Speed questions

[Mickey Blue]

So how exactly does character speed come into play during your games? I know in past (different) games I've used speed for two things:

1) In-game battles, speed determining movement across a battlemat, however it seems many people use more abstracted movement in this game making that largely moot.

2) Overland movement, which I do plan to incorporate into this game if all goes well with my group and we want to keep it up, making it more sandboxy, however it's usually not long before people manage to find a horse, or pay somebody to take them in a cart, etc.

So am I missing something? Does anybody else use speed in more situations, or have people found a good way to incorporate it into battles still keeping them generally abstracted vs having a battle grid for them all?

Thanks!

[michaelcurtis]

Knowing how fast your character can move is extremely important in "old school" games such as those that influenced DCC RPG. There are many times when a party (a smart one, anyway) realizes that they're out of the depth and chooses flight over fight. When the monster(s) give chase, knowing if the PCs can outrun the bad guys or not is important as is being able to determine who in the group moves the fastest.

For example, a young T-rex might have a speed of 40'. Pity the poor halfling or plate-wearing warrior when it decides to give chase! It will likely eat those two PCs, allowing the thieves and wizards with light armor to keep booking along while the dinosaur is enjoying a light meal.

[Ravenheart87]

Yep, speed is important during chasing, plus at the beginning of an encounter and during combat I do keep a mental note about approximately how far away are groups from each other. In some cases I even have a sketch for myself. As for players, I'll only tell what they see or sense. In the fury of battle no one can tell exact distances by quick inspection, so instead of "he's 40 feet away from you to the left" the players get "he's on your left, a bit far away from you to reach him quickly".

[GnomeBoy]

"I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you..."

I don't think you're missing anything. Some people do play with minis on a battlemat and all that, so having the number is useful. For those that want to abstract things, what Mr. Curtis says holds true. I also appreciate his use of the verb "to book".

[Mickey Blue]

Awesome, thank you guys.