Alberto Mejias's page

Pandora's wrote:

pauljathome wrote:

I am a computer programmer and your friends are only partly right.

A GOOD random generator is going to be pretty darn random, certainly WAY more random than dice rolled in a hand the way gamers do. There is a reason when money is involved (eg, craps) dice are shaken very vigorously.

Bad random number generators are still quite likely better than most dice rolled at most tables.

Really bad generators and programmers do, however, exist

Mostly this. Technically most computers make pseudorandom numbers, which means they are not truly random in the statistical sense. With the correct information, you can predict the result, but that only matters when a sophisticated attacker is willing to take the time. For the purpose of everything but computer security, pseudorandom is much better than dice.

If you happen to really care, it is possible to generate true random numbers using special hardware that reads white noise created by solar particles. That's the nuclear option for combating dice cheaters :)

For further fun, note that some video games don't just stop at generating a random number between X and Y, they do other silly stuff that throws a wrench into the mix.

For example, in some of the Fire Emblem games they roll a d% twice and average the result for determining if you hit. This means an 80% hit chance is actually more like a 94% hit chance, while a 20% chance is closer to 6%. Only a 50% remains unchained.

Other games will skew the random results based on previous results. So if you got lots of good rolls it might deliberately force a bad roll to keep things "even". Or visa-versa, of course.

Many games save where they are in the psuedo-random sequence when you save your game. This means that if you reload and do the same things in the same order, the same things will happen. This doesn't mean that the RNG is broken! It's just to prevent people from reloading until they win. (I think X-Com does this.)

In other words, never...

Sorry for reopening old wounds but I wanted to tell a story.

First time I encountered an obvious problem with random numbers generated on a computer was when preparing a mod for Quake so I ended creating my own random generator function, which still is not random but far more random than the original in the API.

A few years ago I programmed an aplication to check the diference between 4d6 keep 3 highest and 2d6+6 (sort answer: 2d6+6 excels the other by much) as a checking for some friends, I did it in Delphi 6 and the random functions were AWFULLY wrong so I ended recoding my random generator function which I recalled for long years before.

And if you are curious how the function worked i just created a huge "random" number and then took the mod of that number divided on the dice I wanted to roll (+1, of course) so at the end even if the numbers randomized by the original function were not really random, it served it purpose more than well on my tests.

Our warehouse staff was able to ship your order earlier today. When an order is placed on our website it should take a certain amount of time to be fulfilled based on what products are contained in the order. The estimated fulfillment time should be stated in your order confirmation email when the order is placed, as well as the in the Product Availability section of each products page on our website.

- Erik Keith

Hi again,

Thank you very much for your answer.

Regarding the issue, I expected that, the only thing that was strange for me is that something bought after that was shipped before.
Anyway, as you told me the shipping was done.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Best regards

Alberto

Hi,

How can I know why this order is in status pending?

Best regards

Alberto

Thank you for letting me know about this Alberto,

I have set up a replacement copy to be shipped to you as soon as possible, you should receive a confirmation email from us as soon as it leaves from our warehouse. Please keep the copy of Champions of Balance we sent you with our apologies. : )

- Erik

Thank you, thank you very much Erik, this is a gift for a friend so it's great to hear that :D

Hi,

I've sent you an email regarding this issue, but as I see it seems better to write here I'm going to do it.

In my order I bought a Bastards of Golarion but instead I received the Champions of Balance, what should I do?

Best regards

As a GM, you receive max PP for GMing the scenario. Thanks for taking time to prepare and then run the game or your players!

Sanctioned modules in PFS determine wealth on the WBL curve, not adding all items together and divvying gold up as you would a home game. We've listed the max gold amount on the Chronicle sheet to aid GMs with this so it is one less thing they have to worry about figuring out. If the players miss a room or otherwise skip a treasure, the amount listed of that treasure skipped should be reduced from the max gold rewarded at the end.

Hello,

I'm one of the players who played that game. I do also master some games.

Regarding the gold issue, I just dont understand the way to calculate the gold in a module as in theory the way to do it is to sum up every gold coin+items/2 (sold item value) and then split among the players but this module is far from that amount. If I remember correctly the max gold in a module sheet should be that calculated on a basis of 4 players for an average party level.
Re-reading the chapter 5 step 3 and chapter 7 "Filling out a character sheet" subchapter and step 5 nothing like that is said.
So in any case as I said to Miguel, it is OK for me that result, altough I'd like to know the way that gold is calculated just in case I like to use Pathfinder Society Organized Play (PFSOP from now on) in a house game which is not really PFSOP which a home-made module.

By the way, Miguel, re-reading the PFSOP I fing that a master get partial reward:
- 1 XP
- 50% of the max gold