How do we improve Initiative?
Popcorn initiative
>>44304655
Shh, no rolling, only modifiers now.
First person to yell out what their character is doing goes first.
>>44304655
Why does it need fixing?
>>44304704
This
>>44304730
And this
>>44304655
By using One Roll Engine. Declare what you're doing, lowest initiative to highest, then everyone roll. Your roll determines when you act.
Rolling counter à la hackmaster. faster actions allow for more actions
>>44304730
>>alright I'm going to go up to the grimlock and cast a spell on him
>>alright roll for initiative
>>mfw he doesn't roll initiative and instead keeps describing what spell he's about to cast
Why dave
>>44304655
By giving everyone improved initiative
>>44304773
>>44304655
>Place a loaded gun on the table.
>Whoever grabs the gun first goes first.
>Watch players accidentally shooting eachother as they struggle for the gun.
Bam, excitement and tension levels went up a big amount. Works even better if you lock the door behind you and only promise release if they finish the game, usually with you safe behing a computer far away from the forgotten factory you locked your players into.
>>44304655
This is how I do it. Not fully original, I grabbed it from some forum or another.
On round 1 PCs make an initiative check against a flat DC (usually 10 + highest init mod of the monsters, but might change on circumstances).
Those who pass the check get 1 action (surprise action or whatever).
Then monster side goes, any order.
Then PC side goes, any order.
It's basically halfway between regular and popcorn. I wouldn't play full popcorn, this is a good middle of the road.
>>44304756
Wait, what?
>>44304739
Seconded.
>>44304863
I think popcorn is cool. If players aren't careful, monsters can get a whole bunch of attacks off in a row, swinging a fight abruptly. I don't like your notion of having a PC and NPC side of combat
>>44304898
Because players will sit around stacking dice waiting for their turn and then not know what's going on and then make the other players wait
>>44304847
>Place a loaded gun on the table.
>Whoever grabs the gun first goes first.
>lock the door
Come on, Jigsaw. Shit like this is why you don't have a stable group anymore.
>>44304655
I like GURPS initiative - whoever is faster goes first, unless surprise.
>>44304936
I can see this being an issue if your group is particularly large or slow, or some jerk is being 'that guy' and taking 8 years to do anything.
However, based on my expectations, this sounds like an issue with the players and/or their attention spans rather than the system itself.
>>44304945
It is the only way I can get an erection now.
With a ladle up my butt.
>>44304773
>>44304980
You've never had a table of people who hop on their phones when it's not their turn?
>>44304889
The only reason this works is because the roll gives both speed and quality instead of just quality like with d20. I'd suggest giving Reign, the biggest game to use ORE, a read through.
>http://www.mediafire.com/download/4ludrdepxjqnxx8/Reign+Enchiridion.pdf
>>44305032
I'm not saying that everyone pays 100% attention 100% of the time in my playgroups, but we've never had such an issue with attention spans that I thought the game needed to be altered. In general, if you're not interested in a form of entertainment enough to pay attention to it, it's probably not the form of entertainment for you.
>>44305149
This. If people can't pay the minimal attention required between their turns, I just kick them out of the group.
I also ban phones and laptops from the table so this has only been an issue once, and the guy agreed that he was only there to hang out so he didn't even mind.
I actually like the way Legends of the Wulin does it, putting more focus on Initiative, not less.
Legends of the Wulin rolls Initiative every round, but due to the unique nature of the dice system, every roll can potentially be used for multiple actions. The initiative roll determines order of action in a round, but it can also be used for a variety of utility actions like movement or analysing opponents, making how you assign your dice at the start of the round an interesting tactical puzzle in and of itself, rather than simply a matter of 'Roll highest'.
It also has the interesting concept of Waves, long actions which start on the Initiative lake, but only resolve on you turn. Anyone acting before you has a chance to Break your Wave, attempting to interfere with your action and prevent it resolving. While it does add a little extra time each round, the depth it gives to combat and the way it makes Initiative a more interesting process is well worth it IMO.
Re-roll that shit every round
>>44304655
What I don't get is that the OP picture describes him as being scared and not the right man for the job, which is bullshit, since Jake is a great violinist and has fucking stretchy powers.
>>44304655
You roll two dice. One die is designated as the "enemy" side - if that die rolls higher, the enemies go first. One die is designated as the "player" side - if that die rolls higher, the players go first.
People can act in any order as long as they haven't used up all their actions and their "side" is up. Encourage lots of teamwork: combination attacks, bolstering, etc.
>>44304936
That's a problem with the players, not with the system.
>>44304655
Play a better system.
Savage Worlds style initiative is pretty fun and keeps things from getting boring.
At the start of each round, each player (and the GM, the GM getting a card for each enemy type he's presenting for the encounter) is dealt a card from a standard 52 card deck, plus jokers.
It goes by value (Ace beats King beats Queen etc) and suits are used as tiebreakers (Spades>Hearts>Diamonds>Clubs) and jokers get to decide when they want to go.
At the start of the next round, it all goes again.
Only thing is that you can't really improve a character's initiative without being outrageously broken, like letting them draw two cards and keep the better one.
>>44304655
You would have to design a system from the ground up with the following rules, if none already exist:
1. Actions are declared privately and resolved simultaneously. If two people attack each other, it's possible for both of them to die, as opposed to the slower one never getting a turn.
2. Certain kinds of actions always have priority over others depending on the tone of game you want to play. For example, skills could have priority over attacks which could have priority over movement.
3. However, no action can ever prevent a lower-priority action from occurring altogether, just make it less likely to succeed.
There, the concept of "not my turn" has been almost excised.
But IMHO that isn't necessary and the problem is inattentive players.
>>44304756
>engine
Triggered as fuck. The shit isn't a video game. It's a goddamned system. The approximation of the word use in regards to video games is even less accurate when used to describe table top gaming. Just use system, and stop being a massive faggot.
>>44304981
>ladle
That's some low test analplay, breh. I use a rolling pin just to help my posture. Step it up, senpai.
>>44308989
ORE is literally the name of the system, and it's 10+ years old. You're way late to start bitching about it now because someone brought it up in a pet peeves thread last night, newfag.
>>44308989
I'm sure you'll get over it someday.
>>44308989
I remember you from the pet peeves thread.
Stop being so literally autistic.
>>44304655
Usually you just raise your Dex score, don't you? Or take improved initiative...
What's worked well for me is having the players declare actions lowest to highest then take actions highest to lowest.
>>44304847
Vautl-Tec employees are not supposed to access the terminals for personal use.
Have players declare what they do before rolling initiative.
>>44309135
But you don't get over literal autism. It's a for-life kinda thing.
Which means he'll always be retarded.
>>44304655
I hate this image. Well, not the image itself.
I hate the accompanying text
it's just fucking fan art of Jake from adventure time, holy shit
>>44304655
By taking the "Improved Initiative" feat
>>44304655
You can use several methods, but I prefer thus;
Common sense: Marching order, whoever is closest swings first. Take account, levels and likelihood. A civilian won't swing faster than a guardsman 3 levels higher than him.
However if a ranger in the back of the group who's trained to have lightning reflexes, they will probably get a shot ff before anyone acts provided they have bow and arrow in hand.
If both have equal level and are staring each other in the face then I'd make them roll a level check, whoever rolls higher catches on to the cue that violence is imminent, thus acts first.
What exactly do you want to change about it? There's different ways to do it in different systems, but there's no real direction you're giving us
I will say I really hated the cards thing from savage worlds though. I liked it for flavor reasons in Deadlands, but it just felt really tedious to me with all the reshuffling
>>44315126
I'm right there with you on that. I mean you can even see the worm in the violin
>>44315126
>Jake from adventure time
Jake is a pug? That dog isn't really yellow, either. I figured it was just a dog with a violin, I don't see the cartoon reference in there.
>>44305408
>>44315126
Yeah, it looks like the person who made the edit was in the same sort of mentality as >>44317781
Jesus Christ, most of these ideas would be a fucking nightmare to DM.
