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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2013 13:08:42 GMT -8
So, I've been reading my copy of Explorer's edition and I dont understand how initiative works...I was mostly confused by the instruction: "If a joker is pulled, reshuffle the deck"
This implies that you don;'t reshuffle the card deck every round of combat...do players keep thier first card, is there a discard pile?
I come from an almost 100% d20/D&D background so using cards is new to me. Can someone break down initiative for me in SW?
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Post by jazzisblues on Feb 22, 2013 13:48:13 GMT -8
1. Combat begins 2. Deal each wildcard and/or group of extras a card from the deck 3. Characters act in the following order 3.1. Highest card to lowest Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 3.2. Ties (same value) go in reverse alphabetical order of suit (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs) 3.3. If a Joker is dealt they go whenever they want. (there is another impact as well but it doesn't bear on this) 3.5. If a character elects to "hold" they can jump into the round when they want to, but have to win an opposed agility check to determine whether they go before or after the character they are interrupting. 4. Once every wildcard/extra has acted (unless a character holds past the end of a round) 4.1. If a Joker was dealt at the beginning of the round gather all of the cards and reshuffle. 4.2. Jump to 2 and start again.
Cards are not reshuffled unless a joker is dealt.
JiB
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Feb 22, 2013 13:52:38 GMT -8
I think it's not just a mechanic to keep the deck reshuffled, it can help prevent card counting at the end of the deck. As long as we're on the subject of initiative cards... I've probably used initiative cards out in the open more than keeping them secret. This was done mainly because of laziness and brain farts on my part. It seem that this has not been an uncommon thing for GMs to do. I do recommend keeping the cards secret as the book suggests. There's an old post where that came up: happyjacks.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=savageworlds&action=display&thread=470Edit: Doh! Jib beat me to it. Oh well.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2013 14:20:48 GMT -8
thanks guys...why doesn't the deck always get shuffled each round? that seeems MORE likely to promote card counting
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2013 14:55:03 GMT -8
thanks guys...why doesn't the deck always get shuffled each round? that seeems MORE likely to promote card counting If a player goes that far to somehow predict the initiative order, he deserves it It is cool that the deck doesn't get shuffled so often since a joker is guaranteed to show up; in one fight I got jokers 4 rounds in a row, in two of these rounds BOTH jokers turned up, it was unreal and my shuffles were 100% legit. It turned a fight that was supposed to be a run for survival into the players killing a small dragon that was capable of devouring twice as many PCs. When the jokers do show up they can turn the tables pretty spectacularly, so that's why I think this rule is in place.
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Feb 22, 2013 15:53:34 GMT -8
Yeah, I like that theory. It would make the jokers show up more often.
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Post by Houndin on Feb 22, 2013 17:47:38 GMT -8
1. Combat begins 2. Deal each wildcard and/or group of extras a card from the deck 3. Characters act in the following order 3.1. Highest card to lowest Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 3.2. Ties (same value) go in reverse alphabetical order of suit (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs) 3.3. If a Joker is dealt they go whenever they want. (there is another impact as well but it doesn't bear on this) 3.5. If a character elects to "hold" they can jump into the round when they want to, but have to win an opposed agility check to determine whether they go before or after the character they are interrupting. 4. Once every wildcard/extra has acted (unless a character holds past the end of a round) 4.1. If a Joker was dealt at the beginning of the round gather all of the cards and reshuffle. 4.2. Jump to 2 and start again. Cards are not reshuffled unless a joker is dealt. JiB I need to get out more, I heard you saying that in my head JiB.
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Post by Stu Venable on Feb 22, 2013 23:04:57 GMT -8
My guess about not reshuffling: it's faster to just keep flipping cards.
Savage Worlds is about Fast first and foremost. And in damn near every aspect of the game, it is.
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Post by savagedaddy on Feb 23, 2013 13:57:16 GMT -8
The 'hold' option confused me at first too... Good job putting that note about oppossed agility checks in there JiB. Also, Game Masters really only need to deal one card for the NPCs as a group.
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Feb 23, 2013 15:54:44 GMT -8
One card for all the NPCs is fine. I prefer a card to also be dealt for any obviously important wild card.
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Post by savagedaddy on Feb 23, 2013 15:58:36 GMT -8
You're right. This actually came up in a Space Battle. The players were in starfighters and had two possible targets... a Capital Ship and four squadrons of Enemy starfighters. When we dealt initiative, I took one card for my Capital Ship and one card for all of my starfighters.
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Post by jazzisblues on Feb 25, 2013 6:30:56 GMT -8
The 'hold' option confused me at first too... Good job putting that note about oppossed agility checks in there JiB. Also, Game Masters really only need to deal one card for the NPCs as a group. I do a card for each wild card with groups of extras either going when the wild card guiding them goes or if they are autonomous they get their own card. To illustrate, we have a group of 4 pcs (wild cards), a necromancer (wild card), a pair of zombies that the necromancer set to guard a door and the group of 3 skeletons he just raised to send at the pcs. Each of the pc's gets a card, the necromancer gets a card, and the zombies get a card. The skeletons go on the necromancer's card because he's controlling them. Another thing I do is reverse my deal order. I will go clockwise around the table one time and counter-clockwise the next. It's probably not really any more random but it feels that way to me. Cheers, JiB
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2013 12:43:08 GMT -8
Just bought a bunch of 1" tall decks of playing cards to run some Deadlands...I think I may use the old rules instead of the savage worlds version though...still undecided....also I dont have time or players yet Maybe when the pathfinder game ends I can sucker them into deadlands...but my wife REALLY hates rednecks/westerns/anything cowboy-like
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kevinr
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Post by kevinr on Feb 25, 2013 20:10:57 GMT -8
I think 1 inch playing cards would be a bitch to shuffle.
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Feb 25, 2013 21:01:33 GMT -8
Eh. Just do a stripe shuffle.
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