Action Block Initiative System for FUZION

By the Nevereverend Slaine Fullerton, 2001

dark_times@hotmail.com

This initiative plug-in is designed to add a more random element to combat, and is not recommended for use with Super-powered games. While the derived characteristic of SPeeD and the Speed Chart presented in Champions: New Millennium is ideal for Super-powered games, it is sometimes a bit too predictable for games of lower power levels. Intended to be used with my Terran Dusk:2261 setting, this plugin allows for some variance in the number of actions one may perform during a three second PHASE. Where the average person tends to commit one action per three seconds, it is possible for that person potentially to do two things in that same amount of time. In the same manner, an experienced veteran of combat, or person of exceptional reflexes and reaction time, may end up with two, or even three actions in the same span.

The mechanic is as follows:

Add a Character's REF plus her level in Combat Sense to a roll of 1D6. This will yield an Initiative Composite. Divide this number by five, and the total number of actions a character may perform during a Three Second Phase is derived. Though the total is rounded down, the minimum number of actions per phase is one.

[(REF + COMBAT SENSE + 1D6) / 5] = # of actions per Phase.

So, Bob the Plumber has a REFLEX of 4. While fixing a toilet in the Combat Zone, a gunfight breaks out in the hallway. Rolling for his initiative, Bob gets a 4. He adds his roll to his REF, for a total of 8. As Bob does not have any ranks in Combat Sense, his Initiative Composite is 8. Dividing by 5, and rounding down, we see that Bob has one action this Phase.

Meanwhile, Yuri the Death-Solo has a REF of 8 and a Combat Sense of 4. He also rolls a D6, rolling a three. His Initiative Composite is a 15 (8+4+3), giving him three actions for the Phase. Watch out Bob!

Auntie Em, who is hiding in her Bedroom during the ensuing firefight, has a REF of 2. She has no Combat Sense, and rolls a 2 on the die. Her Initiative Composite is 4. Though when divided by five this total would round down to zero, she still gets her single action at the end of the Phase, after Bob has leapt through the window to avoid the hail of bullets from Yuri's submachine-gun.

Here's a table :)

Damn I love tables... (sniff... I miss you Rolemaster...)

Action Blocks represent segments of a Phase based upon the highest number of actions a character has for the Phase. If this is three actions, then there are three Action Blocks in the Phase, and action commences from the Third Block, to the Second Block, and down to the First Block. The turn sequence within a given Action Block is declared based on one's REF score, in order from highest to lowest, though all actions within a single block are taken as simultaneous. A character may opt to hold the declaration of her action to the end of the sequence, but she must act during the Action Block, or lose her action.

So, if one person (person x) has three actions, and two people (persons y and z) have two actions, we see the following:

The person x, with three actions, take his action during the Third Action Block. Thus ends Action Block Three. In both of the subsequent Action Blocks, all three combatants will act. Person x has a REF of 7, person y has a REF of 5, and person z has a REF of 8. Therefore, during the course of both Action Block Two and One, person z acts first, person x acts second, and person y acts third. However, the results of their actions during a single Action Block all take effect simultaneously before moving to the next Action Block. After the end of Action Block One, the combat Phase is over, and initiative is calculated anew for the next Phase.