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> My dice hate me., ...no, I'm serious!
Plastic Rat
post Jul 3 2004, 06:00 AM
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Ok, dice are supposed to be little low-tech random-number generators, right? They should have no pre-dispossition to land on any particular side unless they're weighted.

Well, over a consistent YEAR of gaming. Everyone in my group has agreed on the fact that I just have abnormally, filthy luck. I will come up with an idea that nets me a few bonuses, and instead of the dice letting the bonuses I get turn it into an awesome outcome, I barely make it. In many cases I don't. We started out with the ragging of: "Heh, heh, it's because you don't treat your dice well, or you're nasty to them." This is all joking, and all of them (players & GM) are rational ...well overall, stable ...(checks for lightning bolts) non-superstitious people. In a moment of seriousness, my GM and others have grudgingly admitted that yes, dice are just little pieces of plastic and by the law of averages, I should get some decent or really awesome roles. They still don't let me touch their dice though...

I do get good roles though. IE, the last round of combat when everyone had been taken out and I was on a moderate wound, once again, BAD rolling. The mop-up round. Instead of my usual 1s and 2s, I get all 6s for initiative. Bloody awesome...

Decking is a nightmare. Since there is far more margin for stuff-ups.

Anyway, maybe someone can explain here, HOW do you roll so as to get RANDOM outcomes? Do you do the old one hand open shake, and drop? Or 2 handed closed shake for 3 seconds?

A friend once taught me to roll them around in the palm of your hand and when you saw mainly ones to drop them and they'd turn to sixes. This IMHO is cheating whether it works or not. I don't want all sixes, I just want RANDOM numbers, IE what dice are supposed to give us. /rant

phew, that feels better.
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Cursedsoul
post Jul 3 2004, 06:10 AM
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Pray to them. Compliment them when they do well, and visciously abuse them verbally if they muck up.

Roll on hard surfaces to reduce the chance of the dice simply falling and not rolling due to fabric, OR you could roll on fabric to reduce the roll and hope for the best.

Try to throw them so they don't hit the table dead on and bounce up then roll, try to get it so they land as flat as possible to maximize the roll.

Experiment, go wild. Be crazy. Just might work. grab them, shake'em, hold them for a second or two, then drop.

Also, you might want to roll fewer dice at once. The more dice you have the less they roll around in your hand because there's less space to move in. Not really a problem with 5 or 6, but with 8 or 12 its kinda dumb. split'em up between your hands and roll.

Also, check your power. Don't chuck'em full force or you'll end up getting too much roll so it'll go flying off the ass end of nowhere, or roll so much it'll be likely to wind up not rolling much at all. This is a theory that checks out for me...but I've got semi-crappy dice luck too.

I also suggest you say "so long pizza face" to your dice and buy new ones. My first brick of D6's treat me like garbage. I got another one in trade (bought'em and then someone wanted to trade bricks, so I did) and WOW has the improvement been immense.

You can always use a number generator on a calculator or something, put pieces of paper in a hat, shake it up, and pick one. The problem is its not so much random as it is the program/you picking.

Just try to find a technique that works for you. And remember to treat your dice right. It makes a difference. If nothing else you might earn some pity. ;)
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Arethusa
post Jul 3 2004, 06:12 AM
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Use fake dice. They rock.
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Herald of Verjig...
post Jul 3 2004, 06:16 AM
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You could become a D6 shaman, or try another path.
1) get a large box
2) when rolling, throw your dice into the box with as much anger as you currently have directed toward those dice
3) get a new box because your dice tore a hole through the first one
4) don't throw quite as hard, but get the dice moving and spinning before they land
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Plastic Rat
post Jul 3 2004, 06:17 AM
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I've written numerous random number generators/dice rollers for shadowrun, and they've all rolled very nicely. Maybe I should ask my GM if I can run a dice-roller on my GBA or PDA at the table instead of the little plastic buggers. Why use low-tech when we've got a perfectly good high-tech one?
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Cursedsoul
post Jul 3 2004, 06:21 AM
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Low tech doesn't cost battery juice or cost electricity. Plus I just don't feel really like I'm playing the game to the fullest if I'm not chucking the dice that determine my fate.
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Arethusa
post Jul 3 2004, 06:26 AM
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It's also worth noting that contrary to the proclivities of much of the RPG community, programs like Omnihedron, assuming you have a convenient laptop to run them on, are much, much faster and a lot more convenient than rolling physical dice, which have a propensity for flying all over the place, taking time for people to reroll, etc. Of course, a lot of people seem to enjoy rolling for themselves, which is not feasible if there's only one laptop present, and a lot of people seem to enjoy rolling physical dice, but in general, I don't see it as much of a loss (especially in a game like SR, where technology is a part of the feel; a laptop might be slightly damaging to a fantasy game's atmosphere in which technology would be purely anachronistic)
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Cursedsoul
post Jul 3 2004, 06:28 AM
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I think it would be good for rolling intensive stuff like the matrix, but for stuff like "holy crap, I'm at serious stun and I need to take down this sec guard RIGHT FRAGGIN' NOW" and rolling to hit them with a one-handed burst while you open a door with the free hand, nothing beats the added intensity of tempting the fates.

Firing up a dice roller for the laptop would kill it I think. Might actually improve it for the matrix since you'd "feel" like a decker...or I would....

<_<
>_>

okay so I'm a total loser. Whee. :silly:
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Connor
post Jul 3 2004, 06:43 AM
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I say just buy new dice. Find another game store that stocks dice from another company or something. Buy a pound of d6s, roll the crap out of them and pick the ones that seem to roll better...heh. Find the ones with the manufacturing flaws in your favor. ;-)
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Cain
post Jul 3 2004, 06:48 AM
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Buy new dice and pray you don't have my luck. When I was GMing, I would completely botch at least one roll per night-- that's with a minimum of three dice, a maximum of 12, and an average of 4-6.

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Cursedsoul
post Jul 3 2004, 06:48 AM
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Not sure if its only in casinos, but all dice have to be tested for balance to ensure equal odds of rolling. I saw something about it in documentary form.

I have a feeling you're right though, they probably just did it for the first few, set the machines to match those specs, and mass-produce them. Thus, defects are probably more common. That and rough shipping can always damage dice ever so slightly or something. Who knows.

Its in the air pressure I say! :P
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Connor
post Jul 3 2004, 06:53 AM
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The cheap dice we use in role playing are certainly not individually tested for balance and weight. Sure, they're close enough for what we use even with minor defects, but when Real Money gets involved you have to start testing each individual die.

Although, I will say one of the guys I game with occasionally, no matter the dice he's using, he will almost always roll amazingly well on Perception rolls. It's freaky. The first character he played with us got nicknamed after it because he almost always saw everything. And yes, that's JUST Perception rolls. Otherwise, his rolling is pretty normal and average. Very odd...
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Modesitt
post Jul 3 2004, 06:55 AM
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It's possible the dice are actually predisposed towards bad rolling.

The edges of well-used dice get worn down with heavy usage. You may have unwittingly made it so they simply have a lot more difficulty landing on the high numbers through heavy usage and the edges getting rounded off just-so. Take a good close look at your dice and see if some of the edges seem rounded off. You can test this by taking two dice and rubbing their sides together. They should just go back and forth, but if they seem to slide over the edges and wobble a lot, they're rigged.

Another possibility is that they may be weighted and you don't know it. A good way to test for loaded dice is to get a tall glass of water and drop them into it. Repeat this a couple of times, starting with a different number up each time. If it only seems to land on 1, 2, or 3 numbers, it's loaded. I was given a 20-sided crystal die, but I was not informed of the curse upon it. Due to air bubbles that had formed in it, it was highly consistent in rolling 1's and other low numbers.

You should also just watch how they fall. Loaded dice seem to almost 'lurch'. I can't describe it well, but they just don't stop right.
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Cursedsoul
post Jul 3 2004, 06:55 AM
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[edit: This is in reference to Connor's post about the guy passing all the perception rolls. Curse you same minute postings. Bleh.]

I had a guy like that in my AD&D group. He was a bastard. Awesomely nice guy,
but he passed seemingly every freakin' roll out there. Oh how I loathe his luck. I want to kill and consume him to gain his power. :)

Meanwhile I'd fail even routine things. I'd be the guy to critically fumble trying to find the bathroom and end up peeing in the town fountain, getting arrested, and hung the next day for crimes against humanity.
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Cain
post Jul 3 2004, 07:17 AM
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One guy I used to GM for had trained dice. He got them warmed up, then set them out to relax. He would then proceed to roll multiple insane TN's on demand.

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Cursedsoul
post Jul 3 2004, 07:46 AM
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Dang them adepts with the power of dice rolling. :)
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KillaJ
post Jul 3 2004, 09:01 AM
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Dice are like women...the uglier they are the harder they work. Make that insecurity work for you. Find the most hideously ugly dice you can find and buy them immediately. I guarantee that you will notice a positive change from day one.
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tjn
post Jul 3 2004, 10:45 AM
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A whole year?... My friend, my ill luck has plagued me for at least 4 years now so let me give you this advice: work with your luck and do not fight it. Find game systems that work when you roll low. :P Fading Suns works well in this regard but pisses off those who roll a lot of 20's in that other game :D

My nickname, which was Sir Botchalot, has been upgraded to Lord Botchaton.

Some highlights are 120ish points of damage to my own head as a Huckster in Deadlands and 34 points of damage in All Flesh Must Be Eaten due to botching opening a fragging crate with a simple crowbar. I've had rangers go through 20 bowstrings in a single adventure in that other game due to botches, and in CoC I've had a normal, run of the mill, non-mythos, bear kill my character without so much as a yipe as a reaction from my poor character. Just a bear. Didn't even get to the cultists yet.

And in Shadowrun.... I'm playing my dwarven bodygaurd with I think it was 7 Body. I get shot by this punk with a StreetSweeper... he goes down less then a combat phase due to return fire.

What was in the StreetSweeper one might ask? Well, the GM rolls a D6. One. Okay something bad was in there... let's see how bad. Another one. Well, it's VITAS or HMHVV. Look, HMHVV. Roll again to see what strain... Ghouls.

Well, damn... least he's a dwarf, and I have a good body to resist. Nine dice? Botch.

Though the next roll I scored a veritable Yatzee with 6's to see how well he adjusts. The power gamer in me says "w00t! Extra Willpower!" Yet the roleplayer in me can't help but realize that's bad in it's own way.
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Abstruse
post Jul 3 2004, 12:25 PM
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I GM via computer. I play mp3s and use Word, random host generators, NSRCG, etc. when I'm playing. But I don't use random dice rollers. There's just something inherantly...wrong about it. Maybe it's the noise, or the fact there's a physical object that's not worth much you can take your frustration out on...I don't know. But it just doesn't feel right if you're not rolling your dice.

The Abstruse One
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toturi
post Jul 3 2004, 12:42 PM
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I don't know if my dice love me or not but when I play (not so often since I GM now), I get fairly balanced rolls, I get 1s and 6s BUT the difference is that the 1s happen when I can't really be bothered about the result and 6s when I need them. It is all in the timing I say.
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shadd4d
post Jul 3 2004, 01:57 PM
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My dice from Walmart (hey, 5 for $0.99 plus tax) still work. I've usually ended up being the one providing dice for the group in any game I GM. Basically, I'd recommend going to Wally world and picking up about 20 dice or so. That should solve your problem.

How you throw them is important also. I've got a semi-practiced way of throwing that basically assures that the dice will bounce on the table. Dice cups are also useful; some like them, but I've never really been a fan. Check out the surface you're rolling on; sometimes the dice like to bounce better on different surfaces.

Don
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mfb
post Jul 3 2004, 02:40 PM
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the dieroller at shadowland lusts for my chitlins. i've rolled 13 dice on a stealth test, and come up with a high roll of 5. this happened three times in a row.
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Connor
post Jul 3 2004, 05:42 PM
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When I play, I definitely prefer to use real dice, although on occasion I've been known to fire up my dice program.

When I GM however, I find it much easier and quicker to juse use the dice program. I don't want to spend my time GM'ing rolling a crapload of dice for everything, I just want the numbers so I can move the game forward.
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Jason Farlander
post Jul 3 2004, 06:09 PM
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QUOTE (Connor)
When I GM however, I find it much easier and quicker to juse use the dice program. I don't want to spend my time GM'ing rolling a crapload of dice for everything, I just want the numbers so I can move the game forward.

Ahh... but you lose the delicious fear and paranoia that random behind-the-screen dicerolls can generate in your players when you use a dice program.
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Plastic Rat
post Jul 3 2004, 06:46 PM
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Note: I currently reside in Taiwan. Besides a notable increase in Chinese quisine (and use the term loosely) establishments, we have a decided LACK of anything role-playing related. I scared a class full of students showing them a D20 and telling them yes, it was a DIE.

My D6 collection consists of a bunch of scuffed, green monopoly dice I think I inherited from Ezra's girlfriend. A few puke patterned dice in various color schemes, my strawberries and oreo one doesn't roll too badly though (4 and sometimes 5s), and a plethora of those little green, red and blue Games-Workshop, Warhammer dice.

I'm loathe to use the warhammer dice as it just feels...wrong. They roll like demons though and you're assured of at least getting one six in there, no matter how few you roll, then again, it seems to even out when I roll though and they seem below average. My girlfriend won't let me use them however, so the point is moot :( I usually roll on my notepad or plastic-sleeve covered character sheet in front of me as space is limited during role-playing by M&Ms, ashtrays, ciggies and Dr.Pepper cans.

I like the high tech route idea. I play a decker, and PDAs are dirt cheap in Taiwan. I could write up a nice die roller program for my PDA and incorporate a host generator at the same time. It just remains to convince my GM, Ezra to let me use the thing to roll with in game...
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