What Initiative systems do you find the most fun and are there any ones you think make combat more interesting? I usually think the phased or tick based initiative are more trouble than they are worth and I've just used the 'fast and slow' side based initiative system which has worked out well, although I'd rather try out something more interesting. The more wishy washy stuff like Popcorn Initiative kind of seems like it's just rife for abuse until it just becomes side based anyway (why would you ever pass the turn to the enemies?). I was thinking of trying out some sort of more individualized back and forth initiative: IE individual players take a turn, then an enemy takes a turn, and then back to players. Make combat a little more reactive instead of how it feels where you both just sit there and take blows, although I think this may be too simple.
I personally love savage worlds card based initiative. It changes every turn and makes combat flow in an interesting way
Initiative isn't supposed to be neither interesting nor fun. It's supposed to be efficient. It supposed to do its job in the most unoticable way possible and get out of your way. That being said any initiative system that doesn't end up in a fixed order for every PC is trash.
>>98211281This is a little on the complex side, just for the sake of experiment & I'm not afraid of a little crunch.>Initiative is a value called "wait time", individual to each entity in the room.>When combat begins, every entity makes a D20 roll & their agility attribute is subtracted from the result, representing how prepared they were for the encounter.>Entities are listed in order from lowest wait time to highest; this represents their position in the room on an abstract level, as there's no grid.>Before an entity acts (upkeep step of their turn), their agility is subtracted from their current wait time. Then active aerial & focus states are checked if they end. Then active ailments cause their effects.>When an entity acts (main step of their turn), the skill they use has its own value it adds to wait time, plus their weight attribute is added. Even if it fails or is interrupted, wait time is still increased as intended. Entities only have one action per main step, but some skills may be used as follow-ups, & some skills have a chance to repeat; follow-ups & repeats add less to wait time than active skills.>After an entity acts (end step of their turn), any timers of active status effects on them count down by 1, then the next listed entity enters the upkeep step of their turn.>Entities may act out-of-turn through reaction skills, which may be declared instead of making a defense check. When reacting, the two entities each roll a D20 & add agility, then subtract their current wait time from their own result (reflex contest). The entity with the higher value gets their skill first, with the other skill held in queue, favoring the acting entity over the reacting entity. Since the defense check is skipped, it's a risky move as whichever skill happens first counts as either a direct or critical hit.>After the end step of the last entity resolves, the round ends & the entities are listed from lowest wait time to highest again, beginning the next round.
>>98211281>why would you ever pass the turn to the enemies?So, some of it is denying the last guy->first guy handover. Some of it is making the enemy spellcaster go before his friends have cleared AoE, or making the healer take a turn before anyone else is damaged. Frankly, it can become side based but that's not a bad thing at all. Plus, as a GM you can "throw" a little bit and pick initiative based on what would be exciting in the moment, and if the PCs see you doing that they'll be less incentivised to game the system... But it's fine if they do.There's a cool variant I haven't used yet where attacking someone throws initiative to them if they haven't acted. Must get a bit complicated with AoE but it helps keep melee combat "together" which is nice.
>>98211281from >>98211630Oh shit, I forgot to mention: even if it's side based the players going "pick me" with each other means they pay more attention to who's on now instead of logging out of the fight 80% of the time.
>>98211281The fuck is popcorn initiative?
>>98211281Fast/Slow turns tend to be my preference. It's far more straightforward to ask if any players are going fast, go through those if they are, and then it basically resolves per-side.And it allows for some tactical choices if taking a slow turn allows a PC to do more, versus taking a fast turn to do something before the enemy might get to go.It has some limitations compared to dice rolls or other systems, but there's never any waiting or any confusion over who's going.
>>98211353Nice, came here to say this. I know some people find it slow, but I found it actually made my players get more invested in what was going on every turn.I should run another deadlands campaign....
>>98211281Feng Shui and Feng Shui 2 have an interesting initiative. The players and npcs roll a d6 + stat; the highest number goes first, then subtracts from that number based on what they did (usually 3), then the next number goes, subtracts,, etc. Each one of these is a "shot" (in terms of film, not guns or drinks). Everyone basically counts down to zero, which is the end of the round. Fights end up being 2-4 rounds usually. There are some things that take more than 3 shots, and some abilities or items allow you to "spend" shots for extra benefits (my favorite being that if your character is weilding a shotgun, you can spend a shot and go "chk-chk" for extra damage.)It takes some time to wrap your head around but once you get it, it's a lot of fun.
>>98211281Shadowrun 3rd edition.
>>98211281Roll initiative at the end of the previous encounter or the start of the session. When combat starts, put them on edge immediately.
>>98211281A flat number with no die roll.
I don't have much experience with different initiative systems but I can at least tell you that whatever Exalted is doing by making initiative go up and down during combat is horrible and makes combat take 10 times as long as it needs to.
>>98211281Group initiative like old school d&d is very playable, in ways that outweigh its swinginess.Failing that, I've always found Shadowrun's initiative pass system, especially its 3e iteration to be quite cool.
>>98211281Simultaneous exchanges so no real initiative. Everyone acts simultaneously. The dice roll encompasses both offensive and defensive. >>98212262You pick the next person to go.>>98211587Too complex>>98214775I enjoy a version of this where you pick an enemy.
>>98211281When I run 5e, I just have enemies use Passive Initiative (10+Initiative Bonus, +5/-5 if they have Advantage/Disadvantage), but player characters still roll. Hits a nice balance between making player stats feel like they matter, having fights that don't feel samey or swingy, and being quick to set up.
>>98217989>Simultaneous exchanges so no real initiative. Everyone acts simultaneouslyYou still need to decide on an order of declaring intent which will matter if you want to react to what another character is doing.
>>98211281Players go first, enemies goes second if it is no an ambush. Thats it. Maybe I try how its done in Shadow of Wierd Wizard.
>>98217989Theater kid.
>>98211281Anything where optimized PC consistently goes before non-boss NPCs.
>>98218835You don't really. The way I always ran AD&D initiative was, the players could coordinate and then declare there actions. I'd just jot down what the monsters were doing before they told me stuff. In the few cases where things requiring pvp-type resolution happened, the two factions would just write down what they were doing and then hand them to me.
>>98211281Clockwise round the table starting with the least armoured PC.
>>98211574>isn't supposed to be neitherI beg your pardon?
>>98219512I'm curious how you handle movement with that system. Is a grid being used, and you specify the area a character moves to, or is it described more loosely, like "character moves away from [X], trying to avoid melee to the limit of his speed" and so on?
