____                 _ _      _      _        _   _                 
|  _ \ __ _ _ __ __ _| | | ___| |    / \   ___| |_(_) ___  _ __  ___ 
| |_) / _` | '__/ _` | | |/ _ \ |   / _ \ / __| __| |/ _ \| '_ \/ __|
|  __/ (_| | | | (_| | | |  __/ |  / ___ \ (__| |_| | (_) | | | \__ \
|_|   \__,_|_|  \__,_|_|_|\___|_| /_/   \_\___|\__|_|\___/|_| |_|___/
                                                                     

Parallel actions speed up resolution in a way nothing else ever could.

Look at how the table acts, focussing for a disturbing moment on the players, rather than characters.

Standard One-at-a-Time Initiative

The GM calls for initiative:

1. Alice, Bob, Charlie, Drake, and Emily roll Initiative.

• The GM either adopts a new initiative system (we now have two!) or rolls ten dice and records every single one.

2. Brief intermission while people sort who goes first

3. Drake attacks a bandit.

4. Drake rolls Damage.

5. Alice attacks a bandit.

6. Alice rolls Damage.

7. Charlie attacks a bandit (miss).

8. A bandit attacks Charlie.

9. GM rolls Damage.

10. A bandit attacks Alice (miss).

11. A bandit attacks Alice.

12. GM rolls Damage.

13. A bandit attacks Drake (miss).

14. GM rolls Damage.

15. A bandit attacks Charlie (miss).

16. Bob attacks a bandits.

17. Bob rolls Damage.

18. A bandit attacks Bob (miss).

19. Emily attacks a bandit (miss).

20. A bandit attacks Bob (miss).

21. A bandit attacks Drake (miss).

In engineering, this is referred to as a ‘complete shitshow’. We’re clearly going to die before reaching the end of this combat.

21. Bob has a second attack -

No!

Parallel Actions

But first…

Removing Initiative

Instead of picturing ‘attacks’ like a bunch of Final Fantasy characters, running to the enemy’s court to score hit-points, we can picture attacks as two people trying to hit each other, without getting hit. The player adds their PCs ‘to-hit’ score, and the NPC subtracts their ‘to-hit’ score.

• If the player wins, their PC deals Damage.
• If the player loses the roll, the NPC deals Damage.

Characters do not have a ‘defence’ score - everyone defends by attacking.

Now, finally, we are ready for…

Parallel Combat

The bandits have a score of 12. Go!

Each player rolls for two bandits attacking their PC:

Alice Rolls | Bob rolls   | Charlie Rolls | Drake Rolls | Emily Rolls
------------|-------------|---------------|-------------|-------------
Hit         | Miss        | Hit           | Hit         | Hit        
Damage roll | Damage roll | Damage roll   | Damage roll | Damage roll
Miss        | Miss        | Hit           | Miss        | Hit        
Damage roll | Damage roll | Damage roll   | Damage roll | Damage roll

As players roll, they shout their results, and either deals Damage (which the GM records) or the GM rolls Damage (which the player records). So this system isn’t perfectly parallel, but it works out as being very close. With four rolls at the same time we have resolved 10 actions.

How it feels is all that matters.

Standard One-at-a-Time Initiative

Switching to Alice’s perspective, the standard system looks like this:

1. Roll initiative.

• GM faffs with dice.

2. GM asks Alice what her initiative score was.

3. People roll dice.

4. People roll dice.

5. Alice attacks a bandit.

6. Alice rolls Damage.

7. People roll dice.

8. People roll dice.

9. Scrolling Instagram.

10. A bandit attacks Alice (miss).

11. A bandit attacks Alice.

12. Alice records 8 Damage.

13. Back to Instagram…

14. Look at that cute puppy.

15. More news on the genocide…

16. Why are we still doing genocides?

17. I can’t believe this orange cat!

18. Are orange cats really stupid?

19. Google’s AI answer is the top result.

20. It looks legit but, wait, do I need to roll something?

21. No, false alarm. Are we winning?

Parallel Actions

Conversely, Alice barely stops acting in the new system.

Alice Rolls   
---------------
Hit           
Damage roll   
Miss          
Receive Damage