I need a good riddle, and how do you handle initiative with large groups?

[Brakkart]

A good source for riddles is the old Birthright novel The Spider's Test. There's about 20 of them in there as there is an intense riddle contest between the hero and villain.

One that got one of my old groups stumped when they came up against a Gynosphinx was:

It is the beginning of eternity
The end of time and space
The start of every end
And the end of every place

Heh they took AGES to figure it out, wasn't until one of them eventually wrote it down that they spotted the answer

Spoiler

The letter E.

 

[Thanee]

drowsword

Word!

Bye
Thanee

 

[pogre]

Occasionally, when everyone shows up I have 8 folks at the table. I make a chart at the start of the game like this:
Wassabe
Thoren
Mercutio
Morguhn
Githraldul
Justinius
Heinrich
Ginny

When combat starts I record everyone's initiative
Wassabe 17
Thoren 14
Mercutio 22
Morguhn 11
Githraldul 21
Justinius 18
Heinrich 4
Ginny 26

Monster 1 15
Monster 2 18

I then make checks next to folks' names as they go. I give them about 10 seconds to announce their intended actions or they move down to the end of the intiative order. Sometimes they cry about it, but you have got to keep things moving with a big group. So in mid-combat my chart might look like this:

Wassabe 17 xx
Thoren 14 x
Mercutio 22 xx
Morguhn 11 x
Githraldul 21 xx
Justinius 18 xx
Heinrich 4 x
Ginny 26 xx

Monster 1 15 x
Monster 2 18 xx

Quick - who's next?






If you said monster 1 in less than a few seconds this may work for you too. Good luck!

 

[Ferret]

I have a sheet I print out with space for initiative, and one for order which I write out, and just read off.

I don't have any proper riddles but I have one I found, probably good for a jester.

I'm hard, I'm soft
I'm yellow, I'm Clear
I'm fruity, yet tangy
I'm Jelly, What am I?

 

[Ellie_the_Elf]

I've used two methods..

First was an initiative board (a small whiteboard), which the players took it in turns to look after for the session. They'd then go round the players and collect the result, whenever initiative was rolled and write their names on the board along with the rolls made. Their enemies were added to the board after the first round, when they'd found out when they were going. When we do this I give a small xp reward to the person who did the initiative board for the session.

What I do most of the time now is use an initiative tracker on my laptop. All this is is a two column table with numbers counting down from 30 to 1 in one column, and space for pc names in the other. I go round the group and ask for init rolls at the start of each fight and just type them in the empty column.

Ellie.

 

[IronWolf]

As for initiative I use index cards. Makes it easy to shuffle through them and get them in the right order. If the enemy combatants are plentiful in number I roll for init in groups for them. If there are less than eight or ten I roll individually. Enemy combatants of course get init index cards to and ordered with the rest.

 

[Gynsala]

Stable Initiative

I haven't heard this one yet. We use it sometimes if we're sick of how much rolling is going on.

You just roll initiative once for the series of encounters, or for the day, or whatnot. For people who would complain that a crappy roll would really hurt you, you still roll initiative multiple times, so you'll just spend 3 encounters going last instead of 1. We've never done this in a campaign with big enough baddies to seriously have a chance of dying in the first round, so I understand this would be bad for those scenarios.

Honestly, if the players agree to abide by it, it saves a lot of time (and they'll still remember who they are going after/before, so hopefully they'll have their actions ready faster.)

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

What I do most of the time now is use an initiative tracker on my laptop. All this is is a two column table with numbers counting down from 30 to 1 in one column, and space for pc names in the other. I go round the group and ask for init rolls at the start of each fight and just type them in the empty column.

I use the same basic technique, except in hard copy -- blank sheet with initiative numbers down one side, and as players roll initiative I write their names in the blanks. The sheet has boxes to check off as the rounds go by, plus a space to track monster Ac and hitpoint so I'm not constantly refering to stat blocks.

 

[maransreth]

For Riddles

If you would like a large range of riddles to choose from, I would recommend this forum: Ruby Covenant Riddles Forum
There are a large number of riddles to choose from, some roleplaying related, some Forgotten Realms related, some you need a knowledge of roman numerals to answer or even mythology.

As to initiative with large groups, make the party's opponents all use the same initiative to make it easier for yourself. However that doesnt show realism. BUt whatever works for you.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I have considered the possibility of simply assuming that everyone takes 10 on iniative rolls. That makes investments into initiative bonuses a lot more effective, and it also means that you can seat your players according to their initiative score - then you can just go round the table, interrupting with the monsters when it's their go.