No margin for error

Road racers

37.73 miles of closed public roads, around the Isle of Man. Reaching speeds of more than 200mph, through towns and villages, over the mountain and back down.
The greatest – and most dangerous – motorsport event in the world. A test of skill and courage. A duel with death. A race like no other.

• Start

intro

Ready to ride

This is an analogue roleplaying game in which you play motorcycle riders competing in the world's most famous road race. One participant, Race Control, acts as a referee and facilitator and controls non-player characters. The other players each take the role of an individual Rider.In addition to the rules on this page, you will need writing materials, polyhedral dice, and the following components specific to Road Racers (available via Patreon.com/PorcupinePublishing): the Incident Deck, Rider Profile sheets, Traits & Questions sheet.
The Playsheet, with a map of the circuit and various game-tracking aids, is helpful but not strictly necessary.To begin the game, refer to the Traits & Questions sheet and work as a group to establish the Riders' personalities and relationships to one another.Each player should establish an emotional need for their Rider with at least one other Rider, saying "I want [respect/trust/friendship/etc.] from you." The other player must then reply saying why they can't have want they want, at least right now.Then, proceed to Character Creation and Bike Setup, followed by the race.

System basics

Rolling the dice

During the game, you'll roll dice of different kinds to determine the outcome of certain events – the rules will specify what kind and how many.After you roll, you must choose one or more dice and add them together to form your result as directed by the rules. Generally speaking, you want the numbers in your result to be as low as possible.Misfortune may occur when your result includes a 4 – draw from the Incident Deck as described below.

peak performance

The Dice chain

A bike's Tyres and Engine are measured with arc dice: That means that if they show one or more 1s when included as part of a result, they move along the "dice chain" to the next type.The dice chain goes like this: d12 -> d8 -> d6 -> d4A d12 has 12 sides, a d8 eight sides, and so on.When arc dice are cold they move from their starting value towards d4 on a roll of 1, at which point they become hot.
Hot arc dice move back up the dice chain until they pass their starting value, at which point they become a dX.The dX is a d6 that always counts as 5 for the purposes of your result. You still have to roll it, in case it comes up as a 4 and thereby triggers possible misfortune. If possible, use a separate colour for a dX (red, for example) to distinguish it from a normal d6.Arc dice pushed beyond dX cause a Major Failure as described in the Incident Deck.School House Corner image by Agljones

Character creation

Rider attributes

Each Rider has four attributes, rated 1 to 5:Racecraft
Pace
Teamwork
ExperienceExperience can be used to change one die in a roll to show the number of your choice, but decreases by 1 each time you use it.Each attribute starts at 1 and you have 5 more points to spend on them at initial character creation (for a total of 9). Higher is better.

Bike setup

bIKE atTRIBUTES

Bikes have three attributes, also rated from 1 to 5, the higher the better.Speed
Handling
ReliabilityEach starts at 1 and you have four further points to spend on them (for a total of 7).When you would normally have to reduce Speed or Handling, you may reduce Reliability by a like amount instead.Each bike also has two arc dice:Tyres
EngineTyres start cold at d8.
Engine starts cold at the Rider's choice of d8 (more acceleration) or d12 (more rugged).

Six Laps

The Race

The race is a time trial, with riders setting off at 10-second intervals in order of their number. Determine who is Rider number 1 randomly. The player to their left sets off second, the player to their left third, and so on. (N.b. This is an out-of-character numbering for convenience: non-player Riders might be on the road ahead of you, as determined by the Incident Deck.)
The grid printed on the playsheet can be used to track the gaps between Riders.The race consists of six laps, with each Rider taking one or more turns per lap.At the start of each lap, all Riders are considered active.The hindmost active Rider on the road gets the first turn of the lap. When it's your turn, you may take an action OR change your status to inactive.When you take an action, your result must include a number of dice equal to the turn number. One on your first turn, two on your second, and so on.
In the earlier turns, you'll be able to choose the best dice from your pool to give yourself a favourable result. As the turn number rises, your choices narrow and the risks increase.If you do not have enough dice in your pool, you must add dXes until the number of dice in your pool equals the turn number.When one Rider has completed an action or switched to inactive, the next active Rider ahead on the road gets a turn.If there is no active Rider ahead, the turn number increases by one and play returns to the hindmost active Rider.When there are no more active Riders, the lap ends.At the end of the 2nd and 4th laps, each rider must make a pitstop to refuel and sometimes get a new rear tyre.At the end of the 6th lap, the race is over. The rider with the fastest overall time is the winner.-----------
OPTION: Paired Starts: If your race takes place before 1979, have Riders set off in pairs with 0 Distance between them. The Rider with the most Experience starts ahead on the road.----Race image by Jack_IOM (CC-BY)

Racing actions

Go Faster

Roll Pace + Speed x Tyres/Engine and gain a second for each 1 or 2 in your result.I.e. remove one Distance from in front of you (if any), and place it behind you.If you are right behind another Rider, with no Distance between you, you may not take this action.

Pitstop

Each bike only has enough fuel for two laps.If you only refuel, roll Teamwork x d8 and add the result (one die) to your time, potentially dropping behind other riders.If you also put on a new rear tyre, roll as above with d12 instead of d8.
Your Tyres arc die resets to cold at d8.To effect engine repairs, improve your Engine die by one step and roll Teamwork + Reliability x d20. Add one result die to your pitstop time.If you incur misfortune during a pitstop, apply it after the first turn of the next lap.Pitstop procedure
First, reset any bike stats reduced by Incident Deck effects to their initial values.Then, starting with the first Rider on the road, each player declares what they will do in their pitstop – refuel, change tyre and/or work on the engine.Then, make the pitstop roll for each Rider in turn starting from the front, moving them back by as many seconds as their result shows. You may find that by the time you've finished, the order is the same as before the pitstops – but this adds some jeopardy and makes the mathematics easier to do at the table.Slower riders, if any are in play, don't move during pit stops. We assume that the token now represents a different person.

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Overtake

You try to pass a rider immediately in front – i.e., with no Distance between you.Both Riders roll Racecraft + Handling x Tyres/Engine (overtaking rider's choice).The Rider trying to overtake must get a lower result than the one in front to get past.On a tie, both add another die to their result and compare again.Finally, each Rider draws a number of cards from the Incident Deck equal to their Racecraft or Experience and chooses one.The Rider ahead may choose to let the attempt succeed without a roll. Both Riders must still draw from the Incident Deck as described above.

Follow

Roll opposed Racecraft + Speed x Engine to try and follow a Rider in front of you, succeeding if your result is equal or lower. You must be within two seconds' Distance to do so.The Rider ahead may choose to let the attempt succeed without a roll.A following Rider may deduct 1 from each die in the result of any roll to Go Faster or to Overtake. This includes Overtake attempts on Riders other than the one they are following.The Follow is broken when the following Rider passes the other or drops further than two seconds behind.

Cross the Line

At the end of the last lap, the rider with the fastest overall time is the winner.To reckon the final standings, start with Rider racing with number 2 and reduce the Distance ahead of them by 10.Then reduce the Distance ahead of Rider #3 by 20, and so on.If there are any groups of two or more Riders with no Distance between them, a tie-break is necessary – make Overtake rolls with each Rider using the bike attribute if their choice, until there is a clear winner. Should both riders find themselves rolling nothing but dXes, reset to hot d6es for the purposes of the tie break.

Questions & Answers

Rider interviews

At the end of each lap, the group pauses to play out short scenes from the Riders' interviews with a documentary film crew before the race.Race Control plays the part of the interviewer, though other players may also volunteer, asking one or two questions of every Rider before the next lap begins.Instead of asking questions, you can also request two or more Riders play out a scene in which they talk before the race.Example questions are included on the Traits & Questions reference sheets.Because the interviews are conducted before the race begins, Riders who are out of the race or even dead in the 'present' time of the game can continue to participate in these interludes. Remember that your Rider does not know, when interviewed, about any of the events or outcomes of the race, because for them it hasn't happened yet.After lap 6, you can switch to post-race interviews, if you like.