Re: Good initiative mechanics?

On Mar 16, 3:12=A0pm, Simon Smith <simon_sm...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> What games out there have good mechanics for initiative? How do they
work?=

>
> Two of my favorites are Feng Shui and Golden Heroes:
=2E..
> Both of these systems determine not only who goes first, but also
provide =
a
> way of tracking the rest of each character's actions throughout the
round.=
 I
> think that is a useful - and possibly a necessary - feature for any
system=

> that permits more than one action per character per round.

If every character has more than one action in a round, then
maybe the rounds are too long.

> What other systems out there handle initiative in a notably elegant way?

I use a simple system; matter of taste whether it's elegant.  One side
goes
first; then the sides alternate.  All of the characters on one side
act in an
order the players on that side choose, whether a character gets zero,
one
or more actions.  No side gets two turns without every other side
getting
a turn in between, so any action that must be slow enough for the
other
sides to react to should start and end in different turns.

It's not quite as good with more than two sides, since the order of
the
sides is fixed.  It's my campaign convention that PCs aren't plotting
against each other, so the players don't need a set rule among
themselves; but if they can't agree on order quickly then
appropriately
they lose their chance to act.

Who goes first?  It could be determined randomly; I prefer that the
side
that initiates the combat does not go first; this provides an
incentive
not to attack immediately and to talk at least briefly with potential
enemies.  If both sides are trying to intimidate, provoke or trick
the other into starting the fight, then roll some negotiation skill
(Bluff, Fast Talk, etc) and the loser can fight or surrender.  (E.g.,
the
adventurers meet an ogre: they demand half its treasure if it wants to
live and the ogre promises to eat any who don't run away.  Whoever
wins
the appropriate skill roll forces the other side to comply or start
the
fight.)  An ambush still lets the defenders go first, but they usually
lose their first turn due to surprise.

If "who goes first" is so significant as to decide the entire outcome
(like a Western gunfight), then it should be resolved by appropriate
skill rolls, using whatever attributes are appropriate.  It seems to
me that such situations are usually artificial.

There is a potential problem if characters on one side can combine
actions in one turn in a way that the other side would like to be
able to interrupt.  The concentration of fire problem is an example.
But initiative doesn't seem to be the best way to solve that; if
there are many more characters on one side, then some number
of them will get actions in a row without any intervening actions
by their opponents.

Random initiative just adds variability that already should be
provided by the chance to hit.  It might help if there are a lot
of actions which don't already have a roll to succeed.

--
Magister