A "new?" look at turn based action....

I had an odd idea on turn based action and wanted to see what others may think of it. In case you do not know what turn based action is, let me explain.

Turn based action is where all active members of the game have a set turn when they can an action like an attack. Anyone that has played a table top game will be familiar with this. From D&D to Monopoly all players have a “turn”, it's a simple game mechanic. The problem with it is, is that this is when a game can slow down for the other players. This is specially true when you have a player that is not paying attention.

So my odd idea is a simple change of the turn based action from being a “take your turn now” to “your action is due now”. So in something like the Red Ash World Engine (or any role playing game) instead of having a turn for the player to figure out what to do and to go on, they need to be ready to perform their action. If they are not ready then they get skipped until their next turn. While other players or NPCs are taking their turn a player can figure out what their next action will be and ideally speed up the combat. In play I think this would make for a more intense combat.

So has anyone tried this? If so what was your experience with it? And what do I call it...?

All the best,

Chris J