Cheetoism and Gamescience

Dirk Remmecke · December 19, 2010, 07:12:02 PM

I just read a post on Cyclopeatron's blog: Forbidding Players From Using Crappy Chessex Dice?

That post (and some of the comments) left me with one question:
Where on the People - Snacks - Setting - System scale do precision dice go?

Kyle Aaron · December 19, 2010, 07:51:09 PM

It's among the "snacks", I'd say. The consumables of gaming, the dice and maps and character sheets, these sit with the snacks in the way they add to the mood, the ambience.

So it should probably be,

people - snacks & stuff - setting - system

Insufficient Metal · December 19, 2010, 08:11:31 PM

I guess I own too many of the "wrong" dice to be a serious gamer. I'll try to get along somehow.

winkingbishop · December 19, 2010, 08:21:04 PM

The Cheetoist Gamers International Club just sent me this memo:

QuoteWhile The Powers agree with Kyle's placement of precision dice in The Hierarchy, that shit just won't fit on the card.

I thought you guys should know.

mhensley · December 19, 2010, 09:17:20 PM

GS dice are way overrated. I've done some testing and the difference in randomness is not really a big deal. I've got a few sets of GS dice and I still use the cheap dice that came in various basic D&D box sets from over the years.

skofflox · December 19, 2010, 09:27:16 PM

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;427427It's among the "snacks", I'd say. The consumables of gaming, the dice and maps and character sheets, these sit with the snacks in the way they add to the mood, the ambience.

So it should probably be,

people - snacks & stuff - setting - system

Quote from: winkingbishop;427429The Cheetoist Gamers International Club just sent me this memo:

I thought you guys should know.

just...AWESOME...
:rotfl:
have to get some precision d. to go with my presicion snacks etc...

jeff37923 · December 19, 2010, 10:07:51 PM

I know some people swear by the Gamescience dice (and I was once called a dice cheat for not using them), but I have not found a significant difference in their use as random number generators over any other dice. I think that all that precision dice crap was nothing more than an effective marketting ploy.

Spellslinging Sellsword · December 19, 2010, 10:12:52 PM

I've never seen anyone that I game with own precision dice or even mention them. If precision dice were really that important, almost every game would use casino quality six-sided dice only.

Kyle Aaron · December 19, 2010, 11:14:05 PM

In a casino where the house's winning margin may be just 1-2% and the dice are rolled literally thousands of times a night, having perfectly random dice, cards, etc is very important.

In a roleplaying game campaign, any particular set of dice are rolled at most a few dozen times a night, and the errors in the randomness of the dice are vanishingly small compared to the added-on randomness of in-play situations, player decisions, GM judgment, whether you need to roll high or low this time or even to roll at all, and so on.

As well, if dice roll consistently well, other players and GM pressure the player to change dice; if they roll consistently badly, the player themselves will change dice.

So I wouldn't sweat it.

Angry_Douchebag · December 19, 2010, 11:22:05 PM

I have a couple sets that don't get used. The crappy pits in the dice from the molding process would seem to counter the "precision" benefit.

Spinachcat · December 19, 2010, 11:55:08 PM

As a Cheetoist, I know the "best" die is the one closest to your non-greasy hand.

PaladinCA · December 20, 2010, 12:16:42 AM

Some of the people at their GenCon booth were arrogant beyond belief. I bought a set of their dice just to see if they are worthwhile, but after dealing with one of their smug reps a second time, I probably won't buy from them again.

Dirk Remmecke · December 20, 2010, 05:30:41 AM

Quote from: jeff37923;427453I think that all that precision dice crap was nothing more than an effective marketting ploy.

Some studies seem to indicate otherwise (linked in the comments to that blog post).

The funny thing is that a test (conducted by blogger ze bullete) between a handmade paper d8 and a GS d8 showed that the paper one's results were less skewed than that of the precision die...! (But then, he only rolled a hundred times, which is not enough for a real test.)

You can see on which side of the fence I am when I show you my favourite D&D dice:

My problem with GS dice is that they look ugly (IMHO) and don't feel "right". They are uncomfortable to roll.

mhensley · December 20, 2010, 06:40:43 AM

I recently did some tests on my d6's and the GS dice came in last for fairness-

http://www.hackslash.net/?p=1027

Premier · December 20, 2010, 07:58:01 AM

I'm not particularly happy about the inaccuracy of most dice either. Having said that, if a DM wants me to use one particular set of super-precise dice (or whatever), he's welcome to buy a set for me and then have it shipped all the way to Hungary out of his own pocket.