Handoff initiative (also known by other names, see below) is a type of turn-based initiative system in which the player whose character has taken a turn chooses which character will take the next turn (i.e. they "hand off" the spotlight to that other character). Within a round, the player must choose a character who has not yet taken a turn; the last player to act in a round chooses who acts first in the next round, which may be themself.
Determining who acts first in this initiative system may come from fictional positioning, spending player resources, GM fiat, or another one-off type of initiative system (often one based on the characters' statistics or one that is purely random).
Handoff initiative in play[]
Handoff initiative allows players to chain actions together, both to enhance the narration (e.g. one character setting up another for an impressive teamwork move) and to take out enemies before they have a chance to act again.
Some game systems allow players to interrupt the flow of initiative by paying resources or metacurrency, which can mitigate the risk of long chains. However, in multi-round combat scenes, the key to controlling the flow of the scene is to have one side (usually the player characters or the GM) dictate both the first and last character to act in a round. The ability to do this depends on the number of characters in the scene; fights will be much easier for the players if there are more player characters than enemies, and harder if there are more enemies than player characters, an extension of the standard action economy.
Terminology[]
Handoff initiative first appeared in its current form in Marvel Heroic Roleplaying (2012), but it was given no specific name (referred to merely as "action order", another term for an initiative system).
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition had used a similar method of calculating initiative in 2009. In that system, now used in the Genesys and Star Wars systems, rolled initiative was used to determine PC and NPC 'slots' which could be freely allocated between the characters on each side.
Since at least 2018, Cam Banks (the lead designer of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying) has referred to this type of action order as handoff initiative[1], but it also has several other names.
One of the most common names is popcorn initiative, after the style of round-robin reading in schools called popcorn reading, which was popularised by The Angry GM after his group used it in a game of Pathfinder. However, this name was criticised immediately, even in the same blog post that publicised it,[2] and other game designers have proposed alternatives.[1][3]
Other common alternatives are elective action order (another descriptive term, as players "elect" characters to go next)[3] and Balsera initiative or Balsera style (after Leonard Balsera, the game designer who inspired the initiative system)[3].
Games that use handoff initiative[]
Although handoff initiative can often be used as a replacement system in most
- Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying (2009)
- Marvel Heroic Roleplaying (2012)
- Fate Condensed (2020)
- Courtly World[4]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cam Banks (2018-09-08). Re: "Popcorn-Initiative and a slight problem". r/RPGDesign at reddit. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
- ↑ Scott Rehm (2013-09-14). "Popcorn Initiative: A Great Way to Adjust D&D and Pathfinder Initiative with a Stupid Name". The Angry GM. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Fred Hicks (2012-02-24). "Accidentally Designing Marvel's Action Order System". Deadly Fredly. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
- ↑ @BlckCatBlckSky (2020-08-09). "Ended up using it anyways:". Retrieved 2020-08-10.