Ronald Finkelstein wrote:
> The situation involves a vampire who is now fleeing the secene, on foot,
as his gang seemingly melts away[4 of 9 'dusted', in one game turn[12seconds].
>
>
> Now, this vampire is fleeing from a Speedster, who can outrun the
vampire[who pushed his running to 14"]. Can the speedster...
>
>
> 1)Run past the vampire, turn around[180 degrees], and perform a moveby, using
his own, AND the vampire's velocity?
>
> 2)Same situation as above, but a move throutgh...use vamp's velocity added to
his own?
>
A lot is going to depend on how the Speedster is attempting to perform
this maneuver and how his 'running' is built. If it's 'running' built
as [Flight - Only on appropriate surface] then he's got his Turn Mode to
deal with, making the 180 impossible normally (though if he also had
Acrobatics and an appropriate object to assist him [like a light pole to
grab], I'd allow a roll).

If it's just bought as straight running, then going by the rules there
is no penalty for any turning (even 17=80). So, you can turn on a dime
without losing any acceleration at all. Seems a little silly to me but
that is how the rules work as I understand it.

If you're wanting a more 'realistic' result (in a setting including
speedsters and vampires), then I'd suggest the following:

First, the acrobatic solution presented above.

Second, have the speedster use up movement to turn in an arc. I leave
it up to you to determine how tight the arc can be.

Third, require the speedster to decelerate down to 0 (or some other
suitably slow velocity) before doing the 180 and then accelerating back
toward the vampire. This may not be feasible since the maximum you can
accelerate/decelerate in a single Phase is your Combat Movement unless
you've bought an Advantage on your movement.

As for using Relative Velocity for determining damage, see the side bar
on page 391 of 5ER. The gist of it is:
* you can add the velocities together if they're moving toward each other
* subtract the slower from the faster if they are moving the same direction
* Use only the attacker's velocity in all other situations.

Also, when doing a Relative Velocity Move By/Through, you only use the
attacker's velocity to determine the OCV modifier.

> as an aside...
>
> 3)Any rules exsist about running backwards?[cartoon image-the pursuer passes
the fleeing individual running backwards]
>
Not that I know of. Hero doesn't get really detailed about facing most
of the time, so running backwards usually isn't an issue. If anything
it's a stunt that you might want to have them make an easy (+2 or +3)
DEX roll to make sure they don't embarrass themselves.

Later,