FKR Tools & Tips - Simultaneous Initiative

I started with individual initiative, segments and weapon speed factor, everyone rolls a d10 + quick additions, we count up until everyone has acted. Tense, but takes a while to resolve a fight - about 15-20 minutes easy with AD&D. Too long for my tastes.

Eventually I moved on to group initiative: I roll a d6, one of y'all rolls another, high roll goes first. Ties are re-rolled... Until I started treating ties as "everything is resolved simultaneously", which means if your bandit kills a knight, the knight can still kill you in the same round.

Then I discovered Chainmail and Classic Traveller, which both present options for simultaneous resolution. I had experimented with other forms of initiative before, too: Sorcerer where the highest rolls happen first (or happen at all, I forget), drawing chits from a bag in Troika!, going in clockwise or counter-clockwise order, players go first unless surprised (Into the Odd), etc. Lots of cool ways to do this, none that I think are particularly worse than others. Here's my favorite methodology and why I like it. This is not an automated procedure or a framework that I adhere to religiously, but rather an internalized ruling I've found to work best for my table and so often come back to when needed. It doesn't trump common sense or context, but aims at complementing it.

Surprise
- This is Classic Traveller, but I don't think people have grown tired of reading this or internalized it just yet since there is little talk about this rule, so here it is again until it becomes à la mode.

Both parties roll d6, + modifiers from context: larger sized party is less likely to ambush a small unit. A leader or team focused on stealth trumps a loud team, etc. If the context gives a clear answer, don't even roll just give surprise to one side. If it's unclear, use the dice. If one side beats the other by 3+, they have surprise. They can ambush, or reveal themselves, or avoid the encounter altogether. Surprise lasts until it is lost rather than a set number of rounds, so you can take down a whole camp with sneak attacks or whatnot. If there's no clear winner, both parties become aware of one another more-or-less at the same time.

Fun fact: you can add up the two dice, multiply the result by 10 feet for indoors, or by 10 yards for outdoors, and you've got the encounter range, w/o needing an extra roll. Ain't that sweet?

Simultaneous Initiative
- Actions are split in "Moments" (or round, if you will) of elastic length, depending on the current scale. Might be seconds for one-on-one, minutes for a skirmish. I think in terms of "assaults" because I am trained in martial arts (both competitive and self-defense oriented, with more consideration for threat neutralization than fair play - the latter interests me more for this).

- Units (individuals or groups if doing wargame scale) may move and/or act. Missile fire (archers, firearms, artillery, etc) goes before Melee, and charges are resolved before regular melee or other movements. Spellcasting and any other "complex" action that involves some time and focus are resolved last.

- At the start of a round, everyone declares the intent of whatever characters or entities they control, and I go with what intuitively should be faster, keeping in mind that (standing) Missiles > Artillery > (standing) Melee > Move > Special, and that charges can mess with that order. Other common sense notions such as "if a dude is trying to stab you with a sword, you can't aim your bow at them, but a crossbow might work with a penalty" naturally come from looking at context and will likewise complement the phases.

- Within one phase, everyone involved gets to resolve their action. So if Jet shoots Spike, and Spike shoots Jet, we resolve both even if we first saw that Jet's shot kills Spike. If Spike was coming at Jet with a knife, it'd depend on the distance between the two: if firearms or melee would naturally take priority, one or the other happens first. If it's an edge-case and it's really unclear, then I make a d6 roll for each fighter. If this was two groups fighting, the same would apply, with an edge-case possibly being resolved as group initiative.

Why This Works
Like with group initiative, it allows for players to coordinate more easily than with the more self-centered individual initiative. But unlike group, it also allows for tactical infinity to really shine since it essentially prevents you as a Referee from forgetting about context coming first. The lack of a dice removes a tactile element that can be an uncounscious *snaps fingers* threshold into board game mode, even in some OSR play. There the transition between "we are talking about adventuring" and "we are talking about fighting" is seamless.

In essence, it's just applying old-school pithies to procedures designed for this playstyle in the first place - you roll when in doubt, but Referee judgment calls prevail and allow for a more immersive, dare I say simulation?


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Joesky's Tax

As usual, as part of my push against theory-focused blogging, I am supplementing this hopefully practical rambling with actual game material. It is unedited notes from a .txt file that betrays my somewhat chaotic attitude to keying dungeons, plus hand-drawn maps. Deal with it.

Oh and it has stats for Into the Odd but use whatever.

 

---CONTENTS---
REGION WEATHER
1 Mist
2 Windy
3 Rainy
4 Rainy & Windy
5 Storm
6 Downpour

1.COURTYARD
In the No Man's Land that marks the frontier between the warring kingdoms of Rondo and Gaelia lies a dark corner of the earth, forsaken by all.
Leaves rustle in the wind, towering over you, a massive fortress cradled in the mountains, surrounded by deep pine woods. Cursed, its history was swallowed by the mist.
Your boots leave deep prints in the mud, your cloaks barely shield you from the biting cold. In front of you stands the main gate, massive doors of sturdy black oak and iron bands. Next to them, and littered around the courtyard are damaged barrels and crates, a broken cart, and a rotting pile of refuse. To the doors' left is a cellar door down a few steps, just below ground level. In the distance, you hear the barking of wild dogs.

- Massive Doors: Locked by an unseen contraption (lever on the other side), lead to GREAT HALL.
- Crates & Barrels: at a glance, rotten food and other weather-damaged supplies. Each turn spend searching, find COMMON LOOT = # PC
- Cellar Door: Covered in moss, bloated by rot, easily broke open. Leads to BASEMENT.
- First encounter here is always RABID DOGS, then 1-3 RABID DOGS, 4-6 MERCHANT.

    RABID DOGS
- Howling, barking, ravenous mutts, yellow eyes, drooling, patchy black fur, smell of wet mold and blood
- Want to feed, kept alive in perpetual starvation by the Mist
- d3 per adventurer / 6 HP / 12 STR / d6 Bite / Crit = Devour prey, d4 STR damage each following turn

    MERCHANT
- Sets up shop in the courtyard unless dogs are on the hunt, coach with three wooly horses
- Leather coat, hood, patterned balaclava, parchment skin, dark brown complexion, deep black eyes without eyebrows
- Want to barter, hopes to profit from continued hopeless efforts to purge the dungeon of its evil
- Buys: location of secret passages, monster weaknesses, faction activities, treasures (coin, gems, paintings, etc.)
- Sells: any of the above to new players (open table!), d6-d6 of each per visit: torch, flask of oil, medicinal herbs, white vial (antidote), red vial (explosive), translucent vial (acid), bundle of rope, grappling hook (1), scroll (1), alternatively, any valuables left behind on an adventurer's corpse...

2.BASEMENT
Rough stoneworks half-covered in lichen, flies over puddles of rain water, broken, moldy furniture. Your footsteps echo alongside irregular drops of water oozing from roots that pierced the ceiling. You can see your breath in the torch light, and the darkness beyond seems to slither around you, patiently biding its time for an opening. At the end of this slanting passsage, a wooden door with a broken lock leads you into the basement. Un unnatural hunger and growing sense of unease wash over you as you venture into the dark. (This always leads into a wide hall with pillars first, with two exits: wide opening north, straight passage east to a wooden door).

BASEMENT ENCOUNTERS
2 Hag
3-4 Amoeba
5-7 Brute
8-10 Dog Mimic
11 Abomination
12 NPC (1 Thief, 2 Alchemist, 3 Knight, 4 Barbarian, 5-6 Prisoner)

    HAG
- She is laughing, it never stops, it hurts, her throat is hoarse, the noise sounds like vocal chords being scratched with long nails as one utters a guttural cry.
- She flies, only her head remains, bloated like a pumpkin, a crooked smile permanently etched onto its face, black sharpened teeth - hers is an expression of pain.
- She derives joy from the suffering of others - she will attempt to attract more encounters, taunt interlopers into dangerous areas, and fly off when threatened.
- Unique / 12 HP / 5 STR / d4 Bite, d6 Psychic Scream, increases FEAR if it gets through HP

    AMOEBA
- Picture a squashed brain-like mass of pulsating organic mush, about the size of a basketball. It stands a two heads above you in height, and from it, seven reticulated coiling appendages.
- Four are used for locomotion, clawing at the ground and walls, two are prodding forward and around the creature, snatching rats and misshapen insects and bringing them to its human mouth, seemingly haphazardly painted over the brain-mass. It drools yellow bile. The last appendage ends in a stinger held up like a scorpion's tail, warning off larger predators.
Bloodied: sings to attract more Amoeba.
- It wants to feed on small vermin and be left alone. It follows larger prey with curiosity and will attempt to snatch corpses away, or attack weakened adventurers.
- 1 appearing / 10 HP / 10 STR / d4 Whip (Onslaught: Immobilizes), d6 Stinger / Crit: Injects its eggs in you, lose 1 STR per Turn until vermifuge is administered

    BRUTE
- Hulking, misshapen brutes, former prison guards who still retain the vague shape of a person, with grey-white skin, hairless, unnatural bone protrusions twisting their bodies.
- Under orders from the Torturer, want to capture prisoners for his experiments. Enjoy fear and pain in their victims. Carrying messers. Utterly stupid. Bloodied: runs away.
- 1 appearing / 12 HP / 15 STR / d10 Cleaver / Crit: Hacks off a Limb (1-2 Foot, 3-4 Hand, 5-6 Arm, 7-8 Leg, 9-0 Head)

    DOG MIMIC (Died, dead)
- It has taken the shape of a rabid dog, but its furless skin twitches unnaturally, as if something underneath longs to escape. It moves erratically, like a puppet. It does not bark.
- If you get too close, it blooms into a flytrap-like decadence of sinews, tendons and boney protuberances, all teeth and claws and exposed muscle. It drips rotten meat.
- It wants to feed on the unwary, and preserve itself. Every time it feeds, it adds to its biomass and shifting capability. If it eats a whole person, it will begin to transform.
- 1 appearing / 12 HP / 15 STR / d6 Blast Claws or d8 Bite / Crit: Latches on and tries to escape with its prey, seeking the nearest opening in the wall to go in the Interstice.

    ABOMINATION
- An enormous amalgmation of flesh, screaming faces, hands, arms bent backward, legs, eyes and mouths pleading for forgiveness, for death. It consumes everything it touches.
- It wants to die. If Bloodied, begins to say "Thank you!", "Please, keep going", "More!" and "Kill us, end us, in the name of all that is holy."
- Unique / 18 HP / 18 STR / d6 Grab & Crush / Crit: Assimilates you into its writhing mass.

COMMON LOOT
1-50 this many silver coins
51 Mushroom (poisonous)
52 Mushroom (edible)
53 Cheese
54 Turnip
55 Radish
56 Carrot
57 Apple
58 Pumpkin
59 Potato
60 Dried Meat
61 Mystery Meat
62 Rotten Meat
63 Cabbage
64 Boots, Leather
65 Gloves, Leather
66 Cloak
67 Thread & Needle
68 Wheat Flour
69 Wheat, Bag
70 Moldy Bread
71 Dice
72 Playing Card
73 Tarot Card
74 Bone
75 Skull, Human
76 Skull, Bizarre
77 Egg
78 Bottle of Whiskey
79 Ale
80 Tomato
81 Dried Mushroom
82 Salami
83 Blueberries
84 Seeds
85 Cave Moss
86 Tinderbox
87 Cloth fragment
88 Small key
89 Paper talisman (Purifying talisman)
90 Pinecone
91 Stick
92 Tobacco
93 Bundle of arrows
94 Throwing Knife
95 Bear trap
96 Quill
97 Torch
98 10' Rope
99 Wooden Toy
100 Gemstone

BASEMENT KEY
1 - Pillar Hall: floor is uneven, ceiling threatens to crumble, wall to (2) is particularly fragile. If an Amoeba is encountered here, it will be lairing in the ceiling's shadows, dropping on an unsuspecting target after stinging it to inject its eggs.

2 - Storage: chalk graffiti depict floating head tormenting large silhouette. Common loot is readily available here, especially foodstuff.

3 - Kitchen: Smoke stains, bubbling cauldron overflowing with black tar, knifed on the wall is a recipe for "friendly company": amoeba eye, brute's brain, virgin tongue, oil, live rat. The recipe is for a potion of skinwalking, which allows the drinker to (painfully) burst out of its own body into the shape of a Brute for a day. The original shape bursts out again out of the brute afterwards.

4 - Dining Room: What was once a lavish meal is now a rotting mess of flies, putrid meat and spoiled fruits and veggetables. At the end of the table sits an old man, unresponsive. Upon closer inspection, one may notice his hands and feet are bound, and his lower jaw is broken. He is alive but his will is utterly broken. Bringing him back to civilization to see a Specialist will reveal him to be a Sage and one of the Captain's counsellor. Brutes leave him alone.

5 - Storage: Roots have overgrown this storage room, and broken down parts of the wall. Crawling through red bugs and earth is difficult but doable.

6 - Storage: Room floor and walls are covered in slimey excretion. d4 Amoeba lair here at all time, tied together in a squishy knot. They are sensitive to loud noises.

7 - Dormitory: Bunk beds, metal foot lockers (common loot), room is overgrown with roots, some pierce the beds and some brute corpses are flowering and pollinating.

8 - Latrines: Where people poop. Hasn't been cleaned in a while, mostly dry but still smells awful. Brass tube with rope and bucket to cistern for cleaning. Digging in the latrine reveals an Oddity someone..."left" there. There is also an Amoeba in the latrine pit.

9 - Cistern: chains on the wall and a funnel for water-based torture in a corner. Huge barrel of fresh water. Infected with amoeba eggs (pale tadpoles).

10 - Sergeant's Office: corpse of a non-mutated Rondo officer. Room had been barricaded, broken into. In desk, common loot as well as his diary.

11 - Sergeant's Quarters: cobwebs, harmless but unreasonably large spiders make their home here now.

12 - VIP Cell: A corpse, covered in fungus. Or perhaps a fungus, fused with a corpse. Either way, the sight is so horrible it increases Fear.

13 - Isolation Cell: Vibrations... a low hum, like the beginning of an earthquake, is constantly perceivable in this room only. Otherwise empty.

14 - Isolation Cell: Blood splattered all across the room. Some of it is fresh. A trail, like a corpse's been dragged. (Leads to Corpse Heap)

15 - Isolation Cell: The Dog-Mimic lairs here, amongst corpses of men and rabid dogs. If sleeping, it appears like another badly damaged corpse.

16 - Infirmary: Injured Brute with no legs is resting in a bad behind curtains, heavily panting, eyes closed. It is harmless in its current state.

17 - Storage: Medicinal herbs, leeches in jar, etc. Oddity hidden if someone spends time searching the room.

18 - Operating Room: Vile machinery, with leather straps. A lever. The process is unspeakably violent and requires a save vs Critical Damage to even survive.
If the "patient" survives, gain: 1-extra arm, 2-extra leg, 3-extra pair of hands, 4-extra eye, 5-prehensile tail, 6-acid spit gland (once per day).

19 - Group Cell: Wall spikes (to solve disputes between prisoners)

20 - Group Cell: Chalk marks, someone's been here more than a decade

21 - Group Cell: Brute, trapped inside. Is willing to try and talk its way out, although it is not very smart, it knows the latrine passage from its time as a prisoner as he once tried to escape. Walks with a limp, scared to fight, other brutes attack on sight.


THE FLIPSIDE

A Meat larder
B Butchery, with cave gnomes feasting on each other
C Apiary, many birds, filled with feathers and guano
D Wall-sized mirror. In it is a creeping meat-like invasive substance that slowly invades and fills the whole room on the other side, and the adventurers. At which point trying to move or leave tears them apart as they are now one big bunch of meat with a "coat of paint" of stone and clothes and skin etc.
E Ivory Buffet: worth 1,000sp, need 30 STR to carry
F Kennel, rabid dogs on chains and collars, the brute that tends to them loves them dearly
G Special instructions regarding the prisoner (no talking, no looking directly in his eyes, wear ear plugs, etc etc)
H Prison cell with "angel" naked old woman without a head, twitching occasionally. Burning it will summon the Hag
I Red Room: pulsating flesh, eyeballs, mouths, teeth. Devours occupants.
R Barrels full of butter
- Crematorium, many bones, some of the corpses will rise if disturbed
O Crevasse leads down to the caves

PRISON KEY

The Cells
I - Lysander, smooth talking con artist and thief, also bisexual
II - This prisoner went insane and clawed his eyes out. He whispers the same mantra over and over: break your lights but awful chains, ia, ia, the comes.
III - This prisoner is catatonic and stays in bed, starving himself.
IV - This prisoner has a beatific grin on his face. Says he found the way, will reveal it if freed. He'll jump down the abyss, screaming "Mother, I'm coming!"
(and triggering an encounter roll)
V - Prisoner is in foetal position, malnourished, all bones broken, skin on bones. Hides an oddity in his rags.
VI - Prisoner is tied to a chair with a bag on head, keeps asking what's happening, who's there, etc. Name's Joseph, can be a decent, if cowardly, henchman.
VII - Closed iron maiden with poodle of blood
VIII - An old blind woman with a missing arm. Hates the torturer with a passion. Has seen him mess with the spiked armor in his chamber to open a secret path.
IX - This prisoner hung themselves
X - No legs, no arms, mouth sewn. She silently stares at interlopers, her expression impossible to read.

The Prison
1 - Stockroom/Armory. Spare shields, hand axes and bludgeons - doubled as a training/sparring room, damaged dummy
2 - Rest & Recreation - game of darts, table with playing cards, checkers board in a corner, scattered pieces on the ground. Crossbow-wielding Brute hanging out.
3 - Bas-relief depicting the five New Gods, painted in blood: "save us".
4 - Fading murals, one can make out some sort of spiral, descending into...a heart? The heart of a gigantic being, or creature.
5 - Room is trapped with a bucket of acid on a rope. Captain's quarters, interesting treasure AND 2d10 gold coins.
6 - Torture chamber. Roll d6, on a 1-3 the Torturer is here with a victim. On a 4-5 he is on his way. On a 6 the coast is clear.
Earnest, the Torturer, is a pityful sight, a broken body and a broken mind. He will pathetically plead for his life and promise help, though he is not to be trusted.
7 - Shrine of Sylvian, with the corpse of a beautiful woman ravaged atop the altar.
8a - Empty cell, large rock (many cockroaches underneath)
8b - Empty cell, Sweet smell, honey pot under the bed
8c - "Empty" cell, prisoner hides here, escaped from the torturer. Name's Gideon, handlebar mustache and balding head. Wants to rejoin his Knight.