[More questions about the current mechanics, answered with explanations and snippets of new rules.]

Doubles are Trouble

Q. So "Doubles are Trouble". Where is the corresponding good luck?

A. Here’s the design principle: Bad luck is random, good luck is player invoked.

Bad luck? Determined by the dice. While good luck is in the hands of the players, in the form of Action Points and Destiny Deck cards. (Rules for the deck aren’t finished, so this isn’t apparent.)

So the counterpart of a Disaster or Mishap is the Destiny Deck. The many cards of the Deck represent fortunate happenstance, such as finding an important clue, getting a hint to a mystery, or locating just the piece of equipment you needed. The players control when this happens (if they have the card).

One card, Lucky Break, deals explicitly with Disasters and Mishaps. The Aid portion of the Lucky Break card can cancel either a Disaster or a Mishap. The Injure half can inflict a Disaster or Mishap on an enemy, with a successful enough Combat Interaction skill check.

I think it’s better for players to be able to have control over when something lucky happens, it makes such events more useful in the game. “I needed it, and I got it!”

Disasters and Mishaps are random and capricious, and that fits their nature as well. They are, and should be, “Oh, crap!” moments that come out of the blue.

Thomas Stephens, one of the playtesters, suggested a “lucky failure” mechanic, where even if you failed, you got something out of it. I like this, in part because it happens in movies and novels and in part because it happens in real life. (Edison has a famous quote about it, Abraham Lincoln’s life evinces this, and so forth.)

To implement this, here is the Insightful Failure card.

Aid

Play this card on a Skill or Combat Challenge, and explain how a previous Failure gives your character an insight into this situation. Gain a +3 to the Total.

Injure

Play this card against any enemy who has attacked you (with Combat, Skill, or Power) and failed. They suffer a -3 penalty to this attack.

Action Points

Q. Can you earn Action Points?

A. Yes, in three main ways. Troubles are Character Traits that represent potential problems for your Character. Addictions, enemies, dependents, anything that might cause complications during a session can be Trouble.

The GM can trigger Trouble whenever they feel it would be apt or interesting. When they do, the character gains an Action Point.

The Subplot card, from the Destiny Deck, offers adventure-specific Trouble. Perhaps your character has fallen for the wrong person, or the wrong person fell for you. Perhaps they’ve been mistaken for someone else. Or perhaps an enemy has fixated on them specifically. Whatever happens, it’s Trouble and you gain an Action point when the GM triggers the Subplot.

Last is the “Disastrous Failure” rule. Any time your character fails at a Challenge, the GM can trigger a Disaster. (They should do this when it’s interesting or would drive the action of a session forward.) You gain an Action Point for the Disaster.

As an example, suppose you’re working the street, trying to locate an enemy. A Failure means you come up dry. Roll Doubles and Fail, and a Disaster occurs — the enemy hears about your inquiries and comes looking for you. If the GM wishes, they can trigger such a Disaster, and give the player an Action Point for the Trouble about to descend.

As development continues, this list may be expanded.

[There are still unanswered questions, so look for FAQ Part IV in the near future.]

[A sidebar on Failure, from the in-progress 0.2a release of the Destiny Gaming System.]

In most games, the default assumption for Failure is that the character doesn’t succeed, and nothing else happens. Sometimes, this is what Failure should mean. But not all the time. Especially not in an action-movie game.

Action movies are about excitement and fun. Things should be happening. And that won’t occur if most Failures bring the adventure to a grinding halt.

Instead of nothing happening, Failure can mean that something happens (just not something good):

• Consequences for failing (bad things happen).
• Success (1 SR), but at a price (loss of resources, injury, offending a friend).
• Success that causes problems (immediately or later).

The gamemaster has the authority to decide what Failure means. And, as much as possible, it should offer new avenues of action.

Example: A character is looking for a rare piece of gear (using the streetwise skill). Failure can mean he doesn’t find it. Period.

But it can also mean he finds it, but it’s owned by an enemy or the Mob. Maybe obtaining it obligates the party in detrimental ways. Maybe he has to buy it illegally or steal it. Maybe he has to do someone a favor to get it (now or later). Even better if the favor involves noticeable risk to himself or the party.

All of these problems represent Failure, but in ways that fuel the action.

As much as possible, Failure should drive the adventure forward. It should introduce new complexities, new challenges, new opportunities.

Failure should Fuel the Action.

Destiny is an Action-Movie RPG, and the player characters are action movie heroes. This means one thing above all: Expect Trouble.

The character's Hindrances are Trouble, Doubles are Trouble, Disasters, Mishaps, and Complications are Trouble, Failing at a Challenge means Trouble. There are bad guys galore, all enemies of the PC's, and they are most certainly Trouble.

What will save the character's life are his skills, his ingenuity (the part the player is responsible for), and his Luck. Action Points are Lucky, Destiny Deck cards are Lucky, and a Spectacular Success is Lucky.

Between his Luck and his Trouble, a character's life can get very interesting. (In a strictly "Chinese curse" kind of way.) Which makes for fun and involving play, which is why we play the game.

[Part of the "System at a Glance" Chapter of the 0.2a release, intended to introduce players to the mechanics of the game (or, in this case, the expected style of play).]

The first rule of the game is this: we’re in this to have fun. This is a pastime, a hobby.

And what’s fun, in an RPG? Encountering challenges, and overcoming them.

There’s a deep dungeon, full of traps and monsters. Raid it. There’s a mob boss, trying to put the squeeze on honest shopkeepers. Bring him down. There’s a starship, tumbling from orbit, a dozen doomed passengers aboard. Rescue them.

There’s a term for all these challenges: Trouble. Trouble Fuels the Action. Trouble makes the game interesting. Trouble provides the challenges you must overcome.

The entire point of the game is player characters getting into Trouble and finding their way out. It’s why the game is exciting and fun.

Trouble is a good thing. When offered a chance to get into Trouble, take it. Choose five Difficulties. Play the Subplot card. Poke your nose in where it doesn’t belong.

That’s what makes the game fun: landing face-first in a big pile of Trouble, fighting your way out, and winning. Outlast it, convert it, defeat it: it doesn’t matter how you win.

What matters is that Trouble will find you, and that’s a good thing.

[Some more advice to players on how to get into the spirit of Destiny.]

For Destiny 0.2a (the second Alpha Test release), I’m adding preliminary character creation and advancement rules. Before I post those, I need to elaborate on what Skill Ratings actually mean. I'll start with pluses.

Skill pluses represent a character’s level of training or experience in a specific skill. The higher the plus value, the more trained or experienced they are:

+0 = Unskilled. You haven’t even the slightest hint of training in this area, and no experience either.

+1 – +3 = Minimal training. You have learned the very most basic concepts of the skill. There are large gaps in theory and application.

+4 – +8 = Beginner. You have learned all the basics concepts well enough to do the job, but not spectacularly. You make mistakes that other beginners or amateurs won’t catch, but anybody who know what they’re doing will.

+9 – +13 = Proficient. You have a solid grasp of the theory and practice of the skill. Advanced concepts can be challenging. (The oft-cited “10,000 hours of practice”.)

+14 – +18 = Expert. You are very skilled, thoroughly conversant with even the most obscure subjects in your field. If they know of it, your skill impresses people.

+19 and higher = Master. There are few more knowledgeable than you.

The above categories are descriptive, they allow players and GM’s to roughly gauge how one character matches up with another. (Useful for creating foes or converting characters from other systems.)

The Skill Rating (Base Rating from the Attribute added to any skill pluses) can be used to gauge how competent a character is in a specific skill:

2-5 is a Novice employee, a raw recruit or an inexperienced beginner. Part-time employees, like the teen who flips burgers at a fast food joint, are Novices, as are interns.

6-10 is Skilled, someone employable in a field at an entry level. Telemarketers and Tech Support employees are typically Skilled, as are people just graduating college with a Bachelor's degree.

11-15 is a Professional, possessing a post-graduate degree or equivalent in on-the-job experience. Your general physician is a Professional, as are the vast majority of movie sergeants.

16-20 is Accomplished, a standout in the field, cited and respected by their peers, but typically unknown to the general public. Writers of specialized books (such as textbooks or reference works) are usually Accomplished.

21-25 is World Class, one of the best in the world. (As the name implies.) Olympic athletes, for example.

26-30 is Grand Master, “The Best There is at What I Do”. Grand Masters are luminaries in their field. Physicist Stephen Hawking, as a real-world example.

31+ is Legendary, one of the best who’s ever lived. Legendary figures are those who dominate history. Their works live on long after they die and their names become synonymous with their field of expertise. Shakespeare, Robin Hood, Einstein: these are all Legendary figures.

The Skill Ratings are normed against the Challenge Rating chart, which gives basic guidelines for how difficult a Skill Challenge is. The next post will cover Challenge Ratings.

Declarations

Q. It seems like everybody can qualify for this bonus, so why not get rid of it? Or make it mandatory?

A. Declarations exist for a specific reason, one tied into the core philosophy of the game. I think that RPG's come alive when the players and GM buy into the world, when they become immersed in the fictional reality that playing the game represents. Fostering immersion is one of the goals of the game.

Fact is, good rules can't do much to foster immersion, while bad rules can easily disrupt it. Fostering immersion requires that the rules are, to the maximum extent possible, transparent and unobtrusive. Simple and easily used rules get out of the way of the action.

Immersion happens when players and GM's forget about the mechanics and focus on the characters and situations happening in the game, right now. (There are varying degrees of this, obviously.) GM's aid this by vividly describing the world around the characters, players by getting into the skin of their characters and describing what they do based not on external concerns, but on who the character is.

The Declaration mechanic is, in effect, a bribe to encourage this kind of thinking. It rewards players for describing things in-character, describing what their character thinks, says, or does in personal terms, not game mechanical terms. It makes the players allies of the GM.

I want this to happen, which is why it's easy to achieve. Making it hard to gain the +1 bonus would undermine the entire reason the mechanic exists.

Declarations aren't mandatory, because requiring them would break immersion. Players who don't like describing character actions this way would chafe at the requirement, and players angry at mechanics are not invested in the game.

None of the above means that Declarations are a perfect mechanic. I have reasons for implementing them; that doesn't mean I'm right to do so. If it seems that Declarations are burdensome rather than colorful, I'm more than amenable to removing them.

Looking over the playtest transcript, however, I think they worked well. At the very least, they illustrated what players thought was happening in the fight, what they thought their character was doing. This makes it easy for the GM to notice and correct misimpressions, making it easier for everyone to be on the same page (as regards what's going on).

That one benefit probably makes the mechanic worthwhile. Fostering in-character description and thinking (to the extent that happens) would be gravy.

[Note: One last FAQ to go.]

Initiative

Q. Why not just go first and Hold Action every round?

A. The Initiative language is being revised for 0.2a. It should address this.

Movement and Actions

Q. I don't understand how movement works.

A. Movement rules are being revised for 0.2a.

The Rules

Q. Where can I get a copy of these rules?

A. For those involved in the playtest, the 0.1a version of the rules is available in the Yahoo Group, in the Files section. For everyone else, the rules are posted earlier in this thread.

When release 0.2a is finished, I'll make it available as a general download and post links to it.

Feedback

Q. Are you actually paying attention to feedback?

A. Yes, very much so. Even when I decided to keep (or decline to alter) a criticized mechanic, I'm still tracking how it works. It the criticism appears valid, I am open to changing it. Indeed, such changes could appear without warning.

Skill Challenges are compared to a Challenge Rating, which roughly measures how difficult they are.

CR - Description
0 - Routine
5 - Easy
8 - Moderate
10 - Difficult
15 - Formidable
20 - Grueling
25 - Monumental
30 - Nearly Impossible

Routine: A task so easy, you barely notice performing it. Even rank amateurs and raw recruits usually succeed at Routine tasks. Ex.:

Easy: A relatively simple task, something amateurs find too complex, and entry-level workers find challenging, but competent professionals almost always succeed at. Ex.: Taking off or landing an airplane in clear weather. Diagnosing a common disease. Swimming a mile.

Moderate: This sort of task is the bread-and-butter of veterans (who succeed most of the time), but the untried and inexperienced find them daunting. Ex.: A reporter writing a newspaper column or story.

Difficult: Veterans usually succeed at these sorts of tasks, and standout members of a profession nearly always succeed, but entry level employees usually fail. Ex.:

Formidable: Something seasoned characters struggle to achieve, but luminaries usually succeed at. Ex.:

Grueling: A task one of the best in the world fail at, more often than not. Ex.:

Monumental: Tasks the foremost expert in a field fails at most times. Ex.:

Nearly Impossible: Even a DaVinci or Napoleon finds these tasks difficult, failing more than half the time. Ex.:

[Note: Obviously, examples are missing for most of the CR ratings. As skill descriptions are written up, these examples will be fleshed out.]

Skill Challenges have been built with an eye towards the game mechanics and internally consistent logic. Challenge Ratings are normed against Skill Ratings, so that a specific Challenge Rating is a commensurate challenge for a specific Skill Rating. Also, Skill Ratings are built from both pluses (measured by how much training one has) and the Base Skill (determined by their Attribute.)

Here's why things fit together the way they do:

The Base Rating for an Average attribute is 2. With Minimal training, +1, Average people have a Skill Rating of 3, Novices. An Average person with Minimal training is a Novice.

This is a common-sense, easily understood measurement. People with minimal training are Novices. (Even the very talented but minimally trained are Novices: Base Rating 3 +1 = Skill Rating 4. Everyone, even those with potential, have to start somewhere.)

Average people (Base 2) with a Beginner's training (+4) are Skilled (Skill Rating 6).

Average people (Base 2) with demonstrated Proficiency (+9) are Professionals (Skill Rating 11).

Average people (Base 2) with Expert Training (+14) are Accomplished (Skill Rating 16).

Average people (Base 2) with a Mastery of the subject (+19) are World Class (Skill Rating 21).

Again, all of these are pretty straightforward and make sense. You can easily understand why a Master of a subject is World Class.

The rest of the Skill Ratings follow similar internal logic, as do the Challenge Ratings. Challenge Ratings are defined by how challenging they are, in relation to specific Skill Ratings. Difficult Challenges are apt for Professionals, for example. But the dice mechanics also come into play, specifically with how low you can roll.

Automatic Success

A Professional (Skill 10) always succeeds at Routine (CR 0) Challenges, because the lowest you can roll is -9.

Accomplished characters have skills of 16+, and always succeed at Easy (CR 5) tasks.

World Class characters have skills of 21+, and always succeed at Difficult tasks (CR 10).

A Grand Master has a Skill Rating of 26+, and they always succeed at Formidable Challenges (CR 15).

Legendary characters (Robin Hood, at archery) have skills of 31+, and they always succeed at Grueling tasks (CR 21).

In-world, "always succeeds" means the task is effortless. The character is so used to doing this, that they don't even have to think about it or exert any effort. The player can roll, to get a higher Success Rating, but they don't have to. Even in difficult circumstances, they will succeed.

It takes a long time to climb the skill curve (by deliberate design decision). But once you do, there are great benefits. Automatically succeeding at low-CR Challenges is one of them.

Here are the draft character creation rules for Destiny. I’ll start with the basic checklist, and explain as we go.

To create a character:

• Choose a Defining Trait. (A short phrase that encapsulates your character concept. “Rookie cop.” “Zombie Wrangler.” “Masked Avenger.” Everything else is built around this concept.)
  
• Assign Attributes as desired: 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 5.
• Assign skills:

• a. 1 Primary skill at +8.
• b. 2 Secondary skills at +6.
• c. 3 Tertiary skills at +4.
• d. A number of miscellaneous skill plusses equal to your Intellect, no more than +2 per skill. (So an Intellect of 8 could give you four miscellaneous skills at +2, eight at +1 or any mix of those two.)

• Choose up to 3 Distinction Traits and 3 Difficulties. (These are short phrases describing the character. “Keeps His Cool.” “Trained by a Master.” Distinctions are generally helpful, Difficulties generally cause trouble.)
  
• Buy Stunts and Powers (reducing Action Rating). [These rules are unwritten. They will probably make their first appearance in draft 0.4a.]
• Equipment.

Advancement

After each session your character is given a number of Advancement Points, by default between 5-10. (Though this varies, according to campaign considerations.) It costs (# new plusses) to raise a skill by 1 plus.

Example: Increasing a skill from +2 to +3 costs 3 AP. Increasing a skill from +8 to +9 costs 9 AP.

You can only increase a skill by one plus after a session. Advancement Points can be banked for later (if a skill plus costs more than 10 points).

(Advancement costs for Attributes is undefined, right now.)

[Note: Using these rules, it costs 399 points to raise a skill from +8 to +29. That's a minimum of 40 sessions. This may seem extreme, but a character with a skill of 31 will always succeed at CR 21 (Grueling) challenges and is considered one of the best in all of history, another Einstein, Da Vinci, or Napoleon.]

Complex Creation

The creation checklist above is designed to be fast and easy to remember. People who want some more customization can use the following steps in place of the above:

2. Instead of using the Attribute array, assign 50 points to the six Attributes, as desired.

3. Assign 32 + (Intellect) points in skills, with the following limitations:

• a. No more than 1 skill at +8.
• b. No more than 2 skills at +6.
• c. No more than 3 skills at +4.
• d. All other skills at no more than +2.

These two changes give you more control over your character, but take a little longer.

Altering the Default

The above character creation rules are the default, most campaigns will start with them (or something much like them). Some campaigns will have more skills/attributes (or less).

• A supers campaign, for example, could have an Attribute array of: 50, 45, 40, 35, 30, 25 and skills of 20, 15, 15, 10, 10, 10, and (x4 Intellect, max +8).
• A pulp heroes game might have 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7 and skills of 14, 10, 10, 6, 6, 6, and (x2 Intellect, max +4).
• A child heroes game (Adventures in Neverland) might have 9, 8, 8, 7, 6, 5 and skills of 6, 4, 4, 2, 2, 2, and (1/2 Intellect, max +1).

Both the speed of advancement and the initial starting values can very, based on GM/designer choices. Currently, the values are fairly plausible (assuming professional adults as default characters).

[Note: Just so everyone knows I'm doing things aboveboard, Traits are adapted from FATE Aspects, but are not identical (hence the different name). Distinctions and Difficulties are derived from the ICONS implementation of FATE. Both are "licensed" under the OGL. When I put together the finalized rules, I'll include the OGL, Open/Closed Game Content declarations, and the appropriate Section 15.]

Action movies are pure fun. Fast-paced, high octane vehicles for excitement and enjoyment, they feature good guys who are good and bad guys who are bad.

Destiny exists to bring action movie excitement to the gaming table.

Destiny is: Bad Boys, The Expendables, and Die Hard. (And, in other worlds, The Avengers, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, and 28 Days Later.) It's Jet Li, Sylvester Stallone, and Will Smith. Chases, interrogations, and gunfights. Heroes, villains, and innocent bystanders.

Destiny exists to put you in the middle of all that, to allow you to play characters who are heroes, who fight against villains (and their armies of henchmen) and come out victorious.

So how do we do that?

Invisible Rules: The rules of the game are written to be as clear as possible, as simple as possible, and as invisible as possible. The shining ideal is for the rules to get out of the way, so you can focus on what is happening in the game. Things move quickly, when the rules get out of the way.

Tangible Worlds: We want to make your world seem real. When you play, no matter how fantastic the setting, that fictional world should be as palpable and concrete as possible. The game mechanics have been written so you know what each means, in real world terms.

Is your character an amateur, a skilled professional, or the best in the world? Skill Ratings tell you which. When you succeed, is it barely, by the skin of your teeth, or is it a glorious success? The game mechanics make this clear. Wherever your character goes, whatever he does, whatever he learns, you can relate it back to something you know.

Play Your Game: Destiny is written to let you play the way you want to play. Your game, your rules, your fun.

Via Character Traits, you have an infinite canvas available, allowing you to make exactly the character you wish. Via Campaign Traits, gamemasters can run exactly the game they wish, tuning game mechanics to match the game they want to run. (And Chapter 10, “Building Better Worlds”, gives you solid advice on how to make the exact campaign world you desire.)

Above all else, remember this one rule: Destiny is supposed to be fun. Action movies are fun, and Destiny is meant to reflect fast-paced, high-adrenaline, action-movie fun. This is Rule 0, the first and most important rule of the game.

So read the rules, make some characters, bounce some dice, and have fun. That’s what Destiny is.

[The first page of the still-in-progress Destiny rules set.]

Looking REALLY good.

Quote from: Daddy Warpig;599462The Initiative represents taking control of the pace of the combat.

Can I get some more info on how this is implemented in the system?

Quote from: Anon Adderlan;609168Looking REALLY good.

Wow, thank you.

Quote from: Anon Adderlan;609168Can I get some more info on how this is implemented in the system?

Sure. After the first playtest I decided to revise the Initiative rules, which happened just after the Init post in this thread (which is why nothing more appeared). I finally finished the first outline last night, so here it is.

Short answer: Sides in a combat are called factions. Only one faction has Initiative any given round, and they keep it until another faction manages to Seize the Initiative. The faction with Initiative gets to act first every round and twice every round. Everyone else acts once and last.

Details:

• Combat is divided into rounds and phases. Each round lasts 10 seconds and is broken into 2 phases.
• Each side in a conflict (characters + allies) is a faction. There can be any number of factions. (By default there are two: Heroes and Villains.)
  
• At any given moment in time, either one faction has the Initiative or none of them do.
• That one faction keeps the Initiative until another Seizes it (rules below).
• If no one has Initiative, everyone goes in order of descending Dexterity.
  
• If one faction has the Initiative, that faction acts first, in Phase 1 (in order of descending Dexterity).
  
• In Phase 2, all other factions act simultaneously, in order of descending Dexterity.
  
• In Phase 2, the faction with Initiative acts again, whenever they please: before, after, or during the actions of other characters. (This functions as an interrupt: when a player or GM declares an action, a character with Initiative can watch them begin, and interrupt the action before they have a chance to complete it.)
  

Seizing the Initiative

When one side has Initiative, the other can attempt to Seize it. This requires taking aggressive action and achieving tactical surprise, thus disrupting the enemy. To Seize, you must:

• Make a plan.
• Carry out the plan.
• Succeed at an opposed tactics (Intellect) check. (This assumes a typical RPG combat, a party of heroes against multiple villains. Other skills are used in other circumstances. In a duel, you use the weapons skill.)
  

Most combats involve factions, rather than individuals. Each character involved in a plan is assigned an action: taunting a guard, throwing a grenade, shooting a watchdog.

(Plans must involve more than half of the active members of that faction. "Active" meaning awake and able to participate. In larger scale combat, this is changed to units rather than individuals, but the principle is the same.)

The Seizing rules are a special case of Coordination During Combat. Each character involved attempts their action. Every character who succeeds grants a +1 to the tactics (Intellect) check, in addition to the effects of their action. The more characters who succeed at their action, the more likely the plan as a whole is to succeed.

However, if all the characters fail at their part of the plan, the plan fails (no tactics roll needed). This implies that factions should be intent on disrupting plans, doing anything they can to make sure each individual part fails.

Any level of Success at the tactics roll means you have Seized the Initiative. The next round, your faction acts first and twice.

Failing the tactics roll means you have failed to Seize (no matter how well individual aspects went). In this case, the plan succeeded, but you failed to achieve tactical surprise.

Notes

The above rules are simpler than the original rules. They implement important aspects of Initiative, in particular the speed of reaction (as described under the OODA). They encourage teamwork and cooperation. They emulate real world combat and cinematic combat.

Having the Initiative gives you control over the battlefield. You can act with relative impunity. Being on the downside of that... isn't fun. This should motivate people to Seize and maintain the Initiative. (Which is how real-world battles and wars are fought and won.)

The Movement and Action rules are designed to fit into this framework. Once finished, I'll be posting them.

During the next playtest session, I'll be putting these rules through the wringer. Comments are, as always welcome.

(Note: I'm still open to participation in the ongoing, if sporadic playtest. Anyone interested can PM me.)

Alright, given the previous re-implementation of the Initiative system, the most obvious question is this: why do it this way?

Let's take it back to the reasoning behind Destiny's idiosyncratic approach to Initiative: "Initiative" is a real aspect of real-world combat, one of the most fundamental concepts generals and officers need to grasp (intuitively if not consciously).

In order to fight and win, you need to aggressively attack the enemy, keep them off balance, and keep up the attack until they are defeated. You cannot give the enemy time or space to reorganize or catch their breath. To do so is to court defeat.

To defeat the enemy, you need to go on the offensive. When you do so, you have Seized the Initiative.

Reaction time is key:

QuoteCol. John Boyd studied air battles, dogfights, and warfare of every kind. [...] He conceived a theory, and put the theory to the test. It was a theory about how to fight a battle.

Fighter pilots, the best fighter pilots in the world, came to fight Boyd in an airfield in Nevada. He handed them their asses. Every. Single. Time. They had better eyesight, quicker reflexes, a better intuitive grasp of how to fly: he still shot them down. His critical breakthrough was this:

The battle didn’t go to the person who made the best decision, or who acted with technical perfection. The winner - every. single. time. - was the person who acted the fastest. Period. Quicker decisions beat better (but delayed) decisions.

Or, as Gen. Patton put it: “A good plan, executed violently now, is better than a perfect plan next week.”

- Bill Whittle

Speed is of the essence, hence why having the Initiative is reflected in the speed of your actions: you act twice for every time the enemy acts once. And, when you act, you can interrupt them. They are responding to you.

They run to cover, you see them and shoot while they're in the open. They charge, you see it coming and hit their flank. They retreat, you harry them as they flee the battle.

With the Initiative, you are in charge of the pace of the battle. You determine what is happening. You act first and twice, they act last and once.

This makes having the Initiative a key benefit in combat. By itself, it gives you enough of an advantage to tip the scales in an otherwise even battle, and makes a victory over superior forces possible.

This drives PC's and NPC's to aggressively attack, to Seize the Initiative. It drives those involved to go on the offensive, which is what happens in a real battle. It adds urgency to combat.

“A good plan, executed violently now, is better than a perfect plan next week.”

These rules highlight the importance of making and carrying out plans, thus placing focus on teamwork. More about plans in the next post.