I've written a piece that should be the base for calculating tracking target numbers in the PraxPack scenarios. I understand that you're the right people for some number crunching. please read and give comments. I just estimated modifiers without knowledge what e.g. a +20 would really mean. I'd say that it is very hard, but another number could be more appropriate. As txt, the formatting is not very good, although I honestly tried. I hope you'll read it nethertheless. Thanx for any help!
Andreas
Track
This skill can be used for reading Tracks and for destroying them. If it is used to read tracks at a scene, where the heroes just arrived, we recommend assigning an appropriate resistance and doing a simple contest. For your convenience and for getting the tracking resistances in our scenarios consistent I include below my calculation scheme.
An extended contest occurs, when somebody is tracked down. In this case the opposing target number is rather an ability of the hunted person, while the resistance of reading the track is treated as a follower. Appropriate abilities are "Track" or "Know terrain", as they help the traced to use/find difficult terrain to distort his traces.
Level of success Result
Complete Victory Exact number and species of traced, all details like
clan membership, colour of hair, clothing, weapons,
gender, handicaps like limping, wounds. Exact time
they left, which direction, which speed, the state of
the mounts and which plans they probably have
(psychological analysis).
Major Victory Species and number of traced +-10%, half of the special
characteristics. Time and so on are quite accurate, no
plans.
Minor Victory Species and Group Size, some specials. Time and so on
is estimate.
Marginal Victory Species and Group Size, one special, time is rough
estimate.
Tie/Marginal defeat Rough Group Size, neither specials nor species but an
idea of the direction it goes.
Minor/Major defeat No idea.
Complete defeat Very wrong, even disastrously misleading idea.
Some colourful descriptions of using the tracking skill are shown below, the read of books from Karl May or Conan Doyles "Sherlock Holmes" is recommended.
Resistances:
Base:
Terrain
Snow/Mud No problem 6 Marshy ground Very Easy 10 Sand Easy 14 Grassland Normal 17 Rocky/hard ground Hard 5m Stone Very Hard 10m2
>From tree to tree/Streaming water Impossible 10m3
Modifiers
1. Time
<= 1h normal (any subsequent hour +1 up to +10) 1 day +10 (any subsequent day +5 up to +30) 1 week +30 (any subsequent week +20)
2. Weather
When the tracker encounters adverse weather conditions (e.g. melting/snowing in snowy environment, rain in nearly all environments, wind in sandy environment), make the tracking more difficult by treating hours as days or even weeks according to the time-modificator table.
3. Group size\Size Small animal Human/Deer Heavy animal/Rider 1-2 Individuals +5 0 -5 Small group (3-10) +3 -3 -10 Group (11-20) 0 -5 0 Large group (21-50) -3 +3 +5 Very large group (>50) +3 +5 +10The very peculiar rating is explainable by two trends: The more individuals the group is comprised of, the more traces can be found. But when a critical number is reached, details become harder to read, because the traces cross/erase each other.
4. Security Awareness
No care about tracks/Fast movement Half resistance Trying to avoid tracks/normal movement Normal resistanceTaking time to destroy the tracks/slow movement Throw to determine a modifier (can't be negative)
5. Vegetation
Basically, the more vegetation, the more opportunity to leave traces:
| Scrub | Bush | Trees | up to waist h. | up to man h. | bigger Light (<= 1 item per 9 sqm) | 0 | -3 | -3 Medium (<= 5 items per 9 sqm) | -3 | -8 | -10 Heavy (> 5 items per 9 sqm) | -5 | -15 | -20
6. Type of track
The kind of activity, that caused the track has impact upon the number of traces (especially if this activity causes the traced to stay in the scouted area for a long time)
Sneak trying to cause less noise will also cause less traces +10 Travel the normal activity of somebody traced 0 Watchout/Hide doing little while staying in the same spot for a long time -3 Hunting/Gathering causing waste/ cracking twigs -10 Camp causing waste/ staying for a long time -25
7. More than one tracker
Normally, the narrator should only allow supporting throws to give the primary tracker modifications. In this case, these can be perfectly negative (as ruled in the mod-table) due to the destruction of tracks by some well-meaning would-be tracker.
In some special cases the narrator may allow a second tracking attempt by a different person (remember that a retry by the same person is not permitted, unless something in the situation changes). To reflect the inherent problems of track destruction in the course of the attempt to read it (and to discourage this rules abuse), the narrator should apply an increase of the resistance in the range of +5 to +10 for each retry.
Descriptions
1. Here you see the trace of a footstep in calm water. This is a sure sign for a greenhorn, since every experienced scout knows, that a trace in calm water will last for a very long time. The gras in the surrounding has erected completely in the meanwhile, so the trace is at least 2 days old. 2. They rode very fast, because the hooves of their riding animals threw the sand far behind. 3. Here two people met. One of them closed up very fast, the other one was wounded. He's been lying here, where you can see the blood stains. The other one peeled off the bark of this healtree and made a bandage for the wounded. So they are allied, since Chalana Arroy are highly unlikely in this region and the unwounded wears weapons, that he has put to the ground here. Afterwards, they moved very fast away, since they took no time to obscure the traces. 4. This are the traces of 26 animals. 23 of them are horses or zebras, 8 of them are shoed. I don't believe, that it were horses, since the other three animals are impala, and they can only be ridden by impala riders. Not even Gagarthi impala riders would tolerate horses, so these are zebras. Nethertheless, at least the 8 with horseshoes are ridden by towners, or who else would care for horseshoes. Here you can see some paint drops. This is war paint and the colors are black red white. When concerning Impala, this probably means they are from the Moon Phases Clan, a lunar friendly clan.The animals were tired, you can see that they take short steps and once or twice an animal has stumbled. When the gang came here, they stopped near the marshy waterspot. This is indicated by the traces that have filled with water. Two have been riding farther, inspecting the terrain. They are probably the leaders. Remark, that one of them has a shoed zebra, the other one rides an impala. The zebra of the leader had a short biting with another zebra other there. After such an exhausting travel, this can only mean, that they are stallions. I've found some hairs, which indicate, that one of the zebras is a war zebra. This must mean, that the 8 towners are high ranking officials and/or very rich and important. This group is of high interest to everybody in the wastes. Here the leader of the towners dismounted and checked this spot with sand. The imprints of his nailed shoes tell, that he is lunar officer. And you can see, that he steps with his right foot harder than with his left foot. He limps. The fact, that he is concerned with a trip into the wastes and not with office jobs, can only mean, that he is a seasoned special officer, whose experience is needed on this trip. Count Julan (? He doesn't limp, so probably somebody else!) immidiately springs to mind. One last point: This group has been very careless and made no attempt to conceal their traces. This can only mean one of two things: Either they are going to make a big distance afterwards, which is highly unlikely with such exhausted animals, or a big troup of them is in the proximity and they are something like a scouting party. Since 3 impala riders won't ride with over 20 lunars without some security, I guess, that a big war party of impala riders must be around.
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