Problems with dice

[Jay R]

I have been playing role-playing games since 1975, and have collected a lot of dice over the years. So I decided to give a bunch of them away. At the last gaming session, I had a big bowl of dice for any player who wanted them.

One player took a d20, and was getting increasingly frustrated that she wasn't getting any high rolls. We finally figured out the problem when she rolled a "0".

It was an old style d20, from before they were putting two digits on a side. It had the numbers 0 through 9 twice.

Oops.



Anybody else have a good story?

[Grod_The_Giant]

I was in a brief Mutants and Masterminds game with a player who had a similar experience. He never seemed to roll well, and we had no explanation until someone else looked at his die and saw that it was another of those twenty-sided d10s.

(What I cannot explain is why he continued to use the die after this was pointed out, and continued to complain about never accomplishing anything in combat)

[Telwar]

I have a pair of d20s that have a weird distribution.

They almost always roll between 8 - 16. I used them for my 4e Avenger, who was almost always attacking with Advantage (in 5e terms), and my crit rate was under 5%, even with a crit range of 19+. Other players noticed it, too.

[Quertus]

I’ve known numerous players who used a d12 for a d20, or a d8 for a d10.

It’s sadly not a symmetrical problem, as, while nobody raises an eyebrow when you roll a 3 on a d20, they certainly do immediately catch when you get a 12 on a d10.

One player took a d20, and was getting increasingly frustrated that she wasn't getting any high rolls. We finally figured out the problem when she rolled a "0".

It was an old style d20, from before they were putting two digits on a side. It had the numbers 0 through 9 twice.

Oops.

Did she at least get some “add +10 to a single digit roll” beanies?

I was in a brief Mutants and Masterminds game with a player who had a similar experience. He never seemed to roll well, and we had no explanation until someone else looked at his die and saw that it was another of those twenty-sided d10s.

(What I cannot explain is why he continued to use the die after this was pointed out, and continued to complain about never accomplishing anything in combat)

Did he… uh… have ear buds in when it was explained to him or something?

[tomandtish]

It was an old style d20, from before they were putting two digits on a side. It had the numbers 0 through 9 twice.

Oops.



Anybody else have a good story?

I remember those. You filled them in with crayon, using one color for 1-10 and a different for 11-20.

Funniest I personally remember was when a player rolled two d6. Somehow they ended up leaning against each other such that the results for both were technically "edge".

[Batcathat]

I remember those. You filled them in with crayon, using one color for 1-10 and a different for 11-20.

So was that the intent or just something people did? Because I'm trying to figure out how they weren't just unnecessarily complicated d10s.

I can't think of any interesting dice stories of my own, I'm afraid. Though Jay's story did remind me of when I was a kid and it took me far too long to realize that the compass I was using had north and south switched around.

[tomandtish]

So was that the intent or just something people did? Because I'm trying to figure out how they weren't just unnecessarily complicated d10s.

I can't think of any interesting dice stories of my own, I'm afraid. Though Jay's story did remind me of when I was a kid and it took me far too long to realize that the compass I was using had north and south switched around.

It was the intent (mostly). My very first boxed set came with those dice and A crayon. My suspicion was that you were to color in one set, but everyone I knew got a second crayon for the other.

[Mastikator]

I have been playing role-playing games since 1975, and have collected a lot of dice over the years. So I decided to give a bunch of them away. At the last gaming session, I had a big bowl of dice for any player who wanted them.

One player took a d20, and was getting increasingly frustrated that she wasn't getting any high rolls. We finally figured out the problem when she rolled a "0".

It was an old style d20, from before they were putting two digits on a side. It had the numbers 0 through 9 twice.

Oops.



Anybody else have a good story?

Gave me a good laugh!

I don't have a funny story, but I a friend of mine bought a set of dice with no numbers on them and painted them for my birthday. So I have a sweet story, and that's good enough for this thread.

[Kurald Galain]

At conventions, I tend to look around for weird dice to buy, and one year I found a d6 that basically reads

We've been using this for reactions of (relatively unimportant) NPCs.

[Jay R]

Did she at least get some “add +10 to a single digit roll” beanies?

Only once. I didn't go back and change previous rounds, but when she rolled the "0" and we discovered the problem, I pointed out that it was either a 10 or a 20, and either one was good enough to hit, so that blow was good.

So was that the intent or just something people did? Because I'm trying to figure out how they weren't just unnecessarily complicated d10s.

That was the intent. The dice were marked 0-9 twice, so that two of them could be used for a percentile roll. We were supposed to either color them in with different colors, or roll a second die for high or low.

We speculated that there wasn't room for two-digit numbers on that small surface, but that was a guess; I never asked any dice maker.

[animorte]

This thread seems like it should instead be named “Fun with dice.”

[gbaji]

That was the intent. The dice were marked 0-9 twice, so that two of them could be used for a percentile roll. We were supposed to either color them in with different colors, or roll a second die for high or low.

We speculated that there wasn't room for two-digit numbers on that small surface, but that was a guess; I never asked any dice maker.

It could also have had to do with carve out weight balance issues. With a die where the numbers are indents (carved out, and I'm sure there's an official term for this), there is clearly going to be a weight imbalance, since 1-9 will always have less mass removed from that die side than 10-20 (same set of numbers, but an extra "1" (or "2") worth of mass removed). To make the die sides more even, having the same 0-9 numbers twice, and including a crayon meant a more even weight distribution. Although, I suppose, if you just fill in one side with color, you could argue that the crayon itself was adding weight to one set, so coloring both would be even more "fair" for rolling.

Outside of folks who may be over-focused on the weight effects on die rolling, that format also allows for more utility. You can use it as a D10, D20, and (with two, presumably of different bg color) a D100. Believe it or not, I've run into people who get confused trying to use a D20 as a D10 when the extra digit shows up. Then again, the colors can confuse folks too. Guess if it's your die, you should pick what you want and run with it.

Oh. Could also have just been about the casting complexity. Fewer molds need to be made for the numbers if you just have 10 of them as opposed to 20 unique numbers. Seems like a minor issue, but they're all minor really.

I have a player at my table who has some D6 dice actually printed as D3s (they have dots for one, two, three repeated twice). Can be very confusing if he picks up the wrong die when actually rolling a D6 though.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Only issue I've ever had is that my dice are lazy pacifists. Attack rolls? Crap. Either as a DM or a player. Ability checks? Meh. Better, but not great. Saving throws? Quite good. And that's consistent even with digital dice--when @KorvinStarmast has a bad night in our games, we call it "pulling a <my name>".

[gbaji]

I'm also a notoriously bad die roller. Worse, there are two players in my regular gaming group who are notoriously lucky die rollers. Playing Talisman is an exercise in making sure to hand the die for someone else to roll against me to anyone other than those two (and then still losing a lot unless the odds are seriously in my favor). My luck is so bad that I actively work characters in that game to follow the path of craft (which is much more difficult to raise typically) instead of strength purely to avoid "dice with death". And heaven forbid after I've lost 4-6 lives (and turns) on that space, the werewolf will *always* have a 12 strength. Always... I'm not bitter though. Nope (actually I do love that game, but OMG!).

I actually wrote house rules for opposed combat skills checks in my RQ3 game specifically because the default rules leaned heavily towards "lucky roll wins", and as a player I had terrible luck with it. In RuneQuest, when attacking against an enemy who is dodging, and both succeed, the dodge wins (zero damage done). If the attack is a special success (20% of the total skill) it'll hit unless the dodge is also a special, and if it's a critical (5% of total skill) it'll hit unless the dodge is also a critical (basically, you have to hit one level better on the "miss->hit->special->critical" scale to overcome the dodge). One particular fight, my incredibly skilled warrior (220% attack skill IIRC), was fighting a basic skeleton (very wimpy opponent that was dodging and maybe had 70% or so chance). Spent the entire fight swinging at that stupid skeleton because I could not for the life of me roll low enough (44% in this case) to get a special and the darn thing just kept making its dodge.

Ok. Not about "dice" so much as "die rolling", but whatever.

[Kurald Galain]

We speculated that there wasn't room for two-digit numbers on that small surface, but that was a guess; I never asked any dice maker.

The reason is that d4, d6, d8, d12, and d20 are Platonic solids, and classic D&D uses only these dice shapes (and so, uses differently-marked d20 instead of d10). I'm not sure if this is because of purist/grognard superstition, or because production process for d10 turned out with uglier or less-random dice. "Proper" d10s were introduced to D&D at GenCon in 1980; this is sometimes referred to as the "invention of ten-sided dice" although they have existed far longer on a smaller scale.

[animorte]

I'm not sure if this is because of purist/grognard superstition, or because production process for d10 turned out with uglier or less-random dice.

This bolded part was (maybe) a concern yet we still have a standard of playing with caltrops (d4) that barely even roll.

[Khedrac]

This bolded part was (maybe) a concern yet we still have a standard of playing with caltrops (d4) that barely even roll.

Which is why I like the pentagonal dodecahedrons numbered I to IV three times for D4s.

Why do I say "pentagonal dodecahedrons"? - because I have managed to source some rhombic dodecahedron D12s which are quite hard to find.
(When it comes to naturally occurring crystals, "traditional" pentagonal dodecahedrons are very very rare - I was actually taught in a geology class that they don't exist which is incorrect. Rhombic dodecahedrons are the main naturally occurring ones and they also space-fill for extra fun. They are also very old - archeologists have found dice of this type in ancient remains.)

The biggest problem I have had with dice was probably D3s at university. Everyone used d6s for D3s, but I am aware of at least three methods for deriving the output and few people bothered to mention which they were using before rolling! This is why I actually bought some cubes numbered 1-3 twice.

Spoiler: D3 methods

Show

three blocks:
1, 2 = 1
3, 4 = 2
5, 6 = 3

repeating sequence:
1, 4 = 1
2, 5 = 2
3, 6 = 3

top or bottom:
1, 6 = 1
2, 5 = 2
3, 4 = 3

[animorte]

Which is why I like the pentagonal dodecahedrons numbered I to IV three times for D4s.

Why do I say "pentagonal dodecahedrons"? - because I have managed to source some rhombic dodecahedron D12s which are quite hard to find.

Oh, that’s cool. Need to get me one of those. Immediately reminded me of a stellated icosahedron I made some 12-15 years ago.

[Telwar]

Oh, that’s cool. Need to get me one of those. Immediately reminded me of a stellated icosahedron I made some 12-15 years ago.

I got a bunch of 12-sided d4s off of a Kickstarter, and dear Lord they are awesome. It makes me actually want to cast magic missile.

[Tanarii]

New players regularly have trouble figuring out which is the 8 sided and which is the ten sided. To a lesser degree, 12 and 20 sided. I have one player that went and bought a spindle 10 sided and a cylinder 8 sided so the difference was instantly obvious. But now he can't see what the result is at an easy glance, because the face size is way smaller.

D12s and d20s love to roll for a long time. Often right off the table.

I hate trying to read d4s with a value in each point of the triangle. I can't remember how old school dice used to do it, but I don't remember it being so distracting.

D10s with a trailing 0 to indicate it's the tens digit drive me crazy. I throw those away. Colored dice sets of one color need to come with one off color d10 and one matching color d10, not two of the same color with one having 00 thru 90.

The biggest problem I have had with dice was probably D3s at university. Everyone used d6s for D3s, but I am aware of at least three methods for deriving the output and few people bothered to mention which they were using before rolling! This is why I actually bought some cubes numbered 1-3 twice.

Spoiler: D3 methods

Show

three blocks:
1, 2 = 1
3, 4 = 2
5, 6 = 3

repeating sequence:
1, 4 = 1
2, 5 = 2
3, 6 = 3

top or bottom:
1, 6 = 1
2, 5 = 2
3, 4 = 3

Everyone knows 3 blocks is the correct method

[Khedrac]

D12s and d20s love to roll for a long time. Often right off the table.

Never found D12s that bad, but if you think D20s bad try D30s - they really don't like stopping...
I have seen a D100 and reckoned it would roll for ages without a barrier - more like a golf ball.

Everyone knows 3 blocks is the correct method

It's certainly the method I used.

As for other less common dice:

I have 2 D30s, and I don't trust either of them. I have never tried a formal randomness test (chi-squared) but my impression is I get too many 1s and 30s.

I have a D24 which I think is a stellated cube. The problem is it is too stable - if rolled in a stright line it is far more likely to stay on the 16 faces that make up the 4 sides of a cube than to bounce sideways and generate one of the other 8 faces (dice trays for the win).

Also, I see a lot of nicely decorated dice at cons and in shops that require decent eyesight to read (you know you are getting old when all of your gaming group get out their reading classes to game) - these days the only new dice hat gets "oohs" fromt he group are those that are easy to read at a glance...

(I also saw some very fancy and expensive dice that managed to be white on top and black on the sides whichever way up they were - I looked more closely and realised that the cube was quite a long way off true - it looked good but I wouldn't trust it in a game.)

[Velaryon]

At conventions, I tend to look around for weird dice to buy, and one year I found a d6 that basically reads

We've been using this for reactions of (relatively unimportant) NPCs.

Ooh, I need one of those! I've been using an old HeroQuest die for when I need to randomly determine whether something is favorable, neutral, or unfavorable to players. But this would be much better. You wouldn't happen to know the name of the company that makes it?

---

I guess for my own dice-problem story, one time I broke a d20 with a hammer. A friend glued it back together and now I call it Frankenstein. It still seems to bias toward rolling 3's, though.

[Batcathat]

I guess for my own dice-problem story, one time I broke a d20 with a hammer. A friend glued it back together and now I call it Frankenstein. It still seems to bias toward rolling 3's, though.

What's the story? Bizarre accident? Taking out your rage over too many bad rolls? Hoping for treasure inside?

[Socksy]

I've accidentally used a cube-shaped d2 as a d6 throughout a game of Everyone Is John. Took a while to realise that one.

As a GM, I kept a d18 with the d20s for use as a replacement d20 for if a player really bothered me. I never inflicted it on anyone, but it did get picked up a few times by accident.

[animorte]

This also sounds like: tell me the origin story of when you learned never to trust the dice in your hand.

[Kurald Galain]

As a GM, I kept a d18 with the d20s for use as a replacement d20 for if a player really bothered me. I never inflicted it on anyone, but it did get picked up a few times by accident.

Right! I once did this in a game of Paranoia: put a bunch of red dice in the center of the table for everyone to use (this was a spontaneous session so people hadn't brought their own RPG gear), and one blue one. Of course, the blue die is above your security clearance. Any player that touches it has his character die for no reason. Meta!

Ooh, I need one of those! I've been using an old HeroQuest die for when I need to randomly determine whether something is favorable, neutral, or unfavorable to players. But this would be much better. You wouldn't happen to know the name of the company that makes it?

I bought it at Das Spiel in Essen, if that helps.

(edit) search for "Smile dice" at Amazon.com and that's basically it.

[KorvinStarmast]

I've accidentally used a cube-shaped d2 as a d6 throughout a game of Everyone Is John. Took a while to realise that one.

Every d6 is also a d2: odd is a 1, even is a 2.

[J-H]

Going forward, I only buy dice that are high contrast, preferably white/black or black/white. It maybe pretty, but I don't have time to try to read golden lettering against a wavy green/gold background from 2 feet away. I roll the dice closer to me, but I sometimes need to help others with their math, and it's hard to do when I can't read the dice because there's no contrast.
Same with all the metal dice, black on dark grey doesn't work.

I have suggested the Dice of Rolling bag to new players several times:
https://diceofrolling.com/ (their battle tokens are also VERY nice)
This is what I will get for my boys when they are old enough to get their own dice instead of stealing and maybe returning mine.
Everything is nicely contrasted and visible.

I do have a couple of d20s that I favor using because they tend to roll a bit higher than average. Of course, when the party's in a jam and I switch away from them to the "meh" d20s, sometimes I still roll high. I haven't actually tracked or experimented scientifically, so this falls under "dice superstition."

[calam]

All three of these stories are with digital dice

1. I was DMing a D20 modern campaign and for some reason no one, player or DM could roll above a 10 for any attack. The worst was one session where the battle against the queen parasite controlling the small town took over an hour and a half despite it being a CR+1 encounter. I ended up having to show a player the enemy character sheets to prove that I wasn't just throwing epic combats at them every time.

2. DMing again, this time in pathfinder and my players could do no wrong, any roll below 8 was rare and I kept throwing harder fights at them. At its peak they were able to take out an encounter of 15 level 3 warriors who were behind fortifications without taking damage despite also promising someone that they'd bring back their brother alive, forgetting to ask what their brother looked like and then choosing to suffer the -4 penalty to all attack roles.

3. player this time, playing a custom game that uses d10s for combat but d6s for things like table generation or calculating customers for the business section. The other player rolled a random generation and then proceeded to use d6s instead of d10s for combat for 4 turns.

[Velaryon]

What's the story? Bizarre accident? Taking out your rage over too many bad rolls? Hoping for treasure inside?

Rage and stupidity. Seemed like I couldn't roll above a 3 all session. I finally grabbed a hammer and broke the die. And then felt like an idiot when I had to run to the game store mid-session to buy new dice. Fortunately I have a bit more maturity these days.

Right! I once did this in a game of Paranoia: put a bunch of red dice in the center of the table for everyone to use (this was a spontaneous session so people hadn't brought their own RPG gear), and one blue one. Of course, the blue die is above your security clearance. Any player that touches it has his character die for no reason. Meta!

I bought it at Das Spiel in Essen, if that helps.

(edit) search for "Smile dice" at Amazon.com and that's basically it.

We must have gotten different search results. I searched "smile dice" and there's not a single result on the first page that has anything other than numbers or pips on the sides. Oh well.