Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 942 Karma: 27
Re: Initiative is a dirty word « Reply #15 on Jun 12, 2008, 11:34am »
I think tank's second paragraph refers to rules from the man-to-man appendix, but my memory of Chainmail is not so good.
Such detail is rather at odds with the abstract nature of the combat turn in D&D, but "out of sight is out of mind." The incongruity tends to rear its head in AD&D with all the trimmings, so perhaps one lesson is to keep things simple.
Special cases may call for special rulings, but considering every factor all the time can be a drag (YMMV).
It's an aid to player-character survival to have a chance of doing unto others without letting them return the favor. Dead orcs don't strike back.
That tends to be a bigger deal at lower levels. When folks have 20+ hit points, "simultaneous moves" may be preferable as speeding up the process. At that level, combat may come down to, "How many points do I lose this round?"
Although it may seem odd given the time frame -- especially if one is not in tune with the abstract concepts -- I generally find it best to limit combatants to a single activity per turn. One can move or fight or target a missile or cast a spell or use an item or do something else (such as get something from a pack).
Joined: Jun 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 505 Karma: 15
Re: Initiative is a dirty word « Reply #16 on Jun 12, 2008, 11:56am »
I always used simultaneous initiative for D&D. I'm not even sure I used surprise all that much. D&D 3.x's initiative system definitely slows things down, I like being able to go round the table in order. Of course old school D&D had initiative for sides, so you could still go round the table in order for the players.
With simultaneous initiative, I will often resolve monster attacks as we go round the table.
Joined: Jan 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 309 Location: The Mighty City of Jakalla Karma: 5
Re: Initiative is a dirty word « Reply #17 on Jun 12, 2008, 1:57pm »
I'm the heretic here.
My EPT group uses playing cards for intitiative. We flat out stole the Savage Worlds initiative system.
We did it because it's the easiest way IMHO, of knowing who goes first, who's already acted (turned cards) and who has had the chance to act but is withholding his action fo rsome reason (tapped card).
It is also totally random and independent of character stats and abilities, but we like it that way.
Oh, yeah. The best thing about it: there are NEVER any initiative ties.
Joined: Oct 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 1,224 Location: Argentina Karma: 51
Re: Initiative is a dirty word « Reply #18 on Jun 12, 2008, 2:01pm »
I see no problem with that method and cards could also have some random boons or penalties like: "You slip with a bone, you fall down this round" or "Feeling brave tonight, +2 attack rolls", "Pelor is by your side, heal 1d6+1". For a change, looks quite fun.
Here is another idea. Except for surprise, all combat is rolled as if initiative is tied in later editions, that is all rolls are done in some kind of insignificant order, (players first, round the table, DM first, etc.) and the results are applied at the end of the round after all combatants have gone.
That sounds like a good idea. It makes for rolling around the table nice and easy. I like it.
One thing though, is that there might be a lot of simultaneous killing in the low-levels.
How about just saying that an even roll (for the PC) for attack indicates that that attack happens first, and an odd roll indicates it happens last.
So, a PC battling a couple of orcs swings his sword (rolls a 17), he hits, but only if the orcs don't do him in first. Had he rolled an 18, he could have blasted at least one of them before maybe dying to the other.
[Edit] It also cuts a die roll for initiative by using one you rolled anyways.
Joined: Dec 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 669 Karma: 35
Re: Initiative is a dirty word « Reply #26 on Jul 11, 2008, 9:10am »
My experience has been different than Stormcrow's; in most of the early campaigns I played in, we all rolled individual initiative on a d6, with a Dex modifier, if I recall correctly. And it went fast, mostly because players knew that combat had to keep moving. Sometimes getting the initiative would save a character's life, and even the arguments about who did what when were worthwhile, if only for trying to explain what was happening in the round. Sure, there were frustrating moments, but the pace was independent of the actual rolling - things moved along because that was what the players and referee wanted.
Joined: Jun 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 505 Karma: 15
Re: Initiative is a dirty word « Reply #29 on Jul 11, 2008, 12:52pm »
A deck of cards has an assigned order of importance of the suits. For example in bridge the suits rank downward in the order Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs (I'm not sure if this same ranking also applies to poker).
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