Why is everyone reinventing the wheel?
Chits in a cup folks, chits in a cup.
Or even, "Pick a finger". Everything up to a d10 is instant, and anything higher is still not hard.
My favourite answer was "Play a social heavy setting for the night and don't bother with dice rolls" (Paraphrased). Can't remember who said it, but whoever it was is obviously awesomesauce!
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Chits in a cup, numbers in a jar, and if the night gets dull it's 'keys in a bowl'.
Why is everyone reinventing the wheel?
Chits in a cup folks, chits in a cup.
It's what we used before those new fangled polyhedral dice were included in the box. Shake well and it's as random as you'll need.
Chits are a pain to make and manage, and invariably some of the pieces of paper get crumpled or stuck or lost and become essentially non-possibilities. Personally, I think cards are easier.
I know! Construct some dice.
Look around you – can you form some sort of rudimentary lathe?
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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.
This is actually what my brother and I did as kids for the first session of our first D&D game. we just bought dice afterwards.
Paper chits are not a long-term tool. For that you want carved or cast chits, of sufficient size to be difficult to loose. [I'd say somewhere around 1 square inch would suffice.]Chits are a pain to make and manage, and invariably some of the pieces of paper get crumpled or stuck or lost and become essentially non-possibilities. Personally, I think cards are easier.Why is everyone reinventing the wheel?
Chits in a cup folks, chits in a cup.
It's what we used before those new fangled polyhedral dice were included in the box. Shake well and it's as random as you'll need.
True, but if you have time and money to buy carved chits, why not just buy dice?
You either have to make about six separate lots or do a lot of repeat drawing, and each drawing requires some rummaging to confirm you're getting a full range. Cards are quick and simple.
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Do not use dice. Do not roll anything.
Use the "Take 10" system.
For d20 rolls, use 10 + the modifiers.
For other dice, use the average: 2/d4, 3/d6, 4/d8, 5/d10, 6/d12 and of course 10/d20.
If your players want a slight advantage, give them the above average: 3/d4, 4/d6, 5/d8, 6/d10, 7/d12 and 11/d20.
You can give them a limited access of "Take 20", or maxed rolls, like once per encounter, once per day, once per Charisma mod or whatever...
This works also very well for online games, like on Skype, either because the GM cannot see the rolls or because he wants the game to run faster.
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Writing the numbers 1 through 6 on the faces of a pencil can make a stand-in for a d6.
Do not use dice. Do not roll anything.
Use the "Take 10" system.
For d20 rolls, use 10 + the modifiers.
For other dice, use the average: 2/d4, 3/d6, 4/d8, 5/d10, 6/d12 and of course 10/d20.If your players want a slight advantage, give them the above average: 3/d4, 4/d6, 5/d8, 6/d10, 7/d12 and 11/d20.
You can give them a limited access of "Take 20", or maxed rolls, like once per encounter, once per day, once per Charisma mod or whatever...
This works also very well for online games, like on Skype, either because the GM cannot see the rolls or because he wants the game to run faster.
Seems kind of boring.
You either always hit an opponent or never do (unless you burn several of those "take 20"s)
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock.
Make little cards with numbers on them from 1 through 20, when you need to roll a dn put all of them them in a box from 1 to n. Cover the box, shake, then draw a number blindly.
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock.
Unfair. Spock beats everything. It's logical.
From the OP
"Nobody else plays games other than checkers, chess, monopoly, or cards."
This sounds like a gamer is trying to talk a bunch of people round to Pathfinder on a holiday or something. If so, then... yeah...
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.
What if you're doing a stint in jail and still want to play pathfinder?
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Use an e-dice roller to make pages for each player....
200 rolls of d20,d12, d10, d8, d6, d4......
Give each player a sheet they mark the rolls off as they use them.
if channel energy is 3d6, they use the next 3 #'s in the d6 slot.Stint in jail? Tour in Iraq?
Please post your physical address and someone will mail sheets of pre-generated rolls.
Hey, I brought my dice with me when I did a tour in Iraq. :)
Never had the chance to play, though. A year without gaming. :(
yet somehow they've got the internet access to post idiot questions like this.Since they've got the internet access, they can use one of many online dice rollers.
I'm waiting for someone to post the next iteration of this question.
"What do I do when I and everyone else in my group have forgotten everything needed to play... books, dice, character sheets, maps, the adventure, and brains?
Hey, this is long after the fact and I just thought it would be fun to see what kind of ideas other people could come up with in that situation. No need to be rude, right?
We tried making some chits but they turned out irregular shaped--so much so that we got to be able to recognize the values by touch.
If you're willing to take some time with rolls you can use a coin for a d6.
Step 1) Flip a coin T=1-3 H=4-6
Step 2) Then flip the coin three more times, the odd result out is the number rolled. (e.g. Tails, Tails, Heads, Heads is a 1). If you get three of a kind on the second step then repeat step two until you get a value.
If you have multiple coins you can just toss them all and read left to right for a quicker roll. This is still the best way I've come up with or come across for rolling with coins, but if someone else has a better please share!
I would go with the deck of cards option.
No face cards so you have one to ten of four suits. Red are 11-20, black are 1-10 if you need a d20.
If you want you can pull out one red suit for d6 and one black suit for d8 and remove the unnecessary cards or just redraw if you go above the allowed range. d12 are only for great axes generally so they don't come up that often, go with d10+1 instead if needed.
For things like damage I would make it average rolls to speed things up (10d6 will be a speed bump for game pacing) and keep random rolls for attacks and saves and checks only.
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Several ways:
1. Settle all rolls with drinking contests
2. Use your origami skills and construct paper dice
3. Feats of strength
4. Guess a number
5. Rock, paper scissors
6. Carve dice from wood or bone
7. Open a wound and see how many drops of blood fall
8. Collect a number of paper wads and shoot baskets; the number shot you fail on is the number rolled
... or you can accept that should ALL of these circumstances come to pass simultaneously it probably means that none of you really wanted to game tonight anyway. In that case pack up your books and leave by whatever mode of transport brought you to this desolate locale.
Better yet, take the other gamers with you. Go out. See a local show; watch a movie together; grab some food, coffee or (age permitting) a drink and gripe about how the campaign REALLY went downhill when you stopped coordinating who brought the 1 set of communal dice to the run-down cabin in the woods where you all started meeting after that anonymous invite on Meetup.com suggested the place.
Y'know, that place in the middle of nowhere with no one around for miles, impossible to find civilization from in a reasonable amount of driving distance, that doesn't get Wi-Fi so you all stopped bringing devices, that sits at the edge of a cemetery, next to a haunted lake, run-down mine and abandoned amusement park? Come to think of it, this bar has an awful lot of lovely people with double sets of holes in their necks. Weird that the "core books" for this campaign were the Necronomicon, the Naturo Demonto and the Book of Shadows but whatever. Just down your drinks and get back to the cabin like that weird gypsy lady said outside.
You could always learn one of the algorithms computers use to pseudorandomly generate numbers.
Or get hold of a pregenerated random number table.
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What if you're doing a stint in jail and still want to play pathfinder?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 ordered game books for an ex that earned an extended tour at Ft. Levenworth. If you can game there you can probably game anywhere.
I've done it with d6's many times. It varies on how I do it. If in a pickle like that, I get one of those 5 d6 packs you can pick up for cheap.
1d4 = 1d6 ignore 5's and 6's...OR 5=1 and 6=4...just to add a little more spice.
1d6 = well we have 5 of those.
1d8 = 2d6 with a roll 1-8 being what it is (7 and 8's come up much more often to player's delight)...OR as above with the 1d6 with the second D6 determining whether the number is doubled or not.
1d10 = 2d6 typically ignore 11 and 12's...OR 11 = 1 and 12 = 10.
1d12 = 2d6...you operate more on a bell curve with this one.
1d20 = 4d6 with the roll being what it is, so like the 1d12 you get more of a bell curve towards the middle. Also, 21 = 1, 22 = 2, 23 = 3, and 24 = 4. 4's are very rarely rolled.
Or, as has been said before, order some dice online if you don't have an FLGS anywhere. There are some great ideas here, but so much is just either reinventing the wheel. And if someone is math challenged like me some of the solutions would just make me not want to play at all.
