Initiative Tracker?

[Aluvial]

I use a metal dry erase board with the initiative count on it. The PC's have magnetic name tags and I use dry erase for the monsters. The board is near me, and everyone at the table can see it.

This system is extremely easy and pretty cheap.

Aluvial

 

[Betote]

I use a metal dry erase board with the initiative count on it. The PC's have magnetic name tags and I use dry erase for the monsters. The board is near me, and everyone at the table can see it.

This system is extremely easy and pretty cheap.

And exactly the same as using a combat pad. The only difference is that the combat pat is prettier

 

[Hereticus]

Some prefer the Pazio Combat Pad... some prefer the Staples Combat Pad...

 

[kenmarable]

I also play with a GM who uses the Combat Pad, but he moved to a larger magnetic whiteboard, which he has one of the players maintain. That also seems to work very well.

Actually, there's another good point - let the players keep track of it. It's something that's easy to offload and it gets at least the player more engaged.

Depending on the secretness of hidden enemies, you can either just keep a note to yourself ("Insert bad guy on round 2 between Player A and B"), or, which can be fun tell the initiative tracker to put in a question mark at initiative counts X and Y.

But we haven't had the DM keep track of initiative in years.

 

[dbm]

I use a metal dry erase board with the initiative count on it.

We use basically the same system. I have a small metallic white board and a set of counters. Each player has a counter with their name on it; for monsters we us blank magnetic counters to hold pieces of paper with their designation on it.

For conditions and the like we use magnetic counters from Alea Tools stacked under the minis.

Both work really well.

Cheers
Dan

 

[JoeGKushner]

The only problem I have with the Paizo one is when players have similiar initiatives it's hard to keep them in the same spot without running into the lower/higher numbers since not every slot is numbered.

 

[malraux]

The only problem I have with the Paizo one is when players have similiar initiatives it's hard to keep them in the same spot without running into the lower/higher numbers since not every slot is numbered.

What I've done is to just append everyone's init to the end of their marker, and ignore the numbers listed on the pad. And since I write that in dry erase but the player names are in wet erase, at the end of combat it just takes a finger wipe to remove the old inits.

 

[Scribe Ineti]

One of the players in my group has a small dry erase board that she uses to track the initiative orders of PCs and monsters, the HP for the PCs, and any conditions that are affecting the PCs. It's pretty handy and it's a great tool when I GM to glance over and see the initiative order without having to track it myself.

 

[SlyFlourish]

I've tried white boards, sheets of paper, index cards, and the paizo tracker.

The best system I've found uses 3x5 cards cut in half the long way and draped over a DM screen with the character name at the bottom on both sides.

Here are some pics:
IMG_0146.JPG on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
IMG_0144.JPG on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Use a card to point your way from highest to lowest.

You can also cut more cards shorter than the init cards and make them status effect cards:

Init and Status cards on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

This system helps you track init, helps your players see when they're up or have their neighbor yell at them, and lets you track status effects.

It's the best and the cheapest system I've seen for init and I love it.

 

[Asmor]

I've tried white boards, sheets of paper, index cards, and the paizo tracker.

The best system I've found uses 3x5 cards cut in half the long way and draped over a DM screen with the character name at the bottom on both sides.

Here are some pics:
IMG_0146.JPG on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
IMG_0144.JPG on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Use a card to point your way from highest to lowest.

You can also cut more cards shorter than the init cards and make them status effect cards:

Init and Status cards on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

This system helps you track init, helps your players see when they're up or have their neighbor yell at them, and lets you track status effects.

It's the best and the cheapest system I've seen for init and I love it.

That's really cool, actually. I'm happy with TurnWatcher and don't use a screen in the first place, but I've got a couple friends I could suggest that to...