Initiative and Wild Dice

[CRMcNeill]

Per the RAW, Initiative is rolled once at the beginning of combat, and doesn't change until the combat is resolved, which means that, regardless of how the fight turns out, one side will always be running slightly behind the other. It's my understanding that real combat isn't nearly as "set" as that, with initiative changing hands throughout the battle based on a mixture of skill and luck. When I did my write-up for Dueling Sabers, I came up with a system that incorporated this, with the Initiative winner having a degree of control over how combat progressed. I also included a system that would occasionally trigger an Initiative re-roll. It just occurred to me that the system could potentially work in genera application, too. So, here's the gist of it:

1) Roll Initiative as normal, and proceed with combat.

2) However, if any of the following occur, re-calculate Initiative as instructed:
A). Winner rolls a Wild Die 1, or the loser rolls a Wild Die 6 (re-roll initiative)
B). Winner rolls a Wild Die 1 and Loser rolls a Wild Die 6 (initiative switches automatically)
C). Winner takes a hit that does Stun damage or greater (initiative switches automatically)

So the idea is that, if the side with Initiative suffers a misfortune, or the side without gets lucky, there's a chance for Initiative to switch sides mid-battle.

Thoughts?
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Whill]

[CRMcNeill]

[shootingwomprats]

In my games I use a slightly modified version of initiative. Each PC and important NPC rolls individual initiative using Perception. Groups of NPCs each get their own group initiative based upon the highest Perception. Combat continues in order of initiative unless something affects the combat or someone chooses to reset their initiative.

Resetting initiative is a full round action, the player rerolls Perception.

A character may hold their action and go later in the round, but their initiative is now set this new point. If two characters go on the same round, the one with the higher initial roll would go first or based on Perception dice.

Things that might require new initiative rolls could be: a new group arrives, air support shows up, building explodes, earthquake, etc.

I forgot to mention earlier, Character Points can be spent on initiative rolls as well.
_________________
Don Diestler
Host, Shooting Womp Rats
The D6 Podcast
http://d6holocron.com/shootingwomprats
@swd6podcast, Twitter

[Whill]