A Simple Call of Cthulhu Chase System

I like Call of Cthulhu’s chases in theory. On the page, they’re clever: abstract locations, hazards, vehicles, movement rates. At the table, though, I always hit the same snag: I can’t remember the sequence, I start flicking through the book, and what should feel like a breathless sprint turns into a rules consult.

So I went digging through other games’ chase rules and what GMs were doing to simplify them, then boiled all of that down to something I can actually run from memory.

The goal here is pretty modest:

• Keep the feeling of danger and messy complications.
• Strip the mechanics down to a single track and a couple of rolls.
• Avoid lots of little decisions and modifiers.

Here’s the version I now use at my own table.

One Track to Rule the Chase

The whole thing hangs off a single “lead track” from 0 to 6.

0 means the pursuer has caught the quarry.
6 means the quarry is gone.

You move a marker along that track each round, based on two quick things: a possible complication and a simple chase roll.

That’s it.

Step 1: Set Up the Chase

First, decide who’s running and who’s chasing. Then, eyeball who’s faster. Don’t do maths; just go with your gut. On foot, that probably follows MOV. In vehicles, it’s whatever obviously has better speed/performance.

Now draw a little track:

0 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6

Put a marker on 3 as the default starting distance.

If the quarry is clearly faster, start at 4.
If the pursuer is clearly faster, start at 2.

That’s all the setup you need.

Step 2: Each Round – Complication > Chase Roll > Check

Every round of the chase, you do the same three beats:

1. Roll for a complication.
2. Roll to see who gains or loses ground.
3. Check if someone’s caught or gets away.

Once that rhythm is in your head, you don’t need to think about it.

2.1 Complication

Roll 1d6:

• On 1–3, nothing special happens. It’s just running or driving.
• On 4–6, there’s a complication, you make it up (crowd spilling into the street, sudden fence, tight corner, loose rubble, stalled car, etc.).

When there’s a complication, everyone in the chase makes a single roll to deal with it:

• On foot: roll DEX.
• In vehicles: roll Drive Auto.

If someone fails, they take 1 HP of damage from the stumble, scrape, or minor crash.

If exactly one side (quarry or pursuer) failed and the other side passed, the marker moves one step against the side that failed. If both pass or both fail, the complication doesn’t move the marker; it just adds bruises and chaos to the scene.

You don’t pick different skills per person, and you don’t fiddle with modifiers. It’s always DEX (or Drive Auto) vs whatever’s in the way.

2.2 Chase Roll

Now see who’s actually winning the chase this round.

Each side makes one chase roll:

• On foot: CON (they’re just running).
• In vehicles: Drive Auto again.

If one side succeeds and the other fails, the winner moves the marker one step in their favour:

• Quarry wins → marker +1 (towards 6: escape).
• Pursuer wins → marker –1 (towards 0: caught).

If both succeed or both fail, the marker doesn’t move. They’re holding the distance, for now.

No bonus dice, no margin of success, no extra steps. Just “did you make your roll and they didn’t?”

2.3 Check the Result

After the complication and the chase roll have done their thing, look at the track:

• If the marker is on 0, the pursuer has caught the quarry. Cut straight to tackling, grappling, surrender, or a jump into regular combat, whatever fits the moment.
• If the marker is on 6, the quarry gets away. They duck into the fog, vanish into a crowd, or slam a door behind them and are finally out of sight.
• Otherwise, no one’s out yet. Roll back to the top and do another round: Complication > Chase Roll > Check.

Most chases wrap in just a few cycles.

Step 3: Punches, Pistols, and Party Members

I keep this part light so it doesn’t bog things down.

If someone wants to focus on shooting or fighting rather than sprinting their hardest, I let them take their normal attack (Firearms, Fighting, etc.) and resolve it as usual. The trade-off is simple: for that round, their side’s chase roll is treated as a failure, even if they passed it. Stopping to fire, wrestle a door, or shove over a bin slows you down.

If there are several PCs involved, I treat them as a single blob for the chase roll and just pick whoever makes the most sense to roll the main chase skill this round. If someone fumbles a complication or chase roll, that’s my cue to narrate them tripping, crashing, or getting separated for a moment while the main chase rolls on.

The details live in the fiction; the mechanics stay small.

Optional Dials

If you want speed to matter a bit more, you can give the side you judged “faster” a small edge: let them win ties on the chase roll, for example. That keeps you from ever needing to think about MOV once the chase starts, while still rewarding the faster side.

If you want big, cinematic set-pieces, occasionally swap a normal complication for a “big one”: collapsing balcony, exploding fuel truck, rotten pier giving way. For that round, just roll the complication and move the marker two steps against anyone who fails, then go straight to the next round without a normal chase roll.

If you love group dynamics, you can say that extra PCs who also succeed on the chase roll are simply helping hold things together (spotting shortcuts, clearing crowds, shouting warnings, etc.) but you don’t need extra rules for it unless you really want them.

Tiny Crib Sheet

Here’s the whole thing in a shorthand you can actually keep in front of you while you play:

Simple CoC Chase – One Track

Setup: Draw 0–1–2–3–4–5–6 . Start at 3 (or 2/4 if one side is clearly faster).

Each Round:

1. Complication: Roll 1d6. On 4–6, invent a hazard (crowd, fence, corner, rubble, etc.). Everyone rolls DEX (or Drive Auto). Anyone who fails takes 1 HP. If exactly one side failed, move the marker 1 step against them.
2. Chase Roll: Each side rolls CON (or Drive Auto). If one passes and the other fails, move the marker 1 step in the winner’s favour.
3. Check: Marker 0 = caught. Marker 6 = escaped. Otherwise, repeat.

That’s all I use now. One track, two simple rolls, a bit of narration, and suddenly chasing cultists through the fog feels fast and dangerous again… without me having to remember half a chapter of rules.