[WW] Re: initiative time taken...

[John Hostetter <jhostett@yahoo.com>]

I have only played d20 a couple of times, but it seems to me that the
initiative system is about as simple as you can get, everyone rolls a
single die, adds their own modifiers, and the GM counts down from 30
or so, pausing to write down the npc initiatives as he goes...  In
DL, all players roll, totaling raises, then draw from the same deck
of cards, the marshal then counts down from Ace.  Do I have something
incorrect here?  It seems to me the DL init system cant help but be
slower than the d20 system, there are more steps in DL, including the
serial card drawing as opposed to only a single parallel roll, which
the players make in either system.

I actually like the DL initiative system a great deal, very flavorful
and fun, I even use similar systems in other games now (Shadowrun is
one system), but I just cant see it being fasted than the d20 one,
anyone else?

Maybe if everyone just drew a single card (like in GRW) the
initiative process would be faster than a single roll, but I still
dont see it.  I DO see a speed up when a single person is controlling
lots of individuals who need their own initiative (like GRW), rolling
and remembering each one takes a long time.  

In d20, who has all the enemies act on a single init roll rather than
individual initiatives?

John





--- PEGShane@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 4/23/2002 6:45:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
> gathomas4@juno.com writes:
> 
> 
> > 
> > No it's not.  Everyone has a die, everyone rolls at the same time
> and
> > away we go.  Decks of cards don't work that way, unless everyone
> has
> > their own deck, and they still need to be well shuffled between
> > initiative "draws."
> > 
> > When playing d20, having every combatants name on a card and then
> > arranging the cards in initiative order at the begining of each
> combat so
> > that each name is easily cycled through .... now *that* use of
> cards
> > speeds up combat.
> > 
> > Happy Gaming, =)
> > 
> > screenmonkey
> 
> Good lord! No way! Have to disagree here. Even in regular DL, init.
> is much 
> faster than in D20.
> 
> (And please just take this as a fellow gamer--not trying to push
> anything on 
> you.)
> 
> Shane
> 


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