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<blockquote data-quote="mlund" data-source="post: 6631001" data-attributes="member: 50304">i always insist on my players making open rolls and make sure we don't use any of those those silly &quot;spin down&quot; dice with all the high numbers on one half of the d20. Dice with improper sides can be manipulated for favorable trends by putting backspin on them when you roll like most players do.Also, even the regulation d20 is easy to manipulate (&quot;set&quot; the die) in-hand because you can throw it on an axis in a narrow space. If it hits a hard corner or edge and bounces violently then it hits the floor and you re-roll. If it holds its axis when you toss and rolls on that axis you've limited the results of the roll to a specific 40-50% of the possibly outcomes - solid for situations where you are either fishing for a critical (put the 20 on the axis) or trying to avoid a natural 1 (put the 1 and the 20 outside the axis).This applies to other dice styles as well, but the d20 gets rolled a lot more and it is relatively unique in the problems with spin-downs, groupings, and axis-throws. For example, people can &quot;set&quot; the pairs of 2d6 used in the game &quot;Craps.&quot; That is why the tables have those bumpy edges and a throw of the dice that does not hit those irregular edges at the end of the table is invalid. Even that doesn't stop some people from still trying, but if the pit-boss ever gets an idea that trying to show / hide sides of the dice is becoming anything other than a gambler's superstition that shooter is going to get pulled aside quietly when his turn is over.In D&amp;D you can ensure the randomness of the throws by simply using a dice-cup and open-rolling. Short of a true magician's trick of substituting dice there's no clear way to manipulate the outcome.Marty Lund</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mlund, post: 6631001, member: 50304"] i always insist on my players making open rolls and make sure we don't use any of those those silly "spin down" dice with all the high numbers on one half of the d20. Dice with improper sides can be manipulated for favorable trends by putting backspin on them when you roll like most players do. Also, even the regulation d20 is easy to manipulate ("set" the die) in-hand because you can throw it on an axis in a narrow space. If it hits a hard corner or edge and bounces violently then it hits the floor and you re-roll. If it holds its axis when you toss and rolls on that axis you've limited the results of the roll to a specific 40-50% of the possibly outcomes - solid for situations where you are either fishing for a critical (put the 20 on the axis) or trying to avoid a natural 1 (put the 1 and the 20 outside the axis). This applies to other dice styles as well, but the d20 gets rolled a lot more and it is relatively unique in the problems with spin-downs, groupings, and axis-throws. For example, people can "set" the pairs of 2d6 used in the game "Craps." That is why the tables have those bumpy edges and a throw of the dice that does not hit those irregular edges at the end of the table is invalid. Even that doesn't stop some people from still trying, but if the pit-boss ever gets an idea that trying to show / hide sides of the dice is becoming anything other than a gambler's superstition that shooter is going to get pulled aside quietly when his turn is over. In D&D you can ensure the randomness of the throws by simply using a dice-cup and open-rolling. Short of a true magician's trick of substituting dice there's no clear way to manipulate the outcome. Marty Lund [/QUOTE]

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