A cap system is a mechanic or sub-system that’s designed to be used with many different roleplaying systems — either supplementing them or perhaps modifying them. (Not necessarily every RPG, though: It’s not unusual for a cap system to end up being fundamentally incompatible with some systems.) Dice of Destiny, a system for getting rich, non-binary information from dice pool resolution systems, is one example. The downtime system presented in the upcoming So You Want To Be a Game Master? is another.

This is a micro-cap system I’ve been experimenting with called miss-initiative, which is designed to replace the initiative system in your RPG of choice.

MISS-INITIATIVE

By default, at the beginning of combat, the PCs get to take their actions first. They can take their turns in whatever order they choose, but no PC can take a second turn until all of the PCs have taken their first turn.

If one of the PCs misses, however, this allows the GM to trigger one of the NPCs. Once the PCs’ turn is finished, one of the NPCs will take their turn for the round. (If all NPCs have already taken their turn for the current round, a miss has no effect.)  This is referred to as seizing initiative.

A miss is generally considered to be any missed attack roll or failed action check. This can generally be characterized as the character’s failure or screw-up offering an opportunity for the enemy.

SURPRISE

If surprise is achieved at the beginning of a fight, this overrides normal miss-initiative:

• If the PCs surprise the NPCs, then they do NOT lose initiative on their first miss. Only on the second miss are the NPCs able to seize initiative.
• If the NPCs surprise the PCs, then the NPCs have seized initiative. They take their actions until one of them misses, which allows the players to trigger one of the PCs.

After the end of the surprise round, combat continues normally (with the PCs going first, followed by NPCs, and with misses triggering NPCs).

VARIANT: SIDE-BASED MISS-INITIATIVE

Miss-initiative can be used with side-based initiative (in which a single initiative check is made for each side in the fight; e.g., using the highest initiative modifier on each side or a group initiative check or some similar method).

If the PCs win the initiative check, miss-initiative continues normally.

If the NPCs win the initiative check, however, then they have initiative and take their actions first, triggering PC turns when they miss.

An initiative check might be made once at the beginning or the fight or repeated for each round, representing the ebb and flow of the battle. (The GM might grant advantage, penalties, and so forth for each round’s initiative check based on the outcome of the previous round.)

VARIANT: THE MISS CASCADE

As a variant, when the NPCs seize initiative from the PCs, they retain initiative. In other words, NPCs continue taking actions, in whatever order the GM chooses, until one of the NPCs misses, which allows the PCs to seize initiative (and continue taking actions until they miss and allow the NPCs to seize initiative).

Remember that, regardless of which side currently holds initiative, everyone in the fight must take their turn before any character gets their next turn.