Average Dice

[Actionjick]

I like using ROF dice for playtests and agree with Carl to let the crazy stuff happen and see what direction the dice take things. Push those playtesters to have new ideas, necessity is the mother of invention.

ROF dice? Sorry, as you know OMOOT.

 

[bendizoid]

ROF dice? Sorry, as you know OMOOT.

A third dice (I like red for ‘rate’) for Rate of Fire.

 

[Actionjick]

A third dice (I like red for ‘rate’) for Rate of Fires.

Thanks! I probably knew that at one time.
Like a couple days ago actually. Was thinking about good rolls, ROF and the like.

 

[Vic Provost]

I remember watching a video many years ago from a dice manufacturer--I don't recall which one. He talked about how some dice manufacturers simply pop their dice out of the molds and toss them into the equivalent of a rock polishing machine and let it grind away with grit and then slather ink into the wells. He took a set of AD&D dice from a cheap manufacturer (you know, 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 2d10, 1d12, 1d20) and stacked them on top of each other: stacked one way the set of dice rose to a certain height; stacked on different faces they rose a whole dice-worth taller.

Non-uniformity will throw off how a die rolls: if the thickness of the die is different depending on which two faces you measure across, if the square area of the various die faces vary, if different corners have different curvatures, if the density of the plastic across the interior of the die is non-uniform, if the material removed in making the wells for the digits is large--all of these things have minor impacts on the fairness of a die. Sure, these things might only account for a 1 to 2% difference, but many gamblers and casinos make their living off from such margins.

So again, I no longer worry about it: I have precision dice.

(And I've now taken this thread far away from it's original topic: apologies.)

Me too Bill, I LOVE my Battle School Dice, I never worry they are rolling too high or low because the dice are not right.

Bad rolls are all on me, no cursing these dice and has been for quite some time. It was $ well spent, Vic.

 

[Actionjick]

Me too Bill, I LOVE my Battle School Dice, I never worry they are rolling too high or low because the dice are not right.

Bad rolls are all on me, no cursing these dice and has been for quite some time. It was $ well spent, Vic.

As I stated in another thread it's the dice tower, not the dice, responsible for bad rolls!

 

[Old Noob]

I'll stick to using a red, white, yellow and blue die. Each was in the Beyond Valor module I bought back in 1986.
Good enough then, still good enough to use 35 years later.

 

[von Marwitz]

I'll stick to using a red, white, yellow and blue die. Each was in the Beyond Valor module I bought back in 1986.
Good enough then, still good enough to use 35 years later.

Basically the same here. I use a black, a white, and a red die which came either an SL box or in BV which I bought some time in the early 90s.

von Marwitz

 

[The Purist]

I still use those same Blue, Red, Yellow and White die that came with BV. I have a multitude of other AH dice from other games as well. The "Las Vegas" Casino dice are usually saved for tournaments but do come out of their wooden chest and off the purple pillow on occasion.

Must use a white cotton glove to handle those.

 

[Actionjick]

I still use those same Blue, Red, Yellow and White die that came with BV. I have a multitude of other AH dice from other games as well. The "Las Vegas" Casino dice are usually saved for tournaments but do come out of their wooden chest and off the purple pillow on occasion.

Must use a white cotton glove to handle those.

Used dice from the module, other ones Fish brought, backgammon dice, whatever felt " hot " that day. Had a pair, yellow and white, that I primarily used. Used the larger dice in the old box rolling days, pre dice tower.

 

[jfardette]

To get back on thread, I suggest playtesting the scenarios under the same conditions the game will be played in the wild. Beer in one hand, dice in the other and let ‘em roll. If luck is a factor in the outcome, the playtesters can include that in their AAR. Much more interested in whether the scenario was fun and had replay value than whether the balance was 50-50 or 60-40.

 

[GeorgeBates]

To get back on thread, I suggest playtesting the scenarios under the same conditions the game will be played in the wild. Beer in one hand, dice in the other and let ‘em roll. If luck is a factor in the outcome, the playtesters can include that in their AAR. Much more interested in whether the scenario was fun and had replay value than whether the balance was 50-50 or 60-40

My kinda playtester!

 

[Actionjick]

My kinda playtester!

I'm not sure that rolling bottles/cans of beer results in the best playtest, very messy opening afterwards!

Agree with the sentiment though!

 

[Vinnie]

To get back on thread, I suggest playtesting the scenarios under the same conditions the game will be played in the wild. Beer in one hand, dice in the other and let ‘em roll. If luck is a factor in the outcome, the playtesters can include that in their AAR. Much more interested in whether the scenario was fun and had replay value than whether the balance was 50-50 or 60-40.

Once you’ve done that 3 times, would you alter the dice?

 

[jfardette]

No, but I might alter the beer?

 

[Rock SgtDan]

Ya'll do know that Averaging Dice are numbered 2,3,3,4,4,5 ?
And they have been for sale since the 1970's ?

 

[Rock SgtDan]

Created this so one can record the results.

I don't grasp how to utilize this for either the OP's method or Lightspeeds.

 

[RandyT0001]

I don't grasp how to utilize this for either the OP's method or Lightspeeds.

Add notes to tally the total probabilities in a game.

 

[Vinnie]

Ya'll do know that Averaging Dice are numbered 2,3,3,4,4,5 ?
And they have been for sale since the 1970's ?

All well and good but we are playing with VASL.

 

[Vic Provost]

As I stated in another thread it's the dice tower, not the dice, responsible for bad rolls!

Not my Pleva Tower, he did an awesome job in making it, small enough and breaks down to 2 pieces for easy transpo. Dice never get stuck and I seem to get very random results. Maybe it is just me but this equipment gives me happiness and peace of mind and many fun gaming experiences, no matter what the game (ASL = 75% of my gaming time at this point in my life). Plus I don't wake up anyone else with that damn noisy glass as Steve also used some foam to make it virtually silent in use.

I am sure between the precision dice and my nice quality and seemingly fair dice tower that any bad rolls are on me, period, Vic.

 

[holdit]

Precisely so! I never saw the need for it. Why waste time clipping when you can be gunnin' or reading the rules!

I tried clipping VASL counters. That's a perfectly good monitor I'll never get back...

I mostly use the VASL built-in dice, but when playing Napoleon's Battles, sometimes I suspect that the dice are favouring one side. Occasionally to test this I've rolled the dice several times and recorded the results in a spreadhseet and outcome is always the same; sometimes they roll high and low and in the middle for both sides more or less the same number of times. When I calculate the averages, the difference is never greater than .25 over 20-30 competitive D10 dice rolls. I have found, though that it's important to shake the dice properly before rolling, or as I do it, dropping them into the lid of an old iPhone box - it means I spend less time picking dice up off the floor.