Initiative

[Zapp]

First I thought the actual rule for Initiative was missing (from page 9), then I found it (page 13).

Now, do I read the rule correctly if you roll for Initiative every round of combat?

(The alternative being cyclic initiative, where you only roll once at the start of combat, and then use the same score throughout all rounds of combat, greatly speeding up play)

I do understand initiative is crucial in any deadly game, especially one where you lose your action to defend fully. Winning cyclic initiative would perhaps be too good (assuming that the slower character must devote his action to defense, he can at least hope to win initiative the next round).

[Patchface]

Now, do I read the rule correctly if you roll for Initiative every round of combat?

Yup.

On the downside, that makes for quite a bit more dice-rolling during combat. On the other hand, it makes things more interesting since you can't tell in which order the combatants get to act in the following round (and possibly also less frustrating for players who have rolled a low first initiative).

In any case, if a group doesn't like the rules as written, it's quite easy to change matters with a very simple house rule here.

[Rhybard]

I for one actually prefer to roll for Initiative each round, and its a standard rule in most of the games I participate in. Also, by rolling each round it allows Injuries and Wounds to affect the outcome of the roll (as I assume that penalty dice from wounds, and penalties from injuries would apply to this roll as well), which hopefully will slowly give the upper hand to less wound characters.

[RJS]

Initiative changes each round to reflect the ebb and flow of combat. This said, it would be easy to just have a single order of initiative that lasts through the intrigue/combat/battle.

Rob Schwalb