XD20: Initiative

Initiative in XD20 is entirely up to the Game Master. They decide who goes in what order, quite often at random. Seems pretty arbitrary and "unfair" right? It is, so I dismissed it out of hand. But after watching Tracy Hickman run both his Killer Breakfast sessions at conventions and live stream sessions from his local game store, I've realized that just because the GM decides who states their action next doesn't mean it's resolved instantly. Whether in combat or not he collects everyone's actions and asks for dice rolls when needed, but narrates the results at the end. It's actually a brilliant execution of simultaneous resolution and has a number of benefits.

1. The PCs actions (success or failure) can interact with and affect each other.
2. There's no awkwardness of initiative mismatching the orderly execution of actions the players are attempting.
3. Failed rolls can be attributed to changing circumstances and the interference of others, not just PC ineptitude.
4. Failed rolls still move the story forward as a narrative scapegoat or by introducting complications.
5. Complications are only introduced after everyone has declared their action. No stopping to change your mind or reconsider based on the previous PC's turn.
6. Actions must be brief. If the GM is going to remember everyone's actions and resolve them simultaneously, they must be succinct.

If two combatants would kill each other as the result of their rolls - who wins? It's entirely up to the GM but any of the following would be acceptable to me:

• Both combatants die
• The combatant with the higher roll wins
• The combatant with the better relevant stat wins
• The player gets the benefit over the monster/NPC

Set a Target Number for Every Roll

 

Hot take: As a Game Master you should be setting a target number for every roll of the dice.

No action should be so generic that your game system can tell you exactly what you need to roll. Be specific, even in individual attacks. Go ahead and reach for the called shot. This is a roleplaying game where you're supposed to be able to try anything. Take a risk!

If your system can tell you exactly what you need to roll - your actions must be pretty boring. If it can be resolved with "d20 + ability bonus + proficiency bonus vs armor class, please roll <insert target number> to succeed with your generic, flavorless attack" - well... you see the problem? I am sick of hearing "I take a swing" or "I shoot my bow" or "I use my action to <generic action> and then my 30 feet of movement to go 6 squares here and then my bonus action to <neat extra action I can do> blah blah yawn...".

Be specific. What weapon are you using? How are you attacking? Who and what are you aiming for? What are you trying to do? Chip away at a big bag of hit points? Barf. How about:

"I feint and bring down my long sword to cleave the hobgoblin's sword-arm from his shoulder!"

"I draw an arrow and step out from the pillar, loosing it at the beholder's eye to disable the anti-magic cone!"

"I telekinetically seize the flagstones beneath the giant's feet, pulling with all my magical strength to topple him backward into the chasm!"

"I rotate the ballista and aim, timing my shot at the weak spot on Smaug's underbelly as he passes over! Thrum goes the bolt!"

If you start playing this way - oh boy do things get exciting. Any player on any turn could change the entire game. Every player will start looking for the big move. They may get competitive - who gets the kill? This is some real Legolas vs Gimli shit.

Sure, the odds of any individual attempt should be poor - to do these great deeds you'll need an excellent die roll. But when you have a whole table of players scrambling to take these shots and be the hero? Someone is bound to succeed. Then they'll get clever. How can I set up my teammate to improve their chances? What can I do to allow her to only need roll a 15 instead of an 18? Now we're playing.

If your system can tell you exactly what to roll - you almost don't need a Game Master. The brilliance of RPGs is the capability of an impartial 3rd party to not just present a unique situation - videogames or choose your own adventure books can do that - but to weigh a unique situation and make a fair ruling on anything you might try within the agreed realm of possibility

You can try anything. You should. Take a risk and roll the die.

Stop Rolling for Failure

 

I'm currently experimenting with removing any kind of modifiers or bonuses from my game. The Game Master considers the situation, the PC's skills and relevant stats, and chooses a specific target number on the d20. If we maintain similar probabilities of success to 5E D&D, what this reveals is an awful lot of "rolling for failure". Since the early editions of D&D the d20 rolls required to hit after all bonuses are accounted for have been trending down.

Players prefer to succeed more often than fail, that's no surprise. But does that take some of the teeth out of the game? What if instead of telling players their foe's AC is 13, we accounted for their +9 to-hit and just told them "roll a 4". That sounds easier from their perspective, and the tension is immediately resolved as soon as the die stops. It's an instinctual reaction - no pausing for math. But is "roll a 4" exciting? That sounds more like "check for failure" than "roll to succeed".

Our modern system of AC vs. inflated bonuses masks this. It's satisfying to add a bonus and regularly succeed at target numbers well into the teens. But surely it gets tedious rolling for failure? Surely there's less tension on each die roll. Now, success is the norm and surprised disappointment is the cost of occasional failure. Is this really fun?

There's an element of gambler's excitement we're missing if the majority of rolls have a high probability of success. We should no longer "roll to not fail". Maybe that means if you attack a goblin you just roll damage. Maybe it simply dies. But damnit I want that rush excitement - if we're rolling dice it's because there's something at stake. You're going for the kill shot. You've stepped on the deadly trap. You're trying something creative and unlikely, something that your GM cannot allow to just happen unless the dice say "against all odds - it is so!"

Let's save the dice for those moments. Let's not roll dice unless there's less than a 50% chance of success. Let's stop rolling for failure.

What do you want to do?

 

The response to this is the PCs' statement of intention, and the scope roughly maps to tiers of goals.

In the next year? Campaign goal

In the next day/week/month? Adventure goal

In the next hour? Adventure strategy

In the next minute? Adventure move

In the next few seconds? Encounter/combat move

We spend most of our time in the last two categories. Perhaps we should spend more time - dedicated turns going around the table - asking what the players do over the next hour or day. This is a good way to conduct a strategic approach to a dungeon or heist location, an investigation or moving between scenes in an urban environment, or travel the wilderness. On the order of weeks or months we can conduct downtime training, researching, or building a stronghold and ensure everyone gets a chance to do something.