Playing Cards for Dynamic Initiative

DD Note 9/6/2025: It was pointed out to me that Savage Worlds has been using playing cards for initiative for ages. 1.) I can't believe I forgot that... I have even played Savage Worlds before. 2.) the method detailed here is simpler. 

I've explained the differences below. 

DD Note 9/7/2025: I also just learned that Dragonbane, Year Zero, Twilight 2000 also use cards (I'm sure there are more).

I fully admit, I didn't reinvent the wheel here. This is just another spin on the concept.

I ran three games of Castles & Crusades at Gen Con 2025. (If anyone is curious, I ran each adventure in the Dwarven Glory series.)  It was a great time. One weird thing, though, is that I had occasional trouble with keeping track of initiative. 

Castles & Crusades uses dynamic initiative. Each round, the individual players and the Castle Keeper roll a d10 and people take turns from highest result to lowest.  

At home, I use tiles on the top of my GM screen to organize and display the order for each round. While displaying the order is handy, the process slows the game down. 

Since you're "on the clock" when running a game at a con, I decided not to do that and used the "traditional" method. That is, I verbally counted down from 10 to 1 and had the players chime in on their number to take their turn. 

Whether it was due to the fun of the game or fatigue of CKing three sessions back-to-back (as fun as it was), I had occasional trouble remembering where I was in the order of the round.

This got me revisiting an alternative idea I'd been mulling over - using playing cards to track initiative. I gave it a go last session with my local group and I think it worked pretty well.

Here's what I did:

• I set aside one full suit (ace to king) to be used to determine order. Naturally, I used Spades. 

• I set aside one full suit (ace to king) to be used to track order. I used a red suit (Hearts, I believe). 

• Each round, I shuffled the Spades and dolled them out to the players to determine who went first. The players kept their cards out in front of them, so it was pretty easy to see who was up.

• I stacked the Hearts from high to low and used them to keep track of where we were.

• After that, we repeated this each round.

While this was only one session, I think it worked well. It kept things moving quickly and made it easy to track turn order.  If you're looking for a way to speed up dynamic initiative, give it a try.  

How This is Different than Savage Worlds Initiative (and likely other games)

• Savage Worlds has a whole system based on using the deck of cards for initiative. I'm just replacing dice rolls.
• I don't use a whole deck of cards, only 13 from one suit.
• This eliminates ties (which can also slow down play, albeit not dramatically).

• I use a second set of 13 from one suit has a initiative tracker for myself.

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit Part 3 - Dungeon Master Screen of Bad-Arseness

All righty... back at it here with part of 3 of my gripping Dungeon Master Kit series (part 1 and part 2). 

I have a problem... I own *a lot* of Dungeon Master screens.  I've been on the quest for the perfect one... never resting... never ceasing... until NOW. 

Behold, the Loreweaver GM Screen! I participated in the Kickstarter for this... because.  

It's excellent. You can get it at NTSD Gaming (amongst other cool stuff). 

It's made of vegan leather (WTF is that you may ask? It's a material made of polyurethane and polyvinyl chloride). It looks great and does indeed feel a lot like actual leather.

It folds up nicely with a strap for extra sassiness.

I opted for a few customizations. I figure this will be the last DM Screen I'll ever buy (God willing). I opted for:

• landscape orientation
• chestnut color
• name embossed on the one side

Totally my real name.

The NTSD logo is on the other side - I dig it.

• Sprung for art, namely this great piece by Everett Patterson called "Deadly Encounter:"

Shit is about to go down.

In addition to looking great, it has great functionality. It's magnetic, so it came with:

• Cool d20 magnets to attach my own inserts. I made my screen inserts via Marq (a great free service). 
• Related note: While I've found lots of screens with cool art, they never seem to have exactly what I want. A custom screen is definitely the way to go.

Adorable... like your mom.

• Magnetic initiative trackers that afix right to the screen.

My dice are totally not posing.

Initiative trackers... "Evil" is what I use for any opponent.

What the players see (well, this and my roguishly handsome visage).

• Two magnetic white boards (one with a grid and one without).

Whiteboards aplenty.

I also splurged for other goodies.

• foldable dice tower that magnetically attaches to the screen.

Works pretty well, despite what my players think. I can't help that I roll 20s, bitches.

• A sweet dice box with "The Duel" art from Sketchy Sermons. This art was a close second choice for the screen.

Shit is about to go down (again).

This is what dice look like in a dice box (FYI).

There were some other goodies, too, like magnetic spell cards and PC ards.

Spell cards. The PC cards are, sadly, MIA at the moment.

This was an awesome purchase. I love it and highly recommend.

However, if you want a more budget friendly customizable screen, there are options here: link 

Prior to finding the Kickstarter, I was on the verge of making my own screen. Here are some great ideas on how to do that. The DIYer in me still finds these options appealing.

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit Part 2 - Rocketbook

I'm picking back up my series on my Dungeon Master Kit (part
1 being here: link). (Technically, I'm a Castle Keeper these days, but let's not trifle.)

As much as electronic tools are great, I still like using analog tools as much as I
can. However, I'm not as organized with pen and paper. Notebooks, graph paper, etc... I'd grab whichever paper was closest. My notes would get scattered. This was especially the case when running one-shots that then later got resurrected into something more episodic.

My latest hotness is using a Rocketbook.  I've had the original one for a few years, but never made much use of it (for gaming or otherwise). Once I splurged for the executive-sized Pro (7 inch x 9 inch), that all changed. This size is perfect. I really like that it's a hardcover. It's freaking great. Most importantly - it keeps me organized!

Player names redacted to protect the reproachable

A Rocketbook uses special paper on which you can write, clean, and rewrite. (You need to use particular Pilot Fixion pens.) At the bottom of each page is a "destination" icon. You place an "X" through that icon, and then use the Rocketbook app to scan the page. 

"X" on the bell marks the spot

In the app, you associate each icon with a particular storage destination/folder (Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, an email address, etc.). You can get as granular as you'd like (e.g., direct to a particular subfolder in Google Drive).

Rocketbook destinations aplenty

Destinations in the app

Once you're good with the page being stored as you want it, you wipe the paper clean with a damp rag, let it dry, and bang, Bob's your uncle, you can reuse the page.

I have a separate Google Drive destination for my C&C campaign, a Through Sunken Lands episodic "campaign" (i.e., periodic, loosely connected one-shot games), a personal journal (which I really should use more), and one for general gaming notes.

The Pro model lets you swap out different insert Page Packs. For example, you can get one already set up like a planner. There is special D&D Page Pack that I did splurge for (because it was on sale).  It has pre-set pages for campaign notes, PCs, NPCs, random tables that you develop, etc.  I probably would not get it again (well, maybe I would at the sale price), but you really don't need it. Obviously, a lot of the pages are D&D-specific. It's not horrible, but you can also design your own permanent pages for any Rocketbook with a Sharpie. If you're really curious about the D&D Page Pack, there is good review here (and embedded below): link

Here are a few assorted shots of my Rocketbook for good measure.

Dungeon info

PC Info

Uhm... with the cover closed.

Good review of the D&D Page Pack

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit Part 1 - Dice Box

I have been RPGing for decades. I love it. My big brother taught me how to play AD&D back in the 80s and I haven't stopped. Hiatuses, sure, but never really stopped.

More often than not, I'm Dungeon Mastering, Game Mastering, Castle Keepering, etc. I enjoy figuring out the "perfect" DM tool kit.  Back in the day, it was a quest for the most kick-ass Trapper Keeper, the sweetest dice bag, and the most thorough DM screen.  In the next handful of posts, I'll share my current tools of the trade.

Today, I'll focus on containers for that most treasured gaming commodity - DICE. 

Over the years (like a lot gamers) I have amassed quite a lot of dice. I love 'em. Never quite pleased with a humble dice bag, here is what I use at the moment and what I've used in the past.

Current Dice Repository:  Portable Dice Box of the Gods

• Love it. 
• It's not the most charming container, but damn is it functional and versatile.
• It holds a crap ton of dice.
• It's secure (I hate losing dice). 
• It lets me sort them (with rearrangeable sections). 
• I just need a way to bedazzle it somehow.
• A wooden version of this would be awesome.

Previous Solutions (in order from most recent)

Skull Shaver Travel Case

• Kind of a weird one, but I used a travel case that came with my Skull Shaver electric shaver.  (Yep - I'm bald as a cue ball). 
• I slapped a sticker from RedBubble on it to cover up the logo.
• It was large enough to hold all my dice and very secure, but it was tricky not to spill the dice when opening.

Two Layer Stack & Carry Case

Worked really well.

Nice and secure.

It was nice to have sort of an open bin of dice.

I also liked having the second layer for pens, dice, brass knuckles, etc.

      

Lots of Dice Bags

• Surprisingly never a Crown Royal bag.

All Hail the Kind of Dice Bags!