Is the time right for electronic dice?

[Rokes]

Dragonbone a deux!

<sigh> Image decided not to attach. Oh well.

I hear those iPhone/iPod Touch dice rollers are pretty spiffy.

100% personal preference, but at GenCon I played in a game where one of the players had an iphone dice rolling app. I was utterly repulsed by it. It felt... unnatural.

edit: and I'm addicted to my iphone!

 

[Thanee]

You honestly think a typical gamer's polyhedrals -- or even the atypical GameScience polyhedrals -- are more random than a seeded random generator? Really?

Yes.


Especially seeded random generators are absolutely non-random (in theory, of course, in practice the difference is hardly relevant).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Nai_Calus]

Vartan Hai Sylvar is unreasonably awesome, incidentally.

I have 970 dice. You can take them when you pry them from my cold, lifeless fingers. (OK, so I may sell my duplicates someday, which would knock me down to 485, but chances are good that I won't because diiiiiiiiiiice I am so frakkin' addicted.)

I'm not much for electronic dice. Even the 'dice' in Fantasy Grounds, which are designed to actually look like dice and be rolled, don't do it for me.

You can't grab a new electronic die in FG or forum rollers when they misbehave. :< I can go multiple Shadowrun sessions without ever using the same d6 twice. THAT'S fun.

And rofl did I ever have a player when I ran a 3.5 campaign in FGII that needed to grab a different die to roll. His attack rolls were the stuff of gaming table legend. He hit like four times the entire campaign. It was sad.

tl;dr gimme real dice or give me death.

 

[aboyd]

In one of the D&D groups I play in, everyone has an iPhone (or an iPod that can use iPhone apps). Every one of us has at least 2 or 3 different dice-rolling apps. We've all used them at one time or the other. I personally use a particular app that comes with the sound of dice rolling -- it puts me at ease, makes me feel like I'm still rolling real dice.

So... I think the time has already come, as people I know are already doing it whether the rest of the people at the table are ready for it or not.

EDIT: while I'm at it, I might as well throw out an idea (again). If you've seen the iPhone app called Bump, you know that two iPhones near each other can swap/share data. I would pay money for an application that would have a minimal character sheet -- abilities, saves, AC, HP, attacks. And then the DM (or other players casting spells, for example) could "flick" modifiers to my iPhone. Thus, if the cleric buffed my fighter for 10 rounds, my iPhone would show my attacks with enhanced damage for those rounds. This isn't a dream-world app that might happen someday in a sci-fi future. It could happen today on iPhones if someone wanted to build it.

 

[Thanee]

Electronic dice are around since some double-digit number of years already...

They just still don't convey the same feeling as actual dice do.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Rokes]

In one of the D&D groups I play in, everyone has an iPhone (or an iPod that can use iPhone apps). Every one of us has at least 2 or 3 different dice-rolling apps. We've all used them at one time or the other. I personally use a particular app that comes with the sound of dice rolling -- it puts me at ease, makes me feel like I'm still rolling real dice.

So... I think the time has already come, as people I know are already doing it whether the rest of the people at the table are ready for it or not.

EDIT: while I'm at it, I might as well throw out an idea (again). If you've seen the iPhone app called Bump, you know that two iPhones near each other can swap/share data. I would pay money for an application that would have a minimal character sheet -- abilities, saves, AC, HP, attacks. And then the DM (or other players casting spells, for example) could "flick" modifiers to my iPhone. Thus, if the cleric buffed my fighter for 10 rounds, my iPhone would show my attacks with enhanced damage for those rounds. This isn't a dream-world app that might happen someday in a sci-fi future. It could happen today on iPhones if someone wanted to build it.

If you read the announcements from Paizo at GenCon, they're working with a software developer to do what your asking for the iphone (and more)...

 

[Korgoth]

No, the time is always wrong for electronic dice.

Sometimes a player will pop out with an Iphone or laptop... instead of a DM screen, I should probably just lay a hammer out in front of myself.

It's not a freakin' video game! If you want electronics, play an electronic game. If you want to play with real people, roll real dice.

 

[Humanaut]

I love my dice, rolling dice, adding up the dice... no, I'll never give up the dice.

I do however have the "dicebag" app for my iPhone that I've used when away from my dice and I'm just creating NPC's or something that I want to roll for. NOT actual gaming though. :^)

I have only been to one game where someone had the Dicenomicon for his iPhone and could roll any number/ type/ modifiers ... It was wierd.

At the table: long live dice I say!

Game well everyone

 

[garyh]

The vast majority of my gaming is as Play By Post, so I have no problem with electronic rolling, typically on Invisible Castle.

One the rare occasions I play live, I do enjoy rolling real dice, though.

 

[Mort_Q]

I'd like software that would allow a camera to optically reads the dice, and then adds the bonuses.

You still roll the dice, but you can't cheat it's faster as long as you have all your powers reprogrammed.

Mostly kidding.