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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 7633883" data-attributes="member: 92305">KEEP INITIATIVE HIDDENI am reading a Conan story where the mighty Cimmerian is climbing an outer city wall in Stygia using a grapple and rope.  A guard on the top of the wall spots the grapnel and see's Conan climb over the side.  The guard raises his bill and charges at Conan while the barbarian is laying on his chest, his body bent at the waist so that his legs are still against the wall.  When the Stygian gets to Conan, the barbarian acts quickly, with cat like reflexes, to grab the guard's ankle and leg, tripping him to the ground before the guard can strike.How would this play out mechanically in the game?You could say that the guard rolled initiative and won, but that would put Conan flatfooted.  Conan would have no Dodge or Parry defense (which, given his position, he shouldn't have anyway--he can't dodge or parry while arched over the side of a wall, lying on his chest).  Conan should be easy to hit.That's doesn't fit the situation described.The guard charged, but Conan acted first with a trip maneuver when the two came within range of each other.  What Conan did was use a Ready Action.  If the guard charged him with the bill, Conan would attempt a trip right before the strike.This means that Conan won initiative.Let's turn this around a bit.  The player character is the guard, and an NPC (not Conan) is spotted coming over the side, climbing the wall.  Initiative is thrown and the NPC wins (just like Conan did above).  Will the player charge the NPC knowing that the NPC has initiative?  Not unless the player is sure the NPC used his action.If you, as GM, always hide your initiative rolls, then players will not have the meta-information.  If the NPC wins initiative, and the GM decides to use a Ready action to trip an incoming charge, then to the player, who has no idea whether he won initiative or not, may indeed think he has initiative and will go ahead and charge.Plus, hiding the initiative rolls (and you can do this just by hiding the GM's rolls for NPCs, keeping the roll secret from the players) leads to more narrative in the game.  The combat becomes more about what the players experience through their characters rather than their knowledge of dice rolls.  The experience is less like a game, following dice, and more or a roleplaying experience where the players live thorough the senses of their characters and the PCs adventure in the world.In my opinion, it is a much more fun way of playing the game.Keep as many dice rolls hidden as you can.  Let the players experience their game through the senses of their characters--what their characters see, smell, taste, feel.This puts the players there, in the game world, living in the skins of their characters.</blockquote>

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