Initiative Without Dice? [Optional Core]

In the Optional System, the Team with the Edge gets to act first.
The problem is establishing which Team gets that honour. 

I am the Warden!!

During last week's recap of our first playtest session of High Plains Samurai, I mentioned the need for initiative in the game. On the surface, the idea sounds simple and viable because the majority of initiative rules in RPGs involve a dice roll and since the Optional System is a dice-rolling machine, this shouldn't be a big deal, right?

Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. I had no idea how wrong that theory was.

Let's start by explaining how turn order works in Killshot, the original and only published version involving the Optional System. The main characters, AKA assassins, pretty much always go first. Because it is a game of strategy and planning, players must set a plan in motion and will likely always go first. That works for a realistic and tactical game like Killshot, but it's shit in a martial arts clone. It provides a near automatic victory for the heroes assisted by their bonus options, Pass reactions, and everything else. The only other means to force heroes to go next involves villains and thugs applying triggers before the fight scene begins, but that can get old and tired after a while. And what if the heroes set down a trigger designed to go off when the thugs' trigger activates, huh? It can potentially reach ridiculous heights.

High Plains Samurai, Act One Recap [Optional Core]

I am the Warden!!

On Friday night, the Development Team got down to business and we started up Act One of High Plains Samurai, our playtest campaign for Optional Core. Quick summary? It was excellent right up until the end when the players cashed in all their qi to defeat 2 villains in one fell swoop. While I'm sure it felt awesome for the players, it demonstrated a major flaw in combat design.

There's plenty more to talk about, but first let's get started with some videos. You can catch the first four hours of our exploits (and now we know there is a four-hour time limit on all Hangout broadcasts) here on YouTube.

And for a clearer version of the HPS intro movie...

Ironically enough, the majority of problems happened after the broadcast cut out. The fight between Spider (a wanted fugitive sought out by Fraser's hero, Maoser) and Black Scorpion/Kiki were drastically different. While there's still loads of review and recapping ahead before I can create a concrete list of revisions and new material for next month's game, here's what I have so far. 

A Thing of Beauty (AKA The Tracker)

A quick screen cap of the Thing, or the Tracker.

I am the Warden!!

Phew. It has been some time since this much work has been poured into... well, any project. There will be a significant update to Optional: Playtest on Monday and I'll be spending the weekend getting the Version 0.5 PDF ready along with prepping a post for Speak Out With Your Geek Out on Monday.

But today is a special post. The unveiling of the very first Thing, or the Tracker. Behold its glory to the right and click here to download your own copy (including a full-colour and greyscale version) when you're ready to try out your own Optional System game. Each grid is large enough to handle your common poker chips and we are working on making our own chips for the Tracker.

While the Tracker hasn't been officially playtested, we have been working off a crude version  for a few weeks now using poker chips to keep track of each Team's options. Combining this with the edge (in red) and marking which Team declares a readied or defensive option (in blue), I'm hoping this tool will allow for some dynamic fight scenes in future playtesting.