OK, so here's the situation.
- You are away from home and no game stores are nearby.
- You have your rule books and your character sheets.
- You have no electronic devices of any kind.
- You forgot your RPG dice (as in the standard set of 7 polyhedral dice). Your traveling companions have too.
- There is a small General Store (think 7-eleven) nearby.
- Nobody else plays games other than checkers, chess, monopoly, or cards.
What is the best way to simulate d4s, d8s, d10s, d12s, and d20s rolls so you can get a Pathfinder game going?
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Drive to someplace that sells dice.
There are no game stores nearby. That includes practical driving distance.
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d4s: Roll a d6, ignore 5s and 6s.
d8s: Flip a coin. If heads, number is 1-4. If tails, number is 5-8. See "d4s".
d10s: Flip a coin. If heads, number is 1-5. If tails, number is 6-10. See "d4s".
d12s: Flip a coin. You know the drill.
d20s: Flip two coins, preferably of different types. Let's say a nickel and a quarter. If heads on the nickel, it is between 1-10. If tails, between 11-20. If heads on the quarter, it is an odd number. If tails, even. Now roll a d6.
Not pretty, but I guess if you're really desperate...
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You're so unprepared that NOBODY at the table has dice or a phone, laptop, desktop, tablet, or anything else.
The "best way" is simply...don't play that day.
There are no game stores nearby. That includes practical driving distance.
Eh, practical driving distance means different things to different people. I'll drive four hours one way to get to a store if I have to.
I suppose you could whittle some dice, or find a store that sells cell phones and buy one to use a random die roller from the net. Or use the library computers.
Sorry, never been a fan of scenarios that seem to remove choices. :)
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Actually, do cards. Let's say Diamonds and Spades. Leave out all royals except Aces and say that Diamonds are the "high" suit (whatever number is listed, +10) while Spades are the "low" suit (whatever number is listed). If you want, you can leave in a Joker for extra fun. ;D
So:
2 of Diamonds is a 12
Ace of Diamonds is an 11
10 of Spades is a 10
9 of Spades is a 9
etc.
Cards are the easiest method here, assuming someone in your group can shuffle.
Actually, do cards. Let's say Diamonds and Spades. Leave out all royals except Aces and say that Diamonds are the "high" suit (whatever number is listed, +10) while Spades are the "low" suit (whatever number is listed). If you want, you can leave in a Joker for extra fun. ;D
So:
2 of Diamonds is a 12
Ace of Diamonds is an 11
10 of Spades is a 10
9 of Spades is a 9
etc.Cards are the easiest method here, assuming someone in your group can shuffle.
Was just about to pop in with this. Deck of playing cards can simulate any type of dice up to d54. Add in a coin toss and you have up to a d108.
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You're so unprepared that NOBODY at the table has dice or a phone, laptop, desktop, tablet, or anything else.
The "best way" is simply...don't play that day.
I couldn't disagree more. The players have traveled more than four hours to get here, apparently. It would be utterly unfair to just force them to go home.
Play Monopoly instead. ;D
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Go diceless.
Play a night focused on interaction, choice driven investigation, and if fighting is a must, describe it cinematically with reasonable outcomes according to compared numbers, or resolve as though every roll were taking 10.
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If all else fails L.A.R.P. it, I do like Scythia's above suggestion as well.
Kobold Cleaver has the best method... but still this scenario seems wildly far fetched that nobody even has a smart phone.
I like the cards solution also.
An other approach would be:
1) Everyone writes down a pseudo-random sequence of d20, e.g.:
11 6 1 20 17 4 15 9 3 12 5 19 18 10 2 14 13 7 16 8
2) When 'rolling', move through the list, here from 11 to 8.
3) Once you 'rolled' the end of the sequence, start over at the beginning, but add 10. If you get higher than 20, subtract 20 (e.g. 21 turns into 1, d'oh).
4) Once you hit the end of the sequence again, add 1, next time 11, 2, 12, 3, 13 etc.. Keep in mind that you cant go over 20 but have to subtract 20 till you get a valid result. If that adding is too annoying, you can simply cycle through the list again and again.
For other dies simply copy the list and remove any invalid rolls. E.g. for d6 it's 6 1 4 3 5 2. If you cycle through it again, add half the maximum (d6: 3), 1, half maximum + 1, 2 etc., but subtract the maximum if needed.
Cunning players could delay unpleasant or pleasant rolls though - I'd leave it to the players and GM to figure out something for that.
Numbered tiles in a cup is one method.
Sharing dice is another. Seriously, no one has dice?
For me, this scenario would likely not happen. I live by a game store I have a friend that co-owns a game store. I always have dice in the glove box of my car. This just does not happen to me.
It's more often that one of six players lacks dice, and there's usually enough to share. Just make sure that the one that borrows dice doesn't blindly grab them because there's usually doubling cubes or oddball dice mixed in (d12 with D&D classes, or random hit locations. D8s with plus and minus signs. Custom dice with pictures of traps, etc.)
Yes, someone grabbed a doubling cube for a d6 and didn't think twice about a result of "16" on a single die roll.
Sharing dice is another. Seriously, no one has dice?
You're playing RPGs with multiple players and only one set of dice? Years ago when I first began playing there were no game stores in the town I lived in (a largish town by Arkansas standards). I borrowed dice from my DM until I could make the hour long drive to Memphis to buy my own. Shortly afterward the Waldenbooks store began selling them.
Since there's not a game store close by, maybe you could order some from Amazon.com or Chessex.com.
But in my house there are dice. People forget their dice all the time. I have hundreds and hundreds of dice. You need dice? I got 'em. And there's none of that ridiculous dice superstition that says you can't touch someone else's dice.
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When I was in Jr High, I went away to summer camp for 3 weeks with only the PHB, DMG (First edition) and 2d6. I was making an adventure for my group that involved putting on a "strange hat" which "transported" the party members to a strange dungeon. It also changed all their abilities. Yes, it was a computer RPG -- basically Wizardry 1 (this was 1980).
So I had to put together 10 levels of randomly generated dungeons unsing only the charts in the DMG -- the map generator, random monsters and level appropriate random characters and gear. During "quiet time" (about 90 minutes midday when it was too hot to be outside), using only 2 six-sided dice.
Believe me, you can generate *any* set of numbers using a single d6, if you're willing to roll it enough times.
Bar of soap and a whittling knife
Buy a board game with a spinner (or make one)
You can make different circles: inner circle is divided nsew for a 1d4, middle circle is N NE E SE S SW W NW for a D8, every 18 degrees for a d20...
1-20 in a hat
use 3d6 for a d20
Take the facecards out of a deck. 1-10 black is 1-10. Ace to 10 red is 11=20.
for d20s, the dm picks a number, you pick a number. Getting it exactly counts as a nat 20, being 1 under counts as 19, 2 under as an 18 etc. It loops around. Being 1 over is a nat 1.
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As you are clearly roughing it in the wilderness, carve dice from the bones of the game you caught for dinner.
If I forgot my dice I am not worthy to play.
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What happened to the set you swallow every morning just to be sure this doesn't happen?
d6s and coins will do. Keep the game very mechanically simple for this time around. You can use the chess pieces and hand draw a map if desperate.
Play an RPG that only uses d6, like GURPS, HERO System, or FATE.
They're too far from any store to go to get something, and are apparently cut off from any form of communication.
What makes you guys think they have d6's and cards lying around?
They're obviously being held at some secure government facility in the middle of Bumf#*~, Nowhere. Why would they have these?
'Cause he explicitly said we get cards and dice?
OK, so here's the situation.
- You are away from home and no game stores are nearby.
- You have your rule books and your character sheets.
- You have no electronic devices of any kind.
- You forgot your RPG dice (as in the standard set of 7 polyhedral dice). Your traveling companions have too.
- There is a small General Store (think 7-eleven) nearby.
- Nobody else plays games other than checkers, chess, monopoly, or cards.
What is the best way to simulate d4s, d8s, d10s, d12s, and d20s rolls so you can get a Pathfinder game going?
OH CHITS!!!!
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Sharing dice is another. Seriously, no one has dice?
*Hisssssss*
I've spent years breaking in my dice. I've gotten them used to rolling well by threatening them with three hours in the freezer if they don't do as I tell them. I've had to drive them with rod and lash to phear me greatly and muchly and therefore do everything in their little plastic, resin and metal hearts not to offend me, and now you're suggesting letting someone uninitiated touch my dice?
Let alone USE them?!?
Get thee behind me!!
Ixnay on touchy dicey, kay?!
Or Starwars or WushuPlay an RPG that only uses d6, like GURPS, HERO System, or FATE.
But ... but ...
My D12's will cry themselves to sleep, then!
Sharing dice is another. Seriously, no one has dice?*Hisssssss*
I've spent years breaking in my dice. I've gotten them used to rolling well by threatening them with three hours in the freezer if they don't do as I tell them. I've had to drive them with rod and lash to phear me greatly and muchly and therefore do everything in their little plastic, resin and metal hearts not to offend me, and now you're suggesting letting someone uninitiated touch my dice?
Let alone USE them?!?
Get thee behind me!!
Ixnay on touchy dicey, kay?!
Sorry, I've done that. Superstitious dice guy and I've grabbed and fondled those dice, draining the luck from them. Or "abstent-mindedly" picked them up when it is time to roll a lot of dice.
He looked for his cherished dice later and shock horror, it has already been used.
*Belly-laughter*
Or Starwars or WushuPlay an RPG that only uses d6, like GURPS, HERO System, or FATE.
But ... but ...
My D12's will cry themselves to sleep, then!
You can use d6s for a d12 system, but I hear you. I made a system to give the humble d12 more use (and d20s go the way of the d12).
They're too far from any store to go to get something, and are apparently cut off from any form of communication.
What makes you guys think they have d6's and cards lying around?
They're obviously being held at some secure government facility in the middle of Bumf&*#, Nowhere. Why would they have these?
Not too far from the truth, but they did have Monopoly and cards. Yes, this situation really happened.
Sharing dice is another. Seriously, no one has dice?*Hisssssss*
I've spent years breaking in my dice. I've gotten them used to rolling well by threatening them with three hours in the freezer if they don't do as I tell them. I've had to drive them with rod and lash to phear me greatly and muchly and therefore do everything in their little plastic, resin and metal hearts not to offend me, and now you're suggesting letting someone uninitiated touch my dice?
Let alone USE them?!?
Get thee behind me!!
Ixnay on touchy dicey, kay?!
And yet you roll horribly when you GM... Maybe you should try love and friendship :D
And yet you roll horribly when you GM... Maybe you should try love and friendship :DSharing dice is another. Seriously, no one has dice?*Hisssssss*
I've spent years breaking in my dice. I've gotten them used to rolling well by threatening them with three hours in the freezer if they don't do as I tell them. I've had to drive them with rod and lash to phear me greatly and muchly and therefore do everything in their little plastic, resin and metal hearts not to offend me, and now you're suggesting letting someone uninitiated touch my dice?
Let alone USE them?!?
Get thee behind me!!
Ixnay on touchy dicey, kay?!
No! Dice must be terrified of their owner! Also, I don't roll horribly when I GM. I roll balanced. You guys came within a snifter of a TPK against Xulthos :D
I'll DM and pick the numbers arbitrarily for everyone all the time. ;)
No! Dice must be terrified of their owner! Also, I don't roll horribly when I GM. I roll balanced. You guys came within a snifter of a TPK against Xulthos :DAnd yet you roll horribly when you GM... Maybe you should try love and friendship :DSharing dice is another. Seriously, no one has dice?*Hisssssss*
I've spent years breaking in my dice. I've gotten them used to rolling well by threatening them with three hours in the freezer if they don't do as I tell them. I've had to drive them with rod and lash to phear me greatly and muchly and therefore do everything in their little plastic, resin and metal hearts not to offend me, and now you're suggesting letting someone uninitiated touch my dice?
Let alone USE them?!?
Get thee behind me!!
Ixnay on touchy dicey, kay?!
but... you always complain about how you roll low D: Are you just lulling us into a flase sense of security!?
.. I guess you are considering how powerful Xulthos turned out to be.
The DM mentally picks a number (1-20 for a d20)
The player picks a number (1-20 for a d20)
The DM adds them together and subtracts 20 if the result is over 20.
No! Dice must be terrified of their owner! Also, I don't roll horribly when I GM. I roll balanced. You guys came within a snifter of a TPK against Xulthos :DAnd yet you roll horribly when you GM... Maybe you should try love and friendship :DSharing dice is another. Seriously, no one has dice?*Hisssssss*
I've spent years breaking in my dice. I've gotten them used to rolling well by threatening them with three hours in the freezer if they don't do as I tell them. I've had to drive them with rod and lash to phear me greatly and muchly and therefore do everything in their little plastic, resin and metal hearts not to offend me, and now you're suggesting letting someone uninitiated touch my dice?
Let alone USE them?!?
Get thee behind me!!
Ixnay on touchy dicey, kay?!
but... you always complain about how you roll low D: Are you just lulling us into a flase sense of security!?
.. I guess you are considering how powerful Xulthos turned out to be.
MUAHAHAHAHAH!!! Mine is an evil laugh! (gratuitous Firefly-reference there, folks).
I complain when I roll low. I do, however, remind you of your shock and horror at my consistent luck on initiative rolls, AND you were nearly swallowing your collective tongues when you realized how many and how nasty Xulthos' attacks were.
Muahaha indeed!
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I know! Construct some dice.
Look around you – can you form some sort of rudimentary lathe?
The DM mentally picks a number (1-20 for a d20)
The player picks a number (1-20 for a d20)
The DM adds them together and subtracts 20 if the result is over 20.
So the result is always 1.
So the result is always 1.The DM mentally picks a number (1-20 for a d20)
The player picks a number (1-20 for a d20)
The DM adds them together and subtracts 20 if the result is over 20.
No, it's a game of chicken. Who is gonna blink first?
You guys have some very interesting ideas.
We tried many different things while stuck there in the middle of nowhere.
First idea was to use paper-scissors-rock.
It was an idea borrowed from LARPing. GM and player play paper-scissors-rock best two out of 3. If player wins, he adds 6, if he loses, he subtracts 6. If player wins them all, he rolled a "20", if lost them all, he rolled a "1". If they were all a tie, then he just takes 10. Turns out, paper-scissors-rock isn't as random as some people think and we had a couple people who were eerily good at it and some people who sucked at it. So it was scrapped.
Next idea was to use coins.
d20: Start with a value of 10 and toss 4 coins. Each coin is worth 2.5 (drop the fraction). Heads are plus and tails are minus. All tails is like rolling a 1 and all heads is like rolling a 20.
d12: Start with 6 and toss 4 coins. Like above, heads are plus and tails are minus but each coin counts as one.
d10, d8, d6, and d4 are done similarly. It sort of worked but some players complained they weren't hitting high numbers often enough.
So we tried some other things that I will cover later.
Coins make it easy if you are comfortable converting a number from base two. You can generate an N-bit number by flipping a coin N times
Simulating a D20 would be done by flipping 5 times, converting to a number (0-31) and rerolling when outside 1-20.
Lets say you flip (H=1=heads, T=0=tails):
TTHHT
That would be 00110.
00110=0*1 + 1*2 + 1*4 + 0*8 + 0*16=6
TTHHT=6
You could actually do this sort of thing with any source of randomness that you are reasonably confident of the behavior of, although it may end up being rather tedious or complex to use.