Delta "Forza"? Homebrew Car Racing Wargaming

My kids (including daughter!) have had a sudden craze for cars this last week, probably due to me introducing them to the PC game Forza Horizon 4. I can't walk down our hall, without tripping over Hot Wheels which are being tested off a ramp for speed and distance (they have elaborate championships with knockout heats).

I loved the idea of Gaslands but found it kinda gluggy and slow to play. Although my homebrew rules LOOK a bit like it, they probably owe more to my fuzzy recollections of a GW(?) game called Dark Future, where you moved along rectangles of highway in a set direction. I kinda adapted them into templates cos I'm too lazy to rule up/grid miles of highway gameboard. And we just had pizza and I need to get rid of the boxes...

 

My templates are based on 4x8cm rectangles and 45/90d turns.

My son (who had set up a medieval battle nearby; where he uses no dice and merely the coolest guy wins - a literal 'rule of cool') wanted to know what was up; so I made up some rules on the spot and he raced some cars around the track.  He had some ideas to improve it; he also wants damage and a way to tune your car (level up its stats) between races as well as improve your driver's stats and skills, which sounds kinda fun actually. But this is what we played, typed up:

Order of Play

Each player rolls; in order of highest dice to lowest, players chooses who goes first – either themselves OR they can select another player after them in the order.

Ties are broken by (a) best driver then (b) fastest gear then (c) fastest car

Basically, you can 'game the system' to create more rams, chaos etc for others

What you need

A set of templates

A d6 to be the turn 'clock'

A gear d6 for each car

Damage tokens for each car (wheel/handling, engine, crew)

Two different coloured d6 (crew + stat)

 

I based all my templates on a 4x8cm grid - the idea was from Dark Future....

DICE RESOLUTION: TWO STAT SYSTEM – It’s the driver AND the car; the man not just the machine…. Each situation rolls two different coloured dice. You must roll equal or above the relevant stat to succeed. A ‘1’ always fails and a ‘6’ always succeeds. Basically, roll both d6 and compare each to its relevant stat: “Success” Two successes – you do it well/get a bonus! “Partial” One success/one fail – you do it OK “Fail” Two fails – you fail DRIVER DICE ROLL – this is 3+ (expert/elite), 4+ (professional) and 5+ (amateur/rookie) Plus….. any one of these stats CAR DICE ROLL. The stat used depends on what you are doing. SPEED – this is top speed. It is used when driving in a straight line (and if speed 5+) to get a ‘boost’ move. It also determines the top gear. It is written as top gear + dice roll; i.e. 5/3+ ACCEL – this is used to increase the “gear” or “speed level” at the start of the activation; or a boost after a turn HANDLING – this is used to perform risky turns and rams BRAKE – this is used to reduce the gear/speed level or make a short “brake move”

STAT levels are broad: 2+ supercar (Lamborghini, McLaren); 3+ sports car (Corvette, M3); 4+ standard sedan (Ford Caprice, etc); 5+ poor (van, truck) Speed cap is basically  6 = Supercar (300kph+); 5 = Sports Car (250kph); 4 = V6 Sedans (200kph); 3 = van, truck, small V4 sedan (150kph) Examples: Car Top Gear/ Speed Roll Accel Handling Brake Special Toyota 86/ BRZ 4/4+ 4+ 2+ 3+ Drift Dodge Hellcat 5/3+ 2+ 4+ 4+ Hefty Koenigsigg/Zonda/etc 6/2+ 2+ 2+ 2+ BMW M3 5/3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ I’m tempted to switch to d10 actually so I can have a broader spread of car stats, say 4-5-6-7-8-9...

 

I ended up with a very simple set of templates. The small triangle is for 90d skids or 45d drifts and the "brake/boost" short rectangle is used for short moves or as a bonus move on the end of the turn if you roll well....

STEP 1: ACCELERATE/BRAKE You can always change your speed (up/down) by 1 for free. Car speed/gear is denoted by a d6 placed beside the car; roughly corresponding to 40-50kph per pip. ACCELERATE However if you want to accelerate more, you roll a Accel Test. Basically this is rolling vs acceleration stat and driver stat. Two success = you can increase gear by 3 One success = you can increase gear by 2 No success = you cannot increase gear at all. BRAKE The braking is just like acceleration in reverse; a Brake Test (roll vs brake and driver stats) Two success = you can decrease gear by 3 One success = you can decrease gear by 2 No success = you cannot decrease gear at all.

My son wanted to know about the extra move templates he spotted, and wanted to use them... I said he hadn't bought the expansion DLC.....

STEP 2: MOVING THE CAR A turn is broken into 6 sub-phases. Cars only move if their speed corresponds to the phase. All cars move on phase 1; but only a speed 6 car would still move in sub-phase 6. If your car can activate, determine the order of play (see above) each sub-phase, then.... (a) Choose a template (b) Check your gear (c) Roll dice There are three speed levels to be aware of that impact movement; low (1-2); medium (3-4) and high (5+). Below are the templates and how they work.  BRAKE (8cm) Use Brake Stat to test. 2 Success = May also choose Drift 45 or 90d in a direction of your choice “Brake Turn” 1 Success = Just move straight 8cm Fail = Spin or Skid randomly STRAIGHT (16cm) Does not need to test but may opt to Boost. Use Speed Stat to test. 2 Success = May Boost a bonus 8cm 1 Success = Move forward normally Fail = Move forward only 8cm (Brake) instead of the usual 16cm “Clutch slipped” GENTLE TURN (16cm + 45d) Must test if 5+ Gear. Use Handling to test. 2 Success = May Drift 45d in direction of turn OR opt to roll a single Accel dice* to see if boost 1 Success = Usual turn Fail = Spin or Skid randomly SWERVE (16cm; two 45d turns) Must Test if 3+ Gear. Use Handling to test 2 success = May Drift 45d in direction of last turn OR opt to roll a single Accel dice* to see if boost 1 Success = Usual swerve Fail = Spin or Skid randomly SHARP TURN (16cm + 90d) Must test if in 3+ Gear. Use Handling to test. 2 Success = May Drift 45d in direction of turn OR opt to roll a single Accel dice* to see if boost 1 Success = Usual turn Fail = Spin or Skid randomly Extra Information: *If top gear is 5+ may use Speed stat instead, if it is better. If current speed exceeds the 'must test' speed of a template; -1 to the roll each level... A 45d DRIFT causes a player to drop -1 level of speed. A 90d SKID causes a player to drop -2 level of speed. My son wanted to compare current speed to handling stat i.e. if your handling is 4, roll for any maneuvers at speed 5 or more… So the better your handling, the faster you go before needing to check. This makes sense, but requires me to rework my mechanics. =New Mechanics: Probably roll low = best i.e. roll equal or below a stat? i.e. Speed 4 = roll 4 or below to succeed….

The Shelby roars over the finish line as the Lambo spins out. We had a few rams, spin outs, and drifts and cars 'swerved' in front and got shunted along. To keep things simple, both cars were basic sports cars with professional drivers (see M3 profile above).

3. RAMMING, SKIDS & SPINS If a movement template intersects with an enemy car, the enemy car is either (a) moved aside or (b) shunted forward. If moved aside it is placed 45d from the template at an angle corresponding to the contact point. The ramming player finishes its move. RAMMING RESULTS Both players roll a Handling Check and compare successes. -The loser tests to Skid/Spin Out (see below) -If there is a tie, the rammer (moving car) merely shunts defender car sideways 45d like a drift (making it lose -1) 90d SKID/SPIN OUT If a car loses control, roll another Handling Check. Two passes = the car skids 90d One pass = consult spin table; reduce speed -3 Fail = car spins and reduce speed to 0   Using the Spin Table There are 8 faces, 1 each 45d. N=0, NE=45, E=90, SE=135, S=180, etc. Roll a d6. Begin counting at 45. So a 1 = 45, 2 = 90, 3 = 135, 4 = 180

It worked quite reasonably and seemed faster than Gaslands. Obviously, there was no combat/damage (yet) but the templates were simpler, and there was no 'recording' carrying over besides the speed dice next to the car. 

My son would like the mechanics to link speed and handling more, besides additions of damage - he'd like to increase the violence a bit more. I'd consider 'roll low on d10' as a universal mechanic that would allow car stats to be more granular. I tend to be pretty casual about mechanics and don't mind completely swapping d6 roll high for d10 roll low... it's more about the % they create and consistency/simplicity...

I probably also need to revisit spins/flips and negative effects. (Bear in mind I invented this 'on the fly' so it probably has a lot of 'assumed' knowledge and is not well explained...)

The lad also would like a 'campaign' where you can tune cars between races (i.e. i.e. add a turbo to increase speed stat +1 etc, add race tyres and strip weight for +1 handling etc); with drivers gaining skills - e.g. say "drift" makes the driver better at bonus drift moves etc.... Which would be fun to design but I need to make the game work consistently first...

Anyway, time for bed....