Wyrd’s 7th Sea Chase Rulings

I consider the chase to be one of the most iconic measures of Action/Adventure, and 7th Sea is a game that bleeds both. As such, I feel that chase scenes, in particular, require special treatment.

I want my players to feel the thrill of chasing an assassin across the rooftops, chasing a thief through packed city streets, or riding a carriage through a rainstorm pursued by bandits.

However, the question is, how to handle it.

There are currently three methods to handle risks in 7th Sea:

1. The Stand Alone Risk
2. The Action Sequence
3. The Dramatic Sequence

In all cases, the mechanic is the same: Choose an approach, roll your dice, form raises, and then use your raises to change the scene in some way. Action scenes and Dramatic scenes add in an implicit limit; A time frame of some kind.

Which, honestly, is exactly what we need. A built in end to the chase. One of the biggest challenges of a chase – how to end it – has been built into the mechanics already.

The question then becomes, what method do we use? Action seems like the perfect choice – it tends to be movement by movement, action by action, in a fast paced environment. However, there are plenty of dramatic chases – the most iconic being the trailing of someone while you observe their actions and intend to remain unobserved. However, the primary difference here is two-fold; a timeframe between actions, and in an action sequence there is an order to actions (More Raises goes first, and the scene tends to end with everyone going unless multiple raises are spent) in an Action Sequence, versus the more freeform direction of a Dramatic Sequence.

So, instead of classifying the type of Sequence we will use, we will just use Chase as our own new Sequence.

The Basics of a Chase Scene:

1. All parties are considered to be in motion. As a general rule, fast chases tend to use athletics or ride. Slower chases tend to use notice or athletics. However, in all cases, if a player can make an approach make sense, then allow it. The same rule for improvising counts during chases.
2. The order of spending Raises changes:
   The Pursued goes first, followed by Pursuer(s)
   If someone has an excess of Raises, they will use those raises at the end of the Sequence, or during, rather than at the start.
3. The Chase ends when the Pursued runs out of Raises.
4. If the Pursuer has at least one raise left over, he has caught the Pursued.
5. Pursued Raises are spent to create obstacles and consequences for the Pursuers.
6. Pursuer Raises are spent to overcome obstacles, create or use opportunities, and sometimes to create consequences for the Pursued.
7. The GM will often keep the raises he has available secret, so as to make it more dramatic, but this is not a requirement.
8. A hero still has the ability to gain a Hero point by choosing to fail at the start of a chase before the roll, and taking a dramatic wound. As an addition, at any point after the start of the chase a Hero can choose to fail, but will take a dramatic wound, as well as wounds equaling the number of spent raises they have used in the chase.
9. Once the chase ends, it can turn into an Action Sequence, a Dramatic Sequence, A Stand Alone Risk, or Exposition, depending on what the scene requires.

Now that we have the basic structure of a chase, we need to talk about Consequences, Opportunities, and more.

Obstacles, and Consequences:

An Obstacle is an action that the pursued takes that will require an equal number of raises to be spent by a pursuer to keep up with the pursued.
Examples:
Jumping over a large alley
Wading through a crowd
Throwing a child in the way
Ducking under a wagon
Ducking under a large branch

A Consequence causes harm, or loss, to the pursuer by the pursued, or vice versa. This often occurs due to shooting, throwing, or firing a bow or crossbow, however, other things can occur. Standard raise for raise spending can be used to avoid or mitigate harm.
SPECIAL: In regards to firearms, and because everyone is moving, if enough raises are spent to avoid all regular firearm damage, a dramatic wound is not inflicted.

In addition, often times obstacles can be taken as consequences by a Pursuer to avoid spending raises to keep up.
Example:
Two Pursuers watch the Pursued jump over a large alley. The first Pursuer jumps, but instead of spending a raise, he takes a wound, as he jumps and lands roughly on the other side. The second Pursuer jumps, but instead of spending a raise, he chooses to lose his pistol to the alley below.

In both cases, consequences and opportunities, although they are created by the pursuers or pursued, they do not have to be directly related.
Example:
A raise can be spent to hand someone knock someone down – damage is caused unless a raise is spent.

Opportunities:

Opportunities in a chase are often more informational than physical. That does not preclude the physical, but often times, in a chase, one is too busy to stop for the physical. A lot are not needed, however, it is suggested that one or two be given.
Example:
The Pursuer can spend a raise to notice the lapel pin on the Pursued
The Pursued recognizes the fact that the Pursuer is a Duelist by the way he moves.
Examples of possible player created opportunities:
A pursuer notices that the pistol a companion dropped landed on an outcropping, and managed to pick it up.
A pursuer shoots the chain on a sign, and it swings down, knocking an item from the arms of the Pursued.  The Pursued can choose to leave it, or spend a raise to retain/recover it.

Example of Play:

Currently, Dan, Matt, Alice, and Renee are playing a game of 7th Sea.
Dan is currently running a scene where Matt, playing Jules, Alice, playing Elise, and Renee, playing Isabella, are chasing after Vincent, a man who stole a very special book from Isabella.

Dan: As the three of you break down the door, you see Vincent half in and half out of the window, and with the book in one hand, he throws you a salute with the other, a grin upon his face, and drops down into the street, running away.

Matt: I am going to dive through the window after him. I am agile as hell, so I am going to roll finesse and athletics.

Renee: That’s my book! I am going after him as well, the dog. However, Jules is more athletic, so I am spending a hero point to give him 3 extra dice. Also, I am determined to get him. I may not be fast, but I am determined. I think Resolve and Athletics should work for me.

Alice: Elisa is still in her dress. She wants to come, but unfortunately, she fails. As she follows Isabella and Vincent, she falls from the window without grace, and sucking in an indrawn breath, she tells them to get the bastard.

Dan: Okay, sounds good. Elise, here is your Hero Point. Your approaches sound good, so you get your 2 extra dice for flair and description.

Dan gets 6 raises. Dan keeps his raises hidden. Matt gets 6 raises. Isabella gets 3 raises.

Dan: Vincent looks back, and sees you pursuing him. He is still smiling wide, and as he approaches the end of the alley, he sees a wagon, and slips past it before it rolls in front of him. *spends one raise*

Matt: I run towards the wagon and slide under it. He’s not getting away! *spends a raise*

Renee: The wagon has rolled past by the time I make it there, so I am not actually impeded. *spends a raise*

Dan: Vincent is still going strong. He starts to jump on a merchant stall, and jumps up onto the roof, hauling himself up. *spends a raise*

Matt: This is not a problem. He can keep running, but I will run him down. I follow up like it is no issue. *spends a raise*

Renee: Screw this. Maybe I can take him down. I am not sure if he is still wounded from that last fight. I draw my pistol and fire. *spends two raises*

Dan: Vincent gasps as the bullet pierces his back. He is bleeding a lot, but he does not stop. He and Jules quickly out distance you. As Vincent runs forward, he jumps over a rooftop, rolling to a stop and then continuing his run. Jules, you do have an opportunity available to you here to see something. *Dan does not spend any raises to mitigate damage, but he spends one to jump the alley*

Matt: Dammit, he has some energy. Well, I am going to take some bumps and bruises, because I am determined to not let him get away. I jump after, and take a wound from the hard landing, but I will take a moment to assess the situation, and see what I can. *marks a wound, but does not spend a raise for the jump. He does spend one for the opportunity*

Dan: Great. You notice that Vincent has a letter stuffed into the back of his breeches. Vincent looks desperate now. His earlier smirk has been replaced by a look of fear, and in a desperate bid, he draws a pistol as he runs, and fires behind him. *spends two raises for firing the pistol, and an extra one for damage*

Matt: Shit, I forgot he carries a gun. Well, I slip behind cover for a second as I see him swing the pistol back, and it shatters on some brickwork on the rooftop. *spends two raises, one to mitigate each point of damage*

Dan: Looks like you have one raise left. Vincent jumps down on the other side of the building, but sprawls as he lands, the book bouncing away from his grasp. You land with ease behind him.

Matt: Great. I draw my sword, and stare him down. “I have some questions for you, Vincent, starting with that letter…”