Leaping, Running & Swimming

In a contemporary supernatural horror game, talents and skills like running, jumping and swimming are essential to survival. However, the main book provides little detail concerning these traits, so I created house rules on using them in my BTS games.

Leaping | Running | Swimming | Using these stats “in game”

Performing a Power Leap

Until something better is available, the best info I've found on leaping came from the Heroes Unlimited GM’ Guide, and from there I've tweaked those rules for BTS (see the following notes). I consider the leaping distance numbers to be how high the character can leap off the ground or over items/objects and how far they travel forward while in the air. This means someone with a Power Leap that can reach 4 feet up & across can completely leap over a standard 4-foot-tall chain link fence (without touching it) and up to four feet of gardening space behind that fence, landing safely on the lawn.

But what about a 6-foot fence? Or taller? Like an 8-foot private fence for example?
The character will have to vault themselves up and over such a high fence or obstacle somehow. How the character can do this is up to the player (vaulting himself up and over with a bo-staff, semi-climbs/scrambles while jumping with the use of both hands, etc.), but the player will have to make a roll of some sort to suceed.

For ease of play, I use this formula to determine the percentage roll needed to successfully leap a tall obstacle: Add the character's P.S. or P.P. attribute (whichever is higher) to their SPD attribute and add in their experience level number. This is the percentage number they must roll under to make a successful Power Leap over such a high privacy fence/gate/wall/etc.

Example: Joe wants to jump a 6-foot fence, but can only perform a running Power Leap of 5 feet high. Joe has a P.S. of 20, a SPD of 20, and is 5th level. So, to make a successful leap Joe will need to roll a 01-44%. Be sure to add in any pressure situation penalties as needed (page 174).

Running

As any good movie or television show has shown on many occasions, running is one of the more important skills a modern horror character can have (whether he's chasing after or running away from something). This is no exception in the Beyond the Supernatural RPG so I can up with several rules detailing running in BTS.

Incorporating terrain challenges: The only notes I've found concerning running is the SPD attribute notes on page 133. While these notes break down the distance covered per action and per round, they don’t offer anything else. Until more info is available, my thoughts on the running stat is that it’s based on paved or evenly flat, clear, unobstructed terrain (like a sidewalk, a street, a race track, or a concrete, wood or carpeted floor, or even a well-used dirt path). While this works, it doesn't feel very gritty, realistic or entices the imagination of the players. So, to make things more interesting I've come up with some quick notes concerning differences in terrain and environment.

When running inside a building or at a location with obstructed terrain:
To successfully negotiate any obstacles/terrain without requiring a roll, the SPD / distance covered by the character is cut in half. If the player chooses to run at a higher speed, they'll need to make a successful percentage roll using the same formula as above: Choose their P.P. or P.S. attribute (whichever is higher), plus their SPD attribute, plus their level of experience. Note: If there is no true terrain challenge (no furniture or objects to maneuver around), no roll is needed.

When running in the woods or terrain with lots of obstructions: To successfully negotiate this type of terrain without requiring a roll, the characters can only safely run at 25% of their running speed. Otherwise, my percentage roll formula mentioned above applies. Note: Having the Cross-Country Running skill (from the Go Mental article in the Rifter #19) increases their safe running speed to 50%.

Incorporating rain/water/slip hazards: While running outside in light rain, or across a floor with potential slick spots or hazards, the character can safely run at 50% max speed. If they want to run faster, the percentage roll formula applies with a penalty of -10% to the roll required. If the roll failed, the character slips (unless they make a successful Sense of Balance skill roll) and loses one action while getting back to their feet (and if being pursued, the pursuer gets one action worth of distance closer to the character, based on their SPD).

In a heavy rain situation, or if fire alarm sprinklers have been set off in a building, or if an otherwise heavy amount of moving water is obstructing the character, the character can only safely run at 25% speed. If the character wants to go faster, the percentage roll formula applies, and adds a penalty of -20% to the roll required. If the roll failed, the character slips (unless they make a successful Sense of Balance skill roll at -10%) and loses one action getting back to their feet (and if being perused, the pursuer gets one action worth of distance closer to them).

Incorporating “poor lighting” challenges:As is common in contemporary horror games, lighting makes a big difference during action sequences/situations. To deal with poor lighting while running, I use Perception rolls in good, fair and poor lighting situations.
-In daylight or well-lit environments, only an 8 or better is needed to see all obstacles and challenges while running faster than is safe to run. If Perception roll failed, the percentage roll formula above applies.
-During the light of dawn, dusk, in a fog, or in fair to poor lighting situations, a Perception roll of 14 or better is needed to see all obstacles and challenges while running faster than is safe to run. If the Perception roll failed, the percentage roll formula above applies with an additional penalty of -10%.
-During night time and/or bad lighting situations (only street lamps providing light through the windows of a building, etc.), a Perception roll of 17 or better is needed to see all obstacles and challenges while running faster than is safe to run. If the Perception roll failed, the percentage roll formula above applies, with an additional penalty of -20%.
Note: In pitch black situations, running safely is impossible without a light source (and you're likely to be eaten by a Grue).

Using a flashlight or other good lighting source: Using vision enhancement in poor lighting situations(such as using night vision or night sight goggles) negates the penalties altogether (only needing a Perception roll of 8 in all running actions).

When using a focal point lighting source (like a flashlight, headlamp, smartphone App or even a torch) use the following table:
-A Perception roll of 10 or better is needed to see all obstacles and challenges while running faster than is safe to run during the light of dawn, dusk, in a fog, or in fair to poor lighting situations.
-A Perception roll of 14 or better is needed to see all obstacles and challenges while running faster than is safe to run during night time and/or bad lighting situations.
-A perception roll of 17 or better is needed to see all obstacles and challenges while running in an otherwise pitch-black environment.
Note: Pressure situations can be applied as needed to the above rolls.

Swimming

While I included info on how to calculate swimming speed in the following house rules section, most of these details are available in the swimming skill information on page 207.

To keep it simple, I use the weight rules on page 135 when considering how much weight the character can carry/haul while swimming without going under. Per lifeguard training, the 20-pound bricks they practice with are equivalent to 150 pounds each, which means that about every 7 pounds worth of deadweight on land is about one pound in the water. Use this ratio when determining the amount of deadweight, a person can carry in the water while swimming.

In the case of buoyant weight, it only affects your swimming speed. For example, at age 43 fitness guru Jack LaLanne was able to swim 6.5 miles against the current while towing a 2,500lb cabin cruiser, but it took him hours to do it. To make this simple, the swimming speed is cut in half for every 2x the weight of the player character.

Example: A player character who weights 200lbs can tow up to 400lbs of buoyant weight at full speed, up to 800lbs at 50% speed, up to 1600lbs at 25% speed, etc.

Using these stats “in-game”

As with any gaming adventure, the GM presents the situation and challenge, the players state what they want to do, the GM tells them what roll is needed, each action causes a reaction, and together they imagine the outcome and the game continues. In short, it’s all about action and reaction.

The following is a shorthanded exercise and example of a player character trying to run away from a Supernatural monster he's not equipped to confront while using the above rules I'll be using Joe’s attributes mentioned above.

GM: You've run down four flights of stairs and can hear the claws, grunts, and ruckus being made by the creature that's now chasing after you. It’s a few floors above you still and sounds like it is having a hard time getting its grip on the dusty old linoleum on the stairs. On the bottom floor you shove the rear exit door open... even in the poor lighting you can see there’s about sixty feet of parking space if front of you and a ten-foot-tall chain link fence at the end of it; you could try running around to the front of the building, towards the gate entrance where you'd entered the condemned apartment grounds, or you could keep your momentum going by running towards the fence while looking for another possible exit.

Player: Any gate back here is likely padlocked shut like the front was, so Ill keep running towards the fence. With a speed of 20, I can clear sixty feet in one action. Ill run across the parking lot to get to the fence.

GM: Keep in mind that it’s been lightly raining all night, and there’s quite a bit of debris and obstacles to maneuver around, likely from previous vandals throwing old furniture and items out of the apartment building windows. Do you still want to run as fast as you can?

Player: Yes, I need to keep ahead of that thing and get to my car!

GM: OK, you've still got your flashlight on, so make a perception of 14 (player succeeds). Now, with your P.S. of 20, SPD of 20 and being at 5th level, the percentage roll needed is 34% or lower, including the light rain penalty (player rolls successfully). Even with all the debris in the west parking lot, you successfully approach the chain link fence in one action, what are you going to do about the fence?

Player: Ill jump onto it, using a Power Leap since I was already running.

GM: You'll need another successful roll of 34% or better with the light rain penalty (Joe succeeds and then rolls a successful Climbing skill to get up and over the fence).
You've safely landed on the other side of the fence. Taking a moment to determine where your car is, the sound of a door being broken off its hinges catches your attention, forcing a quick glance behind you. The creature has smashed through the back door and is now racing towards you. Its running speed is comparable to yours, but it takes a moment to hurdle and move around the debris in its way. To you right, you can see the one remaining lit street lamp around the corner of the block, your car is still parked under it. It’s less than 250 feet away.

Player: I can get there in four actions at max speed, so I’m running as fast as I can!

GM: Attempt a successful Perception roll as the goal is in your line of sight, (player succeeds). Great! Now give me four successful percentage rolls for each sixty feet of running at max speed. The old sidewalk is still in somewhat decent shape, the roll needed for each attempt is 78% or better, including the light rain penalty.

Player: (After three successful attempts, the fourth roll is bad) Oh crap, I failed my last roll!

GM: After covering some ground, Joe stumbles on a crumbling patch of sidewalk and falls over, which will cost him an action to get back to his feet (GM rolls percentage dice a few times), while Joe picks himself up off the ground, he looks back to check on the progress of the creature, who lacks the dexterity to quickly jump-climb the tall fence, so it took 2 actions to climb over. But I jumped from the top of the fence, landed in the grass and is now coming after you! Give me another Perception roll of 14 to continue your mad dash to the car (player succeeds).
Joe, you hadn't noticed this until it was closer, but you can’t simply run through the yard ahead of you as its surrounded by a chain link fence. However, it’s only a standard four-foot fence. Do you want to run the long way around the yard along the sidewalk, or try jumping the fence, cutting across the yard and jump again on the other end?

Player: I like the idea of jumping the fence as I can power leap 6½ feet, I'll hurdle right over it! (Rolls dice) I successfully rolled for running the next 60 feet.

GM: With running start, Joe hurdles himself over the fence without touching it, and is now running through the yard, preparing to make another Power Leap over the fence at the other end of the yard. Joe, make one more successful roll of 34% due to the terrain being tall grass in a muddy yard to get to your car (player succeeds).

GM makes a roll: Your gambit paid off; cutting across the yard shaved off some time and distance. By the time the pursuing creature crosses the yard and leaps over the fence again, you've had time to get your keys out, get in your car, start it and peel down the street, leaving the creature behind.
Joe is safe… for now.

PDF file of these rules for your convenience