A lot of games have the "initiative" function during combat where you determine people's order via a random roll with a modifier or just a "who has the highest mod". A conversation that started in the CURRENT PROJECTS thread got me thinking:

What is the best way to resolve this in PLAY BY POST games?

Is there an easier way?

A method I developed is this:

1. Everyone can post their turn on a first come first serve basis (great for play by post, bad for people who invested in beefing initiative)
   
2. Everyone still rolls initiative on their first post but gets a different bonus based on the roll.

The "bonus" I typically use is for d20 games where if your initiative beat someone else's, you can retroactively ignore the "Flat-footed" penalty most people suffer the first round against their attacks and gain the benefit of them being flat-footed against your attacks (for the first round only). In addition, if you beat someone else's initiative, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to all opposed attack rolls, saving throws, AC, ability checks and skill checks against them and their conjurations, summons and minions for that first round. This bonus increases by 1 for every 5 points you beat them by.

I'm sure other games may need alternate adjustments and I'm curious to hear what everyone has to say about resolving the initiative wait on a play by post game. How do you guys go about expediting it? I've heard of the GM just rolling for everyone at the beginning, but that still leaves you waiting on players to show up in the right order and often enough to play. What other methods do you all use?

I try to avoid using Initiative altogether in PbP games. Provided you let players know up front, and they're not importing a character from elsewhere (which I also avoid), I find players don't tend to miss it.

Just the action of rolling Initiative can add another day to the combat round by the time Mr GMT-10 and Mr GMT+8 have gone through the process, even if you devise a mechanic for incorporating Initiative advantage directly into the combat rolls.

However, I'm interested to see what people come up with.

 Well in 1PG there is no Initiative roll. Every time you attack some one you both roll Fight and the loser takes damage. So you are both attacking at the same exact time. But you still have to make sure every player posts/acts at least once before another player posts/acts again or he will hog the spotlight and some players will be left out completely and be pissed as a result. This Method can confuse the hell out of D&D players who are used  to everyone attacking on their turn only.

there really is no single way to deal with initiative and combat sequences in play by post.

So i try a few things to smooth over the bumps and potholes.


FIRST
I try not to plan encounters that require complex timing and or player coordination.
_{sadly this does sometime make things a little less satisfying/challenging for the group. However, combat is not the primary focus of my games.a frequent component of the story..and at times unavoidable...but not the focus.}

If that's not possible I have a short OOC discussion of the situation and what people want to try and do..

Second
I try to post a preliminary summary to the actions of the players and there is an issue where one layer isn't going to be able to achieve his desired action, or a critter/npc/baddie interrupts his actions. and then a final action post modified by changes to initial intent if possible.

Posting a list of default actions the players can take if they aren't able to accomplish their primary action due to unexpected developments seems to help in many cases. It reduces the time players set at the computer going...oh crap what do i do if x does Y and I cant do z...


Observations and pure opinion
As someone once said  "No plan survives contact with the enemy." this goes double for people in a role playing game where you are only able to perceive  very narrow low resolution view of the world contained in a paragraph or two of descriptions.

A players action is negated by the actions of  faster character it sometimes leads to confusion or someone losing an action. But than again this is part of the fog of war.



Suggested practices
 in PbP Players and GMS need to work out( and accept the need for ) scripted or autopilot responses ahead of time. I've been lucky enough to have very good players who give me alternate actions, and general response info. without prompting in many of my games.

But if you aren't that lucky. You can head off some issues by asking questions or discussing things OOC with the group. If you know ahead of time what a characters default reactions would be the GM can autopilot a character without stealing his thunder.... Of course they should be sure the players know that this could happen from time to time.

If you want to get ahead of the cure asking a few general questions may be very helpful. You can use this information in non critical encounters or dealing with a mob of squishies that is not of major importance to the story line. More critical, and dynamic situations should be handled the hard way..with the GM avoiding the autopilot button.

Such as..

I have seen Initiative used in multiple ways on PbP.

Most typically, I've seen it used normally with a single enemy initiative roll, to determine the subset of any players that get to go on the first round, before the enemy goes.  Then actions normally would be processed more or less as posted, alternating turns between the good guys and the bad guys.

I've also see it where initiative is rolled every round.  People declare their intentions to the GM and can include some contingencies in it, but the GM then summarizes the resultant action by having the individuals actions take place according to their initiative roll for that turn.  That actually makes initiative more and more important, as the higher rollers for the moment have a clearer picture of the situation at the time their action takes place.  Those with low Init, find things aren't quite the same as they started, and their actions sometimes have less strategic value, unless they guessed right.  This process also plays up the 'fog' of war type flavor, as things aren't quite as clear cut in their choices and exact knowledge.

I have seen games where strict normal Initiative was followed, and you had to wait to post until after the person before you posted, and then you post, then the person after you... etc.  From my experience, however, those games don't make it past the first combat, before at least one player is lost, which normally takes a while to find out... and that normally is just the first pin to fall.

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The idea of using the state of having a higher initiative to give you a bonus on your to hit, ac, or save was a concept I too had come up with, although I have never had a chance to implement it.  I am curious if you have had a chance to use something like that yet?

I worry making Init too much of a 'boost' and had considered having each time you 'leverage' a bonus, having it reduce your effective Init value by one for the remainder of the combat.  You might be able to define some sort of action that would allow the individual to re-roll their initiative if they want to reset it up, hopefully rolling higher than their current.  The value would take effect at the close of their turn.

It sounded, however, like you only allowed the bonus to be used in the first round, after that things were back to base-line?  Is that how you controlled it from being too important?

In reply to Arkrim (msg # 1):

I try to adhere to the rules of whichever game I am running whenever feasible. When running something homebrew, I am apt to use a rule which was devised for C.O.R.E.:  All actions unless otherwise noted take place simultaneously. The rule is supposed to streamline gameplay rather than simulate any particular effect, but it's actually surprising to me how frequently this rule works well. It turns out that initiative is simply not vital in most situations which occur at the table.

Regarding play by post games specifically, I like this:  Everyone can post their turn on a first come first serve basis (great for play by post, bad for people who invested in beefing initiative). I took an instant liking to this method when I read it. This rule turns one of the disadvantages of the medium into an advantage.