Quote from: RPGPundit;819652For D&D/OSR games: do you prefer to have group initiative? Individual? D20+dex? D6? D10?  Something else?

I think for D&D (BECMI/RC) we just used a d6. For AD&D 1e we used a d20 with no bonuses, individual initiative for players and group for the bad guys though sometimes mooks and main villains had their own rolls. When I ran 2e in the 90s I was completely insane and had some convuluted system based on a d10 or d20 which was combined with Move and Weapon speed and worked on the exact segment you acted, which included multiple attacks. For d20 I think I did it BtB though I ran more Star Wars RCR than 3.5e but the mechanics were pretty much the same.

The AD&D 1e version is notable because that campaign is still running from time to time. For 5e, I use d20 plus Dex bonus. Heroes get their own rolls and once again villains have group initiative though as with AD&D sometimes main villains will have a roll separate from the Mooks. If I'm running Play by Post, everything is group initiative adjusted for Dexterity because I don't want to spend three days working out combat order. In Fantasy Grounds... I press the button.

Everytime one of these threads get necroed it makes me realize how many regulars we've lost over the years since I first started posting here.

Individual initiative, plus monsters all roll as one.

Use to roll at the start of every round for years as I guess we didn't read the rules closely enough. I am a recent convert to the optional rule in the 5e DMG where everyone has static initiative ratings based on Dex and roll if they have the same rating. Seems to borrow from Runequest's strike rank. Speeds up play a lot and since I have mostly newbie players no one has exploited its predictability.

Quote from: RPGPundit;819652For D&D/OSR games: do you prefer to have group initiative? Individual? D20+dex? D6? D10?  Something else?

1d6+dex mod + to hit mod if you are a fighter class.

For monsters it is 1d6 + 1/2 HD.

Individual initiative, rolled every round.

I don't bother recording the results except for my own rolls. I start off asking if anybody rolled a 10 or higher. Then after resolving those players I count down from 9 to 1.

It works and I successfully used it at table with 12 players.

Hackmaster 5e, the brief combats we ran were fun with the count up.  Really wish we got to play it more.

In a lot of rpgs, things are mostly handled in a Igo Ugo way.  The only rpg I'm aware of that has something different is Savage Worlds (I'm sure there's others, just don't know about them)

I think some of the coolest ways to handle initiative come from wargames.  In GASLIGHT each unit gets one card, a hero gets two- everything gets shuffled and whatever card is drawn gets to take their turn.  In Sacre Bleu (great little pirate skirmish game) you roll each round to see which side goes and what action they can perform- one side can get lucky and get multiple turns in a row with the other keeping low.  In Open Combat, there's standard Igo-Ugo with the exception of beefing a roll can lead you to lose initiative.   Think the Song Of games do something similar.

Quote from: Tristram Evans;955282Everytime one of these threads get necroed it makes me realize how many regulars we've lost over the years since I first started posting here.

Necromancers aren't evil, they're just misunderstood.  Heck, I didn't even notice.

Quote from: Raven;8201801) Players all strip naked, take ten minutes to oil themselves and apply face paint, then form a circle. Each of them are allowed to carry one of:  a broken bottle, a kitchen knife or a simple wooden or metal club (their choice)

2) I yell "FAPPO!", throw a handful of firecrackers into the circle and duck behind an overturned desk

3) events play out naturally.

Why? is that weird? how do you guys do it?

Ah, yes, good ol' FAPPO! initiative...

Ha, good timing. I am revising my proposed Airships & Riverboats Rules for Earthdawn 4e...for like the third time. My previous Initiative/Maneuver system was a bit too crunchy. This thread was a big help. As its ship combat, it is run at a different scale (one minute turns), and each ship is a "group". I'm going with an open declaration phase (change your action in response to another ship's declaration), and then everyone rolls their Ship Maneuver tests at once, with Ship Maneuvers resolved from high to low Results. Captains get a certain number of "Officer Maneuvers" that can be reactions or additional actions on your turn (return fire, evasive maneuvers,etc) equal to half their Captain Skill Rating (rounded up). They can also activate a free one if an enemy fails a Ship Maneuver against them, or deny reaction Officer Maneuvers to their target if they outmaneuver them. I hope to share more details in a little while, after I get the lead dev Josh to sign off.

What I think really makes this work is that ships act as "one character" for major actions ("Ship Maneuvers"), but any character can try for a "Decisive Moment", which allowed them two 6-second combat rounds of individual action at the risk of some "hazard damage" during those two rounds (which could be damage from enemies if you charge into a boarding battle, or from enemy ship weapons if you decide to aim an fire a fire-cannon using your own skill ranks - as they otherwise fire in batteries based on the average crew skill rank). So you get tense moments of individual heroism, instead of trying to run ship combat at the individual combat scale, which tends to involve"holding your action" multiple times until the ship is in a position that allows a single character to take a meaningful action.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;955292Individual initiative, plus monsters all roll as one.

This is how I do it.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;955292Individual initiative, plus monsters all roll as one.

The reason I don't usually do this is I don't like how all the monsters deliver their damage at once. This can swing a combat before the characters have a chance to react. It's the same problem as having entire armies take their full turn in a wargame.

I use some different methods for initiative.

I almost always have the characters roll individual initiative.

If there are less opponents than characters, or the numbers are close, I use individual initiative for the opponents.

If there are more opponents than the characters, I use batch initiative. All monsters that are armed identically, or doing the same action, are considered a batch, and all go on that rolled initiative. (Orc spearmen, orc archers, orc spellcaster and the Chief gets their own separate init, etc...)
If all the monsters in a large group are identical, I arbitrarily split them into batches. I sometimes split batches into smaller batches if it would mean too many opponents all go at once. This is an eyeball, on the fly decision.

If there are a lot of opponents, (20+) I assume they will all roll one of the possible initiative numbers
So a group of 20 kobolds will all "roll" 1=1, 2=2, etc.

I'm shocked that more people aren't aware of this, but I keep a piece of scratch paper to record initiative numbers, that way I'm not constantly asking players to re-state their initiatives. One piece of scratch paper to record init and hit points per encounter. (Usually a few combats can be tracked on one sheet, if the system is simple enough.)

A poster mentioned doing this, but wondering if any games forgo initiative and just have both sides go at once?  Only one I can think of is Tunnels & Trolls.

I like card deck initiative the best. Everyone has a card (PCs) and the monsters have a card, maybe also boss card, caster card, whatever. You dont know who acts next until the card is drawn. Makes mayhem of any planning. Very fun.

I like outlaws of the water margin's system, where dice are rolled simultaneously, with the high score being the attacker and the lower score defender.

Quote from: RunningLaser;955363A poster mentioned doing this, but wondering if any games forgo initiative and just have both sides go at once?  Only one I can think of is Tunnels & Trolls.

Pendragon, Crimson Blades, ORE, probably a few I can't think of right now...

Quote from: Tristram Evans;955679I like outlaws of the water margin's system, where dice are rolled simultaneously, with the high score being the attacker and the lower score defender.

Initiative-wise, I like, in order...
TRoS (decide simultaneously whether you attack or defend).
ORE
Outlaws of the water margin
Crimson Blades/T&T
Apocalypse World, where what you have declared resolves whether you're attacking and/on defending.