At the beginning of every battle, note every character participating in the battle, and mark down which side they are on, the players’ or their enemies’. Neither side can move to the other side’s part of the battlefield for the duration of combat.
During battle, each respective side may occupy two different places called rows. Each side of the battle may occupy either their own front row, which represents the front line of their formation, or their back row, Both sides of a battle can occupy either the front row or the back row of their respective side, but may not occupy the other side’s rows. At the beginning of the battle, each player chooses which row their character occupies, and the GM determines which rows their enemies and allies start on. Characters in the front row of their respective sides may be targeted by any kind of attack or ability, and may also make any kind of attack or use any kind of ability, while characters in the back row may not target enemies with any Melee abilities, and also cannot be targeted by enemy Melee abilities.
Once you have determined the starting location of every character on the battlefield, you must now determine the initiative order. The initiative order is the order in which each character acts during a round. The higher on the initiative order they are, the sooner they act. The act of determining the initiative order during combat is referred to as calling initiative. To call initiative, each player calls out a number between 1 and 8. The lower the number is, the more likely it is that the player will go first on a tie. The higher the number is, the more likely it is that the player will go last on a tie. Players who call out a 1 are guaranteed to go first on a tie.
Once all players have called their numbers, the GM rolls 2d4 and reads out the result. Players who called a number equal to the number that the GM rolled count as having an Initiative of 1.5x its base value for the rest of the battle. Players who called a number equal to or above the number the GM rolled will always go last on a tie with an enemy, while players who called a number below the number the GM rolled will always go first on a tie with an enemy.
Once Initiative has been called, compare the modified Initiative scores of all of the characters in the battle and rank them from lowest to highest. The order in which the characters will act every round starts with the character with the highest Initiative score for the battle and goes in order of descending Initiative until it ends with the character with the lowest Initiative score for the battle. Ties between player characters and their enemies are resolved based on the results of calling initiative, ties between player characters are resolved by player fiat, and ties between enemies are resolved by GM fiat.
The last step before the first round of a battle begins is the first paradigm phase. During the paradigm phase, each player should choose what job their character will occupy during the first round. They may choose to change this at the end of each subsequent round.
Under certain conditions as is commensurate with the plot or the progression of travel, such as when one side is ambushed at night, either the players or their enemies will have an extra turn at the beginning of a round called the First Strike. During the First Strike, the side that has the upper hand from a narrative perspective will be able to take a free turn before the players call initiative. The order in which characters act during the First Strike is determined by the players if they have the upper hand, and the GM if their enemies do. During the First Strike round, all characters on the side that has the upper hand have only 1 AP instead of their usual 2 or 3. During a battle where the players have the First Strike, the first Paradigm Phase triggers before the First Strike round commences, and the second Paradigm Phase occurs right before the beginning of the first round. Once the First Strike round is over, call initiative as normal.