Outside of an armoured vehicle or building, a pedestrian is a very fragile object. The average pedestrian can't afford to buy the expensive anti-vehicular weaponry that the military uses, and neither is it practical when all you need is a pint of milk from the local corner shop. Pedestrian armour is nice, of course, but to able to move normally, it generally means that the heavier types of armour is out of the question as their bulk generally slows you done, which, when being pursued by a three ton armed and armoured motor vehicle, this is also not what you need (although see
Heavy Body Armour).
So, what else is there to try and improve is not weapons and armour? Why, mobility of course!
Running is one way for a pedestrian to move quickly, and running is certainly better than walking when in the middle of a combat zone. However sometimes running is not enough, and when your life is on the line, you want every ounce of speed you can get.
For years now, the younger teen generation (generally) has always had the advantage over their older siblings in that they have always been more willing to try and find other ways of getting around. And these days, everyone can take a lesson from these pioneers and their ways of getting around.
Yes, it's time to go back to that old store cupboard, pull out that old skateboard, dust off these skates and get practising again.
These forms of transport may just be the thing to save your life. They allow you to get where you're going quicker (although not necessarily safer!), and with a bit of practise, without much hindrance in your use of weaponry as well.
While you won't find many serious firms or autoduelling professionals using the equipment listed here, there is a certain group who finds their use ideal. They are the go-gangs, and they can be find on various forms across the world.
A typical go-gang is a street gang that has adopted other forms of mobility to give them that extra edge they need. An out growth of the roller gangs on the late 20th and early 21st Centuries who used roller skates to get around, mug their victims and move out quickly before the police arrived, the new generation of go-gang uses any sort of mobility aid they can get their hands on, finding a selection of items increases their flexibility no end. For a go-gang, mobility is everything. It means that you can conduct your raids quicker, and then get out quicker. With a gang who is trained on the equipment they use, there is practically no where that a pedestrian can go that you can't, which is good news if you're being pursued by someone in a bigger set of wheels because it means that you can go where they can't, increasing your survivability.
Possibly as a result of all this, many go-gangers are considered slightly nuts.
All prices and weights are for a set of equipment, thus two skates, 1 skateboard, etc.
| Item | | Cost | | Weight | | Max Speed | | Skill |
|---|
| Powered Boots: | | $350 | | 5 lbs. | | 20 mph*2 | | Running |
| Rollerskates: | | $175 | | 5 lbs. | | 20 mph*2 | | Skating |
| In-Line skates: | | $200 | | 5 lbs. | | 25 mph*2 | | In-line Skating |
| Powered skates: | | +$300 | | +5 lbs. | | 25 mph | | varies |
| Skateboard: | | $100 | | 10 lbs.*1 | | 20 mph*2 | | Skateboaring |
| Dirtboard: | | $200 | | 10 lbs.*1 | | 20 mph*2 | | Skateboarding |
| Powered Board: | | $300 | | 15 lbs.*1 | | 20 mph | | Skateboarding |
| Powered Dirt Board: | | $400 | | 15 lbs.*1 | | 15 mph | | Skateboarding |
| Push Scooter: | | $150 | | 10 lbs.*1 | | 20 mph*2 | | Skateboarding |
| Powered Push Scooter: | | $400 | | 20 lbs.*1 | | 20 mph | | Skateboarding |
| Powered Mini Scooter: | | $400 | | 25 lbs.*1 | | 20 mph | | None |
| Pogo Stick: | | $100 | | 20 lbs.*1 | | 10 mph | | Pogo |
| Powered Pogo Stick: | | $250 | | 15 lbs. | | 10 mph | | Pogo |
| *1 | | Weight only applied when carried, they weigh nothing when in use. |
| *2 | | Denotes users skill may increase the top speed of the item when in use. |
Most of the above items can be bought as standard from any good outdoors or sports shop, but if you're willing to look just a little bit further, then there are generally some additional options available to you.
All motorised versions of mobility may be bought as either electrically powered or petrol powered. Prices above assume electrically driven. Finding small engines for these machines is generally considered wasteful (after all, they could be used for more exciting things... oh wait, these are exciting!), but can be found, for a price. Weight and performance statistics remain the same, but the cost increases x4, and the price of fuel is not figured into the above costs. The real advantage though, is that these machines have an overall fuel economy of 100 mpg, and their fuel tanks can be modified to carry whatever you like, provided you can carry (and afford!) the additional fuel. This does mean that if you like, your legs can be fuel tanks for skates...
On the average, skates will carry 1 litre of fuel (around a 1/4 of a gallon), skateboards, pogo sticks and scooters will carry 1/2 gallon of fuel, and the motorised mini-scooter will carry 1 gallon of fuel.
Scooters (push, powered and motorised) can be armed and armoured almost exactly as if they were a bicycle. See ADQ 10/3: Pedal Cycles for more details, but essentially this means that they can carry a tripod gun shield front with a maximum of 10 lbs. worth of armour at $5 and 1 lb. per point. Weapons mounted can be a single hand weapon weighing 20 lbs. or less each, facing forward only. Unlike bikes, there isn't anyway safe to mount rear facing dischargers.
Skateboards and dirtboards can be bought as armoured versions. This increases their DP from 2 to 3. This is not the same as bolting armour onto the boards, and the price increase reflects this. Weight of the board is increased by 3 lbs., and the cost is increased by $25.
Motorised Boots are a Russian invention dating from the early 21st Century. They consist of special powered springs attached to normal walking boots which allow you to increase your stride by a vast amount. Unlike most of the items here, anyone with standard running skill can use these special boots with only the barest amount of time practising.
Pictures: [ 1 | 2 | 3 ]
Rollerskates are the traditional skates, each with four wheels, in two sets of two side by side. They are slower than In-line skates, but provide more stability.
[Interesting historical fact: In 1943, during World War II, due to the transport shortage, a British Homeguard unit equipped themselves with rollerskates to enable them to get into battle more quickly!]
In-Line skates (or Rollerblades) are the 'newer' skate, with four wheels in a line. They are more agile than skates in the proper hands, and can achieve higher speeds.
Skates are worn as boots, and while worn the pedestrian can't go faster than 7.5 mph if they are walking and not actually skating. It takes about 30 seconds to get skates on, but only about ten to pull them off in a hurry. You can't drive a vehicle while wearing skates! (well, actually you can, but you're at -2 to all Driver skill rolls and anything relating to manoeuvring).
Motorised skates are special motor engines that attach to the back wheels of the skates. As such, they cannot be simply just attached to the skate, but must be added with about ten minutes of work. Whilst more commonly found on rollerblades than normal skates, variants can be found for either type.
Pictures: [ 1 | 2 ]
Skateboards are boards on wheels that the 'driver' stands on, and propels themselves along by using one foot pushing the ground away. You don't wear boards allowing for a quick dismount.
Dirtboards are the same as skateboards, but slightly higher with bigger wheels, giving limited off-road ability.
Powered boards are the same as normal boards but with the addition of a small engine stuck on the back. This means that you don't have to worry about providing motive power for these boards and can simply steer the board.
A Push Scooter is similar to a skate board, but it only has the two wheels and the front is controlled by handlebars. To propel yourself along, you push on the ground, as with a skateboard. Whilst not technically a skateboard, it shares the same skill as they are similar and eases the amount of new skills needed.
Powered Push Scooters are simply scooters with an engine stuck on the back.
Pictures: [ 1 ]
Powered Mini Scooters are similar to push scooters, but they are trikes and come with a seat. They are motorised and are more driven than ridden.
Pictures: [ 1 ]
Pogo sticks are simply children's toys. They are not fast and they are propelled by the user bouncing up and down on the stick. The powered version simply allows for higher bounces.
Most of these new items of mobility require that the user needs a new skill to use them properly. The new skill needed is listed with the equipment tables, above.
All kids have these skills at level -0 but this gets lost apon maturity.
Skating can be used for in-line skating at a -1 penalty (and vice versa).
A skill of 0 allows the wearer to stand-up, and move (with a few balancing problems) but they cannot perform any stunts. Any combat they perform is at a -1, or -2 if they are using a two handed weapon.
A skill of 1 allows fluent use of the skates, and no penalties. A skill of +3 or more allows stunts to be performed.
Push scooters and mini scooters don't require the user to have any foreknowledge on how they work. Anyone can get on one of these and push away. They won't be able to perform any stunts, but they won't have any balancing problems at all. The mini scooter goes one further and won't actually give the user any -1 penalty for using one handed weapons either. This is because with three wheels, the scooter is already balance and all the firer has to do is to keep one hand on the handle bars, and the either pointing the weapon in front of the target.
All of the pieces of equipment allow the user to increase their speed. Which is good. The exact amount of speed increase is listed in the equipment table above.
Whilst motorised versions can't go any faster than their little engines allow, the others (those listed with a *2 above) can have their speeds increased by the users skill, exactly like the running skill - each level above 0 allows a speed increase of +2.5 mph. However, motorised users may switch off their engines (counts as a firing action) which would then allow them to use the item as if it didn't have an engine.
A pedestrian with IBA or impact armour (except light impact armour) have their skill reduced by 1 for purposes of top speed, with a minimum skill level of 0.
Of course there are exceptions, and the pogo stick is one of them. Speed increases due to user skill are not allowed. Instead the standard pogo stick can bounce up to 2' high, while the powered version can bounce up to 7'!
Because of their stability, powered skateboards and scooters give their riders a +1 to all skating rolls.
Speed is handled like normal pedestrian speed (thus multiply the speed by 4, and then use the normal speed chart, but instead of moving inches, the pedestrian moves in 1/4" squares).
When travelling at speeds above 12.5 mph, the pedestrian gains a facing, much like a car, and has to manoeuvre. They may perform drifts and bends.
Drifts are performed like the normal car manoeuvre, and bends are also performed as such, but because the pedestrian may not be moving at a full inch, only move them along the turning car the required distance.
Manoeuvres of up to D1 are no problems, but harder manoeuvres require the skater to make a skating roll or fall over.
This is done by rolling 2d6 and adding the skill of the skater and subtracting the D of the manoeuvre. If the result is 7+, then there is no problem, but if the result is lower, then the skater has fallen over and is now lying on their face! Falling inflicts 1d-5 damage (armour protects against this).
If this happens to a skateboarder, then make another roll (with no modifiers for manoeuvres). If this succeeds, then the skateboard stops with the rider, but if it fails then the board continues going in the direction that it was originally going in, but decelerates at 5 mph per turn.
With the exception of the various scooters, all the items listed here use the standard pedestrian counter 1/4"x1/4". As they mainly slip under a pedestrian, they use the counter that the pedestrian uses. Scooters however, use a 1/4"x1/2" counter - they are the same width, just a bit longer.
Hitting these require a skating roll to be made with the following modifiers:
| Obstacles | | -4 |
| Debris | | -2 |
| Junk | | -1 |
Failure is to fall over.
There are some special manoeuvres that can be performed while using skates and boards. These include jumping (up to about 5'!), various impression stunts and skates (and In-line skates) may perform a manoeuvre that allows them to turn around to face backwards while still travelling forward.
All special manoeuvres are resolved by making a skating roll (with a -2 for turning around, or -1 for jumping more than 2'). Success results in the manoeuvre being performed, failure results in falling.
Other manoeuvres are possible and should be allowed if the player has seen them in action (or done them!).
A pedestrian may cling onto a vehicle for much greater speed. While clinging on, they move when the vehicle moves, and are treated as a small trailer. They may perform actions at a -1, but must be secured to the vehicle in some form (such as a grappling hook or holding on with one hand). If the vehicle has to make control rolls, then the pedestrian also suffers any relevant results.
When they release, they decelerate at 5 mph per turn until they reach the speed they are able to achieve with the skates or boards.
Skates and boards are not off road devices, they like paved surface only. Off road in this case is any non paved surface.
Off road they have their max speed quartered, and all rolls are made with a -2. In addition, being off road for any particular time will jam up the wheels and force the wearer to replace them.
The dirt boards however can go off road. Still not off road as cars define the term, but kerbs, grassy parks and such are no problem to them with their higher geared motor and bigger wheels. On these surfaces the board acts normally. On Real off road surfaces it suffers the penalties above.
Pogo sticks are a little different than normal skates. They bounce. In game terms they make one bounce a second, and the first time they bounce they bounce up to 1/4', with every additional bounce doubling that, up to a normal pogo sticks height of 2' and the powered sticks height of 7'. However they are not fast and the bouncing effects probably won't allow them to vault over dropped weapons, although trip wires are a certain possibility.
Looking at the various speeds on the equipment table, one can be sure to wonder why you'd want to spend extra money on a motorised set of skates when you can go faster on normal push power. Well, whilst that's true (especially for the very talented who can achieve unbelievable speeds), the thing that makes the two stand aside is this: while you can certainly achieve higher speeds pushing your skates along, that all takes away your endurance. If you've been wounded, or had the wind knocked out of you, you're not going to be able to achieve the same sort of high speed as you did before, and usually at this stage you're either hoping for the nearest hill to fly down, or the nearest exit where you can recover. Motorised units have no such problems with this. They don't care about your wounded status, how much wind you have left in you or anything like that. All they care about is whether or not they actually still have wheels on them and are fuelled or charged up. Once that's done, they'll continue on until they run out of something.
Unfortunately, due to the time scale of Car Wars, endurance is not something that comes into play much, if at all, and thus there are no hard and fast rules for endurance. As such, the following are abstract rules for determining a characters status before a duel commences.
A character is generally of three endurance levels - fine, tired or fatigued. These should be determined before the game begins based on what the characters have been doing. If no decision is made, then assume all characters are fine.
| Fine | |
The character hasn't been out much, or else they've been taking things nice and easy. They suffer no penalties. Generally a couple of hours of skating when fine will make someone tired, unless they start to push themselves, when it might only take an hour or less. |
| Tired | |
The character has been skating a lot, or been over rough terrain, or up hills, or just been exerting themselves. Recently being cloned or out of hospital can make someone tired a lot quicker as well. As such, they are starting to run on their reserves and are being to feel the strain. Tired characters are at half their skill for determining their speed. Keeping this up will make a character fatigued quite quickly. |
| Fatigued | |
Fatigued characters are running on fumes, having been doing a lot of stuff before hand, and it is starting to show. Fatigued characters have a skill of 0 for purposes of their top speeds. |
Additional penalties are up to the decision of the players and gamesmaster, but die roll penalties of -1 for tired and -2 for fatigued characters are acceptable. This should include to-hit rolls, skill rolls and the like.
Combat is possible while on skates.
A skater (with skill) may use one handed weapons with no problems, and may use two handed weapons provided they don't have much recoil (thus rifles are fine, anti-vehicular rifles are not, LAWs are not). Recoil weapons give a -1 modifier and require a skating roll to see if the skater keeps their balance.
If the wearer has the martial arts skill as well, then they may use their skates (only, not boards) to perform harder kicks. This adds +1 to the damage inflicted.
Shooting someoneÕs wheels can make for a bad day for skater. Whilst difficult, this is not an impossible task, and because skates and boards aren't designed to be on the receiving end of combat they can't take much in the way of damage.
Mobility items are all shot at as if they were an item which is carried by the pedestrian. As such, all modifiers are in addition to the modifiers to shot the pedestrian. When these items take damage equalling their DP, they are destroyed. This can bring the mover to an abrupt halt if not careful. If the item is petrol powered, they have the same chances of catching fire as their vehicular engines.
The exception to this are the scooters (push, powered, mini) which are targeted solely on their own, so no modifiers are used for the pedestrian. However, if the wheels are shot at, then there is a further -3 modifier on top of the standard modifier. Wheels have 1 DP.
| Item | | To-hit | | DP |
|---|
| Powered Boots | | -3 | | 1 (each) |
| Skates | | -3 | | 1 (each) |
| Skateboards | | -3 | | 2 |
| Push/powered scooter | | -3 | | 3 |
| Powered mini scooter | | -3 | | 4 |
| Pogo Stick | | -3 | | 2 |
Wherever there are pedestrians, there are people who want more speed, and as a result, people of all walks of life can be found with these items. Most can be used as a form of entertainment and exercise, and same are just for the plain mad. Thus in a game, any pedestrians have the opportunaty to use thse.
Go gangs of course, use nothing but, and in fact if you lose your wheels, you're generally fairly disgraced until you can get some new ones.
To liven up a typical slaughter at Midville, pedestrians can be equipped with skates and boards, and then they won't be so easy to run over. In fact, when Black Jesse comes to town again, he might just get a bit more of a surprise than before.
Or rival go gangs could be going at it, hammer and nail. A typical victory for a gang depends on how many of their members are still left on their wheels, although those lying splattered on the pavement aren't going to be using these. Or they could be attempting to rob or bomb a shop, and thus have the police to contend with. While a typical go gang can't really be expected to lug around the kind of weaponry needed to take on a police cruiser, they can go places where the cruiser can't, so if they can get away, they can count that a victory.
And don't forget the arenas - people pay to see other people get excitedly killed, and doing it on skates certainly adds to the fun!
Other sources for pedestrian mobility can be found here:
- ADQ 10/3: Pedal Cycles
- www.tricrides.com
Whilst there are a lot of companies out there who deal with most of this stuff, this company solved some answers at (literally) the last minute for me, so I feel they deserve a mention. Most of the pictures are also taken from their website.
Go to Rob Garrita for his invaluable comments and aid in the making of this production.
