Initiative

...and Other Unnecessary Rolls
"Roll for initiative!" How many tense and exciting moments at the gaming table have started out with that referee announcement? The LBBs I am so very fond of don't actually spell out how to do initiative. The combat system from the Chainmail man-to-man system on which the fantasy supplement is based doesn't either. The basic mass combat rules state that a die roll determines which side acts first. This is the basis of the roll a d6 per side to determine who goes first in a combat round. It could be high score or low score. Ties could result in simultaneous attacks. As the game progresses through its subsequent editions, the initiative die becomes a d10 and finally a d20 with a complex initiative order often the result. Players wait their turn and hopefully think about what actions they wish their character to attempt so as to be ready when their turn arrives. I find this slows my game down and for me personally, that is not how I want to referee combat. I want to keep the melee fast and exciting. "You go, they go, repeat!"
Over the decades I have refereed combat using a number of different methods. I have experimented and borrowed ideas from players, other referees and from authors who write about such things. (Allowing higher level/HD beings to act first.) I keep returning to the thought that what makes White Box combat so great is how quick it is, how it is incremental in hit point loss therefore allowing players to judge how well their characters are doing and when it is time to run, and finally how abstract it is allowing for imaginative interpretation of the dice rolls. "Quick" is the most important characteristic.
Quick combat adds to the excitement and sense of chaos I find feels right when involved in a melee. I can "see" the cuts and parries, the jockeying for position, the pushing and shoving, and bleeding that occurs as creatures struggle in a life and death , hack and slash free-for-all, all happening in a split second in my mind's eye. Quick feels right. It feels real. And it allows for lots of exploration and role-play during an average session because fights don't take hours.
Some editions have attempted to account for weapon speed and length while determining who strikes first in a combat. While this makes intuitive sense, it can also slow the game. As referee I will occasionally state that one side or the other gets first strike due to situational factors such as presenting a wall of spears. At other times I will describe a monster as having the character in its tentacles and therefore only a dagger can be used by the character being held in such a manner. This is primarily to add to the feeling of realism and to help "paint a mental picture" of what is transpiring in our collective "theater of the mind".
As referee I try to keep dice rolling to a minimum. I do not favor rolling to spot something, or rolling to jump or climb or swim. Saving throws are used to avoid nasty consequences and I tend to use them if and when the player describes a risky action that looks to me like it may well end in disaster/ damage. In combat I usually say, "The creatures move to attack. What do you do?" rather than, "Roll for initiative." Unless surprised, I usually allow the players to roll first out of courtesy. Roll your attacks, roll for damage. Roll any saving throws. New turn. If the fight looks hopeless for the baddies rather than letting it turn into a boring thing, intelligent creatures will "run away" or surrender. "What do you do, adventurers?"
When a melee is over, I hope my players breath a sigh of relief. I hope they feel like they have just experienced some high energy excitement and a bit of danger (for their characters). I want them to reflect momentarily on what just happened and for me that is where the story happens in role-playing. After the action, what goes through the players' minds? What comments do they make regarding what just happened to each other?
There are a lot of ways to play White Box - that's one of its strengths in my opinion. If players want more detail and slower mechanics and to roll for searching the bedroom and for their character to persuade the merchant to give them a deal on that new sword, it's certainly no problem to play that way. I prefer to keep the dice rolling to a minimum and to handle as much as possible through dialogue. White Box is a conversation game the way I run it. The dice are dangerous, unpredictable and rolling them can lead to taking character damage. Teach your players to avoid them if possible and it can make combat even more exciting. There has to be a little "danger" in risk-taking in order to make it exciting.