What is This?

Draw Initiative is an extension for Owlbear Rodeo, a free-to-use virtual tabletop (VTT) for playing tabletop roleplaying games online.

This extension implements the card-based initiative system from the Dragonbane RPG, allowing Game Masters and players to manage combat turns with the authentic Dragonbane experience.

How It Works

The Card System

The Dragonbane initiative system uses a virtual deck of 10 cards numbered 1-10:

  • At the start of each round, participants draw cards from the deck
  • Turn order goes from lowest (1) to highest (10)
  • On your turn, you can Act (take your turn) or Swap (exchange cards with someone else)

Swap Rules

  • You can only swap with participants who haven't acted yet
  • You can only swap with participants who have a higher initiative number
  • After swapping, you're marked as "Waited" and can no longer be a swap target
  • NPCs/monsters (GM-controlled) cannot initiate swaps, but can be swap targets

Installation

Quick Setup

  1. Open Owlbear Rodeo and go to your profile
  2. Click "Add Extension"
  3. Enter the extension URL: https://drawinitiative.gabrielaleixo.com/manifest.json
  4. The extension will appear in your action bar

For Game Masters

Starting Combat

  1. Select tokens on the map that will participate in combat
  2. Open the Draw Initiative extension
  3. Click "Start Combat"

Drawing Phase

  • Each player draws their own card by clicking "Draw" next to their character
  • Use "Draw All Cards" to auto-assign cards to participants who haven't drawn
  • Click "Start Round" once all cards are drawn

Managing Combat

  • Add Participants: Select new tokens and click "Add Participants" (only during drawing phase)
  • Remove Participants: Click the ✕ button next to any participant (anytime)
  • End Combat: Click "End Combat" to clear all combat state

Round Completion

When all participants have acted, click "Draw New Round" to start fresh draws.

Ferocity (Multiple Turns)

Some monsters have the Ferocity ability, allowing them to take multiple turns per round. To handle this:

  1. During the drawing phase, click "+Ferocity" next to a GM-controlled token
  2. This creates a duplicate entry in the initiative list
  3. Each entry draws its own initiative card
  4. Click "+Ferocity" multiple times for Ferocity 3, 4, etc.

The duplicate entries share the same token on the map — only the initiative tracking is duplicated. If the token is removed from the map, all its Ferocity entries are also removed.

For Players

Drawing Phase

  • Click "Draw" next to your character to draw an initiative card
  • Wait for the GM to start the round

Your Turn

When your character is highlighted as active:

  • Click "Act" to complete your turn
  • Click "Swap" to exchange initiative with another participant (see swap rules above)

Interface Guide

Symbol Meaning
Card with number Initiative value (lower acts first)
Card with "?" Card not yet drawn
Highlighted row Currently active turn
Dimmed row Already acted this round
Teal left border "Waited" status (swapped, cannot be swap target)