Last week I talked about an initiative system for Unlucky 13. The solution was an attempt to use playing cards to mimik the token system from Troika. This week, I’m throwing that away.
Playtest Results
James read the post and agreed to help me playtest it. The playtest went well, but the chaos of the system could really work against the players. I like to encourage my players to take low stats, but the way the system penalizes a low speed character was (1) potentially deadly and more important (2) just boring/not fun for the player.
James and I brainstormed on some ways to improve it, and I walked away with a system that would work. But the more I thought about it, I really didn’t like adding a new mechanic to the game. U13 is based around d12 rolls. The cards seem foreign.
So I scrapped everything and went back to a system that I wrote long ago for Dekahedron.
The U13 Initiative System, Take 2
The new system is painfully simple: the first to attack is the first to declare their attack.
Consider the following example:
| GM: | A troll stands before the bridge and bares his yellow teeth and says “You no pass unless you give me your gold!” |
| Player: | “I’ll give you 1 gold piece.” |
| GM: | “No! You give me ALL the gold!” |
| Player: | “I don’t think so my friend.” |
If the next words spoken are the player saying “I run him through with my sword,” then the player gets the first attack. If, instead, the next words are the GM saying “The troll reaches out with his bony claws to attack you! Make a defense roll!” then it’s obvious that the troll moves first.
There’s no reason to make it more complicated than that, except…
What about speed?
What if the player is #Fast as lightning but the troll announced his attack first? The player still makes his defense roll, but he gets to apply his speed as a bonus die if he wishes. A successful defense simply means that troll’s action was detected by the player and the player gets to attack.
If the player is slower than the troll, then it would be a penalty factor instead.
Summary
This system feels more like U13. What do you think? Is it too simple?
I need to see if James will playtest it with me.
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