The Order of Combat

When a scene turns into a combat encounter, the narrative slows down to a turn-by-turn style game, to make it easier to arbitrate exactly what is happening in the chaos of battle.

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Initiative. Each creature has an initiative score, which is normally equal to the their Speed (some abilities and conditions might change a creature's initiative without changing their Speed).

During combat, creatures with the highest initiative act first. In the case of a tie between allies, the allies decide among themselves who goes first. In the case of a tie between the players and the Plot Twister, the players go first.

After all creatures of a given initiative have taken a turn, the creatures with the next highest initiative get to take a turn, and so on until all creatures have taken a turn. When all creatures have taken a turn, the round ends and a new round starts back at the top of the initiative order.

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Loadout. At the start of each of your turns in combat, you decide what objects are in each of your hands. You cannot change this choice until the start of your next turn.

Each weapon or object typically takes one hand. So if you use a two-handed weapon, you cannot throw a grenade, drive a vehicle, pull a lever or use a healing salve in the same round, for example.

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Surprise! At the start of combat, if at least one of the participants would be surprised that combat started, for example in an ambush situation, or if someone suddenly pulls a gun in the middle of a conversation that wasn't especially hostile, the Plot Twister can decide that the creature is surprised.

A surprised creature cannot change its loadout at the start of its next turn. This means, if the creature didn't already have a weapon in hand for example, it won't be able to make any attack other than unarmed strikes on its first turn.

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Talking during combat. Your character can taunt enemies, give simple orders, or ask a question during combat without having to spend any AP. However, if you speak more than just a few words, your Plot Twister can give you a warning to keep the game running. After receiving a first warning, each warning you receive during this combat encounter will cost you 5 AP (if you receive a warning while it is not your turn, those AP are taken from your next turn instead).