My players have been working on a racing plot for a while now. I’ve generated a node based map that will be the course they’ll navigate with some interesting things along the way. We’ve built them a Mad Max style vehicle and I’ll be using a modified set of rules when engaging with the other racers. And they’ve even made a arch rival of another racing team.
The only part I haven’t figured out is how to run the other racers behind the scenes. I don’t really want to do a full simulation of 20 contending race teams, but I want to be to give my players updates as the race progresses so they can feel the pressure of competition.
I’m not opposed to cheating like Mario Kart and doing a little rubberbanding. But I want something quick to resolve at the table. I’ve also thought about pre-generating the race and then the players would run through it like a scripted event. I’m just worried about how to dynamically adjust if they take out some of the other racers.
Has anyone run a race at their table before?
I would treat it as any other situation PCs don’t control - as a story
Instead of rolling or resolving anything prepare a bunch of occurences that would make you feel the setting you are using. And depending on the flow of the story ATM, either choose the more dramatic ones or the more mellow ones
If you don’t want to run it purely as gm fiat, prepare some random tables per node and roll when the nodes are in their sight
I think you’re right about making events or tables to make the scene feel alive and dynamic. We should focus on just the players and have story events announced to them as needed.