TOPIC: Randomized D20....

Kirk Bauer wrote: I hate to be the buzzkill here, but does it really matter? I mean if you roll a die properly there is an equal chance of landing on any of the 20 faces. The only downside to a spindown that I can see is if a player wants to try to control the result by rolling it in an unusual way.

Am I missing something?

On a regular die, there is a chance that tipping die will roll over to a much higher or lower face. On a spin down die, that is highly unlikely.

Kirk Bauer wrote: I hate to be the buzzkill here, but does it really matter? I mean if you roll a die properly there is an equal chance of landing on any of the 20 faces. The only downside to a spindown that I can see is if a player wants to try to control the result by rolling it in an unusual way.

Am I missing something?

And now this post reminds me that i would actually just prefer smaller dice, even if large random dice are available. Because in order to give the big dice a good roll you have to really heft them, and then they come crashing down and dent the slider table. If you 'roll' them softly, they barely roll at all, which doesnt result in a random result...especially on a spindown.

kurtreznor wrote:

Kirk Bauer wrote: I hate to be the buzzkill here, but does it really matter? I mean if you roll a die properly there is an equal chance of landing on any of the 20 faces. The only downside to a spindown that I can see is if a player wants to try to control the result by rolling it in an unusual way.

Am I missing something?

And now this post reminds me that i would actually just prefer smaller dice, even if large random dice are available. Because in order to give the big dice a good roll you have to really heft them, and then they come crashing down and dent the slider table. If you 'roll' them softly, they barely roll at all, which doesnt result in a random result...especially on a spindown.

Agreed

34mm are easy to find. That might be large enough. Certainly would roll better too.

I like the big dice that come down with a thud.

TD could always look into partnering with someone like crystal castle to put their logos on some dice. I would buy the heck out of a TD dice set if it were available in the merch store. Honestly its probably not much different then tokens from a factory perspective, hack could be a fun kickstarter.

Picc wrote: TD could always look into partnering with someone like crystal castle to put their logos on some dice. I would buy the heck out of a TD dice set if it were available in the merch store. Honestly its probably not much different then tokens from a factory perspective, hack could be a fun kickstarter.

Chessex is in Ft. Wayne, IN, just an extra 2 hour drive past Indy. Not too far out of the way for the TD crew to travel if they want somewhere they can easily visit the factory of. I've gotten custom dice made by them before. They seemed pretty easy to work with (though it has been a few years).

Kirk Bauer wrote: I hate to be the buzzkill here, but does it really matter? I mean if you roll a die properly there is an equal chance of landing on any of the 20 faces. The only downside to a spindown that I can see is if a player wants to try to control the result by rolling it in an unusual way.

Am I missing something?

It is very easy to control the result of a spindown - 1/2 the die is 1-10, the other half is 11-20. Even without trying the dice is so large and the space to roll it small that in my observation it's hard to get them a good shake.

I'd suggest you grab one of the dice next time you're DMing and just roll it 50 times quickly and see how many times you get 1-10 vs. 11-20, and see if you notice long sequences of one half or the other of the die just due to natural motion.

Matthew Hayward wrote:

Kirk Bauer wrote: I hate to be the buzzkill here, but does it really matter? I mean if you roll a die properly there is an equal chance of landing on any of the 20 faces. The only downside to a spindown that I can see is if a player wants to try to control the result by rolling it in an unusual way.

Am I missing something?

It is very easy to control the result of a spindown - 1/2 the die is 1-10, the other half is 11-20. Even without trying the dice is so large and the space to roll it small that in my observation it's hard to get them a good shake.

I'd suggest you grab one of the dice next time you're DMing and just roll it 50 times quickly and see how many times you get 1-10 vs. 11-20, and see if you notice long sequences of one half or the other of the die just due to natural motion.

This could easily be done at home if you own a spin down die, just toss lightly and try for a result.

I prefer spin down dice from the perspective that I know and the Gm know that it is a spin down die.

Knowing it is a 55 mm die means I can practice at home now instead of Thursday.

What about these?

Foam D20s

As they are foam you can give them a good roll and not harm tables or people.

And I've seem more than one GM who seem to always carefully roll11-20, and a couple that seemed to always roll low.

David Harris wrote: What about these?

Foam D20s

As they are foam you can give them a good roll and not harm tables or people.

And I've seem more than one GM who seem to always carefully roll11-20, and a couple that seemed to always roll low.

If they have foam dice then I think we can expect AveryGorgon to throw dice at us.

Foam dice roll much better but may roll off the table to much. I think a 5 inch dice may be a bit much, but it will not get lost.

Wayne Rhodes wrote:

David Harris wrote: What about these?

Foam D20s

As they are foam you can give them a good roll and not harm tables or people.

And I've seem more than one GM who seem to always carefully roll11-20, and a couple that seemed to always roll low.

If they have foam dice then I think we can expect AveryGorgon to throw dice at us.

Foam dice roll much better but may roll off the table to much. I think a 5 inch dice may be a bit much, but it will not get lost.

You laugh, but once I had a DM misplace his die and take a minute or two to find it at the start of a room. It felt a lot longer than than a minute or two.