better wilderness pursuit rules for B-X D&D
m. werneburg, 2017.01.22
The rules around wilderness pursuit in Basic/Expert Dungeons and Dragons never made much sense. Here's a revision, where I adopted three rules based on three of the four steps from a post 18 months ago on fixing the pursuit rules in version 5e runagame.net.
Wilderness chase
Step 1. Disengage the enemy.
| Condition | Base likelihood |
|---|---|
| Prior detection | 85% |
| Surprise encounter | 70% |
| Ranged combat | 55% |
| Hand-to-hand melee | 40% |
| Suggested modifiers | |
| - 25% if the fleeing are wounded | |
| - 10% is making a fighting retreat | |
| +25% if supported by covering fire | |
| +20% conditions: fire, rain, etc |
Step 2. Flee line of sight.
| Terrain | Base likelihood |
|---|---|
| Reg desert | 5% |
| Lake | 10% |
| Grassland | 20% |
| Erg desert | 20% |
| Hills | 30% |
| Mountains | 40% |
| Ruins, badlands | 60% |
| Wetland | 70% |
| Suggested modifiers | +40% night |
| +25% heavy rain | |
| +15% light forest | |
| +15% rain forest | |
| +25% dense brambles | |
| - 25% pursuit by predator on its turf |
Step 3. Find path out of search area or distract pursuers. Monsters or player characters with a strong affinity for a certain environment will evade pursuers on 1-5 on 1d6. E.g. Erdei seeking to evade non-erdei pursuers in the wilderness. Otherwise, evading characters must successfully roll less than or equal to their WIT score on 2d8 to escape.
rand()m quote
Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy.All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.
—Hermann Goering