How much do you care about "balanced" dice?

Blue · Apr 19, 2019

I play with one gamer who has d20 "countdown" dice (20 next to 19 next to 18 and so forth, for counting down life in M:tG). She won't use that die for d20 rolls because she doesn't feel it's fair.

With the exception of weighted dice and other cheating mechanisms I don't worry about it. However, for myself as both player and DM I have a pair of large d20 (~1.5-2 inches in diameter) that I always roll in the middle of the table. I don't insist my players (or other players when I'm not DMing) do the same, but my rolls are always out there.

Flexor the Mighty! · Apr 19, 2019

I roll in the open so I can watch the looks of horror and dismay on the players faces when I really hammer them with a crit or huge damage roll. When roll and I hear "Oh ****!" my heart fills with joy.

Retreater · Apr 22, 2019

I have my preferences. I don't like heavy dice that tear chunks out of my table. I don't like dice that are hard to read (I use only opaque dice with clear numbering). I don't like dice trays or dice towers - they take up valuable table real estate - but I don't ban them. I do use dice apps when rolling large numbers of dice.

cmad1977 · Apr 22, 2019

I like quiet dice.

MNblockhead · Apr 22, 2019

cmad1977 said:
I like quiet dice.

So, no boogie dice at your table then?

GrahamWills · Apr 22, 2019

Umbran said:
You can test it, if you have the courage. Roll 100 times (or more, if you like), and do a little math.

https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/70802/how-can-i-test-whether-a-die-is-fair

This is really easy to do: Takes ~10 mins. I just ran it quickly with a dice I had lying around.

So, if this were a truly random dice, I'd expect to get that extreme a set of rolls maybe once in 18 experiments or so -- not quite the 5% feel, but well over the 10% level. That dice is probably biased. On inspection, the 5 and 18 values are right beside each other, so possibly the edge between them is a bit lower than it should be, or less pointy or something.

My experience has been that most dice are biased at about this level or so -- d20s anyway. For d6s they usually have larger surface areas and many fewer edges and seem more likely to be unbiased.

And that is why GUMSHOE is a better system than D&D

Immortal Sun · Apr 22, 2019

MNblockhead said:
So, no boogie dice at your table then?

OMG I need these in every die shape now.

Morrus · Apr 22, 2019

Not even slightly. I mean, if I found out a player was deliberately using a loaded die (something that's never happened in 30 years of gaming, and I suspect never will) I guess that would need a conversation. But otherwise? Nope.

Lanefan · Apr 23, 2019

I'm not that worried about the actual dice themselves, though I've had cause in the past to worry about how one or two people use them.

That said, there is one rather radical but very effective way to make your dice behave:

Step 1: after a night of crappy rolling, find the most egregious offender and pull it from your dice bag
Step 2: take it and the rest of the bag to an open area, preferably with a concrete floor that nobody cares about, preferably outdoors
Step 3: take all the other dice out of your bag and arrange them in a large-ish circle on this floor; and set the bag aside
Step 4: place the offending die in the center of this circle
Step 5: while the other dice watch, take a blowtorch and melt the offending die to a puddle.

If nothing else, the sheer catharsis is worth it!

cmad1977 · Apr 23, 2019

MNblockhead said:
So, no boogie dice at your table then?

Ok... those get a pass. Metal dice and oversized dice are what I despise. I know your rolling a D20... the entire block doesn’t need to know that.

How much do you care about "balanced" dice?

Blue

Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal

Flexor the Mighty!

18/100 Strength!

Retreater

Legend

cmad1977

Hero

MNblockhead

A Title Much Cooler Than Anything on the Old Site

GrahamWills

Hero

Immortal Sun

Guest

Morrus

Well, that was fun

Lanefan

Victoria Rules

cmad1977

Hero

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