Delaying in combat (or holding your action)

[CaptainCoal]

I ran my first Godlike game last night, and most of it went really well. We did run across one issue that I wasn't sure how to handle.

I had two characters wanting to do two actions, one right after the other ("After he kicks down the door, I run inside!"). My first instinct was to say that the two actions are two separate rounds. Door Opener goes on Round 1, Runner Inside goes on Round 2. I had this thought because the actions in Godlike are very quick. It's not like some systems where you're regularly expecting to move, do an action, and so forth, all in one round. Generally, you do one very specific thing (shoot, move, dodge, etc.).

The reason I decided this way was that if you tried to "hold your action," you get into some weird stuff where what you roll isn't what you use. And since that runs counter to one of the strengths of ORE, I didn't want to do it.

Having researched it a little today, it looks like maybe I could use squishy dice (which I'd rather not do with players (and a GM) so new to the system). Alternately, it looks like the rules for two characters cooperating might support the idea of just using the slower persons roll as the "when it happens" part, with the combined totals being the "how it happens" part. Again, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with either of those.

Any thoughts?

CC

[Grendel_Prime]

Is there a reason the person entering has to roll?

I generally allow players to go at any time _after_ their rolled Width if they declare essentially an "if - then" action. Examples include "I wait for an enemy to pop his head up and cap him" (Roll for the attack and use that Width for the damage but the actual attack happens when the enemy pokes his head up) or "When Corporal Griffon starts to move I lay down suppression fire"

Its fairly rare that you have on action so contingent on another but it happens and I just adjust accordingly.

[CaptainCoal]

I guess I had him rolling just so I'd know where he fell in the initiative order. As it happens, the Germans inside weren't ready to fight back, so it didn't much matter.

I checked in Wild Talents and saw nothing related. I did check Reign, and the rule there is essentially as you describe (it happens whenever you say it happens, as long as it's AFTER what you rolled).

It works, but it loses some of the elegance of ORE. I think it also leads to a lot of "when he shows himself, I shoot him"... on both sides. I like the idea of the declaration phase there to let the better sensing characters (or those with a good Tactics roll) react to what happens, rather than just setting up conditions.

Thanks for the reply. I think what you describe is what we'll end up doing.

CC

[RTAllwin]

I have no rules quote to base this on, and it may have been a house rule, but I recall something like this:

If one persons action is dependent on another (as in, I run in after my buddy has opened the door; I shoot when the guy runs out of cover; I activate my Create Water power when Mr.Blaze sets fire to the car), you lose the dice in width that are above the action you are waiting for.

So if you roll a 5x3 but Mr.Blaze only rolls a 6x2, you can only use a 5x2 set for Create Water (or shooting, or running through the door dodging, or whatever...).

Basically, holding your action makes you lose momentum and you don't perform as well as you would have otherwise. On the other hand, if the action you are waiting for doesn't happen this round, I'd count the waiting as effectively 'aiming' for one turn, giving you an extra die on performing the action the next turn instead.