Just roleplayed a Podrace!

[Gry Sarth]

My group and I just roleplayed a Podrace in the same circuit as Episode I. Our campaign is currently set 6 years after ROTJ, but the new Hutt on the block decided to host a podrace in his honour. I was a bit sceptical about playing a podrace, at first. I thought the system wouldn't be able to handle it well and it wouldn't be very exciting.

But, boy was I wrong... It was EXCELLENT! One of the more exciting action pieces EVER in our long years of gaming. Only I had a Player Character in the race, the GM was controlling the 4 main competitors, another player had another 4 and I had another 4. I was sure mu character wouldn't even finish the race, if he was lucky he might come out alive...

And the system worked wonderfully. Pods were slipping, spinning, overcoming other pods, cheating, crashing spetacularly and all that they were supposed to do. The rate of pod destruction was practically the same as the movie. These were some action-packed hours (yes, the 3 laps took us about 4 hours to play, but it was never dull), we were all incredibly tense, sweating and all. When my character took the lead at the end of the 2nd lap, I began to think he might actually win, which only made me more nervous! The last lap was nerve wracking, with a cheating dug right behind me. But, to everybody surprise, I managed to win that race, and there was a BIG heap of credits involved.

Summing it up. Great fun. You should try it. If you have any questions about how we handled the rules or anything else, ask away.

[Loc Taal]

Sounds cool! Did you guys come up with any special rules for the race? Could you post a summary of how the session was run?
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[Gry Sarth]

One thing we did was to eliminate the different speed codes for each pod, as this would overly complicate things. We just assumed they were all about equally fast.

We also streamlined the racing course to 6 or 7 "critical spots" where the contestants would have to roll their Podracing skill. These were some of the most difficult or interesting parts of the course, such as Beggar's Canyon and Jag Crag Gorge. Then we assigned terrain difficulties for each spot, ranging from 11 at Ebe's Craters to 29 at Devil's Doorknob. We assumed that on the other parts of the tracks all pilots would fare equally well, since they didn't pose much threat.

We made up the stats for each pilot's Podracing skill, Perception and their pod's Maneuverability and Body.

The starting grid was decided randomly, with a 4-3-4-3 disposition. When the race began, all pilots rolled initiative to see who started best.

To visualize each pod's position in relation to the others, we assigned a different coin to each racer and arranged them all on a sheet of paper representing whichever part of the course the pods were currently on.

Then, on each "critical spot" each driver could decide their course of action. They decided at what speed they would tackle that terrain (cautious, all-out, etc) and any other action they might want to perform, such as ramming a nearby pod or overrunning someone. Each "critical spot" was just a single round. Depending on the speed they chose, the difficulty would be adjusted, as per the rules, and failures were dealt with by the book.

If everybody tackled that spot sucessfully at the same speed, then their relative positions would remain the same. However that was never the case. As each pod performed their action, their coin would be moved to another sheet of paper representing the new configuration of pods for the next "critical point". If it moved sucessfully all-out, it would get bumped forward quite a bit. If it spinned while trying it, it would fall behind. If it moved at cruising speed while all the rest moved at high speed, it would fall behind. If it crashed, it would be removed. If two nearby pods were sucessful at the same speed, but one rolled much higher than the other, it would be bumped forward a little bit. Quite easily we could figure out who was in front of who at each "critical spot". When some of the pods started geting too far behind the leaders, we would just bundle them aside as the "rear squad", but continue rolling for them to see if they crashed or managed to make up for the lost time.

We would repeat the procedure for each "critical spot", moving the coins back and forth on two sheets of paper, as the pods reorganized themselves. And then, after "Devil's Doorknob" on the 3rd lap, it was just an all-out stretch through the Hutt Flats and my character crossed the Finish Line at first!

It may sound complicated, but it was quite simple and intuitive to play and VERY exciting. One important thing is that we didn't reduce it to simple dice-rolling. We had the Cross-Section book with a great map of the track. So in each "critical spot", as we rolled, we would describe what would happen to each pod. How the Sullustan nearly lost control of his pod, missing the rock arch by a milimiter, but then letting the dug overcome him. And how the devaronian bounced against the stone wall and came crashing against the crater in a huge ball of flame. And so on.

Any questions?

[Hellcat]

A Mark Hall did an unoficial Phantom Menace D6 sourcebook and included stats for what looks like a typical racing pod. Did you guys use stats from a site like his or did you use converted stats from another site? Better yet, did you, or your GM, create your own podracer stats? And if you created your own, can we see 'em?
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[Gry Sarth]

No, we didn't use those stats as the basis for our podracers. And I'm glad we didn't. I don't think our race would have been quite so much fun and realistic with those stats. Our stats were based on "The Rebellion"'s conversion of d20 podracers.

Our podracers had Maneuverabilities ranging from 1D to 2D+1 and Bodies from 1D to 2D+2.

Our pilot's Podracing skills ranged from 3D+2 to 5D+2. I know that's a little low, but keep in mind that podracing had been banned for decades. I imagine pilots from the prequel era would range from 5D to 7D, or something like that....

[Volar the Healer]

Thanks for pointing out Mark Hall's e-Sourcebook. I really enjoyed it.
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[Hellcat]

I actually wanted to check the Rebellion last night for conversions but I kept getting an error page. Now I'm on no problem. Wonder what was up last night.

Where should I look? I thought vehicles, but either I'm not paying attention or it's somewhere else.

Glad you enjoyed it Volar.

Oh, I just found this on the SWRPGNetwork while looking under the repulsorcraft section. Didn't find anything under their conversions section, but they said this was supposed to be for the D6 system. Figured folks might like to check it out.
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[Gry Sarth]

Well, there's the Secrets of Tatooine conversions here:
http://www.verminary.com/rebellion/tatooine.html

But our main source of inspiration was this:
http://www.verminary.com/rebellion/beyond_podracing.html

A great read.

[Hellcat]

Thanks Gry, I'll take a look at those.
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