Chariots of Rubbish Part 9: Making Maps

ON MAKING MAPS

First, get some idea of the geography you're going to be racing through*. Make each different type of environment a Zone. Draw these Zones out on a piece of paper. Number and name them, starting from zero.

Place a dot on the start of the course, at the end, and at every Zone transition. Place anywhere from 1 to 5 more dots inside each Zone**. Connect these dots with lines: each one is a Sector. Starting from zero, number the Sectors on the left side of the line. On the right side, write down what type of terrain this is.

In this same manner, go back and add a side track or two. Try to differentiate them: perhaps one path is shorter but goes through difficult terrain, or maybe the longer path stops by an interesting location. Remember, the more paths there are through the course, the less the racers will see each of each other. Hence, less glorious violence.

*Consider the shape of the track. A short straight track might be good if you're short on time. A short looped track will have players dealing with the consequences of their actions in the second and third laps. A long straight track can offer a lot of variety, but slower players may have trouble catching up. One solution is to put some single use traps towards the middle and end of the course. In a very Mario Cart way, screwing up the leaders can help even the playing field.

**I'm personally a fan of having the first and final Zones having only one Sector. I call them the 'Start Zone' and 'End Zone' respectively. As an aside: don't be afraid of starting the race in medias res! As the racers enter the last third of the track the competition is so far behind we can't even see them!

ON MAKING MAPS HORRIBLE

Here's some ideas on how to make the race a little more interesting. For extra points, have things that happen in one Sector trigger or effect something in another Sector.

Two caveats. First, remember to write down the exact Zone, Sector, and Position of this stuff. Second, it's fine to keep these hidden from the players, but do at least allude to them. It doesn't feel very fun to get sandbagged by random shit you could have never seen coming.

Terrains	Name	Rules
1	Forest	The trees are hard to avoid. -1 AC while driving here, and roll CO or GET REKT, D: -2
2	Magma	Game over if you fall in it dude. Place under fragile bridges and next to
3	Steam Vents	Number them, then roll randomly to see which one blows. D: 3
4	Fragile Bridge	It only has 5 HP. If blown up, fall down, GET REKT, D: 3, and get shunted onto a slower path.
5	Boulders	Vehicles with legs or vehicles that hover are fine. Everyone else GETS REKT, D: 2 if they fail a ST roll.
6	Collapsing Bridge	Crumbles and crashes after the turn after someone passes it.
Locals	Name	Rules
7	Marines	REPAIR 3, SHOOT 5, MELEE 4, HANG ON 3, SURVIVE 3. Jump you in teams of 6, try to get your car.
8	Sand Raiders	Hidden up on the cliffs, they take pot shots at anyone who drives by. SHOOT 4/6.
9	Monkeys	Drop from above. HANG ON 5, SURVIVE 1, and if there's any left next round they fire your gun.
10	The Cops	They'll set up road blocks. Cops SHOOT 3/6, other stats 2. They drive CR 2, CO 2, AC 3, RA 2, ST 0 police cars.
11	Wraiths	Fly, MELEE 3, SURVIVE 5, can possess people. They only wake up if you drive through their moldering tombs..
12	Bombers	CR 0, CO 1, AC 3, RA 1, ST 0. Fly high above and drop R: 0 S, A: 3, D: 5 bombs.
Traps	Name	Rules
13	Rockslide	Driving on the higher up path has a 50/50 chance of triggering a D: 6 rock slide below.
14	Net	Falls on top of you. Skip your Action Phase as you wrestle the damn thing off.
15	Swinging Tree Trunk	A: 8, D: 4, smacks you to the side, possibly shunting you to a different section of the track.
16	Swinging Blades	If you move only 3 positions each round, you can avoid them. Other wise 50/50 to GET REKT, D: 5.
17	Trip Wire, Spike Pit	Flip over once, car upside down, skip Movement Phases until you flip it. Everyone needs to SURVIVE.
18	Backwards Travolator	Takes up 7 Positions. Ending your Movement Phase on any of them takes you back to the start.
Beasts	Name	Rules
19	Glass Worms	Like a see-through molten tunnel drill. Leaves molten glass that hardens into smooth terrain next turn. Loves eating gasoline.
20	Four Golden Lions	CO 1, AC 2, RA 3, HP 100. The shortest route is sacred to them, and they'll try to chase you away.
21	Mammoths	CO -4, AC -2, RA 5, HP 10. Herds sleep on the road, blocking the entire sector. Will stampede if shot, 50/50 forwards or backwards.
22	Engine Vines	Latch onto your car and grow larger by drinking it's fluids. +5 HP every turn, -1 AC as it grows bigger. Likes fresh cars, so it prefers to switch to adjacent vehicles.
23	Mega Raptors	Like the feathery sports version of a T Rex. CO 3, AC 3, HP 5. Packs of three looking for meat. R: 3, A: 7, D: 1 claws, MELEE 5/6 for eating dudes, no SURVIVE roll.
24	Giant Flying Eyeball	CO 5, AC 8, HP 10. It floats around, watching the race. Killing it summons Cthulhu.
Hazards	Name	Rules
25	Falling Boulders	They fall (D: 6), bounce 1d6 Positions forward, and then stop (D: 4). Either way, roll CO or crash into one.
26	Bomb	Crash into one and the whole Sector GETS REKT, D: 10.
27	Wriggling Brown Tail	Crashing into it awakens the giant hag fish. CO 0, AC 3, RA 5, HP 40. Will thrash if shot: whole Sector GETS REKT, D: 6.
28	One Way Teleporter	Teleports you to another part of the course.
29	Launch Pad	Supercharges your car: +5 AC for three turns. Also sets you on fire for seven turns.
30	Glass Pillar	Crash into one and every sector in the Glass Road Zone breaks, changing from Smooth to Rough terrain.