Fred Hicks linked to this review of the new Doctor Who RPG. Specifically calling out the initiative system.

One thing that I had to make especial mention of is the phasing system in rounds of conflict (not necessarily combat.) The bias of the game against violent conflict resolution strongly shows here. Basically, what you are going to do that round determines what order you go in. The order is basically: Talkers, Movers, Doers, and Fighters. As examples: If you're going to talk your way out of a situation, you go first. If you're going to run for cover, you go second. If you're going to use a skill of some sort, or try to do some sort of 'timey-wimey' thing, you go third. If you're going to shoot up the place, you go fourth. This is a very different way of handling conflict rounds than most RPGs do, and it has its appeal. It very closely reflects the mood of the series (even Daleks appear to pause for one of the Doctor's soliloquies) and it is a different take on 'who goes first' in a conflict round.

This, combined with the thoughts from the previous post make me think of the real power of that FATE/Do system.

When you go first, you get first dibs on drawing from the bag, which gives you control of the fate of who ever goes after you. That means if Talkers go first, they get a LOT of influence over the probability.

Let's say you're playing a big diplomat, kind of like the Doctor, but you frequently come up against fighty types, again like the Doctor. A Talker like the Doctor may face some troubles from these fighters, but he is always able to win the day (even if at some cost.) What REALLY gives a Talker problems is another Talker, thus the Doctor's more persistent intellectual rivals like the Master. But let's get back to the mechanics.

Even if you had a poor draw, say øø--, you can still put those -s and øs back into the bag to make sure the fighters don't catch any break. Ah, but if you have a good draw, say ++-ø, you can keep some of those successes to make it that much more likely the fighters will draw poorly.

This becomes even more powerful if you allow draws of one-to-four stones. Let's say we used an utterly simplified version of FATE's skill pyramid. There are four skills: Talking, Moving, Doing and Fighting. You must prioritize these skills for your character so they are ranked 1, 2, 3, or 4.

When you draw to perform either of these actions, you may draw that many stones from the bag. So if you're Talking is 3, you may draw three stones.

The turn order remains as noted above, Talking, Moving, Doing, Fighting act in that order. What's different is how ties are resolved. The player who has the higher skill may go first, which gives her the advantage by letting her draw more AND draw sooner than her opponents. This gives her a step up when the Doctor faces an opponent who is normally a fighter, but tries to talk.