Can it even be solved?
Specifically I'm talking about the "STOP!", wait for a beat, "Hammer time!" phenomena that initiative turns create. I understand why it's this way, but lately I've been wracking my tiny brain for ways to make it better. Rolling initiative every turn is so tedious and time consuming. Rolling group initiative doesn't work either. Side initiative seems to take the worst aspects of every system and combine them together. I'm genuinely at a loss as to what could be done to improve the situation. I'm even willing to entertain changing the nature of initiative itself to an entirely new sub-system.
About the only thing that's I've felt wasn't too bad was limiting everyone to only one thing per turn instead of action + move + bonus action + item interaction. Even that has issues though. The other thing I've thought of is opposed initiative. That being you only roll when you look to oppose someone else or if you're opposed in some way. So you want to sneak away during a fight? OK, done. But if someone is hunting for you in the melee while you're trying to sneak away? Now it's a contest between two opposed entities.
I don't know, it's all very mathy and complex and hurting my brain. Anyone else got any better ideas?
Specifically I'm talking about the "STOP!", wait for a beat, "Hammer time!" phenomena that initiative turns create. I understand why it's this way, but lately I've been wracking my tiny brain for ways to make it better. Rolling initiative every turn is so tedious and time consuming. Rolling group initiative doesn't work either. Side initiative seems to take the worst aspects of every system and combine them together. I'm genuinely at a loss as to what could be done to improve the situation. I'm even willing to entertain changing the nature of initiative itself to an entirely new sub-system.
About the only thing that's I've felt wasn't too bad was limiting everyone to only one thing per turn instead of action + move + bonus action + item interaction. Even that has issues though. The other thing I've thought of is opposed initiative. That being you only roll when you look to oppose someone else or if you're opposed in some way. So you want to sneak away during a fight? OK, done. But if someone is hunting for you in the melee while you're trying to sneak away? Now it's a contest between two opposed entities.
I don't know, it's all very mathy and complex and hurting my brain. Anyone else got any better ideas?