I'm old school and love the sound of the dice hitting the table =D If at all possible I avoid dice rollers. I'm such a nerd that I go no where with out my fav dice =P
What's you style?
Rolling dice on a computer is not true randomness. It is called Psuedo-Randomness.
(How can an set of discrete instructions ever be truly random?)
Rolling *real* dice is different, because it is truly random. Even if
your dice are chipped, and therefore biased, the sequence of rolls
will never repeat exactly, which will happen in rolling comptuer-dice.
Thinking about the sequence of rolls is the key. In Psuedo-Randomness, eventually
the rolls will begin repeating over again in the same pattern (one-for-one.) But in
true randomness (rolling dice) the sequence will never begin anew and start
repeating itself. (This is true even if your dice are biased -- because all the bias
does is change the probability distribution, and not force an exact repeat in the
sequence of rolls.)
Therefore, in conclusion, and all that ... REAL DICE ARE BETTER!
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Rolling real dice is just different than rolling computer dice.
Different in a way which is better.
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Real dice in my sessions, dice roller programs for any time I'm not at home and need something rolled.
No particular bias one way or the other.
Check out this command line dice-roller.
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Honestly, ever since a friend showed up to the table with one of these in 1983, I've expressed my strong preference of actual physical dice at the table to all of my players.
I make an exception for dice rollers on a smartphone if you are rolling a large number of dice, like 10d6 for the damage of a fireball.
I also switch to using the roller on a smartphone if we're playing in a more relaxed setting, like around the fireplace in the living room with a glass of armagnac in one hand.
Honestly, ever since a friend showed up to the table with one of these in 1983, I've expressed my strong preference of actual physical dice at the table to all of my players.
Oh wow, i want to buy one of these!!!
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Honestly, ever since a friend showed up to the table with one of these in 1983, I've expressed my strong preference of actual physical dice at the table to all of my players.Oh wow, i want to buy one of these!!!
I still remember an ad in the old Dragon magazine for this...
The caption was: Does your vorpal blade go snicker-snack? Or does it just snicker?
EDIT: And I just found this listing. Good luck!
I use a dice roller. Makes life so much easier, there really is no comparison. And the whole "that's not real randomness!!!" bs that gets tossed about tends to die down at my table when I bring my real dice out and start rolling crit after crit after crit-afterwhich it's "that's not a fair die!!!" yeah, virtual dice do it for me.
Much prefer real dice, but have been using the built in die roller since I started using Combat Manager while GMing. It's just easier. Always roll my stainless steel set when I'm a player though.
For many (if not all) of my players, rolling dice is half the fun. Therefore, I use physical dice for my local games, and only rely upon a dice roller for PbP.
In cases where it becomes necessary to roll a large number of dice, I'll allow everyone to opt for the average (if they prefer), however I'm usually the only one who will actually do so. Incidentally, my players love these dice trays.
(How can an set of discrete instructions ever be truly random?)
Well, since you ask...
Assuming you are actually clicking a button for each roll and not just telling the program to roll a billion dice at a time, then you can always use the last digit(s) of the internal clock as a random seed.
For the truly random computer dice you will need quantum computers, but afaik that is feasible now (except economically for gamers).
(But through my numerics, supercombuting and quantum information theory classes, I stayed with real dice and paper character sheets for gaming).
Real dice always! For me (and pretty much everyone I know) rolling actual dice is part of the fun! For the matter, collecting and amassing a cool set of dice is part of the hobby.
Using a dice roller of some kind feels really ... wrong to me somehow :)
I agree 100%, Marc. Plus, you can't throw a dice roller at the GM when things go south!
I don't much care either way. Most GMs in my area have a thing against dice rollers, so I use dice almost all the time.
The only time I hear folks make noises about dice rollers is when I'm rolling a huge handful of d6. At that point, if I'm rolling dice, I INSIST on rolling the dice. What's good for the single die is good for the multi die, and rolling lotsa dice is FUN! My ninja did not scrape his way through 8 levels and manage to pull off awesomely high rolls on his hasten flurry of stars just to switch to electronic rolls when he gets to the good stuff. Let the bones fly, baby!!!
Of course, I'd be fine doing an electronic roll if I'd been using it the whole time. But like I said, most GMs don't like dice rollers.
Real dice, unless I am playing Champions (I have a chart for the BODY and STUN)
Dice, and no funky dice tower things either - from hand to table thx :)
(How can an set of discrete instructions ever be truly random?)
Well, since you ask...
Assuming you are actually clicking a button for each roll and not just telling the program to roll a billion dice at a time, then you can always use the last digit(s) of the internal clock as a random seed.
For the truly random computer dice you will need quantum computers, but afaik that is feasible now (except economically for gamers).
(But through my numerics, supercombuting and quantum information theory classes, I stayed with real dice and paper character sheets for gaming).
Kinda. What if you put the same seed in twice?
Were you around for Lavarand?
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For me dice are integral to the experience, though I quite enjoy the PbP experience here...
I think real dice are one of the main reasons that dice-less systems aren't very popular.
Well "I cant believe its not paper" does just fine at my table.
huh. I don't think anyone but you knows what this means in the context of dice vs. pseudo-randomness.
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I prefer real dice when face to face. I have this nervous habit of playing with dice, and when I would DM I would just randomly roll them... The players never knew for certain which of my rolls were just the nervous habit, which ones were real, and which ones I made up on the spot or fudged in their favor.
Online, I prefer dice rollers.
I'd love a set of bone dice. :P
I roll physical dice for my rolls, but I'll allow a dice roller for any roll greater than ten dice. We had a disintegrate happy caster in the last game, and he enjoyed rolling at first, but got tired of rerolling even after buying packs of d6. By the time it got up to 32, he preferred I push a button.
[spoiler=Because the concept of "randomness" was brought up]
Nothing is random, just unpredictable. Every roll you make is the direct result of the position the die was in when you picked it up, how long you shake it, how strongly you shake it, how strongly you throw it, etc. etc. ad nauseum. It is no different than, say, taking the constantly changing measuresment from a pressure pad in a rainstorm and putting them through an algorithm that reduces them to numbers between 1 and 20.
Every result, dice roller or physical dice, is already determined. As long as we don't know in advance what the result are, they are the same.[/spoiler]
Personally, I prefer to use real bones, because real bones feel good in my hands.
I feel like I'm in charge of my own fate when I roll dice... good and bad.
It really depends on what game system we are playing in.
We play at one house and not around a table, and there is a toddler around and a cat addicted to dice, combining those two things with a lack of space to roll means dice can be difficult.
d20 systems typically get real dice.
d10 systems usually get dice roller on the smart phone. Between exalted and aberrant you can end up trying to roll 20d10 or higher at a time, and that just gets crazy to try and do when you are fighting for a flat surface to roll on.
Real dice always! For me (and pretty much everyone I know) rolling actual dice is part of the fun! For the matter, collecting and amassing a cool set of dice is part of the hobby.Using a dice roller of some kind feels really ... wrong to me somehow :)
I agree 100%, Marc. Plus, you can't throw a dice roller at the GM when things go south!
That's why I use a tall / hard DM screen :) Myself, I roll the dice and let the chips fall where they may. But hopefully not the soda...
I think the physical aspect of rolling dice is part of the fun of playing a table top RPG. I can recall many funny/sad memories involving dice that would probably not have happened had we been using electronic dice.
I think as a gamer there are few more satisfying things than giving a new player a nice set of polyhedrals as way of welcoming them to the hobby. When I used to run games at a FLGS I always showed up with spare dice in little felt dice bags to give away to any new players who showed any interest in playing.
They also had fun looking at the weird dice in my collection which I rotated through my gaming set: the Chessex D6s with the 1s replaced by a pile of excrement, the GameScience D100s, sparkly dice with non-contrasting ink that probably gave you a headache if you tried to read them, super-large D20s, and the ever-popular puke-colored dice.
I had a nice dice roller on my cellphone. I compared the rolls to my real dice. Unfortunately, I rolled just as badly on the electronic version as the real dice. In any case, the GM prefers us to use real dice.