Dice Roller

Originally Posted by Taellosse

Personally, I don't much care about the bottom 2 preset buttons. "4dF" does this wierd plus and minus thing that I don't imagine to be useful for most game systems

4dF is the dice label used for FUDGE a rules light RPG system. The plus/minus thing corresponds to the seven step fudge scale: Superb(+3),Great(+2),Good(+1),Fair(+0),Mediocre(-1),Poor(-2),Terrible(-3). +/- 4 being off the scale (there are scaling rules for super/sub human ratings). I tend to use a set of fudge dice for determining random elements (that aren't covered by other rules) when GMing.

FUDGE is really nice system if you are looking for a super flexible rules light game. I use it to convert old game systems for play (if I just want a quick game without the work a GURPS conversion entails).

I have run old WEG Paranoia modules with it quite successfully (although you are not cleared for that information... ZZZAP!).

[Blood Legend]

That free dice roller one of you linked to is exactly why I hate dice rollers.

The one from GCB was the best...no pointless rules or options, no ugly formats. It was simple to use, big open space for dice, it was really quick to see what you'd rolled. That dice roller was my favorite calculator ever T.T

alas GCB got deleted off my computer and I'm not gonna pay money just for the dice roller...even though it would be worth it.

[ecienavxela]

I once created a dice roller program on MS Excel using a little bit of VB (so that the "dice" aren't re-rolled everytime a cell value was changed). It's quite simple, really. It's the "options" that everybody seems to want that makes a dice-roller program complicated.

So, what are you looking for?

[Armin]

Originally Posted by Blood Legend

That free dice roller one of you linked to is exactly why I hate dice rollers.

The one from GCB was the best...no pointless rules or options, no ugly formats. It was simple to use, big open space for dice, it was really quick to see what you'd rolled. That dice roller was my favorite calculator ever T.T

alas GCB got deleted off my computer and I'm not gonna pay money just for the dice roller...even though it would be worth it.

On the other hand, the screen shots posted show why I wouldn't like the GCB roller--pointless buttons for dice I don't need, takes up a lot of screen space, and graphical representations of dice. (WTF is with people wanting graphical representations of dice rolling? I use a computer roller so that I can tell it what to roll, and it'll tell me the answer. If I want to see dice, I'll roll the real thing.)

Most of the time these days, I just roll real dice. But when I need a roller for lots of dice, the roller I do use does just what I need. And it lets me do math, so I use it as a calculator all the time as well. Love that.

Armin

[Taellosse]

Originally Posted by Armin

On the other hand, the screen shots posted show why I wouldn't like the GCB roller--pointless buttons for dice I don't need...

The bottom two buttons are useless as far as I'm concerned, and I rarely use the other dice types aside from d6 these days, since I'm only playing GURPS campaigns at the moment, so I agree there, in this case. Nonetheless, I'd like to have one that has most of those others (excepting the bottom two) because I do occasionally find myself playing in a D20 system, which uses all of those at certain points. And it must be noted that this specific program, the roller in GCB, is, since they're the same program, the roller for Metacreator, which can do much more than just GURPS.

...takes up a lot of screen space...

It doesn't actually take all that much. on a 1024x768 screen it takes up maybe 1/8 or less of the screen. Its not really much bigger than most dice rollers I've seen, and smaller than some.

and graphical representations of dice. (WTF is with people wanting graphical representations of dice rolling? I use a computer roller so that I can tell it what to roll, and it'll tell me the answer. If I want to see dice, I'll roll the real thing.)

The little pictures, and the sounds, aren't strictly necessary, and if a dice roller had all the same features as this save those two, I wouldn't care that much, but I do sort of like having them, because it allows you to see what the raw rolls are without bonuses, which often comes into play during damage rolls. The sounds are just sort of fun. I use a dice roller as much because it means I don't need to worry about dropping or losing dice as anything else, and because its easier than clearing a space to throw dice on a table when I've got my computer there already displaying my character sheet. But that doesn't mean I don't want to approach the experience of throwing real dice as closely as possible anyway. *smile*

Most of the time these days, I just roll real dice.

I did until I got my tablet PC and was able to display, and write on, my character sheet without a printed page. Given my circumstance, it just makes more sense to use a program instead of physical dice, so I'd like one that suits my needs and isn't ugly or boring to look at as well.

But when I need a roller for lots of dice

Its come in handy a couple of times for that. That screenshot of 120 dice was something I rolled for one of my fellow PCs in a previous session, and it was a whole lot easier than having him roll 10 dice 12 times.

And it lets me do math, so I use it as a calculator all the time as well. Love that.

I've already got a calculator built into Windows, so I don't really need another program to do the same thing. I suppose I wouldn't especially mind having that functionality, but I don't need it very often, and it would just clutter up the window, and make it take more space than is necessary.

Of course, the bottom line is that tastes differ from one to another, and different people will need different things. I've seen several dice programs out there that looked like they would work pretty well for someone else, but none of them make me happy except for the one in GCB so far. So I think it'd be nice if either the Metacreator people made it a standalone, or someone largely duplicated it. I rather doubt it would make everyone on earth who uses dice on a computer happy, though, any more than GCA works for everyone who would like to use it (it works pretty well for my needs, but I can understand how it might not for someone else).

[Blood Legend]

Here we go...more bumpage.

Is it possible to take the GCB Roller and just put it in GCA with an update? Sure it won't be stand alone but you know >.>

Also, that company that made that dice roller, where are they so I may bug them? Can I get some linkage? :3

[Taellosse]

Originally Posted by Blood Legend

Is it possible to take the GCB Roller and just put it in GCA with an update? Sure it won't be stand alone but you know >.>

No, because that program is proprietary, and owned by Alterego Software. SJ Games hasn't got the rights to be doing things like that, they just licensed a special build of Metacreator for the 3rd edition character creator.

Also, that company that made that dice roller, where are they so I may bug them? Can I get some linkage? :3

http://www.alteregosoftware.com/metacreator.html

[Taellosse]

Many moons ago, this thread was begun, and a discussion was had over the merits of die rollers of various sorts, and one or two people, in their infinite kindness suggested that they could put together a standalone die roller that fairly closely emulated the one bundled with the Metacreator software (also known as GURPS Character Builder for 3rd ed). Then the thread dwindled into obscurity, and nothing more was heard of it.

Since then, I've continued to muddle along, keeping GCB installed on my laptop for the sole purpose of having access to the die roller included, and have yet to find an adequate stand-alone replacement.

I was just wondering if anyone, either one who previously expressed a willingness to create such a thing, or someone new, were interested in taking up this task. The links to screenshots earlier in the thread are still good, as is the link to the base software. In addition, this page, from Alter Ego Software's own site, details their die roller's features, and displays an additional screenshot of the utility.

I know I, and probably at least several others who frequent these forums, would love to have such a program--it'd certainly take up a lot less space than all of GCB--and we'd be most grateful. Just thought I'd resurrect this thread on the off chance that someone wanted to be wonderful.

[ashareem]

Max Dice used to be linked from the game resources page, but I don't see it listed any longer. It's what I've used for several years.

[Taellosse]

Originally Posted by ashareem

Max Dice used to be linked from the game resources page, but I don't see it listed any longer. It's what I've used for several years.

That looks to be a reasonably flexible program, and better than many others I've found, but I still like Metacreator's better, I'm afraid. It can do almost all the things that one does (I don't think it can automatically reroll highs or lows, or discard dice) and also automatically add whole numbers to dice rolls, and roll mixed sets of dice if necessary (i.e. 3d6, 2d4 and 1d12 all at the same time, then add the total). Thanks for the link, though, and perhaps someone else will like it better. I just thought I'd resurrect this thread in the hopes that someone would take an interest in coding a Metacreator die roller clone. I can get along well enough with the setup I've got--GCB doesn't exactly take up vast amounts of space on my HDD, and its not THAT much trouble to run it then load up the die roller during a game. I think it'd just be nifty if a stand-alone version were created, and I don't have the knowledge to do it myself.