Why is it important? (01:00)

Who tracks the initiative? (03:50)

Tracking init was considered one of the holy duties of the GM. But does it have to be? See our episode on Sharing GM Responsibilities.

Different initiative mechanics

D&D (2E-5E) & Pathfinder (06:20): You roll a d20 for Initiative. (skip to 07:00 to hear us digress to D&D 1E).

Pathfinder 2nd (08:14): The skill used for Initiative is determined by the circumstances.

Shadowrun (09:08): Initiative score, a number of d6 determined by the type of thing you’re doing, the space in which you act. Then initiative passes, reducing 10 after each pass. 

Exalted (10:53): Ticks ticking by.

Phoenix Dawn Command (13:40): The players move the Torch around, every player gets one action in a cycle. Challenges act between turns, on their speed.

Star Wars and Genesis (15:30): Two init skills, cool or vigilance. Results become slots, into which each PC or NPC can be inserted once per round.

Conan D20 (17:20): You all act before NPCs unless an NPC has an ability or GM spends Doom.

One Roll Engine (ORE) (19:15): Declaring at the same time, or by order of Sense stat from low to high. Widest first, Height is the tiebreaker. Getting hit means you’re losing a die from a set.

Savage Worlds (21:45): Everyone draws cards, some special abilities allow you to re-draw better.

Mouse Guard (22:45): Acting in three rounds, choose from 4 options in secret.

Apocalypse World (24:54): No such thing as structured gameplay, only different paces.

Mistborn Adventure Game (26:52): During Conflicts, you declare actions by order of Wits, high to low, then act in the opposite order, low to high. Changing your declared action invokes a penalty on your roll, which can be quite harsh. (Eran did a whole review on the system, check it out. -

Fate Core (28:40): based on skills, usually Notice in combat and Empathy in mental.

Fate Accelerated (29:16): roll approach based on physical or mental combat.

Dramatic Initiative (30:04): The person whose turn just ended decide who goes next. Unfortunately, I couldn’t track the person who first wrote about this. If you know who this is - tell me.

Additional thoughts on Initiative

Eran’s new system (31:28) - some thoughts about the new system that Eran is working on.

Duels (33:00) - how to resolve duels (“high noon” style) - example: Undeadwood card duel

Castle Falkenstein (35:10) has an interesting system as well. You might want to listen to our episode on Opposed PC Rolls.

Summary (36:10)

Taking the load off (37:10)

Eran - Finishing up Hell’s Rebels, how happy they are that the fight was easier than first perceived

Uri - played a session 0 for my new Masks campaign. Also, Escaping Thalamus’s Lab is available on DriveThruRpg.