Death's Chase: SWADE Edition

Part of the process of updating Frozen Skies to SWADE includes going over various rules. This includes the rules for the Death's Chase air race, basically adapting it for the new Chase rules. Recently got the chance to playtest it, so this week's post is the setup and how things worked out.

Additionally; Happy Holidays folk, will be taking a break until the New Year.

The Setup

*All agreed upon a row of 15 cards with everyone starting on Card 1.

*A single 'lap' was along the entire row, then looping back round to Card 1 for the next lap.

*The modifiers for Complications were in effect when it came to Shooting rolls, reasoning that the target aircraft is constantly moving about to dodge pillars of rock, etc. (Later realize that we'd forgotten about Unstable Platform and Recoil).

*Everyone got to automatically move one card before doing any Actions, basically to try and keep things mobile.

 

Everyone also got d8 for both Piloting, Repair and Shooting in addition to the Edges Ace and Ace Gunner (from Frozen Skies). Otherwise, we followed the Chase rules in SWADE, trying to keep things simple.

 

How It Worked & Feedback

 

For the most part it seemed to work, though it was clear some further tweaks were needed and the group came up with some ideas after the game.

*Having the Complications modifiers being active for Shooting seemed to be a good idea, though the players suggested extending them to manoeuvrers.This would certainly help encourage more of a "seat of your pants flying" feel. (Though the modifiers for Shooting will be dropped)

*Something that did crop up was that for 2 or 3 turns a couple of players effectively 'looped' back and forth between two cards. The players suggested making dropping back along the cards just a normal Action (so no Free Action) and requiring a roll to do so. (Though discussion with others the only change is probably going to be requiring a roll for dropping back)

*Attacking targets on the same card, suggestion here was to probably only allow it if the aircraft as a turret or side mounted pintle weapons.

*Another thing discussed was make it more of a difference between aircraft when it comes to speed, though as a group we didn't really come up with any solutions. I have thought about the possibility of having it so that aircraft move a card for each 100 MPH of their speed before doing stuff like Change Position, the latter bit could be a boost to move an extra card or two. There was also a suggestion to expand upon the modifiers above to include bonuses on Heart and Diamond Chase Cards, basically to represent the aircraft going flat out on a relatively clear stretch of the course.