I'm always looking for ways to make things more efficient at the table so that the pace of the game stays engaging. I'm going to try something new with initiative when I start a new campaign in a few weeks and I want to know people's thoughts on the matter.
The idea is to roll initiative for each player after they finish a long rest and that would be their initiatives until they complete the next long rest. Then, during each encounter that required it, I would quickly roll initiative for whatever NPCs or objects and then we'd begin. Narratively it could be justified as how the quality of each person's long rest affected them.
I realize that sometimes they could all roll really well or sometimes all roll really poorly and that would be their fate for the day, but 5e isn't too threatening anyway, and it would also give the players a chance to strategize in interesting ways.
Has anyone ever tried something like this before? How did it go?
I think the Players who rolled poorly might object, since they have no way of bettering their situation until the next long rest.
If you want to avoid the slowdown of everyone rolling initiative at the beginning of combat, something that I've tried in the past that worked well is have Players pre-roll 4-5 initiative rolls at the start of a session and you note them down. Then use each pre-generated initiative order in turn as combats occur.
That keeps the Characters "fate" in the hands of Players, streamlines the start of combat, and allows Players who rolled poorly to know that "next time will be better".
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Hello fellow DMs,
I'm always looking for ways to make things more efficient at the table so that the pace of the game stays engaging. I'm going to try something new with initiative when I start a new campaign in a few weeks and I want to know people's thoughts on the matter.
The idea is to roll initiative for each player after they finish a long rest and that would be their initiatives until they complete the next long rest. Then, during each encounter that required it, I would quickly roll initiative for whatever NPCs or objects and then we'd begin. Narratively it could be justified as how the quality of each person's long rest affected them.
I realize that sometimes they could all roll really well or sometimes all roll really poorly and that would be their fate for the day, but 5e isn't too threatening anyway, and it would also give the players a chance to strategize in interesting ways.
Has anyone ever tried something like this before? How did it go?
Thanks :)
I think the Players who rolled poorly might object, since they have no way of bettering their situation until the next long rest.
If you want to avoid the slowdown of everyone rolling initiative at the beginning of combat, something that I've tried in the past that worked well is have Players pre-roll 4-5 initiative rolls at the start of a session and you note them down. Then use each pre-generated initiative order in turn as combats occur.
That keeps the Characters "fate" in the hands of Players, streamlines the start of combat, and allows Players who rolled poorly to know that "next time will be better".
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Ooh, multiple rolls. That's a great idea. I'll run the options by the players and see what they think. Open group dialogue is clutch :)
Thanks for the input!