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Bon dia!

I’ve seen the old Stalking skill does not appear in the new DCIII skill list. I miss some skill to fill this gap. A way to evaluate things like the character ability to follow someone unnoticed in an urban environment (without entering in the field covered by Stealh) or how to organize a surveillance team to keep someone steps under control, or how to appreciate important details that can indicate to a trained character that he/she is under surveillance or being followed in some way. It is possible that the design staff have thought in other existing skill, like Streetwise or Observation. Perhaps the range covered for an hypothetic Stalking skill is too narrow? It seems an important ability for a detective, a spy, a bounty hunter or a criminal, with a good place in the context of Dark Conspiracy.


BTW: Nice detail in the clear description of the skills in the new rules.

Have a nice day!

Hi again Marc

The separate Stalking skill no longer exists, instead we ran it together with Tracking skill. From the description:

"Tracking is a skill used for trailing creatures in a wilderness or rural environment. It includes knowledge of prints, droppings, and habits of wilderness animals, but can be used to track human quarry as well. This skill can also be used in urban environments at higher difficulty levels. However, Streetwise skill can serve as an enabling skill in these circumstances."

Let us say that someone with both Tracking and Streetwise skills would Track a target in an urban environment at whatever Difficulty level the referee states, but if they have Tracking without Streetwise then it is a level higher (at least). Streetwise without Tracking would allow the character to make an educated guess where the target might go to, but they would not be able to follow them directly unless they were very lucky on Obserevation checks. (This is just my opinion BTW)

Hope that helps

Have to admit I always found it a fairly redundant skill so I'd agree with dropping it from the new edition.

Hmmmm... I don't see it as a redundant skill. But using Streetwise as an enabling skill linked to any other proper skill (Observation or Tracking) solves the problem. Thanks.

I agree with Oddball, I don't see Stalking as a redundant skill because tracking as used in the bush is a very different set of skills compared to tracking someone in a city.
To be a little more specific: -

For tracking in the wilds, you're looking at the ground for prints, scuffing, dislodged stones and so on and your looking at the grass and other plants for signs of damage done as someone/thing pushed past (or through) them.
You're also looking for clues from the creature, be it a patch of hair or a scrap of cloth torn from them as they pushed passed a rock or thorn bush or a fresh bit of bark knocked off a tree etc. etc. You're also looking and listening for signs of other animals that may or may not have been disturbed by the passage of your prey.
You might even go as far as carry a stick that has been cut down to the length of the prey's stride so that you can measure how far they would have stepped if you suddenly lose their tracks. You're also trying not to disturb any other animals so that your prey doesn't get warning of your approach (including doing things such as approaching from downwind and so on) or you might employ various movement techniques to locate sign such as zig-zagging over the piece of ground you're interested in so that you can locate signs of the prey's passage or you might divide the area into a box and thoroughly search that area while ignoring other areas.

With tracking someone/thing in the urban environment, you automatically lose a great deal of freedom of movement because village, towns, cities and so on are laid out in specific (and normally, quite ordered), pattens.
While being constrained by the layout of streets and buildings, you're looking for the reactions of other people or domestic animals including their vocal response and particular behaviour. You're also having to exercise more caution as you might have to hide yourself in the crowd or duck into an alleyway to avoid being spotted (in the wild you can often just go prone on the ground to avoid being spotted - something that's likely to draw attention to you on the street!) Unlike in the wilderness were you can be reasonably sure that the discarded food wrapper is new or old and whether it is likely to have been thrown away by your prey, in the city there's so much rubbish and often enough bins for waste that you cannot be certain the one you're stalking threw it away (unless you actually see them throw it away!)
You can often mask your own noise with city noise to reduce your prey's ability to detect you and you can often ask people if they've seen/heard anything unusual. You also do things such as look for your prey in the reflections from building or vehicle windows and employ more than one tracker so that the same person is not seen to be "following" the prey all the time.

To me they are too different from each other for one overall skill to suit my particular play style.

Solid arguments around the difference between urban and rural environments which I entirely accept. Just saying I found always found Streetwise sufficient for trailing someone through town.

Interesting how the opinions differ on that subject. Well, I make my own character sheets and keep Stalking (though I will drop a lot of the new skills which make absolutely no sense to me, like Starship Architecture and no Submarine Architecture which would earn you good money in Columbia)which is perfectly cool in DC since it does not hinder the game in any way. But back to the topic. I personally would hit the player with the rule book if she would like to roll Streetwise to follow a person through a town. To me streetwise more a cultural thing. Like knowing the reaction to your Feyenoord jersy in which parts of Amsterdam or the meaning of prison tattoos. Likewise it is the appropriate skill to evaluate the prices of illegal goods and how to locate them, whom to ask, and whom to avoid. It could be used to locate a certain person. Though Bargain or Interrogation would be appropriate. It could also be used to spot certain types of characters involved in underworld activity like bikers or undercover cops. I won't however use it to follows or trail another character.
This, as Kevin has pointed out, is in my opinion a case for a Stalking roll. Only if the character actually leaves any Tracks the Tracking roll would apply. Like in a muddy environment, or blood loss from a gunshot wound. To me, Stalking is not so much about following physical tracks but about thinks like using shopwindows as mirrors to observe someone while facing in the opposite direction and all that detective novel stuff.
With no Stalking Skill present I would use the Stealth skill to physically follow a person through urban environment.