Running

I’m a fan of Doctor Who and if you’ve ever watched the show, you’ll quickly discover that the main characters run away a lot. In the context of the show it’s exciting because it shows that the threat to the main characters are real and there is no simple way to defeat it. Beyond that, just the scenes of them running are thrilling because you know that any false move means doom.

That is really, really hard to do in an RPG. What’s worse is that if I were able to replicate that in my games, they’d be much better. My players often want to run away but doing so is not well supported in games as to how to resolve it (easily anyway) and it seems like they’re just giving up. What’s more, where are they running to? It’s usually just out of the reach of the danger. In the series it’s usually to some shelter, even if it’s a temporary one.

RPGs were spawned from wargames and have had a hard time shaking off their parentage. In a wargame, running is dishonorable. In a story, escaping can be thrilling and is often the most reasonable course of action. In war, a fleeing enemy is at a massive disadvantage and is easily defeated. Most RPGs focus on replicating this because the fact remains that someone with their back turned to you is not easily able to defend themselves.

So how can a chase scene be made thrilling for the players? The new Doctor Who RPG has a solution but it’s not my favorite kind of mechanic. That doesn’t mean it’s not effective though. The game splits actions into phases, movement is the first phase and combat is the last phase. This gives running away a mechanical advantage, it is a safer bet than fighting. The only problem is that I dislike phased turns. In every game I’ve played I’ve ignored phasing out the action. I know that it’s there to encourage certain actions just like it’s being used here to encourage running away but phased turns make each round into multiple rounds making game play much slower. Players can forget which round they’re in and loose focus.

Enough about what I don’t like, let’s look at some options. First off let’s look at what works with running and what doesn’t. If a danger is based on close combat, running makes sense. All you have to do is out distance the danger. This is often only an issue of a meter or two which can be covered in a few seconds. Of course, then the danger might then give chase but then it’s simply an issue of who’s faster. However the PC that decides to run could be given a one turn advantage in distance because their attacker wasn’t planning on them running. I’ll discuss how to do that in a moment though.

If as a GM you want to encourage escape as a viable option, long chases are not your friend. The players have to have some place to run to, someplace within one to three rounds of running. It can be a flimsy shelter but it should give them at least a few turns of protection while they try and think of a plan. This is important to remember because providing a shelter like a door that they can slam behind them or a tree they can get behind is more of a story choice than a mechanical system.

In modern games there is one significant problem with running away. Guns are faster than the players are (unless you’re a speedster in a supers game). This is where we have to get into mechanics because running has to be given a mechanical advantage (a logical one) if it is to be viewed as a viable option by the players. It is a fact though that a moving target is harder to hit than a stationary target. With this in mind, running away but not directly away, can be given a mechanical advantage. If the player’s opponent gives chase, they should be at a further disadvantage to hit because they are no longer a stable gun platform. (Even old tanks couldn’t drive and fire at the same time because they would never hit their target.) This allows the players to gain a significant advantage by running, they are harder to hit and are likely to gain a good amount of ground before their attackers stop firing and give chase.

In an opposed roll system, the PC’s running roll could be used as a difficulty number for the attacker. The faster they run, the harder it is to hit them. In a system that allows a player to dodge attacks, this ability should not be taken away from a running character. This would give two chances for a character to avoid harm, a significant tactical advantage.

How To Encourage Running

Another significant problem that a GM could run into is the fact that most players are now conditioned that they must defeat every opponent they meet. This is a huge problem because with this mindset, running away equals failure.

In order for the players to understand they are allowed to run away, it has to be clearly communicated. Massing more enemies against them will not work. They are used to the idea that they are supposed to take on armies of enemies and will get the wrong signal. One way for them to understand they are not supposed to fight is to give the enemy an off switch. This doesn’t (have to) mean a literal off switch, it is a win condition where the enemies are no longer willing, compelled to or able to fight.

As an example, if the players get a message through to the opposing general, the war will end. In this situation any fighting they do is counterproductive to ending the war. The enemy is effectively turned off as soon as the general gets the message.

In a smaller scope, if the PCs run past the guards and drop the portcullis they’ll be unable to stop them. Giving the players the ability to render their enemies ineffective is the one clear way to encourage them to avoid an enemy and not engage them.

So now we have a goal of turning off the enemy, how do the players accomplish it? To make the game interesting, there should still be a set of obstacles that they must overcome but the solution to those obstacles will often involve running away from danger instead of into it. If the players can see that there are solutions that they can puzzle their way through, they’ll more readily understand where the challenge of the game is coming from. If they start thinking about fighting, remind them of their goal and give them hints about where they can run to.

You’re within a few feet of a solid looking door, and you realize fighting this guy could hurt a lot more down the line. You wonder if you can make it there safely.