Best Method for Dice Customization

[Lee Short]

Hi,

I'm new here & not sure if this is the right forum for this question, but it seems as appropriate as any.  

My game uses customized d20s.  I've tried permanent markers, paint pens, Dremel routing, spraying matte finish...and I'm not happy with any of it.  Suggestions?  

tia,
Lee

[Paul Czege]

Hey Lee,

Are you starting with blank d20's? If so, the method I used to create dice for my game, http://www.123.net/~czege/WFD.html">The World, the Flesh, and the Devil might work for you. Although I can see it being awfully painstaking. I was doing fewer sides, of a larger size.

Check out my thread about making the dice http://indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1971">here.

Paul

[Lee Short]

but I will need to do LOTS of cutting, given that my basic dice mechanic calls for rolling 3 custom 20-sided dice.  Yes, the dice start blank.  Each die has 8 blank sides, but that's still A LOT labels to be cutting out.  Just 2 dice sets will give me 72 labels to cut, 3 sets would be 108.  Maybe I'll bite the bullet and do it, though, if there are no other suggestions.  

Thanks,
Lee

[Paul Czege]

Hey Lee,

Are you putting symbols, or numbers on the dice? If numbers, what are the numeric distributions?

Paul

[Mike Holmes]

Is the expense of getting them custom made by a dice company an option, or no? Might be the coolest way to go.

OTOH, have you considered using a palm pilot or even a laptop? Does it have to be dice? Give me the distributions and I can create an app that will randomize them for you.

Cards might be another option. Lots of extra neat things you can do with that.

Mike

[Lee Short]

Paul,

I'm putting numbers on the dice.  There's one each of +1, -1, +2, -2,
.... +6, -6.  That leaves 8 blank sides.  

You roll 3 of these dice and sum them up.  If all 3 dice are
positive or negative, you open-end.  

Lee

[Lee Short]

Is the expense of getting them custom made by a dice company an option, or no? Might be the coolest way to go.

OTOH, have you considered using a palm pilot or even a laptop? Does it have to be dice? Give me the distributions and I can create an app that will randomize them for you.

Cards might be another option. Lots of extra neat things you can do with that.

Mike

Custom made is an option, Mike.  I've even sent an email to Chessex about this, but gotten no response yet.  Any idea how much this will cost?  Any idea who else might do it?  I agree that it would be very cool, and would love to have the dice.  

Certainly I could do a palm pilot/laptop proram, but I don't have the hardware and don't intend to buy hardware just for this.  I have in fact already created a quick C program to simulate dice rolls...in fact, I used this program to help me design the dice to get the distribution that I wanted.  But computer-generated "dice" would meet other objections, as some of my players prefer to actually physically roll the dice for themselves.  They're already clamoring because I've only got one set of workable dice, so I have to make all the dice rolls.  

I can't visualize how to make cards or chits or something similar generate this distribution.  So I can't say I've given much thought as to whether I'd find this acceptable, but my gut instinct is that some of my players would not.  

thanks,
Lee

[Paul Czege]

Hey Lee,

If all 3 dice are positive or negative, you open-end.

Meaning you reroll all three dice and incorporate the result into your previous sum? Doesn't this play out pretty chaotic? You can actually undercut what might be a nice strong result with the second roll.

Paul

[Lee Short]

Hey Lee,

If all 3 dice are positive or negative, you open-end.

Meaning you reroll all three dice and incorporate the result into your previous sum? Doesn't this play out pretty chaotic? You can actually undercut what might be a nice strong result with the second roll.

Paul

Sorry for the ambiguity.  Actually, you only reroll a single die and add it.  If that single die is of the same sign, you roll another die, and so on.  

So, yes, you can undercut a strong result -- but not as much as you suspected.  And, the final result has much less variation this way (which is rather specifically what I was looking for).  

Lee

[Mike Holmes]

Wouldn't it be simpler to roll a d6 and add it or subtract it as appropriate (adding another roll with each six)? Paul's got a point. It's really dissapointing to roll an "open-ender" and then not have it continue to go in the direction it was intentionally heading.

Mike

[Lee Short]

Wouldn't it be simpler to roll a d6 and add it or subtract it as appropriate (adding another roll with each six)? Paul's got a point. It's really dissapointing to roll an "open-ender" and then not have it continue to go in the direction it was intentionally heading.

Mike

Well, I definitely want the ability to roll a 0 for the open-ended die (or the open-ending will never end).  I have considered two options

(1) roll another of the custom d20's, but only keep the result if the sign is the same (ie, opposing sign results go to zero), or
(2) roll another custom d20, and automatically convert the sign to the same,

I dislike (2) because it's just not as clean a mechanic, and it increases the probability of extreme results, which I do not want.  I have considered using option (1), and wasn't sure if I originally was going to do that or not until after the first few game sessions.  In practice, we found that the players got used to it pretty quickly.  Given that it wasn't a problem, I like the simplicity of the rule the way it is...but the distribution doesn't change a whole lot if you use option (1).  

thanks to both of you for your suggestions,
Lee

[Paul Czege]

Hey Lee,

Okay, I'm pretty damn curious about your funky dice. What happens in the game if the very first roll of the three dice is all blanks?

Paull

[Paul Czege]

Hey Lee,

Okay...here's a possible solution, somewhat higher handling time, no dice customization. Get yourself some of http://www.fudgerpg.com/fudge/dice.html">these FUDGE dice. They're d6's with two pluses, two minuses and two blank sides. They come in lots of different colors. Match them up in pairs with standard d10's of the same color. So each roll in your game is now six dice, three of them different colored FUDGE dice, and three of them d10's that match the colors of the FUDGE ones.

When a player's roll hits the table, he first discards any colored pair where the result on the d10 is greater than 6. These are the eight blanks from your customized d20. For the pairs remaining, apply the positive or negative value from the FUDGE die to the d10 and sum the result. If the FUDGE die is blank, reroll it until you get a positive or negative value.

Same exact spread as your customized d20. Thank you....I'll be here all week!!!

Paul

[Lee Short]

Paul,

That's a very clever way to handle it, but it is more search time that I'm willing to spring for.  

How I use the die rolls is for skill resolution.  Skills are rated roughly as follows:

0   Clueless
5   Apprentice
10 Inexperienced Professional
15 Intermediate Professional
20 Expert
25 Master
30 Grandmaster
....
The player rolls dice, sums them up, adds to his skill level, and tells the GM the total.  The GM then waves his hands in the air, and dictates the result from on high.  Blatantly Sim in intent, and (I hope) in practice.  

So, if the rolls are all 0, then the character gives a completely average performance for their skill level.  

And different numbers and kinds of dice may be rolled for events which the GM deems to have more or less random factors/performance variation.  In fact, the other kind of die I use for low-variance tasks is a modified FUDGE die...mark one of the "+"s to "++" (or +2), and one of the "-"s to "--".

[quozl]

From a thread in the Alyria forum:

Dice stickers? No, no, no! I want the real thing, I want my custom Alyria dice, even if that means that you'll be eating Instant Ramen for one year. Have you forgotten my near death experience when trying to make my own moon dice?

Seriously, have you checked how much custom dice will cost you? I suggest checking out Koplow Games, a company who produces all kinds of funky custom dice, their website isn't exactly stylish or complete, but their dice are nice: http://www.koplowgames.com dicekoplow@aol.com

Send them an email and let us know how it goes.