ChaserCaffey
SOC-12
Okay, so we all love Traveller: TNE (for various values of "love"). But whether you like the GDW House System or find it an annoying obstacle to a great setting, there's one aspect of it that I've heard more complaints about than any other: the initiative system. Granted, it does set the cap for civillians lower than for those who have had military training, but it's still determined by a single, random roll during chargen which can transform your 3-term Special Ops veteran into an Init 1 slowpoke, while leaving the career Manager with Init 3.
I've seen several houserules for fixing this, and I'd like to invite opinions on them and hear what else people may have tried. In no particular order, they are:
1) Roll for Initiative every combat round by rolling a d10 (or d6) and adding it to the character's Agility. Advantages: Your character won't get stuck at the bottom of the order for his entire career. Disadvantages: More rolling, and it effectively eliminates the "military advantage", which many would argue is realistic. Also, it makes Agility, a stat some have argued is already overpowered, even more important to a combat character.
2) Roll up a character's Initiative during chargen as normal, but add a random factor to it every round. Potentially, add Agility to that as well. Advantages: Variability as above, and it preserves the advantage of military traning. Disadvantages: As for (1)
3) Give Initiative 3 to every character with a military career, 2 to those without. 1 is saved for Hivers and the like. Give +1 Initiative as normal for career paths. Advantages: Eliminates the "my commando has Initiative 1" syndrome. Disadvantages: Everybody with identical experience has identical initiative, and it is impossible for starting PCs to be as good as top-level NPCs regardless of their experience. Initiative is back to being static, which may be a feature or a bug depending on your view of it.
4) As above, but give out additional initiative awards for multiple tours in careers like spec ops. Advantages: As #3 above, and it's possible for some PCs to have the same Initiative as Elite NPCs. (Granted, it takes 12 years of service, including 8 in spec ops, but it's possible. Disadvantages: As above, and experienced special operators are all going to be inhumanly fast.
Credit where credit is due: #3 and #4 were taken from posters on the "Tell Me About Traveller:TNE" thread on rpg.net.
Comments?
I've seen several houserules for fixing this, and I'd like to invite opinions on them and hear what else people may have tried. In no particular order, they are:
1) Roll for Initiative every combat round by rolling a d10 (or d6) and adding it to the character's Agility. Advantages: Your character won't get stuck at the bottom of the order for his entire career. Disadvantages: More rolling, and it effectively eliminates the "military advantage", which many would argue is realistic. Also, it makes Agility, a stat some have argued is already overpowered, even more important to a combat character.
2) Roll up a character's Initiative during chargen as normal, but add a random factor to it every round. Potentially, add Agility to that as well. Advantages: Variability as above, and it preserves the advantage of military traning. Disadvantages: As for (1)
3) Give Initiative 3 to every character with a military career, 2 to those without. 1 is saved for Hivers and the like. Give +1 Initiative as normal for career paths. Advantages: Eliminates the "my commando has Initiative 1" syndrome. Disadvantages: Everybody with identical experience has identical initiative, and it is impossible for starting PCs to be as good as top-level NPCs regardless of their experience. Initiative is back to being static, which may be a feature or a bug depending on your view of it.
4) As above, but give out additional initiative awards for multiple tours in careers like spec ops. Advantages: As #3 above, and it's possible for some PCs to have the same Initiative as Elite NPCs. (Granted, it takes 12 years of service, including 8 in spec ops, but it's possible. Disadvantages: As above, and experienced special operators are all going to be inhumanly fast.
Credit where credit is due: #3 and #4 were taken from posters on the "Tell Me About Traveller:TNE" thread on rpg.net.
Comments?