Much like combat, the chase is something of an action-adventure staple complete with potential for harrowing challenge, dramatic reversal, and crushing defeat (sometimes literally).

Chases cannot properly be carried out on the normal combat battlefield for two reasons:

• Chases by nature cover a lot of ground, frequently more than can be encompassed by a single hexagonal gridmap. A GM would have to detail a large area, only to erase it all and start again as soon as the participants in the chase left it.
• Movement is static. The participants in the chase with the highest movement rates would always win 100% of the time as they inexorably outperformed the slower members. While being faster should provide a significant advantage in a chase situation, simply comparing numbers and declaring a winner is boring.

Hence, chases in Annulus are abstracted to some degree by taking place on a single strip of 12 numbered spaces, something like this:

All creatures participating in the chase occupy one of the twelve spaces on the chase strip. Multiple creatures can all occupy the same space- there's no limit.

Chases play out much like battles do, with the player adventurers and their enemies acting in turn. Every creature involved in a chase is assumed to be constantly moving, with the creature being chased trying desperately to escape and the chasers trying to run them down. See the section on Speed Checks below for more information on movement in a chase scene.

Each individual participant in a chase has their own speed. Instead of the normal meters-per-action of combat speed, however, a creature in a chase needs to know their Chase Speed. See the Movements page for more explanation of Chase Speed and how it is calculated.

Every chase has a Base Speed that is used for several mechanical effects. The base speed of a race is equal to the lowest speed of any of its participants. If the lowest-speed participant is left behind or otherwise eliminated from the chase, the base speed of the chase increases to the lowest chase speed remaining.

For example, if the adventurers Sarah (chase speed of 3) and Dimitri (chase speed of 2) are chasing a bear (chase speed of 4) that stole their picnic basket through a park, the base speed of the chase is 2. If Dimitri falls out of the chase, the base speed will become 3 instead since Sarah will now have the lowest speed.

Creatures in a chase maneuver around each other, close the gap, or fall behind constantly. Using an action to move while in a chase scene is a bit different from making a move in a combat scene for this reason. When making a move action, roll a six-sided dice and move up 1 space on the chase strip per success (don't move if the result is 1-3, move 1 space if the result is 4 or 5, and move two spaces if the result is a 6).

If your current speed is higher than the chase's base speed, you may roll a bonus die for every point of difference. These bonus movement dice do not require you to spend an action to use them. For example, when Sarah (speed 3) chases the bear (speed 4), the base speed of the chase is 3 since that is Sarah's speed and Dimitri has already been left behind. Sarah adds nothing to her speed check movement results, but the bear's higher chase speed allows it to roll 1 bonus die (for a total of 2) and move up a number of spaces equal to its number of successes on both dice every time it makes a move action since its speed is 1 higher than the base speed of the chase.

When moving up, a creature can intentionally choose to move less distance than they would otherwise be able to.

The #12 space represents the very front of a chase. The creature being chased in a chase is known as the quarry, and they are always in the #12 space on the strip. If for some reason a turn ends and no creatures are occupying the #12 space, every creature involved in the chase is moved up an amount of spaces sufficient to put one of them in the #12 space.

Chasers cannot get ahead of the quarry by any means. Chasers can enter the #12 space but not get ahead of it.

Every time a quarry in the #12 space moves forward any number of spaces, the quarry stays in the #12 space and every other creature involved in the chase is moved BACK that number of spaces instead. If a creature is moved back beyond the #1 space they are immediately removed from the chase as it is assumed they have fallen so far behind they have no chance of rejoining. If a creature pushed out of a chase had the lowest Speed (as is often the case) the Base Speed of the entire chase is changed to reflect whoever has the new lowest Speed.

If there are multiple quarries in a single chase (such as when the entire party of adventurers is running away), the above quarry rules only apply to whichever one is in the highest-numbered space at any given moment. If there is a tie, select randomly.

If there are multiple quarries, each one has the choice at the beginning of each of their turns to break away from the main chase and try to escape on their own. If no pursuers decide to follow them, they automatically escape. If one or more pursuers do decide to follow them, the breakaway quarry gets moved to their own separate chase strip with their pursuers and must attempt escape alone. Note that breakaway quarries might end up very far away from the rest of their friends even if they manage to get away, which could cause trouble joining up again.

If one of multiple quarries gets far enough ahead that they would eject the last pursuers from a chase, that quarry is removed from the chase instead and all other chase participants are moved up until a quarry occupies space #12 again. The removed quarry is assumed to have gotten away scot-free and may rejoin their comrades at any later point that they desire.

Creatures occupying the same space as you in a chase are assumed to be 1 meter away for purposes of using abilities on them. Creatures in other spaces, however, are further away from you; how much further depends on the base speed of the chase. Every space in the chase strip has a measure equal to the actual distance traveled per action by a creature moving at the base speed of the chase, as such:

For example, in a chase with a base speed of 3 every space is considered to be 5 meters. With a base speed of 6, every space would be worth 50 meters, and so on.

All creatures gain an advantage when using any sort of check against a creature that is in a higher-numbered chase strip space than themselves.

A high-speed chase always has the potential to turn ugly for some or all of its participants, as they must avoid obstacles, keep their footing, deal with unexpected turbulence, dodge the vegetable cart that just rolled in their path, or not plow straight off the road. A situation like these is called a crisis.

Crisis is represented on the chase strip by a crisis token. Once per round at the beginning of the enemy phase, the GM rolls a six-sided die, adds six to the result and moves a crisis token to the matching space. (The die itself can be used as an excellent crisis token if desired.) Any creature that begins their turn in a space that has a crisis token must roll a single 12-sided die. If the result is equal to or greater than the number of the space that they are currently occupying, they ignore the crisis. All crises are resolved before anybody actually takes their turn.

If a creature does not manage to ignore a crisis, they take damage equal to the successes on a number of dice equal to the base speed of the chase. For example, a chase with a base speed of three means that every participant caught by a crisis takes an amount of damage equal to the successes on three dice. This damage is typeless and cannot be reduced, avoided or otherwise defended against. Extremely high-speed chases tend to be much more instantly fatal when a crisis appears.

Depending on how crowded/twisty the location the chase is taking place in is happening, the GM rolls 1-3 new crises every turn and adds them to the strip.

Crisis tokens cannot move on their own, but can be moved along the strip by any circumstance that would normally move all participants in the chase, such as the quarry gaining ground.

Most chases are presumed to all take place on a single sort of terrain. Optionally, a GM might decide to allow a chase to wind through multiple terrain types, requiring all participants to be quick in multiple movement forms or risk being left behind. For example, a chase through city streets might have all spaces on the strip be Basic Overland terrain, but if the quarry manages to run up some stairs and over some rooftops, some of the chase strip changes to require the Normal Overland ability instead and all chasers must adjust accordingly. Exactly what terrains can and cannot appear in a given chase strip is up to the purview of the GM.

Every space in a chase can have its own terrain. The terrain of each space can be demarcated through some sort of visual clue or token- differently-colored poker chips work very well for this. Terrain markers are moved back along with everything (and everyone) else when required, such as when the quarry gains ground.

Note that if a chase cuts through terrain that not all chasers have the ability to move through, they may choose to slow down to avoid starting their next turn in said impassable terrain. If they get a number of successes sufficient to skip over the impassable terrain spaces, they can do exactly that (in game terms, they managed to find an alternate route that didn't slow them down any). Otherwise, they're pretty well stuck.

The GM has final purview over terrain types and their introduction to a chase scenario, which should be ruled by common sense. If a quarry dives into a narrow canal, then there should likely be only one water space introduced to the board no matter how far they wish to swim in it to represent the fact that while it is something of an obstacle to pursuers on foot, it is fairly simple to keep up the chase along the bank.