There are few things you can do in an RPG that have more action, speed, violence, chaos, destruction, and pure human determination all wrapped up into one explosive, high-octane scene, than a good old chase scene. Gruff, violent, and/or desperate men and women in battered (or brand-new... for now) vehicles, speeding it out at high velocity across adverse environments to settle whatever stakes they each have in the conflict.
The only other thing that comes close to it is - you know it - the good old firefight. But rules and procedures for that are very well documented across a wide range of roleplaying games texts (including K:DL), to the point that most GMs find them intuitive and easy to run at this point.
Chases, however, remain more of a mysterious beast, to many of us out there.
So how do we run them? Should we go the purely narration route, or throw in some dice rolls to spice things up? How do we establish stakes, and when do we know the scene is resolved? Which rolls can we let players make, and how do they influence back onto the fiction?
Here's my breakdown of all things chasey.
Special shout-outs go to Kraetyz, Gabe, Master Edom, and The Stranger over on the Kult: Elysium Discord server. Their conversations about the topic started the idea for this post.
What's at Stake?
Rarely is the high-velocity driving of cars and motorcycles in close vicinty to both very dangerous and very frail scenery (such as other vehicles, buildings, cliffs, pedestrians, pets, baby strollers, garden fences...) a an end in itself. Usually, some ulterior purpose is pursued by all participants, although it can be a different motivation for different drivers in the same scene.
- Pursuing someone to prevent their escape
- Fleeing to escape a pursuer
- Racing to beat a rival in getting to a destination faster
are probably the most common examples here.
There may also be violent exchanges between the chasing / racing parties involved, most commonly of the gun violence type, but we'll get to these later. They're just a part of the whole chase process, and don't really make it a wholly different thing to justify its own category.
Looking at these types of stakes, it becomes easy to know when the scene will be resolved: When the fleeing party has either definitely escaped (commonly by shaking or waylaying all of its pursuers), or is caught (or killed) by the one(s) in pursuit, or when someone is the first to cross that finishing line / arrive at the hideout / cross the border to safety / etc.
When this is achieved by one of the participants in the chase, the scene's narration doesn't have to come to a full stop. Remaining activities by other drivers may still deserve wrapping up, some final dice rolls may even be in order to sort of whatever fallout from the scene remains... but by and large, by achieving their stakes, the bulk of the tension in the scene is relieved, and it's pretty much epilogue time for this bit of the fiction.
Getting There Is Half All The Fun
So we can see that it behooves us to build up tension towards that very resolving of the stakes. This is what the majority of a chase scene should be doing: Build-up, and pay-off, all while steadly increasing the tension about the eventual outcome.
To this end, we can use both narrative and mechanical techniques. Or in words, we talk (excitedly) about what happens in the fiction, and let that lead to dicerolls that determine the outcome of certain, dangerous or otherwise dramatic action, and that leads us back to talking (excitedly!) about what happens in the fiction.
Same as usual for PbtA, really, you see?
The best mechanics to use for this are - perhaps unsurprisingly - the game's Basic Moves . There are also some Advantages, such as Driver to name the obvious one, and also some others that could come in useful, but we'll talk about them later. Your bread and butter techniques are the Basic Moves, though, and that's why let's talk about them first.
Here are some Basic Moves that work really well in car chases:
Act Under Pressure
Perhaps the most used move in this type of situation, it can cover all kinds of things that one does with a car at high speeds and while under intense duress. Take care to not overuse it. When in doubt, sometimes let players just succeed with a maneuvre they announce to try, and look for ways to involve other moves than this one instead. Or simply present them a hard choice, without a roll attached, just as if you were quietly pretending they has rolled a (10-14) result. If you do use it - and you will - here's a few examples of its applicability.
Triggers: Cutting a corner to increase headway; sharp U-turn to change direction and shake pursuers; maneuvering to overtake slow, dense, same-direction traffic; maneuvering to avoid oncoming traffic while still maintaining chasing speed; jumping the vehicle over a chasm or obstacle; swerving to avoid pedestrians or other obstacles; speeding through a maze of narrow alleyways; steering straight in spite of slippery ground or adverse weather conditions; be forced to divide your attention between driving and doing something else (making a phone call, firing a gun, heated discussion with your passengers...)
Danger: You take the wrong turn and end up on a much shittier road; Your reckless driving alerts the cops; You swerve off the road and are slowed or stopped; You hit a person; You destroy something valuable (a shopping window, street vendor's stand, statue, or other piece of expensive property...); You get shaken and rattled (and possibly hurt) while mowing down a slender tree, garden fence, sturdy gate, construction site props, or other small scenery; You hit a wall, large tree or other solid object, and are stopped (and very possibly hurt); Something in your vehicle breaks (a tire flattens and slows you, the fuel tank is leaking and puts you on a tight timer, rearview mirrors break and leave you with reduced oversight of your surroundings, the brakes give out, the steering gets wonky, a window shatters, etc...)
Move Snowballs: Some of these choices can lead to slowing the vehicle down (losing your headway or giving a pursued party more of it [see below for a simple and convenient way to track this]) or stop it entirely, and/or can force the driver - and/or any passengers they might have aboard - to Endure Injury. You could also become disoriented and have to Observe the Situation to regain your bearings. Hitting a person will deal Harm to them in the way detailed on p.158 (and p.106) in the Corebook, and it should virtually always cause the driver to Keep it Together as well! Destroying valuables and causing other collateral may or may not be so hard on your conscience, right away, but it may have legal consequences later. If they ever catch you, they're gonna want to make you pay for it, or throw you in jail if you can't.
Avoid Harm
Sometimes, the things another driver does - or the fallout from your own mistakes - may force you to use this move. Note that, while it's details and outcomes may often feel suspiciously similar to those of Act Under Pressure, this move should be used strictly reactively only. For actions announced by the driver themselves, the above move is golden. For reactions to something caused by enemies, rivals, the environment, or one's own misdeeds - Avoid Harm may be just right for that!
Triggers: Can you avoid the scattered crates and barrels the fleeing vehicle knocked over, without losing your pursuit velocity? Stay the course in spite of the grenades they throw? Dodge the oncoming traffic? Maneuvre the oil spills on the road without swerving out of control? Without your brakes and having swerved off the road into that little park area there, can you avoid hitting any of the trees and coming to a full - and painful - stop immediately?
Move Snowballs: A mild-tempered GM, or one who is feeling especially gracious that day, may allow a roll to Avoid Harm after a failure (or even partial?) result for Act Under Pressure, as a way to allow the PC one more chance to dodge whatever badness (i.e. Danger) they have coming for them. In general however, if such a roll fails, it can easily lead to someone needing to Endure Injury next. It could slow you down enough to force you to Observe the Situation in order to locate your quarry again, and resume pursuit. Or it could even simply end the scene, as you crash to a halt and are unable to continue the chase at all.
Endure Injury
This is the main dread to any and all chase scenes worthy of the name: That someone could end up getting mortally wounded from all the craziness we've been getting ourselves into. Sometimes, you may wanna inflict a sort of Reduced Harm, which can be announced as "Roll to Endure Injury, but the worst that can happen is you get two of the (10-14) results"... optionally adding something like "...one of which I'm gonna make a Serious Wound, just so you know", if you're feeling it.
Other times, you want to pack the full punch of the move as written - and roll with whatever comes up, weaving it back into the fiction. Passengers bleeding out on the back seat, drivers suddenly falling unconscious, or the hostage slumping over dead beside you are all staples of this kind of scene.
Fitting Injuries: You break your nose on the steering wheel; You knock your forehead and blood trickles into one eye; The impact makes you lose your glasses / gun / street map / phone, it is now clattering around somewhere by your feet, no way to retrieve it easily or swiftly, on your own; You dislocate a shoulder because the seat belt had slipped; You break a collarbone as the seat belt was where it should be; Heralded by a shrill noise in your ears, your sense of balance is severely impeded; You break a knee as you desperately still tried to hit the brakes when the car already impacted violently; The brutal whiplash cranks your neck and limits your mobility and vision; Shards from the broken windshield dig into your arms, hands, and face...
Move Snowballs: Getting wounded during an adrenaline-fueled chase scene may confuse and disorient you: Observe the Situation to stay (or get back) on track, or you might have to Act Under Pressure to take care of whatever ways your injury impedes your ability to continue the chase (e.g. wipe the blood out of your eyes to regain your depth perception, pick the glass shards out of your palm so you can firmly grip the steering wheel once more).
Suffering severe injuries under intense duress can also lead to Keep it Together rolls (suppress the pain, try not to get distracted, overcome the shock of almost dying just now...) and/or may cause a driver (or passenger) to See Through the Illusion.
Observe a Situation
When there is an opening for the PCs to learn more about the scene, or when they are actively trying to get an increased overview of their situation (e.g. find the best possible escape route, figure out where the hell you are when've gone off-road...), this move may be employed to represent their efforts at establishing clarity of their whereabouts.
It's also a great way to involve other PCs in the vehicle, who are not themselves driving it, in the action. When in doubt, let them ask their questions first, then decide whether to have them roll for the move (or just tell tell, or inform them there's no way they could determine that). For some of the questions it may make sense to grant them a +1 or +2 to the roll if the passenger has a street map, is using google maps on their phone, holds binoculars, knows the area well, knows the opponents well, or has other relevant advantages to bring to the table that seem to fit.
There is no need for you to use (let alone hand out to the players) exact street maps or explicitly pinpoint routes and positions. Just use the questions that OaS allows, and tell them what they need to know right now. Keep it immediate, and fast-moving.
Examples:
Best way through this: Lose them in the maze of narrow alleyways; Take a shortcut through the inner city pedestrian zone; Get on the boulevard where you can make your superior speed count; Go off-road where your jeep will have a far easier time than their bikes...
(Name a route for them to take, and immediately start thinking of possible obstacles and challenges (i.e. next rolls to make) to throw their way if they take it. Also however make sure to give them their +1 from this roll to dealing with any new challenges on that chosen route.)
Biggest threat: You can see them readying guns and rolling down their windows; One of the bikers is holding an actual fucking grenade in hand, and looks ready to throw it as soon as he gets close enough; That one car has a fortified front grill and seems intent on ramming you first chance you give it; Loud noises, fast speeds, and reckless collateral will alert the police - and you just know they'd go after you harder than after them...
(Name an active threat that's coming their way, and then don't let up on it unless and until it has been solidly take care of.)
Possible advantage: Find that sharp turn onto a hidden trail that they might just miss and speed by; Spot a ramp to jump over; Notice the train is about to pass somewhere; Their cautious, almost conservative driving style gives you the idea that intimidating them with reckless driving, ramming attempts, and the like, could work to scare them off; Ramming those [crates / barrels / stack of large pipes / other] and getting them scattered across the road would put an obstacle in their way; there's a bridge coming up ahead, which [could be demolished to stop pursuers dead in their tracks / someone could be made to swerve off of, stopping (and possible drowning) them / could be used for makig a stand without the risk of them surrounding you]...
(This is textbook Offer them an opportunity, with or without a price. Seizing it will often be an Act under Pressure, but might also be something else, or no roll at all.)
Look out for: These potholes might flatten your tires and even break your axes, if not carefully avoided; The forest is increasingly treacherous the darker it gets, so if you were to lose your lights you'd be seriously fucked in here; This icy road is especially dangerous when taking curves at high velocity; Pedestrians are crossing left and right here; You spot road signs indicating [a traffic jam / treacherous curves / a dead end / construction site activity / animals crossing / low passes / other] coming up ahead;
(Name a passive danger that is particular to the current environment. It will have to be navigated, or you risk to suffer its effects. Once that specific area is cleared, it may or may not be a factor anymore. Best practice is to vary it up and throw new dangers at them with any new area they're traversing!)
Hidden: They're not actually trying to [escape / catch you], they're trying to [lure you to follow them / herd you to run] deeper into the slums; There's another party involved in the chase, who you hadn't noticed before; More of them are lying in wait ahead; The fields beside the road look like solid earth but are really moist and swampy; You notice that these speed bumps are the kind that sharp spikes emerge from if you cross them in the wrong direction; The deep snow conceils a smaller road splitting off of this one; In the darkness ahead you catch shimmering reflections of the stars on what must be a sizeable body of water - if it's a river then there will likely be a bridge...
(Introduce a new and surprising element into the scene. Ideally it should not change everything about what's going on, but rather put a fresh twist on it and/or (threaten to) drive a thrown into the PCs' side...)
Strange: This doesn't look like a normal forest anymore...; You know this district inside out but these weird buidings you have never seen, which should be impossible...; All the bikers cheer for a moment and make an odd sign with one raised hand, every time one of them goes down that cliff next to the curvy mountain road... are they enthusiastic about their suicidally reckless brethren's deaths?; They're more scared than you are, though you have no idea why they'd be...; That driver must be inhumanely [strong / fast / perceptive / resilient / other], there should be no way he should have been able to pull that off! ...
Engage in Combat
Chasing and racing mean tension and high stakes, and that means... a high chance of violence ensuing bteween the contestants. Now it can be very hard to effectively make hand-to-hand attacks while riding in a vehicle (although for motorcycle riders that is a distinct - if risky - possibility), but it is often possible to engage in ranged combat.
There are likely a few drawbacks to consider, in comparison to pedestrian firefights. In enclosed vehicles, you are, well, rather enclosed. So you'll have to lean out of a window, or open the roof and stand up to shoot at opponents. This may at the GM's discretion require an Act under Pressure in order to perform without getting your aim shaken or yourself exposed to enemy fire. On a partial result for such a roll, the GM might give you -1 or -2 to your subsequent Violence rolls, while on a fail you might immediately get targeted by hostile shooting, or environmental adversity (e.g. low-hanging branches, tumbling barrels or crates, the flock of crazed ravens controlled by the death cult...)
Needless to say, if you're the car's driver, and also want to shoot at opponents, this should be an Act under Pressure as well, with the danger being that you might lose control of the car, on top of the other risks listed above.
On a motorcycle, however, it is much easier to find the freedom of movement to fire at least one-handed weapons with comparative accuracy. The GM might still veto in an AuP or just flat out a -1 or -2 penalty on your Engage in Combat roll, e.g. for moving over rugged terrain while shooting, or similar adverse circumstances. More dangerously, however: On a partial result for your EiC, you might (as per the normal rules) lose something important - e.g. your balance, meaning you (must Avoid Harm or) crash the bike - or you might get in trouble later on, for example by damaging your bike (fuel tank, tires, steering...)
Apart from these special additions, resolve combat pretty much as you normally would.
Triggers: Leaning out the window with your uzi ready to unleash leaden death; Stand up through the roof window, bazooka in hand; Steer the bike with one hand while shooting your clock at the fugitive's tires; Lob grenades at the pursuers whenever they get into ideal reach; Blast their windshield with your shotgun...
Move Snowballs: Several have been mentioned above, but apart from Avoid Harm and Act under Pressure of course Endure Injury is always on the table as a follow-up for this move, as well as possibly the need to Observe a Situation, Keep it Together, and See Through the Illusion. Anything is possible once the bullets start flying and blood start spraying the asphalt...
Keep it Together
A chase or race is always a test of resolve, of mental composure, iron determination, and sheer nerves. Many situations in which another roll could be used, this one could conceivably be substituted for it instead. You can use this to avoid endless repetitions of Aup and AH rolls, just by deciding, "no this one is more about your Willpower, your sheer grit to pull through."
Apart from that, it goes very well with each and any of the following triggers below.
Triggers: Missing that crucial exit; Getting surrounded on all sides; Getting badly hurt; Killing someone; Shocking explosions or large-scale demolition; Seeing a friend or ally die; Surprising oncoming traffic; A truck right in front of you starting to swerve and topple over; A train rushing near from the side; Sudden reveal of many more enemies than you thought there were... Literally anything that tests your nerves, and challenges you to keep your cool or else...
Move Snowballs: This move might lead to the character showing their nerves of steel, and staying their steady course - or it might to nervousness, fear, shocked hesitation, emotional turmoil (anger makes you impulsive, fear makes you freeze up, guilt and sorrow will haunt you later - and all of those will incur Stability loss) and other complications. On a spectacular fail, it might even lead to the chase scene immediately coming to an end as the character is too scared to continue and feels themselves forced to throw the towel and give up.
See Through the Illusion
In the extremes of adrenaline, pain, blurred landscapes speeding by, glass, pastic, and metal bending and breaking, explosions, gunshots, and crashing vehicles... the Veil over our senses may become frail and torn. Human aggression and death is like almost nothing else in the world suited to tear the Illusion apart - and reveal the True Horrors beyond!
Triggers: Failing to Keep it Together against any of the triggers listed for that, above; Intense pain and gruesome injury (e.g. gutted, mutilated, impaled, face destroyed...); Magical rituals or severe intoxication during the scene; Grossly and obviously supernatural occurrences...
Move Snowballs: What moves follow after this one is always heavily determined by the content of what has been seen (if anything... or anything that can be made meaningful sense of anyways) through the Veil. If meaningful info is glanced (e.g. They're all razides; They're normal people but there's a tentancled, many-mawed Child of the Night with them; Monstrous undead children are crawling from that swamp over there; One of the cars has an aura of magical protection surrounding it; the streets of Metropolis offer maneuvering options that aren't visible within the Illusion...), the PCs will often adjust their course of action to react to these new reveals. Handle those new actions as you would all others, i.e. let the fiction dictate what mechanics get used to provide new impetus for leading the conversation onwards into further fiction.
Final thought on Stakes: When throwing out challenges, complications, and consequences during the chase, keep in mind your established stakes. Take care not to inflict any repercussions that would lead to an outcome you're not prepared to see happen. It's one thing to play to find out (which you should!), but it's also important to sometimes limit the range of possible outcomes of what you're playing with.
Example: If you're not prepared to let the cultists actually catch the PCs, for instance - say, because your real stakes are "escape them before nightfall or be trapped in the forest when the Illusion tears towards Gaia" - then take care not to do things that will irreversibly stop the PCs' flight. You might still flatten a tire or something, to give them interesting problems to deal with, but you probably shouldn't flatten all their tires, or break their axes, or let them run out of fuel completely...
Example #2: If you're introducing the police into a chase between PCs and cultists, but you're not actually planning to let them get caught by the cops, and imprisoned etc. (though maybe they might get caught by the cultists, but then they'll have other problems of course...), then maybe you're really adding the police just for a greater variety of opponents and challenges along the way. "Now there's not only a bunch of crazed redneck bikers with hunting rifles and hatchets after them, but also some cop cars with shotguns and grenade launchers!", you might be thinking - and you'd be thinking in a good direction. Just use those cops for what they're worth and then take care to narrate them getting waylaid comfortably in time to not risk them winning the chase in the end!
Putting This All Together
That was a lot of information right now, and may well feel overwhelming. How to put all that into practice? A few tips and best practices:
Keep it as narrative as you can, but don't hesitate for rolls if you have to / feel like it.
Don't let a single roll - no matter how spectacularly good or bad - decide the entire outcome of the chase. That will feel anitclimactic to the players, like it's all over way too soon, and was merely a matter of dumb luck to begin with. The more (hard) choices they have to make during a chase, the more it'll feel like they really earned their outcome in the end.
Instead, use brief descriptions of situations, then (let the players) trigger rolls, then describe the outcomes and describe a new situation.
Change scenery and surroundings often and quickly. This will give the impression of a high-speed chase through rapidly changing terrain.
The classic PbtA advice "look at everything through crosshairs" is as true, or more so, for chases and races as for any other in-game situation. No one is save in a wild car chase! Even named NPCs can drop down cliffs, get caught in fiery explosions, or be thrown through their windshield in a heads-on collison. Remember that no one is certified dead unless we saw them die onscreen - and usually a chase is gonna be moving on too fast to really make sure of such anyways. But sometimes, let the players' rolls succeed in destroying plot-relevant objects and people. If you have put some of your inventions on the line by making them part of the scene's stakes, there should be a very real possibility for it to go either way. Chase to find out, as it were.
Here is an example of a well-narrated chase scene. The seed for it was originally written by Kraetyz on the Kult: Elysium Discord server, and I have slightly edited and expanded it to encompass a few more of the things I have written about above.
You're trying to escape them through the labyrinth of inner city alleyways. Sharp turns, narrow lanes, confusing layout. Roll to Observe the Situation to discern an ideal route out of here. Your car a little worse for wear, you make it onto the boulevard. You manage to increase your headway simply by reckless speeding, and your passengers' shooting waylays a few of them. Slow traffic gives you a hard time though - Whoa! That yellow light is gonna be a tight squeeze, and you were distracted for a moment there. Roll to Avoid Harm to make it across the intersection in spite of sideways traffic already starting to flow in. As you get onto the highway, the chase continues. You have shaken or demolished around half of them, but some are still in pursuit! Cars are zooming by in both directions, and with the way you're weaving to keep your pursuers guessing, things are getting a bit chaotic. Roll to Act under Pressure. Oh no! That partial makes you cause an accident, a sideswipe bump that makes another car swerve out of control, and slows your own down a bit. Fortunately it also stops all but one of your pursuers as a pile-up collission starts happening behind you. But one of them manages to avoid it, and even overtake you - and you see in their car as it passes you by: They got Tanya in there with them!
Fuck, now this changes everything. You gotta get to them, to free her! When they realize the new situation, they exit the highway for smaller overland streets. Soon you find yourself being led onto forest roads, the ground rugged and the trees blocking a lot of your view. Keep it Together to maintain your calm nerves and keep up the chase. Shit, you must have taken a wrong turn back there. Where are you even? And where did they go? Observe the Situation to orient yourself in these fucking woods. Oh, obviously - they will have tried to double back, and get back to their allies / home base. Time to find a shortcut to intercept that! There they are, trying to make it back onto the highway. The earthen road is flanked by swampy meadows on both sides. Act under Pressure to navigate the muddy curves and catch up to your quarry. This is it, the moment you've been waiting for. You can stoop this chase right now if you ram those bastards off the road! Roll to Engage in Combat. Good luck!
Advantages
The above are, as mentioned in the beginning, your basic tools. They can be entirely sufficient to run highly satisfying chase scenes all by themselves. Sometimes you want to add some extra spice to it however, and that's where Advantages can come in handy.
The most obvious one here is of course Driver (Corebook p.106), and it's very useful indeed! The way I use it (and other Advantages too, incidentally) is that spending an Edge lets the player get an automatic success for something that would otherwise (i.e. without an Edge) have been a roll.
So while shaking off a pursuing vehicle might well be an Act Under Pressure for most people, for a Driver it just requires spending one Edge. I ask the player how their character goes about it, and just let it succeed. Similarly, using your vehicle as a weapon may normally call for an Engage in Combat roll - but if you're willing (and able) to spend an Edge for it, you may just directly inflict your given Harm rating on your intended victim.
Side Note: I would probably disallow the last of the given Edges to motorcycle riders. A bike simply doesn't have the mass, nor the armoured hull to pull this off with any certainty of success, much less without hurting the rider. Instead, I allow bikers an alternate Edge instead:
- Keep steering your bike with one hand while using the other one to perform a complex action (e.g. firing a gun, taking a fotograph, writing a short text message...)
Other Advantages
Players are often very creative people, and when put under high duress, with important things at stake for them, they tend to get even more creative. You might also call it desperate. Expect them to come up with all kinds of wild ideas for how they could use their existing Advantages to their... well, advantage. Heh.
Whether it's Escape Artist, Ice Cold, Improviser, Animal Speaker, Body Awareness, Hunter, Instinct, Shadow, Quick Thinker, Genius, Inner Power, Stubborn, Voice of Pain, Wayfinder, Death Drive, Field Agent, Lightning Fast, Ruthless, Survival Instinct, Eye for an Eye, Rage, or any of the countless others that exist - consider allowing players to at least try and narrate a rationale for how their Advantages could come into use in the present situation, and when in doubt try to err on the side of leniency. That means, say to say 'yes' more often than not to these kinds of requests. Life is harsh and brutal enough for Kult characters anyways, so letting them use their cool stuff every once in a while is the kind thing to do. When it stands to reason that someone who is Lightning Fast or a Quick Thinker or whatever could make a difference here, and they've got an Edge that sounds even just halfways like what they're trying to do - let them.
You can always tie conditional other rolls to the use of the Edge or Option they want to bring into play. If their ideas seem exaggerated, unbelievable, or overpowered, start saying 'yes, but...'
For example, "Yes, you could use this to [do X], but first you (or your driver) will have to Act Under Pressure to get into the right position to pull it off."
Treating Objects Vehicles Like People
I suggest to give your car Wounds like a PC has, so it can suffer Serious Damage or Critical Damage from attacks against it.
Motorcycles can take 2 Serious Damages and 2 Critical Damage. Any damage it takes may require the rider to make a roll in order not to get knocked over - though you might rule that a hit that gives it Critical Damage will always knock over the bike.
Cars, SUVs, or vans of an average type can take 4 Serious and 2 Critical Damages. The second Crit Dmg it receives will slay it. Any Crit Dmg should probably force some kind of roll from the driver to retain control of the vehicle.
Jeeps, pick-ups, and trucks are progressively more sturdy and massive, and may be able to take up to 5 Serious Damages and perhaps even 3 Critical ones.
Wound Penalties are replaced by Damage Penalties but work the same way. Accumulating -1 or -2 ongoing penalties to your driving rolls are as sure of a way to lose a chase as getting caught, immobilized, or killed is.
(Note: If you prefer to handle vehicles' Wounds the NPC way instead, Consider giving a motorcycle 3-4 Wounds, and larger vehicles 6-12 Wounds. In place of Harm Moves, you can use Damage Moves, perhaps using the list of suggested Malfunctions below for inspiration.)
Vehicles also have an equivalent to Fortitude/Armor:
A normal, run-of-the-mill car, SUV, pick-up, or van might have Armor 2,
fortified versions of the above, trailers, and trucks may have Armor 3,
a really solid beast (armoured troop carrier, massive truck...) may have 4.
Motorcycles have Armor 1.
This value gets detracted from the attacking weapon's Harm value in the normal way.
Person-to-person violence:
Except for motorcycles, vehicles usually tend to convey their Armor value to their passangers as well. It might be reduced when shooting at people who are leaning out of windows, or standing up through the roof hatch etc. Also refer to the section about Engage in Combat, above, for some more possible twists and options.
Other than that, resolve violence against opponent passengers pretty much according to the normal rules for combat aggression.
Person-to-vehicle damage:
It makes a lot of sense in a chase scene that has escalated to violence, to target enemy vehicles instead of their passengers. For one thing, the passengers are often well protected inside their vehicles, and if you can attack fiercely enough to wound or slay them, you might as well stand a chance to damage or destroy their entire car. Which can naturally stop a whole bunch of enemies with just one stroke. Or at least slow them down, that'll stop them being a factor in the chase, too.
Possible Malfunctions: When receiving Serious or Critical Damage, a vehicle might suffer any of the following malfunctions, and more.
Shattered window, headlights, or rearview mirror; Bumper torn off; Door comes loose; Exhaust pipe ripped off; Punctured tire; Suspension collapses, ride becomes rough and steering is impeded; Sparks fly from the dashboard, some electronics damaged; Smoke emerging from the engine; fuel tank leaking, fuel gauge drops rapidly; Brakes malfunction; Gear shift damaged, clutch gets stuck; Steering becomes wandering, swervy, or unresponsive; Tire is lost; Axis broken; Engine blown; Fuel tank catches fire and explodes...
Vehicle-to-vehicle damage:
Ramming another vehicle with your own is usually a roll to Engage in Combat. Depending on size, mass, and sturdiness of the vehicles involved, you may give various bonuses and penalties to ramming attempts.
A car ramming a motorcycle may get +1 to Engage in Combat, while motorcycles may get a -1 even to ramming each other, and can not meaningfully ram anything larger at all.
Normally a ramming vehicle inflicts its Armor value as Harm onto the target vehicle (if successfully ramming), and possibly more if it is moving significantly faster than the rammed opponent.
SUVs, jeeps, pick-ups, vans, trailers, trucks etc. are progressively larger and heavier, and every (meaningful) size category might mean a further +1, both to the ramming attempt itself and to the Harm that is dealt upon a successful collision.
Getting Away, or Catching These Bastards
Finally, for chases where catching/escaping is at stake, I use a simple "headway" system, where distance gain/loss is measured in up to 3 steps.
The way I handle it is that a full success (15+) on a roll that is meant to increase headway to a pursuer / catch up to a fugitive (usually these will be AUP or OaS rolls, though in rare cases it could be Violence-based or contingent on a successful save, i.e. Passive-Attribute-based roll) allow you to increase / shrink the distance to your opponent by 1 step.
So a full success on AuP for example might let you weave through traffic with elegance and verve, putting you 1 distance increment ahead of the cops. Your next fail on OaS however might mean they outmaneuver you in the maze of alleyways and your headway shrinks back to 0.
If you ever achieve 3 steps headway, you have escaped.
When you are at 0 distance, one single roll is liable to determine the final outcome of the chase, i.e. leave you captured if you fail your next relevant action.
As an added bonus, the steps can also easily substitue / be equivalent with the distances given for weapons in K:DL - "Room", "Field", and "Horizon" all feel like apropriate terms to describe how near or far an opponent vehicle currently is. This comes in handy for adjudicating your uzi-wielding passengers' favorite pastime as well.
