Guardians of the Galaxy as a Game of D&D

One of the things I noticed on my first re-watch of Guardians of the Galaxy was the way combat was paced. There was something very familiar about the way characters came in and out of focus as the fight went on, and I realized it was because they were following something very similar to an initiative order.

I expect that most of the people I know will understand when I say 'roll for initiative,' because most of the people I know are giant dorks. But for those who haven't had the joy of playing role-playing games, 'initiative' is a funny way of saying 'turn order' that we stole from... fencing, I think? You have the initiative when you're the one dictating the pace of the action, when it's your turn. At the beginning of a combat scene in D&D, all of the players roll dice to determine who gets to act, and when. 

It isn't a particularly realistic view of combat, but very few things in role-playing games are anything like combat. I only know of one game that has created comprehensive rules for shock and blood loss, for instance, but essentially any scenario in which someone is grievously injured, shock and blood loss would be a very real problem to consider. Instead of realism, initiative provides us a cinematic approach to organizing a fight through the focus of a camera (or the DM's attention). 

Let's quickly run down the first combat scenario in Guardians of the Galaxy and see how this works.

In our first order of business, the creature lands and everyone goes after it. Our focus is first on Drax, who has apparently readied an action to attack the creature when it lands, then that focus shifts to Groot. 

Groot has decided to distract the creature with dancing, but rolls a critical fail. His player is way into it, though, and continues dancing through the fight. He may have recently multiclassed into bard...

The Aboleth attacks Starlord, dealing some damage and knocking him down.

Keeping in mind that the combat happening in the background is not our focus, we can assume that it is currently Starlord's turn. He spends his first action getting up from the ground, and uses a free action to try and talk to Groot. The aboleth hits him with a tentacle (I'm assuming this is an ability it gets to use as a free action in response to a trigger). 

Now we focus on the Aboleth savagely beating Drax into the ground. Aboleth's turn, and it managed the impossible - it grappled.

Next, Gammorra. As a free action, she tries to convince Groot to stop dancing and take cover. She fires a shot at the Aboleth. 

This is an Aboleth

It's why I keep calling the critter an Aboleth.

Groot, for his next turn, has decided to try dancing again. It doesn't work this time, either.

Drax spends a moment recuperating (I'm assuming this is something like the "second wind" ability from 4th edition D&D). Then he goes back into the fray.

Rocket, who has apparently rolled a real shit initiative, swoops in to help Groot, who has just been attacked by a minion with a poison attack (Groot eats a bug, Rocket makes him spit it out). 

Groot is taunted by a small rat and attacks it. It drags him all over the battlefield. 

Drax tries to make use of the Aboleth's swallow whole ability to cause more damage from the inside. Nobody else in the group thinks this is a good idea, but he does it anyway. 

Starlord uses his turn on a spot check to locate the creature's weak point, and communicates it to Gammora. Gammora holds her action until she has a clear shot of the weak point. 

Rocket attempts to distract it, rolling a charisma check and firing off a blast into it's face. The roll is a success, and Gammora takes her action: critical hit! The Aboleth goes down!

It doesn't read exactly. Movies aren't like D&D where everyone is patiently waiting for their turn. But it's an interesting way to shift the focus from character to character in an ensemble, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn the James Gunn used something similar to an initiative order to keep track of who is doing what, and when. And now I'm  going to have to try it in my own writing and storyboarding.