Forest Chase Scene

[RGTraynor]

I am not familiar with the chase rules. But I lived in forests in my teen years, and spent 15-20 weekends a year in my thirties in them. I'm very familiar with forests at night, and back then I had superb night vision. So:

Generally speaking, forests at night -- even not terribly dense ones -- are extremely dark and unforgiving. For the most part you can't see jack. Even at a Move of 1, you are going to stumble and trip over depressions, exposed roots, thorns, low stumps, and the like. (Move 1 is about twice what I would dare off trail, if I wanted to keep my ankles intact.) Running outright, you WILL fall and you MAY get hurt; it's only a matter of time, even if we're talking Robin-in-Sherwood. Even strong moonlight helps only a little, even through single canopy. You'll see well in clearings and on broad paths, but not otherwise.

A chase on a HORSE, short of on a broad manicured highroad through the forest ... look, if you're bound and determined to kill yourself, just cut your throat and let the poor horse be. People succeed at it on screen solely because the scriptwriters pen it that way.

Night Vision helps a little -- not a whole lot. Hiking helps not at all, unless we're talking a nighttime route march, and I wouldn't consider a chase a "hiking" situation.

Hiding? That's very much easier. People appropriately dressed can, without being trained in concealment, hide just a few feet away from someone assiduously looking; trust me on this one. One caveat: a lot of people have this idea that black makes for good nighttime camouflage. Alright, it's better than lime-yellow. But black is darker than the ambient darkness under tree line at night. Navy blue, dark green, charcoal grey, much fitter for purpose.

And Anthony's right. Getting lost in a forest is easy enough in broad daylight. I've tried never to get deeper than 150-200 yards into a forest at night. A half mile in during a chase? Forget it. Without technological directional aids, you're sunk until daylight.