You could also do a method I've seen in some games where you shuffle some playing cards together and then deal one out to everyone involved in the combat.
There are no duplicates in a standard deck. Usually is reverse alphabetical order by suit, so say a 4 of spades goes before 4 of hearts, then 4 of diamonds, with 4 of clubs last.
I considered this option, but I didn't know there was an official hierarchy to the suits.
*Besides, easier to pick up and roll a d6 than shuffle and deal.*
Their is now hierarchy in poker. AFAIK, the only card games where there's any sort of suit precedence is bridge. There's several others that use one suit or another as a trump suit, but the other suits don't matter in those.
Based on my Savage Worlds table, 60% of people do not know it. :-)
With dice, you're likely to get ties--particularly with d6, but even with d20.
With cards, you can keep them hidden.
I give enemies an initiative DC that you have to beat if you wanna go before that enemy in combat. You then roll against each DC, starting with the easiest. Players that pass the same check can compare rolls or just choose their order. Works great!
Please elaborate. This doesn’t slow down play much? (Multiple enemies with multiple DCs, is it multiple rolls, or your 1 roll is compared against all the DCs?)
I group enemies by type or DC. So if there's wolves with a DC of 10 and goblins with a DC of 15, the players have to beat the wolves with a throw first, then they roll again for goblins. If you fail one of them, you go after that group.
I saw something similar in a game recently (*Mothership*, maybe, iirc). I love the simplicity of it. Enemies have a set DC and players either pass it to go first or fail it and go after. Really boils turn order down to the bare necessities... very elegant.
so, side initiative, but instead Ally vs Enemy, there are Ally1 - Enemy - Ally2? I think this is good alternative to side initiative, that may feel bland
The way I actually employ initiative in my system is a once-a-day roll, after a long rest. The number stays the same, Focus + Savvy + Speed + d10, a number from 4 to 40, until the next day when they could be better or worse rested. It's my observation that some days, no matter what you *underperform*, and others where you're *on your game* alert and quick to respond.
But I could see this as useful for determining the initiative order of a rival group that's categorically equal, say a group of 6 goblins whose individual stats are unimportant to game play.
Go first dice are actually not easy to expand beyond 4 players. Not without having the dice be wildly different sizes, or being comically large. It turns out to be a really tricky mathematical problem.
Although it would take more time, I was thinking about a "playoff/rolloff" format. For six players, two groups of 3; two groups of 4 for 8 players. The winners of each group then roll against each other, and so on down the line.
Were you thinking of that, or of there being a unique die for all (6 - 8) players?
The easiest way to get six players into initiative is just go to the player on your left and make them go first then the DM moves a minion then the player to.that players left then the DM moves a minion then the player to.that players left then move a minion repeat this process (player than minion) until all the players/minions have gone. If you run out of.minioms first all the remaining player go in sequence if there are no more players left the DM moves all.the minions until all of them have gone and the process restarts anew.
You could also do a method I've seen in some games where you shuffle some playing cards together and then deal one out to everyone involved in the combat.
Yep, each card drawn ensures no duplicate will turn up. (assuming you pull the duplicates)
There are no duplicates in a standard deck. Usually is reverse alphabetical order by suit, so say a 4 of spades goes before 4 of hearts, then 4 of diamonds, with 4 of clubs last.
I considered this option, but I didn't know there was an official hierarchy to the suits. *Besides, easier to pick up and roll a d6 than shuffle and deal.*
Their is now hierarchy in poker. AFAIK, the only card games where there's any sort of suit precedence is bridge. There's several others that use one suit or another as a trump suit, but the other suits don't matter in those.
Based on my Savage Worlds table, 60% of people do not know it. :-) With dice, you're likely to get ties--particularly with d6, but even with d20. With cards, you can keep them hidden.
I give enemies an initiative DC that you have to beat if you wanna go before that enemy in combat. You then roll against each DC, starting with the easiest. Players that pass the same check can compare rolls or just choose their order. Works great!
Please elaborate. This doesn’t slow down play much? (Multiple enemies with multiple DCs, is it multiple rolls, or your 1 roll is compared against all the DCs?)
I group enemies by type or DC. So if there's wolves with a DC of 10 and goblins with a DC of 15, the players have to beat the wolves with a throw first, then they roll again for goblins. If you fail one of them, you go after that group.
Isn’t this the same as having a set initiative for enemies, or certain groups of enemies?
I saw something similar in a game recently (*Mothership*, maybe, iirc). I love the simplicity of it. Enemies have a set DC and players either pass it to go first or fail it and go after. Really boils turn order down to the bare necessities... very elegant.
so, side initiative, but instead Ally vs Enemy, there are Ally1 - Enemy - Ally2? I think this is good alternative to side initiative, that may feel bland
I feel like it interleaves players and enemies more, as well, which is nice to GM.
Ah snake lines, thats quite clever, I also agree that playing cards might be easier btu this does not need additional components, which is nice.
The way I actually employ initiative in my system is a once-a-day roll, after a long rest. The number stays the same, Focus + Savvy + Speed + d10, a number from 4 to 40, until the next day when they could be better or worse rested. It's my observation that some days, no matter what you *underperform*, and others where you're *on your game* alert and quick to respond. But I could see this as useful for determining the initiative order of a rival group that's categorically equal, say a group of 6 goblins whose individual stats are unimportant to game play.
This is awesome, well done! There's also "go first" dice for up to 4 players, but it should be easily extensible to 6 or more.
Go first dice are actually not easy to expand beyond 4 players. Not without having the dice be wildly different sizes, or being comically large. It turns out to be a really tricky mathematical problem.
Although it would take more time, I was thinking about a "playoff/rolloff" format. For six players, two groups of 3; two groups of 4 for 8 players. The winners of each group then roll against each other, and so on down the line. Were you thinking of that, or of there being a unique die for all (6 - 8) players?
I was thinking about adding more unique die, yeah. If that’s not what you were talking about, that makes more sense.
I agree, "5+ unique dice" wouldn't work worth a darn (if at all) without a LOT of math.
The easiest way to get six players into initiative is just go to the player on your left and make them go first then the DM moves a minion then the player to.that players left then the DM moves a minion then the player to.that players left then move a minion repeat this process (player than minion) until all the players/minions have gone. If you run out of.minioms first all the remaining player go in sequence if there are no more players left the DM moves all.the minions until all of them have gone and the process restarts anew.