Help Reading Dice Pools

Imaculata · Jul 10, 2019

I had to roll 16d6 during our last session. What I tend to do is make pairs of 10's. It makes the counting a bit easier.

Fauchard1520 · Jul 10, 2019

Blue said:
Some people may not want to deface forty ten-siders.

I bought 'em for that express purpose: https://www.amazon.com/Opaque-Polyhedral-White-Chessex-Dice/dp/B0011WJBEW

Blue · Jul 10, 2019

Fauchard1520 said:
I bought 'em for that express purpose: https://www.amazon.com/Opaque-Polyhedral-White-Chessex-Dice/dp/B0011WJBEW

Cool. Non sarcastically, I'm sure that was agreat boon for you becaue otherwise 40 dice is a pain to calculate.

However, my statement stands that some people may not want to deface 40 dice.

What was linked are blank dice with no numbers, so they would only be good for this game or others with the exact same success mechanic. They aren't Prime eligible so with shipping it's about $8 ($4.20+$3.70) for the pack of 10, or $32 for the forty needed.

Derren · Jul 10, 2019

Blue said:
Some people may not want to deface forty ten-siders.

You can also programm an app for your phone which detects dice and counts how many were successes.

Xaelvaen · Jul 10, 2019

There's some discussion/prototypes out there of Dice Face Recognition Software - could always go that route if you don't want to lose the tangibility of rolling dice. Should count/calculate instantly, assuming the program adjusted appropriately.

Blue · Jul 10, 2019

Derren said:
You can also programm an app for your phone which detects dice and counts how many were successes.

Now that's a great solution.

I wonder, are people ready for a game where rolling resolution is purely by a free app, that can be of arbitrary complexity like video games because people don't have to do it? (As long as the input and output are straightforward.)

Bedrockgames · Jul 10, 2019

40 sounds like an ungodly number of dice. I wouldn't want to go past 12d10 max.

aramis erak · Jul 13, 2019

Imaculata said:
I had to roll 16d6 during our last session. What I tend to do is make pairs of 10's. It makes the counting a bit easier.

It's important to note that "dice pool" has two, fundamentally different, meanings.

Meaning 1: roll the pool, total.
Meaning 2: roll the pool, count the number of dice which individually meet a given criteria.

Various mechanics: Symbolic dice (FFG, WEG d6 Batman), N+ by difficulty (GDW Space 1889; WWG Vampire 1E), N- (Modiphius 2d20; Deep7 Arrowflight 1E), Highest unmatched (I forget which one used this), number unmatched (JWP Orkworld - weapon penetration vs armor), Number of matching (another small press I can't recall the title), Highest single die (DP9 Silhouette), Sum Highest X of Y (L5R 1E-4E)... Chosen X of Y symbollic (L5R 5E), N dice by difficulty for under some TN...

The only thing consistent about "dice pool" as a descriptor is that the number of dice is variable by some aspect of play.

Fauchard1520 · Jul 16, 2019

Xaelvaen said:
There's some discussion/prototypes out there of Dice Face Recognition Software - could always go that route if you don't want to lose the tangibility of rolling dice. Should count/calculate instantly, assuming the program adjusted appropriately.

Any links? This is intriguing.

GMMichael · Jul 16, 2019

Blue said:
I wonder, are people ready for a game where rolling resolution is purely by a free app, that can be of arbitrary complexity like video games because people don't have to do it? (As long as the input and output are straightforward.)

I was pondering a similar question: are people ready for the dice recognition software that [MENTION=6681906]Xaelvaen[/MENTION] mentioned? I mean, the founding Dungeon Masters would roll in their graves at the privacy issues involved in the DM's die rolls being known, if only to a computer. But players seem to think it's cool, like they have and never will have anything to hide.