Situation: whats your call?
 

Situation: A Humvee is driving down the road, through a European countryside.

Driver: He's scanning from 10 to 2 O'Clock as he drives. Every so often he checks the rear view mirror, glances at the fuel gauge and mentally calculates how far before they need to refuel. Recon or spotting skill is Low.

Front Passenger: He's doing what guys riding "shotgun" do. He's scanning 9 O'clock through to 2 O'Clock. He's running his finger along the map or mentally keeping track of their location. Recon or spotting skill is Medium.

Gunner: He's standing the rear of the Humvee, he has a 50 cal mounted GPMG. He's spending all his time scanning for ambush or movement. Recon or spotting skill is high.

When an encounter presents itself, who in the Humvee do you have roll for spotting/surprise? Do you use a particular person in the humvee? Or only roll for whomever has the highest skill? Or do you roll for all 3 people in the humvee?

I roll for everyone.

However, I will make the task harder if the character is distracted by something else.

So in this case, the gunner rolls normally and the driver and passenger roll at one level of difficulty higher.

The driver might roll at normal difficulty if the target is right ahead of him, otherwise he'd be looking off the road enough to impair his driving ability IMHO.

I agree with Copeab. IF the problem is straight ahead, then I would roll every one equal, except if SHotgun is doing map reading task.

Kind of like "Yo, Shotgun (Name), just where the hell are we supposed to turn to head to (Name of Destination). "

Top side gunner's JOB is spotting problems. Driver is there to drive. Shotgun has to multi-task. I would suggest breaks every 4 hrs or so, and a rotation of positions.

My $0.02

Mike

As was mentioned, if the ambush/encounter occurs in the field of view of the driver, A-driver, and Gunner, I'd have all three roll.

If it was where the driver couldn't see, but the A-driver and Gunner could, I'd only have those two roll.

And if only the gunner had a chance because of the angle of the encounter/ambush, I'd only have the Gunner roll.

I have only one character roll - the "vehicle commander", or the person in the best position for observing (usually the one with their head out the top).
Driver, drives.
Gunner (in most AFVs anyway) usually rides with their head down and a limited field of vision.
Loader (if any) might be allowed a roll, but only if they're not in position to carry out their primary role (that of providing ammo to the main weapon(s)).
Commander, at least to my knowledge, is most often tasked with not just controlling the overall positioning of the vehicle, but of spotting targets for the gunner.
Passengers may be able to spot also, but I tend to rule that unless the player has specifically stated they're not taking the opportunity to rest (fatigue rules kick in here), they're out of position (ie head down, eyes closed, and down inside the vehicle).

If multiple characters are in position to spot, then I'd use the highest skill and give a slight bonus for each additional pair of eyes.

I'm with Cobeab on this one. I've been reading a bunch of accounts of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq involving Humvees and, when the crews see the enemy first (which, unfortunately, doesn't happen that often), it's almost always the gunner that spots the threat before anyone else.

In this particular case the gunner, with his head out the top, has the best field of view, uninterrupted by the structure of the vehicle. Height may also have something to do with it.

In a BTR-80 for example where the gunner does not have their own hatch and vision is restricted to the gun sight and whatever they can see over the driver and commanders shoulders, they are the last one you want to make the roll.

Can i get some clarification: "drivers hatch" is the spot on the vehicle where the driver can drive, with his head and torso outside the vehicle, yes? Essentially the vehicle is buttoned up (hatches closed, maximum protection with less visibility) or travelling with hatches open (driver is raised in his seat with head and/or chest exposed).

Same applies for commander and gunner hatches.

Yes, by hatch I mean the roof mounted door over the crew members position where they can ride with head (and perhaps more) exposed.
Some crew such as the Gunner in most MBTs do not have their own hatch, but have to wait until the commander has vacated his seat before exiting the vehicle.

I'll add that my personal preferences as a GM (in all the games I run) come into this.

The two points are:

1) If it's not impossible for a PC to do something, then he can try to do it. The chances may be incredibly low, but the chance is there.

2) Friendly NPCs don't get to roll to do something a PC (or more than one) have rolled and failed. NPCs shall not upstage PCs. If the PCs are expecting the NPC to do something (such as in a combat with a lot of soldiers, or he's an expert with a skill no PC possesses) then the NPC rolls normally.

So, if anyone in the HUMVEE is an NPC, I don't roll for for him until all the PCs who could roll have done so and failed.

I sort of like how the original Shadowrun handled additional attempts at the same task - they made the target number for success harder each time.
Perhaps the same idea could be implemented for multiple people trying to spot - person with the best position/chance goes first with the task becoming increasingly harder for each one following (who's probably got their back turned anyway).