MOG Mechanics: Initiative (Balanced Breakfast = Surprise Rounds)

[xkcd44]

I think a more fluid solution is just applying only the variables that took place during the Rest, and maintaining that initiative value until the following Rest.

To me, the system loses a fair bit of its attraction and flavor when you reduce initiative to a purely rest-based mechanic. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of "held" initiative rolls (with modifiers and small periodic rerolls). But if things like mapping at a campsite, casting a spell; being well-fed; scouting etc. can influence initiative, it's more than odd to award no initiative when players take active/proactive actions in the immediate vicinity of the battle.

Not only would my players probably whine about it; I do think that it seems a kinda arbitrary restriction on benefits (e.g., scouting now vs. scouting later) that weakens player agency, even if it is mechanically sound and can be explained as "general level of readiness".

If initiative needs to become relevant (such as a sudden action taking place) ... the original event attempts to take place, but with every other creature with a higher initiative taking action first, starting with the next highest initiative creature.

This is how we've always done it at my table. It's a cool approach, which becomes especially relevant when your PCs have conflicting goals for a scene. This method doesn't require a static/"held" initiative, however. I regularly use spontaneous initiative checks to determine PC order, even in mundane, non-combat actions (..."I want to talk to him first!" "No, me!").

If PC#1 wants to perform action X, and PC#2 wants to stop him, I'll let them roll out the sequencing, provided PC#2 has some idea of what PC#1 wants to do. In rare cases, PC#2 might make a Perception check to discern PC#1's motives, with the result determining whether he is surprised on the first "round" of pseudo-combat.

On the other hand, I don't think that small, numerous modifiers to initiative is a good idea.

Reading that surprised me, as that's actually the part of the system I am most attracted to. You're probably right, though Lots of small modifiers would tend to bog down gameplay, and it would place a lot of emphasis on rest activity. But I really like those tiny, cumulative modifiers. Without them, what you've got boils down into:

1: Hold initiative rolls from short rests;
2: Allow for retroactive decision-making based on initiative.

2 is good, but it doesn't require 1. Holding initiative rolls might make the game quicker, but you run into the problem Lord Von Becker pointed out, where a single roll can let a high-initiative character be "out-initiatived" for an entire length of time. It's much neater to just do normal initiative rolls: this still allows for slow characters to "out-initiative" characters with high initiative, but those characters are able to shine through as even if they get some crappy rolls.

If the static initiative value cannot be realistically modified, then all you've done is a pre-roll, and if your players were the ones to roll in, then they're going to know whether they're entering their next combat with an initiative edge or a deficit.

After thinking about it a while, I'm of the opinion that your system works really well as a sort of group initiative. Granularity is a strength of the system, and you can use granular group-initative benefits as rewards for actions (scouting, casting a spell, mapping) that improve the group's overall readiness and situational awareness, or penalties for actions (going hungry/exhausted; making loud noises; leaving obvious tracks) that decrease it.

Think of it as something like a "skills challenge", with different ways to affect the group initiative value, which is initially determined by some function of the PC's own initiative (average? lowest? highest?). Across travel/chase sequences, the group initiative could be static and continuous, with the benefits or penalties accumulated from previous days carrying over. In an urban setting, the group initiative might be dynamic, varying wildly depending on where/who they're visiting, the group's intelligence, etc.

Actually, it reminds me of the rules used in some of the naval combat splatbooks. I think there are problems with using for character initiative, but I'm definitely gonna adapt something like this for when my PCs are doing long-distance chases/tracking scenes. Can even be simplified by giving the enemies an initiative "DC"., which results in ambushes (=surprise rounds) f the PCs fail to meet it.