (i wouldnt do it because the characters are suposed to be going all out.)

 

sorta like this

 

Joe has speed 3 and non combat running of 12

 

Bob has speed 2 but a non combat running of 18

 

They are both normals.

 

bob and joe want to race 36 inches. The pistol fires and they go Joe outreacts bob because of his quick reflexes and takes an early lead (joes player rolls 2d6 3 and 1) joe moves 3 inches. Now bob goes he has a late start but (bobs player rolls 3d6 and gets 6, 4, and 1) bob gains the lead moving 8 inches ahead. Joe watches as bob pushes ahead of him and continues to try and gain the lead (Joes player rolls his 2d6 and gets a 2 and 4) Joe manages to move another 5 inches ahead for a total of 8 inches . Bob now presses forward confident in his lead ( bobs player rolls his 3d6 and gets 5, 3, and 1) Bob surges ahead another 5 inches for a total of 13 inches. Joe seeing Bob roar ahead decided to push himself harder in an attempt tp race faster (Joes player decides to push his running and rolls his ego 11- He rolls 17 failing the roll and expending yet more endurance for the push he then rolls his dice for running and rolls a 5 and 6) Joe pushes forward 8 inches for a total of 13 inches. End of turn 1 (Gm's option player dont get a recovery). Now we start all over again so far both of them are at 13 inches neither has a lead. Joe has spent 13 endurance so far 2 for each segement he moved on and 5 from the failed push. Bob however has only expended 6 endurance and seems to be having a good day today.

 

The results from the rolls are from actual die rolls and the ego roll is based on an Joe having a 10 ego which still didnt help him.

 

You know im feeling sorry for Joe.

 

Get the lead out joe your being beaten by a guy with a 2 speed come on.

 

Hope this method doesnt seem to complicated.

[ghost-angel]

Re: How To: Racing

 

Thanks for putting that example .. had no idea what you were talking about until that. But I think my brain is still sideways from the past few weeks at work.

 

I like this method, it adds a bit of tension to the whole scenario and a fast guy can have a bad day.

[Sociotard]

Re: How To: Racing

 

Thanks, Cutsleeve! I can even see how to adjust the scheme for different length races. This could also be a good idea for vehicle scenarios.

 

Oh, and I might still allow a post 12 recovery. After all, you wouldn't be sprinting in, say, a marathon.

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: How To: Racing

 

Another way to look at it. You can think of a race as being won by these factors: who has the stronger start, who can sustain the pace, who can push themselves harder. Perhaps a DEX vs. DEX roll to see who reacts to the start signal first (maybe getting a bonus of 1 die per 2 points the winner beats the loser by), and use EGO rolls for pushing (maybe 1 die per 5 points Pushed, or maybe let them add 1" per 2 points Pushed, like normal). But the danger is in pushing too hard and burning yourself out too soon (spending all of your END).

[cutsleeve]

Re: How To: Racing

 

Oh, and I might still allow a post 12 recovery. After all, you wouldn't be sprinting in, say, a marathon.

 

Yeah i can see your point. Let pushing count as a sprint because thats basically what it is "going as fast as you can push yourself to in a short amount of time". the Endurance would pile up until you where out then yould burn stun then yould colapse.

 

I can imagine a car race with it too. Take a 3 cars one a standard suped up model one with a super charger and one with nitros oxide injection.

 

Normal super up = fast with not frilly boosting

 

Superchager = +5 running speed 0 endurance

 

Nitros Oxide Injections = +10 speed charges 10 activation 15- side effect 4d6 Major Transform (car with good engine into car will burnt out engine) to the car.

 

I dont have TUV so i have no clue how they did it.

 

You could also use it as a method to see if the character can move to somewhere or away from somewhere fast enough. In situations where you want to add tension or just want the outcome to be uncertian.

 

Like the action hero who has the has the secret documents he stole from the Chancelors desk and now he is being chased by the bad guys through the streets. All he needs to do is Just get to his embassy before they catch him. Will he make it with no trouble or will he be caught and have to fight his way free. Drama Drama Drama.

 

I just wouldnt use it in combat unless their was a chase or race or something like that. It would add yet another complicated thing and doesnt seem all that cinematic/ heroic that Hero does so well.

[John Desmarais]

Re: How To: Racing

 

I have some characters planing on having athletic (runner) origins, and I thought it would be apropos to include some physical competitions in the campaign somewhere. Thing is, how do you make a moderate race (I'm calling any race from 100 Meters to 5k moderate) interesting? As it stands, it looks as if it'd be just

 

GM: "How many inches per turn do you have"

Player: "Um, all together? 80" noncombat."

GM: "Do you have enough END to keep that pace up for 4 phases?"

Player: "Sure"

GM: "You win."

Player: "Yay."

 

See? Boring. If he's faster, he wins, if he's slower, he loses, unless he pushes. Now in a STRENGTH competition, a guy with STR 18 could possibly beat someone else with STR 23, though the odds are against him. You can use a str roll, or even a series of Str rolls to make the competion as intense for the player as any combat. The uncertainty makes it that way.

 

So how would you simulate the 500 meter dash?

 

If you're doing anything for competition and want variance in the outcomes, just make the (potenatially valid) assumption that all competitors are attempting to push whenever they can (this also explains why sprinters are always completely wiped out by the end of the race) and use the Heroic rules for pushing, not the Superheroic ones. Some of the skill and technique of racing then becomes "When do I push? Start pushing to early in the race and you run out of steam, start to late and you fall behind."

 

Same thing for STR based competitions. Assume the lifter is always pushing. This is why sometimes they can list the grossly large weight, and sometimes they fail (to lift a weight that they lifted before).