
Aaron Bitman |

If I keep hitting preview can I guarantee a natural 20?
1d20 + 3; 1d6 + 2
Nope. Funky Cool!
Even so...
I just typed a message, hit Preview, looked at the dice results, cancelled, re-pasted the message, hit Preview, and got a different result. IOW, if you really want to cheat, you can.
So if some DM is so suspicious that he requires you to use a dice roller, this is no guarantee.
I'm not trying to sound cynical, here. I'm trying to understand the netiquette of PBPs. What good is a dice roller? Someone please explain it to me.

Eric Tillemans |

Nevynxxx wrote:If I keep hitting preview can I guarantee a natural 20?
1d20 + 3; 1d6 + 2
Nope. Funky Cool!
Even so...
I just typed a message, hit Preview, looked at the dice results, cancelled, re-pasted the message, hit Preview, and got a different result. IOW, if you really want to cheat, you can.
So if some DM is so suspicious that he requires you to use a dice roller, this is no guarantee.
I'm not trying to sound cynical, here. I'm trying to understand the netiquette of PBPs. What good is a dice roller? Someone please explain it to me.
It's good if you can't cheat, so maybe the dice result should not be displayed in the preview.

hogarth |

Aaron Bitman wrote:It's good if you can't cheat, so maybe the dice result should not be displayed in the preview.Nevynxxx wrote:If I keep hitting preview can I guarantee a natural 20?
1d20 + 3; 1d6 + 2
Nope. Funky Cool!
Even so...
I just typed a message, hit Preview, looked at the dice results, cancelled, re-pasted the message, hit Preview, and got a different result. IOW, if you really want to cheat, you can.
So if some DM is so suspicious that he requires you to use a dice roller, this is no guarantee.
I'm not trying to sound cynical, here. I'm trying to understand the netiquette of PBPs. What good is a dice roller? Someone please explain it to me.
Even so, you could delete your previous post and make a new one.
Eric, the point of a dice roller is the same point as a die -- to generate a random number. I don't always have dice with me when I want to post, so a dice roller is helpful. Anti-cheating measures have little to do with it, IMO.

Aaron Bitman |

Eric, the point of a dice roller is the same point as a die -- to generate a random number. I don't always have dice with me when I want to post, so a dice roller is helpful. Anti-cheating measures have little to do with it, IMO.
I guess my question was unclear. Let me try again.
Perhaps I'm wrong about this, and if so, I hope someone will correct me. I've seen in PBPs that some DMs insist that the players use, for example, invisiblecastle.com for die rolls. I haven't registered with that site, so I can't be certain, but I don't see how it could prevent a user from trying multiple times, and linking to the best result.
Hogarth's answer, that this die-roller is not supposed to be an anti-cheating measure, is a good one. And in that case, my question may be off-topic. But I do wonder about those who insist on use of other websites.

Eric Tillemans |

Eric, the point of a dice roller is the same point as a die -- to generate a random number. I don't always have dice with me when I want to post, so a dice roller is helpful. Anti-cheating measures have little to do with it, IMO.
Yes, I can see the value of a dice roller even if it's abusable. However, it would be even better if it wasn't cheatable.

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Fireball: 5d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 4, 2, 4, 1) + 2 = 16
Whether it is dice at a table or a random number generator that can be spoofed, people will cheat. Unless the gm specifically moves around the table to look at every single die roll or rolls for the players, people can cheat. It's a game, so I don't really see the point in cheating, but some people do it anyway.

Ross Byers RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32 |

Perhaps I'm wrong about this, and if so, I hope someone will correct me. I've seen in PBPs that some DMs insist that the players use, for example, invisiblecastle.com for die rolls. I haven't registered with that site, so I can't be certain, but I don't see how it could prevent a user from trying multiple times, and linking to the best result.
Invisible castle asks the user to input the name of the character, the campaign in which it is played, and a short description of the roll. The DM can then search for rolls made by that character name. If they see 10 rolls all labeled ''Attack and damage" timestamped within 5 minutes of each other, they can be reasonably sure the player is cheating.
Sure, the DM doesn't check every time. The point is that, once you suspect a player is cheating, you have a method to check.
The player could leave the character name, campaign name, and description blank, but that's one of those things that people who aren't trying to cheat usually wouldn't do.

Aaron Bitman |

Invisible castle asks the user to input the name of the character, the campaign in which it is played, and a short description of the roll. The DM can then search for rolls made by that character name. If they see 10 rolls all labeled ''Attack and damage" timestamped within 5 minutes of each other, they can be reasonably sure the player is cheating.
I did not know that. Thank you!

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Eric Tillemans wrote:I don't always have dice with me when I want to post, so a dice roller is helpful. Anti-cheating measures have little to do with it, IMO.I'm not trying to sound cynical, here. I'm trying to understand the netiquette of PBPs. What good is a dice roller? Someone please explain it to me.
This. Most of my pbping is done away from my dice, and now that typing the bbcode is quicker than wandering to my dice box, well, even better!
I don't even require dice rollers or proof when I dm, but I still provide it (most of the time ;) ) as a courtesy. And I *always* provide it as a player, for the same reason.
Invisible castle asks the user to input the name of the character, the campaign in which it is played, and a short description of the roll. The DM can then search for rolls made by that character name. If they see 10 rolls all labeled ''Attack and damage" timestamped within 5 minutes of each other, they can be reasonably sure the player is cheating.
Also, this. Although if you are not logged in it asks you for less information. It still adds some traceability if you are of the less trusting nature.

minkscooter |

It's great that we finally have dice on the messageboards. This will be much more convenient for pbp, but as long as it allows you to preview the result until you like it, I can't imagine any pbp groups actually using it.
The opening dice tag should let you assign a description, like dice=Perception (similar to quote=minkscooter or spoiler=DM). There could be a link at the top of the character's page to a log of dice results:
Profile | Sessions | Recent Posts | Recent Reviews | Dice Rolls
The last link, "Dice Rolls", would take you to a list in reverse chronological order:
Sunday 08:17 PM Perception 1d20+7=16
Sunday 05:43 PM Attack 1d20+8=15
Sunday 05:43 PM Damage 1d8+3=5
... etc
The thread itself could have a similar link for all dice rolls made in the thread. It would have the same information as the list above plus the character name (the member alias):
Sunday 08:17 PM Perception 1d20+7=16 Huergar
Sunday 07:49 PM Perception 1d20+11=29 Kane Tosscobble
... etc
This would be incredibly useful for the GM to have dice logs for each character and each thread. Since a pbp is run in a single thread, each pbp would have its own dice log (much easier than typing in the campaign name in Invisible Castle). It would also help prevent cheating.
I don't like the fact that the modifier (+7) is printed twice, as in
1d20 + 7 := (3) + 7 = 10
Also, I don't want to see the unmodified result. No one needs it, and you can infer it with simple arithmetic. I really just want to see
1d20+7=10
Also, the := symbol is goofy. It looks like programming syntax.
This would be so awesome if you could polish the rough edges.