@skinnyghostI think that “roll for initiative” might be one of my least favourite tropes in RPGs. It’s such a disruptive smash cut. I hate it and wanted to pull it from D&D. Such a drag. A dragon swoops in and… Let's do a bunch of bookkeeping.
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) January 26, 2015
You could roll as needed at the beginning of a session and pull out the values when combat comes, or have them roll at each rest, using the values until the next. You can still roll baddie initiative behind the screen to keep some variability if you find the method too static.