Initiative: second by second

[Bagpuss]

I've been playng RPG's now for about 30 years off and on. One of the things that used to annoy me was the unrealistic turn based initiative systems, and everyone uses them.

Well not everyone...

Feng Shui and others have been mentioned that use a sort of seconds (or shots) based initiative, where actions take a set amount of time and you can't act again until that time is over, so if you take a short action you can act sooner than if you take a longer one.

Then there are others that have actions happening simultaneously, so attacks are declared and damage calculated but it isn't applied until the end of the round, so the guy you might kill in a round still has a chance to injure you.

Then there are games that just work on the whole scene as one event, rather than turn by turn so again everything is simultaneously.

Then there are others that initiative is passed based on the narrative (Marvel Heroes) and not a dice roll.

So I wouldn't say everyone uses turn based initiative, the reason it is so popular is it is a simple abstraction, that works well most of the time and one people are use to.

 

[Madmaxneo]

great stuff

Thanks people! I've played most of the systems mentioned in the past and never encountered anything but turn based systems, though this was about 24 yrs ago... I've never played hackmaster, though one of my players in the 90's did. I will check out the PDF. Now only to find a local game to join or start.

 

[Bagpuss]

I'd recommend checking out Feng Shui myself, if you are looking for fresh ideas in RPG design (ok it is a little old now), it certainly will provide you with more inspiration than just a new initiative system.

 

[Ravenheart87]

I've never played hackmaster, though one of my players in the 90's did.

How did he do that? The first edition (I mean the fourth ) appeared in 2001 as far as I know.

 

[Madmaxneo]

Well I may be off by a few years though I'm pretty definate it was before 2001 maybe 99. I could have the game wrong also. I've never played it either but, is it Hackmaster that has some ridiculous damage/attack/modifiers like up in the thousands? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Ravenheart87]

Nope, the first/fourth edition of HackMaster is pretty much AD&D on steroids. The only part of it which I remember using thousands are the critical charts.

 

[Madmaxneo]

That sounds like the game they were playing, in fact I remember a similar quote from back then about hackmaster being d&d on steroids. The GM was my players father who ran the register at nights.

 

[JediSoth]

The new edition of Hackmaster is radically different from the court-mandated AD&D Parody that 4th ed. Hackmaster (i.e. 1st ed. Hackmaster) was. The game mechanics are much closer to Aces & Eights than AD&D now. Hackmaster History is a good place to start if you want to know the differences and history of the game.

 

[Madmaxneo]

I'll check out Feng Shui when I get the chance. In relation anyone know a good website where I can get free pdf's of games old or whatnot?

 

[frankthedm]

That sounds like the game they were playing, in fact I remember a similar quote from back then about hackmaster being d&d on steroids. The GM was my players father who ran the register at nights.

Hackmaster did not hit shelves until 2001. Unless they were just playing a monty haul Skills & Powers AD&D and upgrading it based on the comic strips, maybe it was one of these...

D&D Immortals Box set

Primal Order