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tdewitt274
June 5th, 2010, 15:05
Hello All!

Most systems that I've played use a round based Initiative (ex, D&D 3.x, 4e, Pathfinder) while others start over each round (Savage Worlds, D&D 2e and 1e, Alternity). However, they're all pretty much go around in a circle. I was wondering how FG would handle a "Time Based" Initiative?

In the Timed Initiative, you have all Players start off at 0 seconds. Next, the Players roll for Initiative and go at the appropriate time. What complicates this is that the initiative adds on as a person declares action.

So, for example,
Player A rolls a 3 and Player B rolls a 5.
On 3, Player A pulls his weapon (1 second) to raise his Initiative to a 4.
On 4, Player A fires his gun (2 seconds) at Player B.
On 5, Player B starts moving (4 seconds, finishes on 9).
On 6, Player A gets his shot off at Player B.
On 9, Player B stops moving.

I believe, with a little tweaking, that the Combat Manager can handle a Low to High initiative and you just keep adding Initiative to the players as they start acting (maybe modify the Combat Manager to add onDrop as opposed to replace).

However, to further compound the question, each player can have an "Action Initiative" and a "Movement Initiative".

So, in the example above:
Player A rolls a 3 and Player B rolls a 5.
On 3, Player A pulls his weapon (1 second) to raise his Action Initiative to a 4 and decides to move (Move Initiative +4, total 7).
On 4, Player A fires his gun (2 seconds) at Player B and continues moving.
On 5, Player B starts moving (4 seconds, finishes on 8) and quick draws and fires his gun (+1 Action, 6).
On 6, Player A gets his shot off at Player B and Player B shoots wildly back.
On 9, Player B stops moving.
On 9, Player A stops moving.

Is there a way to handle two separate initiatives in the existing Combat Manager? Can you add a person in twice and still activate the person normally?

Any thoughts are appreciated!

Thanks!

Oberoten
June 5th, 2010, 22:54
My modified Ars Magica system actually works like this.

NPC A has a Act-Value of 6
NPC B has a Act-Value of 7

Initiative counter starts counting up and nothing happends at 0 through 5, on Six NPC A acts and has his basic act-value added to his next act-value, on Seven NPC B acts and gets another 7 added to his act-value as well.

Counter gets to tick up towards initiative 12 before NPC a acts again, on 13 nothing happends either on 14 NPC B acts again.

This works very smoothly for us and since we have put every "segment" equaling a second we get 60 segements of initiative for a minute.

- Obe

Mask_of_winter
June 6th, 2010, 23:29
I believe Exalted 2nd edition has an initiative system close to what you're talking about. Every action has a Speed cost.

tdewitt274
June 7th, 2010, 13:25
Sounds like the time based is possible.

How about the two initiatives (Move and Action) per person?