D&D (turn-based) combat: It's a Comic Book

I've had an epiphany. I'll come back to that.

Firstly, I'd like to take the opportunity to pass on a recommendation I once saw and was glad that I heeded - some ages ago, Monte Cook recommended "The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics" to DMs as a useful storytelling resource. I promptly picked up a copy, and was glad I did - there's a lot of useful material there that can easily adapted covering telling stories, structuring campaigns, building mini-series, and the like.

But, of course, the book itself isn't an RPG resource, and so it's largely left to the DM to drag out any lessons from it that he can find. Which is fair enough.

I've recently been thinking more about the topic of episodic campaigns, and especially structuring a game session like a TV show, and in particular I was thinking about the structure of combat within the session - and notably how in a TV show initiative would really represent the camera moving from character to character showing their time in the spotlight. Which all seems fairly sensible.

(It also has two consequences - firstly, it's better if initiative determines the order the PCs act in only, with the NPCs being associated with a given PC and acting at the same time - though the Big Bad/named NPCs may very well have their own individual turns also. Which also suggests that 4e's model that animal companions, et al, act instead of the PC is actually also the correct one. Secondly, it suggests that the 6-second combat round D&D uses is a mockery - it should be much more fluid than that.)

But that's where I came to my epiphany, which was that I was looking in the wrong place - D&D combat, and turn-based combat systems in general, are best viewed not as seen in a TV show or movie but rather as seen in a comic book (or a TV show or movie adapted from a comic book, which are near-relations). Each character's turn is therefore a panel in the comic, and each round is a single page... mostly.

I say mostly, because there are three broad exceptions to this rule. Many comic book fights are also depicted with three large two-page spreads showing the action: one at the start to establish the shot, one at the end to show the wrecked building at the end, and (less often) one at the end to show the team of heroes all starting together being badass.

So, following on from that, I think I'd suggest:

1. Each turn, rather than each round, is considered to be about 6 seconds long.
   
2. When it is your turn, you are the spotlight character. You get to take one action, with the definition of 'action' being "something that materially affects the state of combat. So punching a guy would be an action, singing an inspiring song is an action, but just standing around picking your nose would not.
   
3. In addition to your one action, you can move up to your speed and take a reasonable number of non-actions (that is, anything that doesn't materially affect the state of combat). So opening a door, or switching weapon, or similar are all effectively free.
   
4. You're also positively encouraged to have your character say something suitably badass on your turn. It's your turn in the spotlight, after all.
   
5. Also on your turn, any associated NPCs also take their actions. In particular, any associated bad guys get to attack you. And they get to do so even if your attack reduced them to 0 hit points. Your action and theirs are considered simultaneous, so tough luck. (The only exception to this is in a surprise or ambush situation. There's no such thing as being flat-footed here!)
   
6. When it's someone else's turn, you get to move up to your speed and take a small number of non-actions. Basically, anything that doesn't require the camera to swing back over to you is fair game. You're not allowed to "say something badass" - the camera isn't on you! Assuming you're not currently grappled or otherwise overwhelmed, you can freely assist the spotlight character, again provided the camera remains on that other character and your contribution is mostly incidental.
   
7. Two characters can act together to share the spotlight if it is appropriate to do so, provided neither has acted in the current round. No more than two characters can do this.
   
8. At the start of combat, at the end of combat, and every few rounds during combat, the DM should take the time to recap the situation, paying particular attention to whatever the various PCs were doing last. In addition, at the mid-points in combat this recap should also mark some sort of change to the parameters of the combat - maybe the terrain shifts, or one side gets reinforcements, or something of that sort.

Obviously, it's very much a work in progress. But I think I'm on to something here that could prove very promising...