Random Thoughts
Posted by Vanir at 11:23 AM
Every now and then I hear an argument that has been around as long as there have been laptops and PDA's to bring to the D&D table: "You're not using REAL DICE!"
Some say it takes away from the spirit of the game or sucks the magic out. I've seen go so far as to accuse the guy running a dieroller program of cheating. I have to say, I don't really get either of those.
In Which Vanir Divulges The OTHER Reason He Is Surprised He Successfully Wed
I'm a computer programmer by trade, and I've been coding since I was literally about 5. Granted, the programs back then were about the Dukes of Hazzard and didn't really do much aside from:
Regardless, once I got a little older and learned about generating random numbers, it wasn't really a giant mental leap when I realized rolling dice was just random number generation for luddites. And while I can say there is a definite thrill in rolling a d20 during a critical moment and having everyone watch the die roll from your hand, hearts leaping in anticipation with every bounce to see if they all live or die -- well, that anticipation is still there if the player clicks "ROLL" in his die roller. It does suck a little that everyone can't see what you rolled, but then again I know lots of people who use DM screens or simply just have too much junk on the table for people to see what got rolled. And I can't honestly say I haven't still cheered when one of our laptop-die-rollers saves the day.
"But", you say, "dierollers aren't TRULY RANDOM!" Well, no. But it's close enough. Computers usually use what's called pseudorandom numbers, which in a nutshell means the computer takes some number it has access to that is going to change rapidly and often (like the computer's internal clock) and does some math on it that produces a number that is, for most intents and purposes, random. If you're going to run quantum physics experiments, or you're a hardcore computer scientist, or you're just THAT ANAL, then yeah, pseudorandom numbers might not work for you. Rolling d20 to hit a goblin? Not really an issue so much!
Dirty Rotten Cheaters
As far as cheating, anybody who thinks dice are 100% fair is kidding themselves. Loaded dice have been around ever since it became profitable to cheat, and they even sell loaded polyhedrals at Gen Con. And I can remember attempting to come up with harebrained schemes at a teenager with a friend of mine on how to influence our die rolls by spinning the dice or palming a certain number up. It didn't always work, but it did sometimes. I'd be willing to bet holding the dice funny would get you really closely watched at a casino at the very least!
Sure, writing a computer program that cooked the results wouldn't be very hard. And I suppose it might be a little harder to detect if cheating had occurred. But if you're rolling 19 or 20 every other roll, people are going to look at you funny no matter what you're using.
Besides, people who cheat at D&D need to die from blunt force cranial trauma from a PHB regardless of method.
Die Roller Resources
For those of you who want to use a die roller on your PC or Mac, here's a good one that probably does WAAAAAY more than you need it to.
http://www.aroooo.com/rpg_stuff/dice_roller/
Linux guys, sorry -- they don't have a version of that out for you. But if you install Ruby, you can use this instead! (Or write your own, I know how you guys are.)
http://www.rubyquiz.com/quiz61.html
There's a swell web-based die roller at Pen, Paper, Pixel:
http://www.penpaperpixel.org/tools/d20dicebag.htm
If you have an iPhone, you could always try out this web-based iPhone dice roller (but don't tell Yax -- he didn't much care for it!)
http://yoav.org/dice/index.html
Me, I stick to real dice most of the time but if I'm playing somewhere without a real table to roll on I'm using a homebrew application on my Nintendo DS (you'll need a cartridge that lets you run homebrew).
http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=14642664&postcount=2
No matter what you use, it's always a good idea to check in with your DM to make sure using your shiny new die roller is kosher. PHB's don't do subdual!
Some say it takes away from the spirit of the game or sucks the magic out. I've seen go so far as to accuse the guy running a dieroller program of cheating. I have to say, I don't really get either of those.
In Which Vanir Divulges The OTHER Reason He Is Surprised He Successfully Wed
I'm a computer programmer by trade, and I've been coding since I was literally about 5. Granted, the programs back then were about the Dukes of Hazzard and didn't really do much aside from:
10 PRINT "BOSS HOGG IS MEAN"
20 GOTO 10
Regardless, once I got a little older and learned about generating random numbers, it wasn't really a giant mental leap when I realized rolling dice was just random number generation for luddites. And while I can say there is a definite thrill in rolling a d20 during a critical moment and having everyone watch the die roll from your hand, hearts leaping in anticipation with every bounce to see if they all live or die -- well, that anticipation is still there if the player clicks "ROLL" in his die roller. It does suck a little that everyone can't see what you rolled, but then again I know lots of people who use DM screens or simply just have too much junk on the table for people to see what got rolled. And I can't honestly say I haven't still cheered when one of our laptop-die-rollers saves the day.
"But", you say, "dierollers aren't TRULY RANDOM!" Well, no. But it's close enough. Computers usually use what's called pseudorandom numbers, which in a nutshell means the computer takes some number it has access to that is going to change rapidly and often (like the computer's internal clock) and does some math on it that produces a number that is, for most intents and purposes, random. If you're going to run quantum physics experiments, or you're a hardcore computer scientist, or you're just THAT ANAL, then yeah, pseudorandom numbers might not work for you. Rolling d20 to hit a goblin? Not really an issue so much!
Dirty Rotten Cheaters
As far as cheating, anybody who thinks dice are 100% fair is kidding themselves. Loaded dice have been around ever since it became profitable to cheat, and they even sell loaded polyhedrals at Gen Con. And I can remember attempting to come up with harebrained schemes at a teenager with a friend of mine on how to influence our die rolls by spinning the dice or palming a certain number up. It didn't always work, but it did sometimes. I'd be willing to bet holding the dice funny would get you really closely watched at a casino at the very least!
Sure, writing a computer program that cooked the results wouldn't be very hard. And I suppose it might be a little harder to detect if cheating had occurred. But if you're rolling 19 or 20 every other roll, people are going to look at you funny no matter what you're using.
Besides, people who cheat at D&D need to die from blunt force cranial trauma from a PHB regardless of method.
Die Roller Resources
For those of you who want to use a die roller on your PC or Mac, here's a good one that probably does WAAAAAY more than you need it to.
http://www.aroooo.com/rpg_stuff/dice_roller/
Linux guys, sorry -- they don't have a version of that out for you. But if you install Ruby, you can use this instead! (Or write your own, I know how you guys are.)
http://www.rubyquiz.com/quiz61.html
There's a swell web-based die roller at Pen, Paper, Pixel:
http://www.penpaperpixel.org/tools/d20dicebag.htm
If you have an iPhone, you could always try out this web-based iPhone dice roller (but don't tell Yax -- he didn't much care for it!)
http://yoav.org/dice/index.html
Me, I stick to real dice most of the time but if I'm playing somewhere without a real table to roll on I'm using a homebrew application on my Nintendo DS (you'll need a cartridge that lets you run homebrew).
http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=14642664&postcount=2
No matter what you use, it's always a good idea to check in with your DM to make sure using your shiny new die roller is kosher. PHB's don't do subdual!
Labels: computer, dice, dieroller, nintendo ds, Vanir
