I'm a bit worried about the ACKS initiative system.
The way it works is that every turn you roll initiative for every adventurer, every single monster and/or group of identical monsters. It's 1d6+Dex Bonus+Class Bonus. Then, you count down from highest number to lowest.
WHY IT'S WORRISOME
It seems to me that it could be quite a chore, especially since Henchmen would have to be rolled separately from PC's. You would have to keep some note of it and perhaps keep it visible. Individual Initiative each round works well in Savage Worlds, since the cards are clearly visible. Individual rolled initiative works in 3.0, because you don't re-roll every turn, you just keep cycling. This system doesn't have either virtue. Rolled initiative every time works in AD&D 1e, because you roll for the entire side/team and not for each individual. The ACKS system takes the slowest clunkiest feature of each of these other initiative systems without their corresponding benefits.
WHY IT ISN'T EASY TO CHANGE:
The problem is that certain classes get initiative bonuses as one of their class powers, and if you change the rules, you've nerfed an advantage of those classes. More importantly, the individual rolled initiative is tied up with the rules for spell casting, interrupting spell casting, and the mechanism for withdrawing from combat. If you change the baseline rules, you wreck havoc across these other rules as well. You also spoil some of the Proficiencies.
I had an idea. You roll a d6 for group of monsters and the players. Then each individual just adds their bonuses to the base die roll, and go with that (possibly modified by somebody with the military strategy proficiency, if that person is the declared leader of the group). You can still declare actions like spell casting or retreating in combat before the dice are rolled, too.
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