Rules clarification needed for alternate RIFTS init system

[Asta]

Recently I saw a youtube video of a Rifts game in which the GM had divided each PC and monster initiative rolls by their number of attacks/actions per round. He then marked everyones' attacks in order on a numbered matrix grid which represented one combat round. For example, a PC with 5 attacks/actions and an init of 20 would go on 20, 15, 10, 5 and 1. Claiming that this negates the need to reroll initiatives each round and that these numbers would stay the same for the whole battle, the GM ran the combat quite quickly and smoothly. Does anybody know more about this variant? I'm confused as to how this would work with odd numbered low init rolls such as 7 or 3.

Thanks!

[Glistam]

Probably round up or down in those cases.

[drewkitty ~..~]

Maybe post a link to the video you are talking about so others can see what you are talking about.[/suggestion]

[Dog_O_War]

Recently I saw a youtube video of a Rifts game in which the GM had divided each PC and monster initiative rolls by their number of attacks/actions per round. He then marked everyones' attacks in order on a numbered matrix grid which represented one combat round. For example, a PC with 5 attacks/actions and an init of 20 would go on 20, 15, 10, 5 and 1. Claiming that this negates the need to reroll initiatives each round and that these numbers would stay the same for the whole battle, the GM ran the combat quite quickly and smoothly. Does anybody know more about this variant? I'm confused as to how this would work with odd numbered low init rolls such as 7 or 3.

Thanks!

That method does not work for Rifts in any real expedited manner, and the claim that it "negates the need to re-roll initiatives" is deceptive.

First you would need to set up a matrix or do math each and every time you rolled for initiative, depending on the roll and your number of attacks. The example of "5 attacks and a 20 initiative" is a skewed example due to the simplicity; had he chosen something like 5 attacks and a 14 or less initiative, and all of a sudden he's running into difficulty trying to stay in positive numbers. And the matrix itself? Say you had 5 attacks, and a +2 initiative; that leaves a range of 2 through 22, or 21 possible outcomes. It is not simple, and that is just accounting for one attack and one bonus to initiative, not including situational modifiers.

Additionally, you do not "need" to re-roll your initiative each round; if you kept it the same, you run into no problems, which makes the claim itself a false one. You can think of it as simply rolling the same number each and every round.

Simply put, this is not a good method, and I would rather use the round-robin the game currently uses over it. As you're new here, I'll fill you in; I personally think the rules for Rifts are garbage; terrible; bad. So for me to prefer them over the above method is saying something. I don't use either method, but I would use the garbage-method Rifts has before the above-method you're asking about.

[Zer0 Kay]

What makes you think you have to reroll each turn? Kevin doesn't, apparently after init, there are only a few things that can reorg it, like failing HF or being knocked down. The Rifts GMG didn't give rules for holding actions to choose a LATER time you want to go.

I've always used a matrix though. Segmented into the 15 seconds of a melee.
Which segment you can go on is determined by your attks/melee and they are the same for everyone with the same number of attacks.
Each character has a combat readiness stat that is the average of all of their stats except PB.
Add a D20 highest goes first in the first segment which everyone has a turn in AFTER the first segment all actions are simultaneous.
A dodge can't be attempted unless a previous action was held in reserve.
Actions may be held from one turn to another, they do not "expire" at the end of a turn.
A held action may be used for aimed and called shots, power punches and other tasks that require multiple actions to complete. Normally when you do an aimed shot you hold one action and then shoot on the next. This is the same thing except it need not be two consecutive actions.
If you have more than 15 attks/melee they are held in reserve and can be used the same as a held action
A held action or reserve action does not allow for multiple attacks in the same segment. The only way for that are specific attacks that do such like MuThai Kick Boxing's lightning attack.

There is other stuff but I'm doing this from memory, so some of it may be wrong too.

[Nekira Sudacne]

Recently I saw a youtube video of a Rifts game in which the GM had divided each PC and monster initiative rolls by their number of attacks/actions per round. He then marked everyones' attacks in order on a numbered matrix grid which represented one combat round. For example, a PC with 5 attacks/actions and an init of 20 would go on 20, 15, 10, 5 and 1. Claiming that this negates the need to reroll initiatives each round and that these numbers would stay the same for the whole battle, the GM ran the combat quite quickly and smoothly. Does anybody know more about this variant? I'm confused as to how this would work with odd numbered low init rolls such as 7 or 3.

Thanks!

that's just some weird house rule he had, and isn't a well known or accepted variant. also, that sounds more complicated than most.

[infernocanuck]

It's been a little while since the original post, but as the DM of that Youtube campaign, I thought I'd offer some clarification:

Yes, on an odd number, you just round up.
Much of the combat examples explicitly state re-rolling initiative after the melee round is completed, hense my "refocus" house rule to prevent that

Finally, Yes, it is more complicated. In fact, last month we simplified this whole initiative thing, and still used a spreadsheet to keep track of used and unused attacks per melee. Much much much closer to the original rules, and much more streamlined. As an example: https://youtu.be/Wro9Qjrir1Y?list=PLe8f ... V4s&t=1095