This is part of an ongoing series of posts about Initiative (mostly in Dungeons and Dragons, but most of this can be used in any TTRPG). I have a massive PDF I planned to sell, but I’ve decided to post it all here for free. I chose this next type of initiative by roiling a die.
These three systems randomly determine initiative every round.
Tokens in a Bag
This is a simple system. Each actor is represented by a token of some kind that you put in a bad. The GM or a player picks a token, and that actor takes their turn. Keep going until every actor has taken their turn, then put the tokens back in the bag and repeat the process in subsequent rounds. Easy.
Ok, the hard part is getting tokens. They all have to feel the same.
Options for Tokens in a Bag
Pass the bag around the table for each pick, so everyone is involved.
If an actor has more than 1 turn or action in a round (multi-attack, legendary, two weapon wielding, etc.) put two or more tokens in the bag and spread the turns out. This is really random.
Similar to the above, if your game has three actions per round, have each actor have three tokens. They can move/attack/bonus when one of their tokens is picked (or whatever the three actions might be).
Add an “end of round” token to the bag. If that token is picked, the round ends, whether everyone has acted or not. Effects/Spells/Traits/etc. that last over one round might or might not end at this point, up to you. I’d argue that if they end at the end or beginning of an actor’s turn, and they didn’t act, it still ends. The just missed their chance this round to act.
A Card for Each Actor
Instead of tokens in a bag, create (or assign) cards for every actor. Put them in a deck, shuffle, and deal the cards one at a time. That actor acts when their card comes up.
Options for A Card for Each Actor
Use any option above!
Deal all the cards, and run initiative in order of drawn cards. This way players and the GM can plan for turn order in this round.
A Different Card Idea for Each Actor
Instead of each actor having a card assigned ahead of time, each player (and the GM) picks a card from a deck to start an encounter. If there is a tie, put that card back in the deck and pick a new card. Then the GM (or player) turns over one card, and if the value matches any card, that actor goes. An actor may only act once per round. To indicate an actor has acted, turn their card sideways. At the end of a round, each player keeps their cards, but the cards drawn to see who acts go back in the deck and the deck is shuffled and cards are picked for the next round.
Example:
Bob picks a 2, Julie picks a 5, Jim a 3, and Becky a Jack. The GM picks a 4 and an 8 for their two actors. A card is turned over, and it is a Jack. Becky takes here turn. The next card is a 10, and no one acts. After everyone has taken a turn, the players rotate their cards back to vertical, and the other cards are put back in the deck. The deck is shuffled, and the process repeats.
Options for A Different Card for Each Actor
If a card is chosen that does not match, don’t put it back in the deck (speeds up future rounds).
If a card is chosen that does not match, something else happens. Maybe when a club is drawn that doesn’t match, everyone gets +1 to hit this round, or if a heart is picked, everyone gets 1d4 temp hit points? The options are limited only by your imagination! (I’ll likely post some ideas in a future blog post)
Actors act whenever their suit is drawn (tie broken by random, or by higher card)
Allow ties on initial cards. Actors act at the same time, or break ties (but then, just don’t allow ties).
Don’t shuffle every round. Just keep drawing cards until they are all gone. This will lead to some actors acting more early, and not at all later in an encounter. Rounds end when the number of actors in an encounter has acted. That is, if there are 4 PCs and 3 NPCs in an encounter, then a round starts again when 7 actors have acted (not sure this actually matters). Be aware that effects that end/start with a player’s turn are going to be wonky in this system! However, those are more rare than you think, and you can always have them act for a round, rather than based on turns (which still might not be good for that actor).
If the suit matches, but not the card, an actor can choose to act or not. If they choose to act “out of turn” their action has disadvantage (or they are slower, or whatever makes sense). Maybe instead of slower, attacks against them have advantage?
Why You Might or Might Not Like These Systems
You might like these if:
You like players not to know whose turn is coming in what order. You like chaos! You can reward player choices with some of the options. You like the make art (cards or tokens). You think it will keep players paying better attention if they don’t know what is coming when.
You might not like these if:
You think they are too complex (with many of the options, they are more complex). You think this will slow things down, especially if your players are indecisive types. You don’t want to think about beginning/end of turn effects/spells and how to manage them.
Conclusion
I really like the ideas of these systems, but have not tested them. I’m very likely to test them in the future, though, and I’ll let you know what happens. I’d kind of like to have cards and tokens for each player character in my games. I think it would be fun. I do think these would be not hard (not sure if easy is the right word) to do on a VTT.
The tokens in the picture are from the Terraclips system that is no longer in print. These are scatter tokens.