Combat: initiative in your inventory

When looking at alternatives and suggestions about initiative in OSR combat, I found an interesting article which suggested treating initiative as a "real" object - something to carry around, something that can even be stolen, or used as a threat ("I have the initiative, you better back down..."). In the same article, Patrick also suggested using questions as a tool for initiative - the more questions you ask, the more you know but at the price of potentially delayed action.
The article was called Physical Initiative and Query Initiative by Patrick Stuart.
You know how good is Patrick, and that post is good.

So I thought, why not to mix the two things, and simplify them into a single rule, using inventory as a tool for initiative?
This system assumes inventory in slots (like in LotFP) but counts pounds anymore, nowadays?
NOTE: this rule was not tested. It's just an idea...

The basic rule could be something like:
1- By default enemies have initiative 1 if slow, 4 if normal (humans/humanoids) and 8 if fast (animals and many monsters, own ground, advantage of surprise). Adjust a point or two as you see fit

2- Each character has an initiative score equal to the number of empty slots in their inventory. Zero empty slots is initiative 0 and each slot used above that (over encumbered) counts as going negative

3- Keep a piece of paper with the characters' initiative written on it, so you'll know which enemies act before, which in between characters, which after... Use this info also to tune the beginning of the encounter

4- At the beginning of the encounter, give information to players as their characters could perceive them
5- Each question asked, counts as using an empty slot, reducing initiative. If you want to act fast, you should declare it before others ask their questions
6- When an action is declared and performed (by characters or by enemies), the outcome of the action translates into "free" information


Some notes/examples:

1- Some examples of enemies with their initiative scores:
(one) 1: a status slowly animating, a large monster, monsters with very long limbs or long weapons which take an effort to swing, blobs, deformed creatures, most magical attacks which require a little formula or gesture to be cast...
(four) 4: this is the norm; a regular human or humanoid, a guard, a bandit, a soldier

(eight) 8: most animals, wilderness creatures and monsters. Try to picture them; if they have slender bodies, tendonds and muscles of predators, they have initiative 8. If they look like they might jump at you in an split second, before you could even raise your hands, initiative 8. If it looks like you won't even have the time to draw your sword, initiative 8.
Assign initiative 8 also to slower enemies when they have the advantage of being on their own ground, when they know the place better than the characters, when they are ready to engage, and if they are already at 8, raise it up to 10.
Same goes for enemies with the advantage of surprise (including raising initiative up to 10 if they are fast and have the advantage of surprise). Up to 12 for fast, and own ground, and surprise? I'd say yes.

2- The less you carry, the faster you are. If you are three slots over your quota, you are at initiative -3 (minus three).

3- Keep a piece of paper with the characters' initiative written on it, so you'll know which enemies act before, which in between characters, which after... Use this info also to tune the beginning of the encounter.

If they encounter a fast creature, the creature's attack might strike them before they can react (i.e. the creature has initiative 10 and the fastest character has initiative 7 - seven empty slots).

If they encounter something slower, you may say that they see an attack coming, with a little info. The more they ask questions (see the point below) before they declare their actions, the more there is a chance for the attack to land before they can make their own action or attack to stop it.

4- If the characters have enough time to size up their opponents, they might not need to ask questions. If they encounter a group of bandits in the wilderness, and have the time to spot them, they might already know a lot. How many are there, how tough they look, how are they armed.
But if the enemy has the advantage of surprise or they're just behind a corner and the two groups clash, you can give limited information. For example you could say things like "You stumble on a group of armed men behind the corner; there's a handful of them and you hear weapons and armors clanking", or even "Something nasty, fast and greenish slashes at your legs from the shadows behind you... you hear a slugghish noise and perceive a terrible smell".
The more the enemy has the advantage of surprise, the less information you give.

5- The less you think, the faster you are. Ask the players who wants to act right away, before knowing anything more than what you said at the beginning of the encounter. Those can act with their initiative with no penalties.
If players start to ask questions, each answer brings their initiative score down by one, as if they had a full slot in their inventory. Note that everyone listens to the answers, so everyone's score goes down.
If someone wants to avoid loosing any more points of initiative, they should declare their action.

6- When an enemy gets to act (high initiative score) or a player declares an action (usually an attack or counterattack), resolve it. The information which comes out of it, is for free. In other words, this is something that happens in combat, and those who act later will be able to see the outcome of this action as a sort of additional information.
A classic example could be: a monster with initiative 8, a character with 6, another with 5, another monster (same type but bigger, and slower) with initiative 3. The monster with initiative 8 attacks, and deals 2d8 damage bringing one character to almost 0 HP; it's fast, bloody, messy. The other character has a chance to act and you tell them.
It's their decision now; they may ask additional questions, but they can safely assume that the other monster is slower but even stronger... do they use their action to engage it? Or to run away? Do they ask questions looking for a vulnerable spot, at the risk of suffering the second monster's attack before they can do their own action?


An additional idea is to use the inventory slots to "carry" elements like those below. Each of those "things" will take away empty slots, thus making you to act after but in exchange for some different type of advantage:
- "quick draw" to ready your weapons fast
- "quick swap" to be able to swap weapons fast