A chase occurs when heroes and bad guys meet and one side wants to leave – to fetch help, not get killed, whatever. On level ground without cover, assume that the faster party flees or overtakes the slower one. The system that follows is for footraces across rooftops, car chases in dense traffic, etc., where speed doesn't guarantee victory. This should be most chases in an action-packed cinematic campaign!

Remember: BAD never modifies rolls made in chases, although it can determine NPC skill; see BAD Ideas.

These rules assume two parties (but see Multi-Party Chases). The person or vehicle trying to flee is the quarry. The one chasing is the pursuer.

Chases take place in abstract rounds. A round is “time enough for both sides to try something cool.” It has no specific duration – because in action cinema, camera effects and editing bend time. Use these guidelines to measure “chase time” against outside time:

• Each round allows an ally or an enemy who isn't involved in the chase to perform one task that takes at most a minute. For instance, a crew could lead guards on a three-round chase while their infiltrator (1) picks a lock, (2) negotiates laser beams, and (3) finds a hidden safe. He couldn't crack a safe – that takes an hour! This allows more to happen during an action scene than the second-by-second combat rules in the Basic Set permit.

• If the chase diverts the heroes from a time-critical task (e.g., disarming a bomb) or is necessary to attempt such a task (e.g., the bomb is hidden on a truck that the team has to chase down), assume that after the chase, the task suffers a generic haste penalty of -1d, no matter how long the chase runs.

Each round, follow this sequence:

1. Quarry chooses a chase maneuver (below).

2. Pursuer chooses a chase maneuver.

3. Pursuer resolves any attacks or skill rolls for his maneuver.

4. Quarry resolves any attacks or skill rolls for his maneuver.

5. If neither side wipes out badly or is too damaged to continue, roll a Quick Contest of Chase Rolls.

6. Adjust the range band for the Contest outcome and start the next round.

Each side must select one chase maneuver per round. The quarry picks and declares his maneuver. Then the pursuer chooses his maneuver in response. In poor visibility, the GM may have both decide blindly. Each maneuver indicates who can use it, and has one to three notes:

Conditions: Special conditions required to enable the maneuver. “Suitable scenery or Lucky Break” indicates a maneuver that only works if the surroundings support it. If the GM didn't describe the scene that way – e.g., you want a ramp on a city street – you can either invoke Serendipity or spend a character point (a variation on Player Guidance cinematic rules) for a Lucky Break that allows the maneuver. Describe it! (“As luck would have it, a City Works crew left some planks over a sewer pipe.”)

Actions: Attacks or success rolls to resolve before making Chase Rolls.

Chase Rolls: Modifier to your Chase Roll – and occasionally your rival's – for this round, along with any special Chase Roll results. Some maneuvers are “static”; see Static Maneuvers.

Stop and make a careful ranged attack.

Actions: Everyone on your side with a ranged weapon may roll an attack, adding his weapon Acc; see Attacks.

Chase Rolls: Static maneuver.

Leave or enter a vehicle. Leaving is valuable when pursued by a faster vehicle and there's a nearby building to dash into. If your pursuer doesn't pick Disembark/Embark, too, then you can perform a Mobility Escape next round. Entering lets you take control of the boarded vehicle next round. This is nice when being chased on foot and you find a car!

When you change modes of transportation this way, use the skills and stats for your new mode next round.

Conditions: Must be in a vehicle to leave one, or have access to a vehicle to board one; the latter requires suitable scenery or Lucky Break.

Actions: Make a vehicle control roll to start a vehicle (or hotwire it, p. 23); if you fail, you can try this maneuver again next round. Passengers can attack with ranged weapons; see Attacks.

Chase Rolls: Static maneuver.

Regain control after a wipeout.

Conditions: If you experienced a close call last round, you must do this (or Stop); otherwise, you can't choose this maneuver. See Wipeouts.

Chase Rolls: -5.

Attempt to force an enemy vehicle off the road.

Conditions: Round starts at Close range and you're in a vehicle that could strike your rival's (no boats forcing motorbikes off the road!).

Actions: Roll against vehicle operation skill to hit. Target may attempt a vehicular dodge. If you hit, your target must make a vehicle control roll at -1/+1 per 5 full points by which your vehicle's ST is higher/lower than his vehicle's ST; e.g., if you have a HMMWV (ST 72) and he's in a sports car (ST 57), he rolls at -3. Failure sends him to Wipeouts. Passengers can attack with ranged weapons; see Attacks.

Chase Rolls: -2.

Attempt to duck out of sight of pursuer in a cluttered area – dash through a door and hide next to it, make several tight turns in a maze of alleyways, etc.

Conditions: Round starts at Medium range or greater; suitable scenery or Lucky Break.

Chase Rolls: -10 at Medium range, -5 at Long range, or +0 at Extreme Range. On foot, you must make your Chase Roll against Stealth. If you win the Quick Contest of Chase Rolls, then your foe shoots right past! You may opt either to escape, ending the chase, or to pull out behind your rival at Close, Short, or Medium range, making you the pursuer next round. If you don't win, your pursuer is automatically at Close range!

Escape pursuit by going where your pursuer cannot; e.g., evade a car by taking a boat out to sea or a motorbike down a narrow alley.

Conditions: Either a mismatched chase (e.g., air vs. land vehicle) or suitable scenery or Lucky Break. A Lucky Break can enable a Mobility Escape even if your opponent is equally mobile; e.g., in a foot chase, you could board the subway and flee your pursuer.

Chase Rolls: If your pursuer truly can't follow you, his maneuver is treated as static even if it otherwise wouldn't be, on this and all future rounds. He can, however, use his own Lucky Break to prevent this (e.g., board that subway himself) if he doesn't select a static maneuver.

Cut off your quarry by taking a route that he cannot; e.g., fly over some buildings in a helicopter to thwart a motorcyclist.

Conditions: Either a mismatched chase or suitable scenery or Lucky Break. A Lucky Break can allow this even when both parties are traveling the same way – e.g., you catch a ride on a conveyor belt to cheat in a foot chase.

Chase Rolls: +5. If you win, you must use any range shift to reduce range.

Chase or flee your rival using sheer skill and speed. This is the “default” maneuver: no conditions apply, there are no Chase Roll modifiers, and nobody attacks (take Move and Attack for that).

Attack your rival while continuing flight or pursuit.

Actions: Everyone on your side with a ranged weapon may roll an attack, but only heroes with Gunslinger add Acc; see Attacks. At Close range, melee attacks are possible; if anyone successfully grapples, the chase ends immediately.

Chase Rolls: -2 for pedestrians, or for a vehicle operator who attacks while driving.

Attempt to collide with or run down your quarry.

Conditions: Round starts at Close range and you're in a vehicle that could strike your rival.

Actions: Roll against vehicle operation skill to hit. The target may attempt to dodge. If you hit, don't fuss with the Basic Set collision rules. Instead, each of you rolls thrust damage for your vehicle's ST, subtracts the target vehicle's DR, and applies injury to vehicular HP. A pedestrian uses his ST and HP if run over. If your quarry did a Reverse this round, double damage for both of you! (People inside a vehicle involved in a Ram take a nominal 1 HP of general bruising – that's the movies for you.)

Anyone operating a vehicle involved in a Ram must make an unmodified vehicle control roll; on a failure, see Wipeouts. Passengers can attack with ranged weapons; see Attacks.

Chase Rolls: -2.

Turn sharply and come back at your pursuer!

Chase Rolls: -10. On foot, you can opt to make your Chase Roll against Acrobatics. In all cases, regardless of the Quick Contest of Chase Rolls, failing your roll sends you to Wipeouts. If you win and don't wipe out, you're the pursuer next round! Win or lose, range automatically becomes Close.

Stop dead, ending the chase.

Actions: If you're the pursuer, let your quarry escape. If you're the quarry, stop the chase and start combat or other interaction.

Chase Rolls: Don't roll – the chase is over.

Do something risky to outmaneuver your rival: jump a ramp, drive against traffic, etc. Describe it!

Actions: Roll against the skill you're using for the chase, at any even penalty you like (-2, -4, etc.). Driving the wrong way in traffic is -10 or worse! On foot, you must choose a move from Climbing or Parkour; minimum penalty is the one listed for that feat, and your Stunt roll is against Acrobatics, Climbing, or Jumping. In all cases, failure sends you to Wipeouts while success gives the bonus below.

Chase Rolls: +1 to your Chase Roll per -2 on your Stunt roll.

Escape pursuit with a flashy move; e.g., drop from an overpass onto a truck during a foot chase, or take a car down an alleyway on two wheels.

Conditions: Suitable scenery or Lucky Break.

Actions: Execute a Stunt exactly as usual, but declare that you're using the scenery or Lucky Break specifically to escape.

Chase Rolls: +1 to your Chase Roll per -2 on your Stunt roll. If your pursuer responds with Stunt at the same penalty or worse, he receives his Stunt bonus; if he has superior mobility and responds with Mobility Pursuit, he gets +5. Either way, the Quick Contest of Chase Rolls proceeds normally. If he picks any other maneuver, however, treat it as static even if it normally isn't, on this and all future rounds.

A vehicle's operator chooses its maneuver, possibly after consulting with his crew. Each passenger aboard can take one of these actions during the round:

Attack: If the vehicle operator took a suitable maneuver, a passenger can attack; see Attacks.

Board: If the round starts at Close range, a passenger can try to board an enemy vehicle! Roll a Quick Contest of Acrobatics or Jumping vs. the opposing driver's vehicle skill. Each contestant adds his vehicle's speed bonus. If the passenger wins, he leaps aboard the enemy vehicle and can continue to attack those on board as if at Close range – a distraction that gives the enemy driver -2 to Chase Rolls. If he ties, or loses by 1-4, he stays on his own vehicle. If he loses by 5+, he falls out, is run over as if the target vehicle had done a Ram on him (or falls, if he jumped from an aircraft), and is out of the chase.

Seize Control: If a vehicle's operator is down due to injury, a passenger can take over the controls to continue the chase. He must take Emergency Action next round (instead of Stop); after that, he can participate normally. He can also try this after boarding a hostile vehicle. If the driver, or a passenger who wishes to seize control from a subdued driver, opposes him, roll a Quick Contest of DX, Judo, or Wrestling each round. The winner controls the vehicle, but at -5 due to the ongoing struggle.

Other Tasks: A passenger can try any noncombat task possible for someone outside the chase: disarm a bomb, treat an injured ally, etc. This is at -2 if the vehicle delivers or receives a Force or a Ram, or -5 if the driver tries Emergency Action, Reverse, Stunt, or Stunt Escape.

The chase rules are one-on-one to keep things simple and fun; involving several participants per side leads to a hairy tactical combat. But movies feature swarms of motorbikes, security convoys battling multiple terrorist Jeeps, etc.

To handle this, run things exactly like a one-on-one chase and have only each side's leader – chosen by the GM for NPCs, elected by the players for PCs – select maneuvers and make Chase Rolls. His results in the Contest affect his entire side.

If a side chooses Force or Ram, each attacker must select one target, and may opt not to attack anyone. If a side chooses a maneuver that allows attacks, each person must target a specific enemy. Passengers who try to board enemy vehicles must pick particular destinations. Each participant makes his own control rolls if he makes or receives a Ram, or suffers a Force. He also makes his own Stunt rolls at the penalty his leader chose.

All damage he receives is his alone. If any of this spells a wipeout, only he wipes out; allies aren't affected. If the leader is out of the chase, that side must pick a new one!

Mobility Escape and Mobility Pursuit are especially tricky with mixed groups (e.g., helicopter, boat, and submarine). The least-painful approach is to say that equally mobile parties break off on their own chase, while the rest are left behind in the original, and both advance at the same pace.

It's also possible for one party to pursue another, who's pursuing a third. This gets messy, too, but the GM can fudge it as two largely unrelated chases: one between the front and middle participants, and another between the middle and rear ones.

Each round, the front participant picks a quarry maneuver and the rear one selects a pursuer maneuver. The middleman must either favor escape and select a quarry maneuver or emphasize pursuit and pick a pursuer maneuver. If he opts for pursuit, treat his maneuver with respect to his pursuer as Move. If he prefers escape, his maneuver with respect to his quarry is Move.

Roll the two chases separately, with only the modifiers for that chase and any generic ones (e.g., for injury). The results for the front and rear participants are obvious. For the middleman, both apply. Where they conflict, use the worst. The GM decides what's “worst” (and will have to make many similar judgment calls!).

After all subsidiary rolls, attacks, defenses, damage, and wipeouts are resolved, each party rolls against the skill governing his mode of travel: Bicycling, Boating, Driving, Piloting, Riding, Running, Skiing, Submarine, Swimming, etc. This roll is always DX-based. Pedestrians without Running can use DX. For vehicles, only the operator's skill matters. Opposing skills need not match – you can chase a bicycle with a helicopter or a speedboat by driving alongside a canal. Chase maneuvers, driver injury, or distraction might modify Chase Rolls, but these modifiers nearly always apply:

Complementary Skills: You may roll against either Area Knowledge for the location of the chase (to exploit shortcuts, scenery, etc.) or Urban Survival if you're in a built-up area (to predict dangers and traffic). You never have to roll, but if you do, you get the usual bonus or penalty. Use the best skill of those aboard a vehicle.

Handling: Those operating vehicles add their vehicle's Handling stat.

Higher Purpose (Deliver the Package): When you're trying to deliver goods or a person safely, this advantage gives +1.

Speed Bonus: Except during a static maneuver (see below), each side gets a bonus based on Top Speed. Use the “Size” column of the table: +2 for a Move 5 man, +3 for a speedy Move 6-7 person, +4 for a vehicle capable of 20 mph, +5 for 30 mph, +6 for 40 mph, +7 for 60 mph, +8 for 100 mph, +9 for 140 mph, +10 for 200 mph, and so on. For in-between values, use the lower bonus.

Chase Rolls meet in a Quick Contest. The outcome sets the range band at the start of the next round:

Victory by 0-4: No change.

Victory by 5-9: Winner may shift range band by one step in either direction.

Victory by 10+: Winner may shift range band by two steps either way.

Thus, fast vehicles will quickly elude or overtake slower ones, or pedestrians, but this isn't automatic. Skilled heroes can often trump faster but less-canny rivals.

If the quarry can shift range beyond Extreme, he escapes, ending the chase!

Stopping for any reason is a static maneuver. Attack and Disembark/Embark are always static. Any maneuver is static if your rival succeeds at Mobility Escape or Stunt Escape – and once he does, all your future maneuvers are static, too, regardless of what maneuver he takes, unless you can change mobility or pull a Stunt to keep up.

A static maneuver means you get no speed bonus on your Chase Roll. If your rival picks a non-static maneuver, he gets an extra range shift no matter who wins the Contest – that is, three if he wins by 10+, two if he wins by 5-9, or one otherwise. If you both perform static maneuvers, range doesn't change that round.

Only Attack, Disembark/Embark, Force, Move and Attack, and Ram allow attacks. During other maneuvers, either your target isn't in sight or your movement is too wild to allow a shot. If your maneuver allows an attack, you get one attack roll. This reflects the best shot that presented itself during the round. In games that don't track ammo, everybody might still be blazing away the whole time – just like in the movies! Modifiers:

Movement: During an Disembark/Embark, Force, Move and Attack, or Ram, a pedestrian or a vehicle operator suffers the worst of -2 or his weapon's Bulk with ranged attacks. Passengers aboard a vehicle have only -1.

Range: 0 if the round started at Close range, -3 at Short range, -7 at Medium range, -11 at Long range, or -15 at Extreme range.

Target: Vehicle SM if shooting a vehicle; no modifier if shooting a pedestrian or an exposed rider; -3 if shooting at a vehicle's vital areas, such as engines or wheels, or through windows at a vehicle's crew.

Gunslingers: Heroes with Gunslinger can shoot during any maneuver but Hide! They only suffer range and target penalties. During Disembark/Embark, Force, Move and Attack, or Ram, they add weapon Acc. During Attack, they add Acc+1.

The operator of a vehicle targeted by Force, Ram, or a weapon attack can defend with a vehicular dodgeat (control skill/2) + Handling, rounded down. Always add Enhanced Dodge (Vehicular) to this roll!

A rider, passenger, or pedestrian can try to dodge any attack on him. Against a melee attack made during a Move and Attack at Close range, he can opt to parry. Either is at -2 when seated.

One way to win a chase is to damage your rival to the point where he can't continue.

Damage to People: A vehicle operator who's injured has the usual -1 to -4 for shock, or -4 if stunned, on his next Chase Roll. If a human falls unconscious or dies, though, he can no longer act; if he's the sole pedestrian or vehicle operator on his side, he loses the chase and must go to Wipeouts (below).

Vehicular Damage: A vehicle at 0 or fewer HP must make the HT rolls indicated, reading “second” as “round.” A vehicle that suffers HP/3, rounded up, to vital areas (deliberately left abstract here!) must roll as if at 0 HP or its true injury level, whichever is worse. Failure takes the vehicle out of the chase and sends it to Wipeouts (below).

Wipeouts are crashes, skids, trips, etc. There are two sorts:

Close Call: If the target of a Force, either side in a Ram, or someone who botches a Reverse, Stunt, or Stunt Escape fails the relevant roll by his vehicle's Stability Rating (SR) or less – or gets a regular failure, on foot – he just has a scare. He participates in the Quick Contest of Chase Rolls as usual this round. Next round, he must select Emergency Action or Stop, or suffer a wreck. His opponent will know this!

Wreck: Failure by more than SR on the above rolls – critical failure, on foot – spells disaster. So does not following a close call with Emergency Action or Stop. And so does incapacitating a vehicle operator with nobody to take over, or taking out a vehicle or a pedestrian. If any of that happens, that pedestrian or vehicle performs an instant Stop and is out of the chase. Worse, that participant collides with something, taking thrust damage for his or its ST, adding speed bonus per die. Anyone in a vehicle during a wreck suffers only 1d plus speed bonus as injury. So if an HMMWV with ST 72 (thrust 8d) and Move 33 (speed bonus +7) crashes, it takes 8d+56 and those aboard lose 1d+7 HP.

Foot, plane, and boat chases mostly involve only interested parties. But what would a cinematic car chase be without parked vehicles, property, and citizens getting splashed everywhere?

On crowded streets, each wipeout of any kind causes a random accident. If the quarry causes an accident, his pursuer has -(1d-1) – that's 0 to -5 – on his next Chase Roll, due to the chaos. The downside is that property is trashed and people are injured (but rarely killed, at least in tamer movies). Accidents give heroes who answer to legitimate bosses a penalty to Assistance Rolls for the remainder of the adventure, while freelancers get extra BAD to reflect the fact that the authorities will be seeking them. Either is -1 for one accident, -2 for two, -3 for four, and another -1 per doubling. If a face man jumps out immediately to bribe or sweet-talk victims, or a medic stays behind to treat them, the GM shouldn't count that accident.