I hate Statement of Intent. It’s in the 2nd edition Runequest rules, and seeing it in a game I wanted to run was just depressing.
I guess I must have encountered it back in the day, but for sure did not carry it forward. From the late 80’s onward moving and attacking seemed to work out OK for my D&D (and Call of Cthulhu as well, Champions has its own excellent rules for when you move and attack) with me doing it all in Dex order. My players never complained. Ahh, the good old days.
My first modern experience with SOI was when Big Ben was trying it for his Evils D&D game. I don’t think it worked out so good. For one thing, it’s a time waster; yet another thing that makes you have to go around the table, person to person, and have them tell you what they are going to do that round. Then you have to go around again for everybody to actually move, attack, etc. But why it sucked in this particular case was that at least half the players forgot right away it was about saying your intent, and they would grab their miniature and move it. I did this too at least once. It just added to the time it took for task resolution, and caused confusion. Yeah, that’s all a game needs, more of that shit.
Getting rid of it in Runequest combat was the first thinh I wanted to do. It’s a friggin’ buzzkill to me. I don’t want to spend more time on combat. In RQ it takes long enough as it is. Luckily, the combat in the first session was restricted to fairly tight Humakt combat circles, so it did not matter very much. But for next game I gotta get it figured out.
I’m thinking individual initiative rolls might be in order for this. That way, each combat can be different, characters who went last could maybe go first next time, and there will be less bitching from the guy who goes first; in this case Andy, who when he has a fast character always wants to wait and see what everybody else is doing, requiring allowing him to change the order he goes in. With initiative rolled for each combat encounter, this can be eliminated. You just go when you are set to go. If you get the chance to act early in the combat, you gotta STFU and take it and hope next time you’ll get to be last and see what the hell everybody else is up to.
When we started the Knights of the Old Republic game, I chaffed at the thought of using it’s initiative rules. But you know what? I got to like them. It was clean, fairly easy, and it changed often. I might make me ditch Dex order entirely in my AD&D games. Anything that gets me the hell away from Statement of Intent. Faaaar away.
Still Out There, a Short Update
8 years ago
For our AD&D games, we use individual initiative (adjusted by DEX modifiers).
ReplyDeletePrior to rolling for initiative, every player has to declare what their action is.
It works really well for us, though it sounds like you wouldn't be a huge fan! We have a small group (three players), so the "declaration" phase hardly takes any time at all.
George: Yeah, for three I would not mind so much, but we typically have 5-6 players (and very occasionally 7). I would not mind at all doing it different ways depending on who all is present.
ReplyDeletei like SOI at least as much & probably more than gamish "your turn, my turn" pap. Still I have played both & both have their up & downsides. Confusion about how it works will only last a game or 2, it is no reason to dismiss it at all.
ReplyDeleteGenghis: Sure, it may have more to do with my own taste than a bad rule. But I am kind of fast and loose with decisions in combat. If a player is going to shoot an orc, but somebody kills that orc before him, I'm happy to let him shoot another target that same turn. I can't think of what SOI would be for other than to make players make a decision and stick with it. That doesn't matter so much for me.
ReplyDeleteYou know...I always thought that announcing actions prior to rolling initiative was basically for the spell casters. I never did any of that "loose a turn" if you changed targets, or -2 to hit if you have to change actions...or whatever it was.
ReplyDeleteBut ruining a spell by getting clobbered was certainly something that seemed tailored to that type of rule. Yet again, I'm very generous w/ how I run my game, and if it seems to break the "flow" of the game, or put a shiv in the story, then to hell w/ it.
I think it's WAY more important to maintain that momentum than to cleave so closely to some rule. Again though, that's me. And obviously the players have to agree to that as well. Some really like that bit of extra structure. Me? Not so much.
You know...I always thought that announcing actions prior to rolling initiative was basically for the spell casters. I never did any of that "loose a turn" if you changed targets, or -2 to hit if you have to change actions...or whatever it was.
ReplyDeleteBut ruining a spell by getting clobbered was certainly something that seemed tailored to that type of rule. Yet again, I'm very generous w/ how I run my game, and if it seems to break the "flow" of the game, or put a shiv in the story, then to hell w/ it.
I think it's WAY more important to maintain that momentum than to cleave so closely to some rule. Again though, that's me. And obviously the players have to agree to that as well. Some really like that bit of extra structure. Me? Not so much.
Gamer Dude: I can't believe that didn't come to mind. We totally used it for MU's spells back in the day. I haven't done that to them in forever, but it makes sense in a spellcasters case. They gotta state intent, cause they gotta get a component out, or whip out a scroll and open it, etc.
ReplyDelete