Swoop races

[ebertran]

I'm about to launch a new d6 campaign, and my first adventure will have the pc's entering a swoop race to try and win a junked ship.

The adventure is set in Socorro, and I want to use the swoop races, but there are no mechanics whatsoever in the Black Sands of Socorro to explain how to actually run these races. it's all very vague.

have any of you used this material? How did you do it?

[Frandal]

Wretched Hives of Scum and Vilany has an example of one Swoop Race, if I recall correctly.

[jmanski]

I think yer right.
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Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

[garhkal]

A few of my modules have races as components to them. How i run it.

Separate the race into segments.. Say an easy area (going through an open plain), then into a harder zone (say through a light forest), then into a very hard zone (say from said forest into a canyon).

Each segment has 3/2/1 rolls associated with it. As each 'team/participant' makes their roll for that "Segment of the race" use a discriptive process to explain how things go. Remember if they push their speed that will modify the difficulty for any maneuvering rolls they do.

You can also have a set up scene for it, where each person in said race gets a broken apart swoop to put together and has a high target number they need to reach. Each roll of their swoop repair/repulsorlift repair/technical, represents a flat segment of time (say 10 minutes) of them repairing the vehicle.
As an added option, perhaps if they wish to shoot for a higher target number, they might be able to improve the vehicle they use.

As an example.
Lets say there are 4 people going for the prize. Each get's their broken speeder, and needs a target # of 80 to fix it before they can race.
As they fix it they can start, so completing it makes them get off the starting line earlier, so PC 1 and 2 (2 of the 4 race entrants) decide to try and hurry up the job by force pointing their first roll (realizing they will not get it back).
PC 1 rolls a 54 on his roll, while pc 2 gets only a 47.
NPC 3 manages to hit a 34 and npc 4 gets 40 after lucking out on a double wild die explosion.
PC 1 for the second 10 minute of repair, figures he can easily hit the required 80 if he force points a second time, so decides he wants to upp the TN to 95, so he can add 1d of maneuverability to his swoop.
He rolls, and even WITH a complication (Dm lets him know later what that is) he manages to hit the 95 score. So PC 1 has finished repairing his vehicle in 20 minutes.
PC 2 though ops to save on his remaining FP's and instead uses a pair of CP. This increases his 2 roll total to just succeeding with an 82 overall.
NPC 3 also pops some CP and upps his roll total to 66, while NPC 4 gets to 80 right on the money after also burning through 2cp.
So PC 1, 2 and NPC 4 start the race at the same time.
NPC 3 finishes his repair job the next 10 minute segment, and so each of the other 3 contestants get 1 maneuvering roll ahead of him.

In the race section, the first 3 rolls through the open plains, are at a base 15 difficulty. PC 1 and 2 opt to go at regular speed (not adding anything) but the DM feels NPC 4 has an edge with a higher swoop operation skill, so opts to try to double his speed, adding +5 to the maneuvering target number.
All 3 hit their rolls, though PC 2 gets higher than the target number by more than PC1. BUT since NPC 4 is doubling his speed, the good roll of PC2 does not push him into any lead other than over PC 1.

For the 2nd roll, Both PC 1 and 2 stay at their speed, while NPC 3 is now getting off the starting line, and he wants to push to double speed to try and catch up.. Unfortunately he rolls a massive bomb out of a roll of 1,1,3,1,2,3, and a 1 on his wild die.. crashing his bike. NPC 4, slows down to regular speed now he has the lead.
All 3 of the remaining contestants succeed on their rolls to maintain their order, though PC 1 gets higher than PC 2 by a large margain, so the DM desribes it as he catches up to PC2.

Since NPC 4 had a double speed jaunt for segment 1, he is now through the 3 rolls for the plains and is now entering the forest. As it is more difficult (23) he is NOT going to up his speed any, but will keep his speed as is.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[DougRed4]

Interesting and very well done, garhkal!

Is it pretty normal for your PCs to spend Force Points on stuff like this, even knowing they might not ever get it back? Or do you give them back at the end of the adventure?

[garhkal]

Yes.. One of my modules actually incorporates something of the above as one of the chapters.. along with other 'race like skill uses, and even some quizes..
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[ebertran]

I created a board to use with tokens, that simulates a track, and different parts of the boards have a different terrain difficulty. so as you move your token on squares along a board, you determine how fast you want to move, and make your rolls accordingly. i'm going to playtest it and see how it works.

[garhkal]

The Sparks group has a similar system in place for pod racing...
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[ebertran]

Do you know if their modules are available anywhere?

[garhkal]

In the group, yes.. For play outside the group (even if by the author of the module for a home game) no. Heck i got b**** at once cause i let the council know i had it 'pre-edited' by Grimace before i even sent it in for our group's edit... That was one of the fastest modules from my putting it in to it getting premiered i have had..
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[DougRed4]