YAIS

Yet Another Initiative System

Available as a free print & play PDF:

Right Here

Everyone has their own method of tracking initiative, and we’re no exception! YAIS (Yet Another Initiative System) is a free print & play initiative system for game tables with miniatures. What makes it special?

• YAIS tracks each miniature by number, so even if you have identical miniatures you’ll have no trouble tracking each monster’s HP and conditions separately.

• YAIS makes turn order visible to the players, so they always know when their turn is coming.

• YAIS makes conditions visible to the players, so ongoing effects are less easily forgotten.

• YAIS speeds up taking initiative by using each player & monster’s initiative roll. No need to determine who goes first, second, and so on. Each player reports their initiative roll and hands you their flag which you put in the same-numbered spot. Repeat for the monsters and your initiative track is already in order. Done.

  • Box not included.
  • Assembly required.
Assembly Instructions

YAIS requires you to print the black and white pages one-sided on standard letter-sized paper. You will then need to cut out the pieces, fold them, and use a gluestick to finish. See the YAIS download file for full instructions. Note: Altogether YAIS can take several hours to fully assemble. We recommend only assembling what you need (ie. there’s no reason to assemble 26 monster bases if you only need 6).

As said above, everyone has their own means of tracking initiative, and (thanks to a bunch of warhammer goblins I was given) for me that method had to allow for identical miniatures. At the same time I was (and still am) quite partial to any system where the players could see when their turn was coming up as I felt it really kept them engaged. There are of course systems out there that cover these bases, but I was never fully satisfied; maybe they took up too much space on a 1" grid so the miniatures couldn't stand side by side nicely, or maybe the whole setup was just a little too expensive to justify. In the end, I created YAIS to be my own ideal solution and being just paper and a glue stick, it seemed simple enough to put it out here in case it was a good solution for other game masters out there.
James Designer

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