Post/Author/DateTime	Post
WayneTheGame 12-05-05, 11:50 AM	In my group we're currently playing the World's Largest Dungeon and we're experimenting with using the re-roll initiative every round rule from Unearthed Arcana. But there's a twist: The DM is using a computer program to keep track of the monsters stats and such, and HE randomly rolls our init each round; we don't know what we rolled, and he'll tell us when it's our turn to act. So far it's been pretty interesting, although I don't like the fact we're unable to work as a team because we never know who'll act next (that was the whole point of using this method; of course, my group frowns on coordinating PCs in combat anyways :confused: ). It hasn't been very detrimental to us, but I'm wondering if anyone else has experimented using this method and what you thought about it?
Sir Knight 12-05-05, 01:00 PM	Well, I certainly prefer rolling initiative once per encounter. We used to roll it every round in previous editions and we house-ruled it to once per fight to save on time and dice rolls. I don't like rolling each round myself. Why does your group have problems coordinating tactics? I don't see why it would be a problem... I guess we play a bit more loosly than your group does. If you like it, that's great! I personally don't.
WayneTheGame 12-05-05, 01:16 PM	Why does your group have problems coordinating tactics? I don't see why it would be a problem... I guess we play a bit more loosly than your group does. Because typically with our combats it ends up that one person will go and do their thing, and then you have to act and react off of that; we don't have a set tactics strategy at all and we're not allowed to make up tactics in the middle of battle (I don't know if I'm explaining this right... we CAN do tactics but it's spur of the moment. For example, if you're fighting a monster and I see I can flank it then I can do that, but you're not allowed to tell me in-character "Flank this monster while I charge it; the wizard can take out that group there, etc. etc.")
FriendoftheDork 12-05-05, 01:59 PM	Well random secret initative could be a good thing, as it could force PCs to make use of the delay action and use verbal IC communication in combat in order to work together well. But it sounds like alot of work and I don't have any diceroller to aid me so... naah not worth it.
Argon_Asimov 12-05-05, 09:00 PM	I think the point is to simulate a more chaotic, unpredictable combat. It kind of gets on my nerves when my players sit around for minutes on end trying to work out the best possible series of actions... right in the middle of combat. I am on the verge of implementing a time limit to prevent this. If I had access to a dice roller, I might do this just to keep them on thier toes, and so that they couldn't plan out ahead of time a precise series of actions. It makes sense when you think about it. In a real combat situation, you might formulate a general plan, but you couldn't coordinate your actions with your allies down to the second. hmm... I wonder if I could program my TI-83 to do this...
tkmjcw 12-05-05, 10:00 PM	I've done it both ways. If the players, even individually, are DEPENDING on the initiative sequence to choose their actions, then the random initiative is a good tool to disrupt that linear thought process. The drawback is certainly that it takes more time to order the stack each round. I would certainly say if your characters are sitting around planning battle sequences then somthing needs to be done...but it isn't necessarily an initiative solution. I think keeping the discussion IC certainly helps (with the obvious exception for approrpriate questions), but also enforcing the concept of "it's only six seconds!" Certainly one could yell "you take that one and I'll take this one, you other two handle that other group" but it should be communicated in character in a statement that is only a few seconds long (unless they use their full round action to communicate with another character...and aren't threatened while they do it, or they accept an attack of opportunity). I also agree that it ehances use of delay actions, etc. In general, I would use a random initiative all the time if it didn't slow the combat down too much...sometimes it is already monotonously slow already! If you do go with random init, also think of how you will handle spell casting...it can get difficult!