Tales from the Rocket House
The standard initiative system in Tarafore starts with a performance test of Reaction (Score +1d10 -1d10). The highest total goes first, and can choose to Hold Action until later in the turn, when he or she can Interrupt anyone with a lower initiative total. Everyone gets one action, which is simple and works pretty well.
The truth is, I wanted to put in a multiple actions per turn system for a long time, but my players balked every time, disliking the added complexity. I can, at least, explain it here.
Origins of the Specious
It may not look like it if you compare the two next to each other, but one of the inspirations for the Tarafore System was the original World of Darkness system, as seen in Vampire: the Masquerade and Werewolf: the Apocalypse. I know, what has a dice pool system with shifting target numbers and huge fistfuls of dice have to do with a +/- system that centers the mean result (and target numbers) on the same scale as the PCs’ traits? Well, a lot of what I put into the Tarafore System was designed to “fix” things I didn’t like about World of Darkness.
Instead of creating a derivative “heartbreaker” system, I just started over, designing the system from the ground up, with several goals in mind: mathematical cohesion, ease of calculating odds of success (if the GM doesn’t want the players to know their PCs’ chances of success, she can just withhold the target numbers from them, but the GM should at least be able to calculate the numbers without a cheat sheet and a degree in mathematics), and support for simulationist and immersive play styles.
And one thing that I really hated about the Old World of Darkness system was how overpowered extra attacks were. If everybody has one attack, then those with even one additional attack have twice the combat effectiveness. No other 1-dot discipline was that powerful. Add to that the way defense was split up, and you ended up with a mess. Shadowrun wasn’t much better, with those who had reflex boosts not only getting multiple actions, but getting them BEFORE anyone else had a chance to act.
Ironically, Palladium’s games actually got this right (I know, I know, get the pitchforks and torches. But it wasn’t all bad; Erick Wujcik’s work, especially on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness, was really quite good). Everybody with even a modicum of combat training started with two actions per turn, and it went up from there. Extra actions came kind of at the end, so those with fewer actions per turn still got the opportunity to act.
So I knew I wanted to have the general “default number of actions per turn” be two or more, not one, if I was going to allow anybody to have additional actions per turn. Since my players balked at the extra complexity this system added, I just made a blanket rule that nobody got extra actions, except perhaps rare supernatural NPC’s, and generally not even them. It was a somewhat unsubtle solution, but it avoided all the nasty problems I’d seen before.
So, how to make this two or more actions per turn system
Well, Shadowrun actually had a pretty usable system for this; essentially, you roll initiative, act on your initiative total and every seven phases after (this was several years and probably two editions ago). The only problem with this was that cybered-up (or magically boosted) characters rolled so many dice for initiative that they ended up acting 2 or 3 times before any of the normals got to act once.
Many years ago, Mary Kuhner shared her solution to Shadowrun initiative with the USENET group rec.games.frp.advocacy, and it made a lot of sense. The cyber or magic boosts no longer added extra dice to initiative. Instead, for each die they used to add, they reduced the “lag time” between actions by one (it might have been two, but that means someone with Wired Reflexes III would act every phase, and that doesn’t seem right. Selected r.g.f.a articles are archived at www.darkshire.net, but this one doesn’t seem to be among them, so I’m working from memory). They kept the fixed initiative bonus (+2 for level 1, +4 for level 2, and +6 for level 3 boosts), so they did tend to act before non-boosted characters, and they acted more frequently within the round.
It not only balanced the game better, but it “felt” more like a faster character, generally acting first, then acting more frequently, moving “between” everyone else. The old way, boosted characters acted several times at the start of the round and then, once other characters started to act, the boosted characters acted at the same pace, every seven phases.
So You Shamelessly Stole This from Mary Kuhner’s Shadowrun House Rules?
Actually, it’s not stealing if you give credit. I’m not a plagiarist. And the people who wrote Shadowrun (this was back in Second Edition days) deserve some of the credit, too. But I certainly didn’t think of all this on my own.
So How Does this Apply to the Tarafore System?
If you’re not familiar with the Tarafore System’s combat rules, you can find them here.
Initiative is still based on Reaction +1d10 – 1d10, which means the “average” Initiative roll will be equal to the character’s Reaction rating, with a range of Reaction -9 at worst to Reaction +9 at best. Reaction, for a character with combat training, should be over 10, probably more like 13 (or even higher). The round ends at 1 (there is no “phase zero”) and begins on the highest Initiative total that anyone rolls that turn. At the start of the next round, everyone rolls Initiative again.
For the sake of this column’s examples, our character will be a Knight with a Reaction of 13. Sir Knight’s Initiative should range from 4 (very rare) to 22 (also very rare), with around 13 or so being the norm.
As before, characters can act on their Initiative total or Hold Actions. Now, however, characters can also act again 10 Initiative after their previous action. If, for example, a character rolls an Initiative total of 10 or lower, he’ll act only once, on 10 (10-10 = 0, and the turn ends on 1). If a character rolls an Initiative 13, he’ll act twice: once at 13, and again at 3. If a character rolls Initiative 22, he’ll act three times: once at 22, once at 12, and again at 2.
So our 13 Reaction Knight will occasionally have only 1 action per turn (Initiative total of 10 or less), occasionally have three actions per turn (Initiative total 21 or 22), and usually have two actions per turn (Initiative total of 11 to 20). Simple, so far, right?
Now, for characters with superhuman speed boosts, each Level decreases the ‘lag time’ between actions by 1 and increases Reaction by 1 (you probably want to put the new Reaction total in parentheses so you’ll know the “original” Reaction level. It might come up in the case of a countermeasure to the speed boost or something the speed boost doesn’t apply to, like psychic combat). The Reaction increase makes the person more likely to act first. The decrease in ‘lag time’ allows them to act more often, within the span of time in which others are acting.
For example, if our Reaction 13 Knight had a Level 3 Speed spell cast upon him, his Reaction would rise to 16 (for the duration of the spell), and he’d have a lag time between actions of 7 Initiative, not 10. So, if he rolled +3/-4 on Initiative, he’d have a total of 15. That’s not a great roll, but it’s 3 better than he’d have had before the spell. A total of 15 would normally give 2 actions: one at 15, and one ten phases later, at 5. But because the Knight’s ‘lag time’ is now 7, he can act at 15, seven phases later, at 8, and seven more phases later, at 1.
Okay, Surely You Have SOMETHING Original to Contribute?
Okay, okay. I did come up with a couple of things on my own. So long as we’re counting phases between actions, there’s no reason that every action has to take exactly 10 phases, is there?
Note: All actions have a MINIMUM Lag Time of 2, regardless of how much of a Speed Boost is applied. So nobody acts every phase, no matter what they’re doing, and you can’t reduce an action to zero phases, either.
Attacking:
- “Standard” Attack (either ranged or hand to hand): no penalties or bonuses, 10 phases
- Called Shot (either): To-Hit -3, Choose hit location (including head/Exceptional Hit), 13 phases
- Aggressive Style (hand to hand): To Hit +1, Defend -2, 8 phases
- Defensive Style (hand to hand): Defend +2, 14 phases
- Snap Shot (ranged): To-Hit -3, +1 Initiative if used as first action of turn, 6 phases
- Careful Aim (ranged): To-Hit +1, -1 Initiative if used as first action of turn, 13 phases
Drawing:
- Shouldering a slung rifle: 4 phases
- Drawing a weapon from a proper sheath or holster: 6 phases
- Digging something out of your pocket or a deep concealment holster: 10 phases
Reloading:
- Swapping magazines in a pistol or rifle: 10 phases
- Reloading a break action rifle/shotgun (single or double-barrel): 10 phases
- Reloading using a speed loader, moon clip, en-bloc clip, or stripper clip: 15 phases (used for revolvers with speed loaders/moon clips and for rifles with internal magazines and stripper clips, en-bloc clips, or chargers: the Garand and the SKS are examples)
- Reloading a gun one cartridge at a time by hand: 5 phases per cartridge (This one covers revolvers, bolt action rifles, tube-fed shotguns and rifles, etc).
- Reloading a percussion or flintlock weapon: forget it. This takes 15 seconds (5 rounds) or more.
Counterattacks have NO delay. I’ve tried it out with EVERYTHING from full delay to partial to none, and they only work with no delay. This way, no matter how fast you are, if you attack someone who’s skilled enough, you risk provoking a counterattack. This is one more factor that helps prevent an increased number of actions from completely unbalancing the game. It’s also much simpler, and, as far as I can tell, it’s not any more or less realistic than any other way. It works.
If you’ve forgotten what “counterattacks” are in the Tarafore System, any time someone is attacked in hand to hand combat, if their defense is a Special or Exceptional success, they gain an immediate opportunity to attack their attacker. In the old system, this didn’t take up their action for the turn, and in the new system, it has no “delay” attached. It’s basically the idea that bum-rushing a master swordsman is likely to get a new recruit killed, regardless of “actions per turn.” Really skilled fighters are all sharp edges, and it’s never safe to swing at them. Bring a gun next time.
Stun and Wound Effects
Stun test results of “Lose Next Action” give a 10 phase delay, regardless of what action the victim was planning. This delay IS, however, decreased by speed boosts. So if Sir Knight suffered a “Lose Next Action” result while under the “Haste Level III” spell, he’d suffer a delay of 7 (10-3=7) phases.
Stunned and Knocked Out results take the character out of the fight for several turns (Stun) or minutes (Knocked Out). Once the person wakes up, there are no lingering effects on Initiative.
Wounds and wound penalties have no effect on Initiative until the next time Initiative is rolled. Then, the wound penalties apply. But they don’t have an effect on the current turn.
For Example
So, for example, if our Knight, still feeling the effects of the Level 3 Haste spell, is walking along, with his sword sheathed, and is attacked by a Reaction 12 Ogre, this is how it might go.
Both roll Initiative. Sir Knight rolls 13 (Reaction) +3 (Speed boost) +5 (the positive d10) -2 (the negative d10), for a total of 19. The Ogre rolls 12 (Reaction) +7 (the positive d10) -4 (the negative d10), for a total of 15. Sir Knight will go first.
Rather than trying to fistfight and ogre, Sir Knight chooses to draw his sword. It’s in a proper scabbard, so that’s a 6 phase action. But with his Level 3 speed boost, that delay is dropped to 3. He draws his sword on 19, and is ready to act again on 16, before the Ogre. Lucky him.
Sir Knight attacks on 16, choosing to attack Offensively, hoping the Ogre is clumsy, and that his greater skill will protect him. He gains +1 to hit, and the action will have a delay of 5 (it’s normally 8, but his speed boost of 3 reduces it to 5), meaning he’ll act again on 11 (16-5=11). He rolls a 15 attack total, a cruddy roll, but still greater than the Ogre’s 14 Prowess. A basic hit, which doesn’t actually wound the Ogre (I’ll spare you the damage rolls, since this column is already pretty long).
The Ogre attacks on Initiative 15, hitting and causing a “Lose Next Action” and “Wounded” result. Sir Knight will not be able to act until 7 phases later, on Initiative 8. That’s a bit of a delay compared to his previous 11, but still before the Ogre’s next action. The Wounded penalty of -1 won’t affect this turn’s Initiative, but will apply to the next turn.
On phase 8, Sir Knight attacks, gambling it all on a “Called Shot” to the Ogre’s head. He’s got -3 to hit, with an extra -1 from the wound, but if he hits, he’ll get an Exceptional Hit, and the +6 damage should actually slow the Ogre down. The Knight rolls well, for once, getting a 15 (Prowess) -3 (called shot) -1 (wound) +7 (positive d10) -1 (negative d10) = 17 total, beating the Ogre’s 14 Prowess handily. The Exceptional Hit means he’ll use 13 (Strength) -1 (wound penalty) +5 (sword) +6 (Exceptional Hit) 23 as his base for his Stun and Wound rolls. With no armor on its head, the Ogre’s in trouble, even with an 18 Strength(Toughness).
And it’s a good thing: that Called Shot has a 13 phase delay. Even with the Haste spell, that’s 10 phases (13-3=10). Since it happened on Initiative 8, it was definitely going to be Sir Knight’s last action of the turn. Fortunately, Sir Knight both Wounded the Ogre and Knocked it Out, winning the fight.
Final Thoughts
This does turn out to be a lot more tactical in nature than the usual Tarafore system, largely because there’s a bit of a timing issue: do I take the risk of an aggressive attack? It makes me more vulnerable to attacks, but I can act more frequently. Or what about a Defensive stance? I act more slowly, but I get an increased chance of Counterattacks, so if they come after me, I could end up doing more damage that way. Is the called shot worth the time it takes? It could be a one-shot fight-ender, but it takes 13 phases.
If you want to remove some of the decision-making and tactical combat aspects, you can remove all the different types of attacks (I’d keep Called Shots, as they’re a pretty vital part of the way that Tarafore System combat works, but you can have them take 10 phases if you want), and simply say that drawing or reloading a weapon takes one action (10 phases).
Doing that will simply leave you with a clean, minimally-tactical system that allows high-speed characters and even multiple attacks without making them grossly overpowered.
Though I can’t really claim much credit for designing the system, I am pretty proud of what little part I had in adapting it for use in the Tarafore System. I think it works really well to allow faster characters to take multiple actions without completely overpowering everybody else.
I’m also glad you can’t copyright game mechanics or ideas, because I don’t know where to find Ms. Kuhner to ask permission. If you’re reading this, Mary, thank you: I learned a heck of a lot about gaming just reading rec.games.frp.advocacy back in the day, and a lot of that was thanks to you.
