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In the Dragon Emperor campaign, there are some Monsters with a Ferocity of the number of PCs -1. So, with a group of 6 PCs, that monster will have a Ferocity of 5. So, you need 11 different Initiatives for the PCs and Monster. How do you handle that? Do you just use 11 cards from a regular deck of cards? Or do you allow the Monster to act twice on a single turn?

I would just let a monster act twice on one of the init cards.

An alternative is to use a suit from a normal deck of cards, then you have 13 init cards.

I use a normal 52 card deck, no jokers. Less reshuffling. Break ties by suit. Actually works really well since you don't have to stop and shuffle near as much. We've also used two decks so a "backup" was ready when/if we had to reshuffle the main deck.

When we have used jokers, those were "benefits" on a red joker, a "bad thing" on a black joker (and usual a joker world initiate a reshuffle].

At its most basic level though, just use a 52 card deck, no jokers, break ties by suit and you good to go.

What i would do is it only get's about 4 turns, but it get's one dodge as a freebie that you can cash in.

But IMO i don't think having 6 players is a good idea. I am running a campaign with 5 players, and i feel that is kinda the maximum the game is balanced around. There are enough cards to go around, but the monsters can be quite deadly, especially if they get multiple turns in a row.

There's a couple of ways to use a regular card deck:

• Break the decks up by suit and shuffle before the game Then you have four decks, 1 to 13 and you have four round before a deck needs to be shuffled.

• 5 players can get long in the tooth. Use the whole deck but use the joker as a "act at any time in round" card AND a reshuffle to speed things along.

What i would do is it only get's about 4 turns, but it get's one dodge as a freebie that you can cash in.

But IMO i don't think having 6 players is a good idea. I am running a campaign with 5 players, and i feel that is kinda the maximum the game is balanced around. There are enough cards to go around, but the monsters can be quite deadly, especially if they get multiple turns in a row.

I agree that five players is probably the limit and the box even say 1-6 players (1 GM and up to 5 players). I had 7 players in the 80s and 90s and now in the 00s and up I have 3-4 and really don't want more than that.

Good idea with the free dodge.

While I understand that the idea of "I wouldn't run more than 5" is where people want to be the reality is many of us have one gaming group that exceeds that :p My group is 7 total and we all wanted to play DB so its not really feasible, or polite, to tell someone to sit aside. I think the "balance issues" are easily adjusted and from running 4 sessions so far it is still plenty deadly for the party...just requires prepping and being familiar enough with the system to be able to adjust.

I use a normal 52 card deck, no jokers. Less reshuffling. Break ties by suit. Actually works really well since you don't have to stop and shuffle near as much. We've also used two decks so a "backup" was ready when/if we had to reshuffle the main deck.

When we have used jokers, those were "benefits" on a red joker, a "bad thing" on a black joker (and usual a joker world initiate a reshuffle].

At its most basic level though, just use a 52 card deck, no jokers, break ties by suit and you good to go.

This is a very nice Idea but I think some mechanics are difficult to translate to a big card deck. How do you use the HA Veteran or handle an ambush with the full deck of cards for example?

Veteran wouldn't change.

Veteran wouldn't change.

Yes, from a technical point of view it would work, but this HA would be significantly weakened. This HA is effective because it can influence the turn order and thus creates a certain predictability. If new cards are drawn every round from a deck of 52 cards, predictability no longer exists. In practice, a veteran often wants to have a very high or a very low card. This only works if the deck is manageable and predictable. The less initiative cards are in play, the more control the veteran have.

As I said, I find the idea of ​​a large deck exciting because you dont have to colect the cards and shuffle, but I wonder whether it takes more work to manage and shuffle a really small number of cards or to determine the turn order with sometimes different colors and numbers. For me the "You have the 1 so you go first" sounds more natural