The Rancor Pit Forum Index
Welcome to The Rancor Pit forums!

The Rancor Pit Forum Index
FAQ   ::   Search   ::   Memberlist   ::   Usergroups   ::   Register   ::   Profile   ::   Log in to check your private messages   ::   Log in

First Edition Inititaive Example
Post new topic   Reply to topic    The Rancor Pit Forum Index -> First Edition and IAG -> First Edition Inititaive Example
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Wajeb Deb Kaadeb
Commodore
Commodore


Joined: 07 Apr 2017
Posts: 1448

PostPosted: Sun Jun 04, 2017 10:08 pm    Post subject: First Edition Inititaive Example Reply with quote

FIRST EDITION INITIATIVE

Notice how initiative is not always needed, and how the story flows like watching a Star Wars films. It's more of an action story, with the GM describing to you what is up on the screen, than it is a normal roleplaying game as is 2E, where initiative is rolled every round.

Detailed Example to follow.





garhkal wrote:
So how do you know how many actions you are going to take??


1E does use a Declaration Phase.

The GM sets the scene by describing what the characters see.

Each PC tells the GM what he's going to do (how many actions).

The GM then plays out each segement but allows the character's rolls at whatever he is doing act as the initiative roll.







Simple Example.

(Situation) Roark Garnet is on Ord Mantell. He's a wanted man. There are stormtroopers around every corner. Roark walks quickly, but falls in behind other pedestrians. The hood of his cloak is pulled over his head. He's got to make it back to the hanger to get to his ship and get the hell off this planet.





Round 1

Game Master (situation): You've almost made it to the docking bay. You've come up a narrow alley. There's a large vehicle street between you and the docking bay entrance. Outside the door that you've got to get through, is a single stormtrooper.

Player (declaration): I've got to get close to that trooper. I'm going to secure the hood over my head and make my way across the street. I'll angle for the trooper, but not go directly for him. I don' want him to notice me.

GM (Segment 1): Behind the screen, the GM rolls the stormtrooper's Search, which isn't improved, so he rolls PER 2D. The GM figures that any stormtrooper will be quite wary of anybody coming up close to him, regardless of who they are. Given the positions, it's a Very Easy 5+ roll.

But, the Player has indicated that he's trying to approach the guy as covertly as he can. So, the GM will have him roll his Hide skill. He rolls 3D and gets a total of 12.

In this situation, the Hide roll acts like a Reaction Skill (but that is the only declared action this round for the character). So, the total for the trooper to notice Roark's approach is 5 + 12 = 17.

But, the character is plainly out in the open. The GM gives the trooper a bonus based on the situation. If Roark were in Heavy Cover, then the trooper would suffer a +5 penalty against Roark. So, the GM just turns this around. Instead of giving the trooper a penalty, he gives the stormtrooper a +5 modifier to notice anyone coming up to him. So, he throws 2D +5 looking for 17 or better.

The trooper rolls 5 + 5 = 10. The trooper fails to notice. This roll is behind the GM screen. The player has to wait for the situation update in the next round to find out what happened (I do this a lot--rolling behind the screen--to keep the drama high. Players wait with baited breath to see if they made whatever they attempted.)

Note: I made this round to show that an Initiative roll is not always needed. In 2E, you always roll initiative. In 1E, many times (as shown here), you don't even need to bother with the roll!







Round 2

GM (situation): With a tug pulling the hood firmly over your head, you step out of the alley. Beings walk by. There is traffic on the street. The trooper is casually scanning the roadway and your side of the street, but his stance tells you that he is not alerted. He's probably bored.

You see your moment in the traffic. Off the curb you go. There's a slow droid in front of you, but you swing around him.

Your head is cocked to your left. You don't let the trooper out of your sight. Sweat starts to run down the side of your cheek.

(Dramatically - pull your players into the movie!) You reach the middle of the road--the median. A bunch of beings are clumped there. You stand, waiting to make it across the other side of the road. Is that trooper looking at you? He's definitely looking this way. It's hard to tell in those white skull masks.

Beings start to move. Three short, blue furred squibbs run by you on your right. One of them bumps you and never says a word. You can smell their hairy stink.

You're in the roadway now, and that trooper seems to be tracking you. His demeanor hasn't changed, but his head is turning. Is it you? Or maybe the fast moving squibbs caught his attention this way?

As you step on the curb of the far side of the road, your direct line of sight with the trooper is blocked. I huge Herglic steps up from your left. You can't see around him.

You slow your pace, just to get a glimpse. Yes! The trooper is looking away now, to his right, down the far roadway.

This is it! You step behind the Herglic again, then to the huge hulk's right. You use the Herglic as "cover" to get up to the trooper.

Then, you're between the Herglic and the wall, right up on the trooper.

What do you want to do?



P: (declaration) I did it? I did it! Man, I was sweating it!

OK, I'm right up on him? Yeah, that's it. I'm going to chop him as hard as I can right in the windpipe, between his helm and armor. I want to knock this guy out.



GM: You've set up an ambush, and so you get a Surprise Segment. The Trooper cannot dodge this blow, so give it all you got.

P: (Revised Declaration) In that case, I'm going to hit the guy three times. (The player is revising his declaration, which is OK, as long as the first action segment hasn't started).



GM (Surprise Segment): Roark has Brawling 4D, which is reduced to 2D due to the multiple actions.

Surprise Segment Attack: Brawling 2D getting an 4. Difficulty for Hand attacks is 5+.



GM (Segment 2 - Situation): The trooper turns suddenly towards you just as you swing! Your quick movement startled him! You've got both your hands locked together, and you swing with all your might! But, you connect with the side of the trooper's helmet, about where his ear will be. SLAM! Your hands slap against the polymer and bounce off!

Note: I will sometimes describe a miss as a hit with no damage as, in this situation, I find it hard for a person to miss a blow when he's standing right next to his target. Roark hit, as I describe it, even though the dice attack says he missed. It's just that Roarks didn't damage his target.

GM (Declaration for the Trooper--this is segment 1 for him): The trooper, his blaster rifle already in his hands, uses it like a bar and slams it up toward your face!

P (Reaction): I desperately need to parry! But, that will reduce my attacks to 1D. I've got to damage this guy, or he's got me. I'm going to risk it and not parry. Instead, I'll just have to hope I take him out with my second blow first! I'm going to grab his shoulder and shove down while I'm kneeing him in the abdomen!

Brawling is reduced to 2D. I need 5+ to hit. Roll: 6!



NOTE: 1E INITIATIVE: Here we have our first initiative situation. The Trooper has his hands on each side of his blaster rifle, and using it like a club (which is the damage I will use if he hits), he's slamming his attacker in the face!

Note how it doesn't matter who rolls first.



GM: Again, behind the screen, the GM rolls the Troopers attack. The trooper has Brawling 3D, and he's only doing the one action. So, we throw the full 3D, trying to roll higher than Roark's attack of 6.

Roll 3D: 10!



INITIATIVE RESULTS: So, what happened? The trooper was able to shove his rifle into his attacker's face before Roark struck.

This means that Roark's attack was aborted as he was attempting it. The trooper struck first, and any hit that is successful automatically stuns the target or worse.

Behind the screen, the GM rolls damage. Club damage is STR + 1D. That's 3D damage. 3D: 10 (again!)

Out in the open, the player rolls Roark's defense, which is his STR 3D. 3D: 7.

This means Roark takes a Wound to the face. And, he loses his actions for the rest of the round.


Last edited by Wajeb Deb Kaadeb on Tue Jun 06, 2017 6:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Wajeb Deb Kaadeb
Commodore
Commodore


Joined: 07 Apr 2017
Posts: 1448

PostPosted: Sun Jun 04, 2017 10:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ROUND 3.

GM (Situation): You move in to knee the trooper in the gut, but he's too fast for you. You didn't even see it coming. The guy is highly trained, and he moved like a cat!

He had something in his hands--what was it? You're too groggy to think! All you saw was this piece of black pipe that the trooper used to shove into your face! Did he break your cheekbone? Your head went backwards. Your body went limp. Fire broke out on your face!

You went down.

And now, you're on your back, coughing, blinking your watering eyes. You've got blood free flowing out of your nose.

The trooper shouldered his weapon and stands astride your feet, blaster rifle at the ready, pointing directly at you, point blank range.

As you blink and cough and hurt, you suck in air to breath through your mouth because your nose isn't working.

And, you hear his mechanical voice say, "(click)Stay down! Don't move!(click)"

What do you want to do?





P (Declaration): He's straddling me? I'm going to kick up, with all my might, right in his manhood!

GM (Declaration): He fires. Twice.

P (Reaction): I'll roll out of the way and Dodge that fire!



NOTE: No initiative needed here. The trooper is firing, -1D for two actions, and +5 for a prone target.

Roark is Dodging, rolling out of the way, rolling his full 4D+1 Dodge. But, he's wounded, so he has a -1D. He rolls 3D +1: a total of 5! (I really rolled that! 1, 2, 1 + 1 = 5! Wow!)

So, the trooper needs a total of 10+ to hit. Trooper has Blaster 3D, -1D for multi-actions, +5 for prone. Rolls 2D +5. 13!



GM (Segment 2 - Situation): Let's figure damage. The rifle does 5D damage. Roark throw STR 3D.

Rifle 5D: 24! Wow! This trooper is on fire! (I've been rolling real dice--it makes it interesting for me to write this as I don't know what the outcome will be).

P: I've got to blow my Force Point! I should have used it on the Dodge!

Roark 6D: 18.

That means, even with the Force Point, that Roark takes another Wound. This means that Roark is Incapacitated.

The Force Was Not With Him. (And, Roark should have used the Force Point on the Dodge, ensuring that he wouldn't get hit. This shows the perils of waiting too long to use your FP.)



GM: You start to move, but you're hurt. You can barely see! You're much slower than what was in your mind.

As soon as you twitch, the stormtrooper fires. The bright fire erupting from his weapon burn your retinas. You made about a quarter flip when the bolt caught you in the right arm. It blew a hole through your jacket and shirt and tore out a large chunk of your bicep.

Your entire body lurched, like you had been stabbed with electricity.

Then, the lights went out.

Good night, Martha!

The trooper kicks you in the back, a blow that flops you on your face in the gutter. "(click)This is TC1875 at Docking Bay 12. I've got a pick up. It's probably that Rebel scum that hit the alert this morning. Come get him before he bleeds to death all over the walk way,(click)" says the trooper, but you don't hear it.



Note: In that entire combat, Initiative was not used at every instance. It was only used when needed.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Lord Zash
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant


Joined: 01 Mar 2016
Posts: 54

PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 2:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi!

finally I am using in my campaign 1st Edition as written (with its initiative system). It's taken me a while and reading some examples but tried it yesterday with my players and we all understood it and enjoyed it.

SORRY I'M RESURRECTING A POST FROM 2017!
But just wanted to say thanks to this forum and all these examples as they've helped me understand 1st edition as written. It's hard to figure it all out just by reading it but then I took it to the table with players and it's much simpler than what I thought. I was overthinking it.



So I was reading through your example Wajeb and in your final post (ROUND 3) when the trooper is standing by your PC (who is on the floor trying to dodge the troopers fire) can I ask you why did you add +5 positive modifier to the stormtrooper shot because of the prone?

As I understand shouldn't it be like this for the trooper?:
Difficulty: 5 (point blank) + your PC's dodge (which was 5) so 10 in total for that shot.


I thought prone makes it harder to hit (+5 difficulty to the firer) unless the firer is at point blank range in which case the modifier doesn't apply
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Zulgyan
Lieutenant
Lieutenant


Joined: 09 May 2017
Posts: 96

PostPosted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 8:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Examples of initiative play usually just portray 1 PC, when in reality you usually have five or six of them to manage, making matters much more complicated.

Anyway, after further playing 1E, I have finally embraced it's initiative system. But I am applying the system not like a rule but rather like a principle, which can have exceptions and nuanced rulings if they better serve the game experience.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Chaosmeister
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant


Joined: 24 Jul 2018
Posts: 57
Location: www.chaosmeistergames.com

PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 2020 2:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I realize really old Post but I found this example very helpful. I still can't quite wrap my head around it. If I understand this right I "waste" a lot of time rolling and declaring things that will never happen because a player or NPC is shot and stunned. Is that correct?
_________________
Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Director of Engineering


Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16163
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 2020 2:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Chaosmeister wrote:
I realize really old Post but I found this example very helpful.
No need to apologize for thread necromancy; it's quite welcome, actually, and far preferable to having a dozen threads all pursuing the same theme because the OP couldn't be bothered to do a cursory Search.

Quote:
I still can't quite wrap my head around it. If I understand this right I "waste" a lot of time rolling and declaring things that will never happen because a player or NPC is shot and stunned. Is that correct?

Correct. You've basically gotta pick your poison; either use this method and make multiple dice rolls that end up being discarded because of actions being interrupted, or get a similar number of rolls when determining initiative the 2E method.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Chaosmeister
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant


Joined: 24 Jul 2018
Posts: 57
Location: www.chaosmeistergames.com

PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 2020 3:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks. I dislike "wasted" rolls so will have to see if I can jiggle an initiative compromise. Thanks!
_________________
Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Director of Engineering


Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16163
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 2020 4:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Chaosmeister wrote:
Thanks. I dislike "wasted" rolls so will have to see if I can jiggle an initiative compromise. Thanks!

See if you can find a copy of the Rules Companion for 1E. It’s something of a 1.5E, and there are some conceptual dead-ends, but it’s a decent resource.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)


Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10286
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy

PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 3:08 am    Post subject: A brief history of the combat round sequences Reply with quote

Chaosmeister wrote:
Thanks. I dislike "wasted" rolls so will have to see if I can jiggle an initiative compromise. Thanks!

Here is a brief history of the combat round sequences:

1e core
Decision Segment
Declaration Segment
First Action Segment
Second Action Segment
Subsequent Action Segments

1eRU
1. Declare Actions.
2. Declare Reactions Skills.
3. Roll Reactions Skills.
4. Roll Actions.
5. Calculate Damage.

1eRC
1. Declare Actions and Full Reaction Skills.
2. Declare Combat Reaction Skills.
3. Roll Actions and Reactions in Order of Haste.
4. Calculate Damage as Hits Hit.

original 2e
1. Initiative
2. Declaration
3. Rolling Defensive Skills
4. Rolling Actions

2eR&E
1. Initiative
2. Roll Actions

IAG
1. Players Take Their Actions.
2. GM Takes Actions for the Enemy.


I find the last two to be the simplest, so 1e is not simpler than 2e in every way. And the combat round is essential to the game.
_________________
*
Site Map
Forum Guidelines
Registration/Log-In Help
The Rancor Pit Library
Star Wars D6 Damage
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Chaosmeister
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant


Joined: 24 Jul 2018
Posts: 57
Location: www.chaosmeistergames.com

PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

IAG is indeed super simple, thanks.
_________________
Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    The Rancor Pit Forum Index -> First Edition and IAG All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group


v2.0