As I understand it, the way Savage Worlds discourages players from doing too many things in a single turn is -2 penalties for each. You can attack normally, you can attack and run at a -2 to each, you can attack and run and taunt at -4 to each, etc. So technically you can do a bunch of stuff at once, but you'll be unlikely to succeed at any of it because you're rushing so much.
But what about non-roll actions, things that players can just do, like opening a door? If a player wanted to run to a door, open it, close it behind them, lock it, flip over an adjacent card table, and then draw their weapon all in the same turn, how do I as GM handle that? There aren't (as I understand it) any rolls necessary to open a door or flip over a card table that I could apply a -2 to, so how do I balance against people just loading up on those kinds of actions in a single turn?
Best Answer
One common case where this might occur is Running and attacking. Running is counted as an action, but since it isn't a Trait roll, there is no –2 penalty. However, attacking is a Trait roll and, since it is one of two actions, it suffers a –2 penalty. A similar situation happens when drawing a weapon and firing in the same round. No roll is needed for drawing, but the attack is at a –2 if done in the same round because it's one of two actions.
In other words, anything a character "does", whether attacking, running or, opening a door, is an action so long as it can't be counted as a free action (e.g. saying a few words, dropping an item, falling prone). Indeed the core rules say that "readying an item, drawing a sword, or other quick tasks usually take one action", and it later defines running as one such action. Opening a door and such seems to fall under this category.
Now what's to prevent taking lots of non-trait roll actions? Mostly the GM saying that it's highly unlikely that the character can run, open a door, eat a sandwich, reload a gun, and write a sonnet all at the same time. The GM can of course throw on some extra rolls if appropriate. For instance, the rules say that if a character tries to draw a gun from a difficult location (such as an ankle holster) and fire in the same turn, they should make an Agility (–2) check because they are trying to pull off two difficult tasks in a hurry. I could see the same thing happening if the character tried to do a lot of noncombat actions in one turn: the GM might give an additional Agility roll or another appropriate roll to pull it off. With a failure, the character just klutzes around.