D-Total: a single die for d3,d4,d6,d8,d12,d24

[Nifft]

Gah. I encountered one of these at GenCon, and halfway through the game, I wanted to throw it across the room.

"So, my first attack is... [clatter] ... oops, 21... [clatter] ... wait, 24... [clatter] ... okay, a 17. That hits? Okay, so 1d8 + 2d6 + 2 damage. That's... [clatter] ... 6, and ... [clatter] ... 4, and ... [clatter] ... 2, plus 2 is 14 damage. Now, my second attack... [clatter] ..."

Yeah, this is exactly what I'd want to avoid.

Still, being able to use d24s for d24 (yeah right), d12, d8, d6, d4 and d3 would be valuable. Then the d20s could pull duty as d20, d10 and d5. You're down to two dice, which is better than ten. (Also, I don't get why the rule for d2 isn't just "odd = 1, even = 2", which is easier to remember and generalizes across almost any die you happen to roll.)

Cheers, -- N

 

[nerfherder]

I've been using one successfully since UK Gen Con. The usual response from other players is: "Oooh! What's that?... Cool!"

I had the same experience as Hypersmurf at Gencon in a couple of D20 games. After the initial "ooh, cool, how does that work?" reaction, during the games it just took too long to get to the final result.

 

[grodog]

Hi Zander---

Thanks for posting the pic, since I just ordered a dTotal from Lou last week. I'm also curious about your dice inventing desire: what made you want to build this die, and why this way (or was the physical design Lou's work)? Did you patent the die? Have you designed other dice?

Inquiring minds want to know!

 

[RFisher]

Still, being able to use d24s for d24 (yeah right), d12, d8, d6, d4 and d3 would be valuable. Then the d20s could pull duty as d20, d10 and d5. You're down to two dice, which is better than ten.

Two die types. Having one set of 4 dice (e.g.) being able to work seamlessly as 4d8, 4d6, or 4d4 means 4 dice covering the work of 12.

(Which I think is what you meant, but which I wanted to try to make more explicit.)

 

[grodog]

Bump?

 

[Nifft]

Two die types. Having one set of 4 dice (e.g.) being able to work seamlessly as 4d8, 4d6, or 4d4 means 4 dice covering the work of 12.

(Which I think is what you meant, but which I wanted to try to make more explicit.)

My inner nit-picky bastard gives you the thumbs up, while my more normal-seeming exterior glowers at being nit-picked.

(Yeah, that's exactly what I'd meant.)

Cheers, -- N