One Response to “Quick GM Tip: Players on Deck”

1. Jon says:

   The first game I ever ran was Dungeon World, and I ran it for a fair while back when it was at the height of its popularity. And honestly, I think it gets you so ready for this sort of thing because there isn’t an exact initiative mechanic. It’s on the GM to give everybody their chance and keep them on their toes a little bit, but when you read through that book, it really gets you ready to do that.

   To help with this when I run D&D, because I do primarily run online and I primarily use theatre of the mind style gameplay, I use owlbear rodeo to create a fun looking initiative tracker, and when we roll initiative, it’s the players jobs to put their own tokens on the track and keep track of their own turns. Then I just slot some monsters in, and with my Dungeon World training, it turns into pretty much what you described.

   Honestly, though, I can’t recommend enough having an initiative track that the players themselves control. It beats out that moment of everybody calling out a number, and I’ve thought about applying it to pretty much anything where I call for the entire group to make a roll.

   June 29th, 2022 - 6:32 pm

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