The Dungeons & Dragons game is built around the idea of small skirmish combats – fights with no more than a dozen combatants on each side. Of course, occasionally you have lots of opponents, but typically they are there mostly as scenery. One fireball or other area effect spell and they go down and do not trouble the characters again.

One thing that the rules tend not to handle well are combats where one side is fleeing from the other.

This is partly due to the segmented nature of movement. Imagine two sides start 100 feet apart. The first side moves in 60 feet and attacks with the others at 40 feet apart. And then the opposing side moves away 80 feet, so they are 120 feet apart for the start of the next round. It does not work that well.

Using Simultaneous Movement

The solution to this is simple: In a pursuit situation, movement occurs simultaneously at the beginning of the round. If a creature or vehicle wishes to spend its action dashing or some other manoeuvre that affects movement, then those actions are resolved before any further action. You then set the relative distance between the two sides, and those creatures with actions still available act in initiative order.

What manoeuvres might affect movement? Typically, obstacles. You can find a few examples in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and more in other sources.

Obstacles give a chance for the pilot, driver, or creature to make an ability check or saving throw to avoid danger and allow for variation in movement apart from “Dash”. Typically, a failure gives a penalty of half or no movement for the turn.

Should you allow Dash in a chase? Honestly, I do not think so. The basic rules in the DMG limit the number of times you can Dash. I might ban it altogether. It is more fun if you are using your actions to do something rather than just moving quickly.

Relative Distance or Tracking Positions?

The standard battle mat used in Dungeons & Dragons is not big enough to deal with distances covered in a typical overland chase. It makes more sense in a constricted (e.g. dungeon) environment where there are limits on how far you can move.

In a ship vs ship chase, where there are not many obstacles on the sea, I track how far the vessels are distant from each other. “They are 120 feet apart”. If the difference in speeds is 20 feet (one ship moves 60 feet and the other moves 40 feet), then at the start of each round they get 20 feet closer together.

In a foot chase or a land vehicle chase, there are more obstacles and complications to deal with. Using range bands of “Point Blank”, “Close”, “Medium”, “Distant”, and “Extreme” is one way of abstracting it out. You care less about the exact speeds – we can assume both are the same – and then the ability to navigate obstacles becomes the chief determiner of how you advance. If the pursuer succeeds a check and the pursued does not, then the distance reduces by one band. If the hunted succeeds and the hunter fails, then the distance increases.

Going beyond extreme is an escape, going to Point Blank allows melee or capture.

I also fond of the use of cards to depict various areas. A busy street. A marketplace. An alleyway. A riot. The cards combining both obstacle and represent locations. I know some such cards created by Paizo; there may be more available.

A Word on Ships

Ship vs Ship pursuit can be incredibly dull. I enlivened the session I had today by giving a choice to the characters:

• They could slow down their ship but make a broadside attack with their ballistae (and spells and missiles)
• Or they could speed up their ship by not making an attack

Meanwhile, the pursuing pirates had the same choice: allow the party to get further away by attacking, or sail right for them.

It does not work in all situations, but even if there are obstacles, try to give the party exciting choices.

Keeping Things Moving

Above all, you want chases to feel fast and furious (with a few exceptions – “a stern chase is a long chase”).

Tracking exact movement tends to work against that. Abstract it out, simplify it. It does not matter that much if the characters are 25 feet vs 30 feet movement speeds. Assume they are all the same if doing it abstractly or allow a small bonus on checks (say +2) to indicate the better foot speed.

Throw in obstacles to change things up. Allow opportunities for the players – they can upset an apple cart and delay the pursuers! But move around the table quickly, and do your best to keep everyone making decisions. If your players invest in the result, then you’re likely doing a good job!