Dices in PnP

[mad=dog]

I have had one of those d100s just for the heck of it (actually think it was a gift or something - the shop couldn't sell them and handed them out to people purchasing more than a certain amount). It's practically impossible to use. It has an internal load to stop it from rolling too much but it doesn't work that well. It just rolls forever. Reading it weren't that hard IIRC, but just use the 2xd10 instead. It's easier.
I have also had a d3. It was just a d6 with only 1's, 2's and 3's on it. Bah. Just roll d6 and halve.
Note that more dice with less sides is more realistic. E.g lets say we roll strength in two ways. One we roll d20 and ignore 1,2,19 and 20 and another we roll 3d6.
The latter is more realistic, because extremely high and extremely low values become rare. In a d20 world there are as many Schwarzeneggers as Joes and is not a good practise. 3d6 maps closely to the normal distribution, which defines most natural occurences.
Hence I always try to make weapons do 2d4 and 3d3+1 rather than single dice. Rarely the weapon will hit a soft spot and do more damage or scratch and do little, but it mostly delivers a consistent amount of damage.

In the game Ars Magica you only use d10, but in four different ways. Firstly you roll one dice and then a second and subtract the first from the last. If any of the dice rolls 0 the outcome is always 0, otherwise the result is the number from the subtraction. This is only used to roll attributes. You can also roll the dice "flat" called simple dice, where you simply use the face value and read 0 as 10. You can roll it as a stress die too, where 1 means you roll again (and again - there is no upper limit). In case you roll 0 you fail and roll to see if you "botch" and make a critical failure. This roll is used in situations where there are chances or extraordinary failure or success. Finally there is quality dice, which works as a combination. 0 is read as 10 and 1 is read as double. These are used in the rare occations where there is chance of extraordinary success without an equivalent chance of failure.
This is just to show that the concept of dice rolling isn't just a matter of choosing which polyhedron to roll.

[Dace De'Briago]

Originally posted by DBear: as a d3 is d6/2.

Not quite, but I know what you mean

[Q'alooaith]

1/2=1
3/4=2
5/6=3

though you can also roll as

1/6 =1
2/4 =2
3/5 =3

which some people think make's more sence because the sides are oppossed.


D4's are realy painfull to stand on.

[Dace De'Briago]

Like caltrops

My characters ALWAYS used to carry a couple of those ready to make a quick escape.

[Morgeruat]

Originally posted by Bozos of Bones: That's what is normally done. Ever wonder why there isn't a d5?

Actually there is, I'll try and find "The Dice Man's" website, he's going for the Guinness record # of dice.

oops should have looked closer, the dice collecter from the previous page is the Dice Man.

[ 07-28-2004, 01:06 PM: Message edited by: Morgeruat ]

[Pirengle]

Originally posted by Dirty Meg: Why not just use a cube with two of every number??? ???????? ??????????? ???????????????????????? ?????????? ???????????? ??????????

Those are a pain in the butt to find.

I play 3rd ed. and d3s and d4s are mostly for spellcasters and small weapons like slings and such. You can substitute for the d3s.

Jaradu, about the d100s, see the dice on the first page? the percentile dice right next to the d10? Most people roll those two to get a number, using the percentile dice for tens and the d10 for ones.