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Author Topic: Preferred Initiative system?  (Read 11122 times)

abcd_z

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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #105 on: April 06, 2017, 06:55:58 AM »
Quote from: RunningLaser;955363
A poster mentioned doing this, but wondering if any games forgo initiative and just have both sides go at once?  Only one I can think of is Tunnels & Trolls.


It's not exactly D&D, and it's certainly not OSR, but personally I swear by Dungeon World's initiative system.  Or rather, lack thereof.  There's no initiative; combat is treated the same as any other conflict resolution.  The DM describes the oncoming threats and asks the players how they respond to those threats, shifting the spotlight between players as appropriate.  

It works surprisingly well.

Nihilistic Mind

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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #106 on: April 06, 2017, 11:19:54 AM »
Quote from: Psikerlord;955677
I like card deck initiative the best. Everyone has a card (PCs) and the monsters have a card, maybe also boss card, caster card, whatever. You dont know who acts next until the card is drawn. Makes mayhem of any planning. Very fun.

This is awesome. I think I'm gonna try that.
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tenbones

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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #107 on: April 06, 2017, 03:04:45 PM »
Quote from: Psikerlord;955677
I like card deck initiative the best. Everyone has a card (PCs) and the monsters have a card, maybe also boss card, caster card, whatever. You dont know who acts next until the card is drawn. Makes mayhem of any planning. Very fun.

This is the Initiative System from Savage Worlds. (Not sure if other systems use it).

I'll admit I was skeptical of it. I still am. But it's been damn fun as a change of pace to do it. So something is working right.

nDervish

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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #108 on: April 06, 2017, 03:11:24 PM »
Quote from: tenbones;955771
This is the Initiative System from Savage Worlds. (Not sure if other systems use it).

Yeah, that's what I thought, too, until Psikerlord said "You dont know who acts next until the card is drawn."  In Savage Worlds, you deal out regular playing cards to everyone, then act in descending order of the card values.  In the system Psikerlord is describing, it sounds like each combatant has their own card in the deck and you draw one card, that person acts, then you draw the next card, that person acts, etc.

Assuming I understand him correctly, that sounds like a pretty interesting system and one I'd like to try sometime, although I'm not sure if there's a good way to handle individual initiative modifiers in such a system other than by inserting multiple cards in the deck for some characters.

tenbones

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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #109 on: April 06, 2017, 03:34:42 PM »
Quote from: nDervish;955772
Yeah, that's what I thought, too, until Psikerlord said "You dont know who acts next until the card is drawn."  In Savage Worlds, you deal out regular playing cards to everyone, then act in descending order of the card values.  In the system Psikerlord is describing, it sounds like each combatant has their own card in the deck and you draw one card, that person acts, then you draw the next card, that person acts, etc.

Assuming I understand him correctly, that sounds like a pretty interesting system and one I'd like to try sometime, although I'm not sure if there's a good way to handle individual initiative modifiers in such a system other than by inserting multiple cards in the deck for some characters.

Ahh!... hmm that does sound interesting. BUT I'M SKEPTICAL!!!!!

Ronin

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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #110 on: April 06, 2017, 06:55:21 PM »
Quote from: Tristram Evans;955679
I like outlaws of the water margin's system, where dice are rolled simultaneously, with the high score being the attacker and the lower score defender.

Sounds interesting.
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Psikerlord

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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #111 on: April 07, 2017, 04:17:11 PM »
Quote from: nDervish;955772
Yeah, that's what I thought, too, until Psikerlord said "You dont know who acts next until the card is drawn."  In Savage Worlds, you deal out regular playing cards to everyone, then act in descending order of the card values.  In the system Psikerlord is describing, it sounds like each combatant has their own card in the deck and you draw one card, that person acts, then you draw the next card, that person acts, etc.

Assuming I understand him correctly, that sounds like a pretty interesting system and one I'd like to try sometime, although I'm not sure if there's a good way to handle individual initiative modifiers in such a system other than by inserting multiple cards in the deck for some characters.


Yeah it does suffer from that problem, little initiative bonuses are hard to reflect in the deck, except by adding another card for that person. We've found it fun as a change from the usual (and we dont use Dex mod to initiative anyway).
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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #112 on: April 08, 2017, 06:18:00 PM »
I've used this scheme for surprise/initiative -all in one roll- for over 20 years:

Each side rolls a d6 (or d10 if you prefer) plus mods for DEX, magic, etc.

  • If your roll is higher you win initiative (you were just little quicker on the draw).
  • If your roll is double you get a free round to act (you surprised them).
  • If your roll is triple the other side's roll, you get one free round to act AND you win initiative next round (you caught them totally flat-footed).
  • If the rolls are equal it's simultaneous action.
And vice versa.

While only one die is cast per side, modifiers are handled individually (except in cases where there are too many combatants for this to be practical).
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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #113 on: April 15, 2017, 04:05:38 AM »
My preferred system for initiative is what's going to show up in Lion & Dragon.  Similar to what's in Dark Albion's Appendix P.
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Moracai

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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #114 on: April 16, 2017, 01:54:35 PM »
Quote from: RPGPundit;957357
My preferred system for initiative is what's going to show up in Lion & Dragon.  Similar to what's in Dark Albion's Appendix P.
Care to elaborate on that one?

Vile Traveller

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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #115 on: April 16, 2017, 10:22:55 PM »
Of published rules, I like the Holmes system: highest DEX goes first, in case of a tie roll d6 and go in order from highest to lowest. Personally, I'd simplify it even further: characters of the same DEX act simultaneously. Lots of people manage to kill each other in a fight.

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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #116 on: April 20, 2017, 03:44:44 AM »
Quote from: Moracai;957556
Care to elaborate on that one?


Individual initiative, rolled on a D6+/-DEX, with modifiers based on certain actions, armor worn, or weapon being used. The same roll is kept for the whole combat, but different choices can alter the initiative count for a player.
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Lunamancer

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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #117 on: April 20, 2017, 10:29:18 PM »
Each group rolls d6, highest goes first. Common sense applies.

Some examples of common sense applied.

-Spell Casting. If it takes you one melee round to move 120 feet, and you want to try to disrupt the spell of the evil wizard who is 60 feet out of reach, then you must spend the first 5 segments of the round moving. That means if the casting time of the wizard's spell is less than 5 segments, he automatically gets his spell off first. If it's more than 5 segments, you automatically get to attack first. If it's exactly 5 segments, the initiative roll determines order of action.

-Ranged Attacks: If it takes you one melee round to move 120 feet, and you are fighting the evil archer whose rate of fire is 2 per round (and he wasn't prepared to fire) then he fires on segments 5 and 10. If you are less than 60 feet away, you can close to striking distance before he gets a single arrow off. If you are more than 60 but less than 120 feet, he gets a shot at you before your initiative die even matters.

-Weapon reach: Longer weapon automatically gains first strike during "charge" attacks. When closing to attack, speed is of equal importance and for convenience the two factors--reach and speed--are assumed to negate one another and you just defer to the unmodified initiative die. However, if you really need to be a stickler for such things, each character involved gets a modifier equal to their weapon length minus weapon speed.

-Groupings: It's "group" initiative. Not "side" initiative. If the bad guys consist of evil cleric with a bodyguard and acolyte and a dozen skeletons, the DM can make separate initiative rolls, one roll for all the skeletons, for example, and a second for evil cleric and his two henchmen. Likewise, large PC parties might get one initiative die for everyone who is fighting, and a second initiative roll for anyone who is doing anything else. Or very small PC parties (like 3 people) might just each get their own initiative roll. After all, their "side" is just three groups of one each group. Group initiative is versatile like that.
That's my two cents anyway. Carry on, crawler.

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Ronin

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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #118 on: April 21, 2017, 06:54:58 PM »
You know the more I think about it, I have been kind of stuck on an initiative system that I like. I really like how it is handled in T2K 2nd ed. Simultaneous and ordered at the same time.
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Dumarest

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Preferred Initiative system?
« Reply #119 on: April 21, 2017, 07:07:33 PM »
As far as super hero games went, I liked the old DC Heroes method where you add your DEX + INT + INFL and then +2 for your Lightning Reflexes advantage (if you had it) and another +2 for Martial Arts skill (if you had it) to get your permanent Initiative score,  and then you rolled 1d10 and added to your Initiative score, then compared everyone's results to establish the order. I thought it was good because the smart, agile, and trained characters had an advantage and would usually go first but not always since there was still the random element of the 1d10. So sometimes if Batman rolled a 1 he might not get the drop on someone, but most times he would. Worked for me, anyway.

Oh, and if you had the Superspeed power you got to add that to your permanent Initiative as well so the Flash actually was faster than almost anyone else.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2017, 07:10:49 PM by Dumarest »