We've recently started playing a game that uses a dice pool and we don't have enough dice between us to settle individual rolls without borrowing from one another. To save time (and to prevent dice from being lost), some of us have been using our phones while the other half have been using physical dice. The guys who use physical dice sperg out on us for using our phones because "the randomization isn't as pure" or some shit.
Is there really that much of a difference between using physical dice over a dice roller app or does it all pretty much come down to preference?
Honestly, in terms of actual numbers the apps are likely significantly more fair and closer to truly random than the physical dice.
Saying that, either is fine and making an issue of it is just pointless pedantry.
Jace Green
Physical dice aren't pure either, they'll have subtle biases from the uneven wear they get during tumbling.
The important part is that rolling dice feels good and dice rolling apps will never replicate that.
Kevin Thomas
Quads of truth right there
Lucas Jenkins
Don't get me wrong, I like rolling dice as much as the next guy, it's just that we don't have enough dice to roll with without sharing our dice with one another or rerolling the same die multiple times.
Ryan Bailey
ALL HAIL LORD FOURQUAD
Isaac Foster
Have you thought about getting a Chessex Pound o'dice? It's thirty bucks but that's not much if you split it between a group, and you get about a hundred dice. It's entirely random but you'll get enough of each type for basically any game you want to play other than bonkers stuff like Shadowrun. And for that, they also do bags of only d6's.
William Turner
Honestly, I'd actually recommend the WizDice bag of dice, because it comes in sets of dice, rather than a random mix like Chessex which tends to have way too many d6s.
But yeah, $20 for more dice than you'll ever need for your entire group with either option.
Juan Sanders
I sperg out in the other direction, physical dice are actually more likely to be not random due to imperfections in balance. Even checked the d20s in my collection using salt water and confirmed imbalances.
Nobody else at my table gives a shit, though, so I just deal with it. Sounds like someone at your table needs to buy more dice or quit complaining.
Austin Ward
I can't really justify paying $20-30 for a pound of dice and half the group is already using a phone app that does the job for free.
Even splitting the bill is our of the question since we're all mostly poorfags.
Thomas Sanders
They both have their own completely insignificant issues. They're being spergs.
That said dice just feel so good to roll.
Daniel Gonzalez
>The guys who use physical dice sperg out on us for using our phones because "the randomization isn't as pure" or some shit.
Neither has 'pure randomization', and both are more than random enough for game purposes. Your friends are blithering fuckwits who are trying to rationalize a subjective preference for rolling real dice. I don't have a problem with liking real dice, but trying to conjure an opinion into being a fact via bullshitomancy is pathetic.
Wyatt Lopez
Motherfuckers like you shouldn't be in the hobby if you can't afford dice. You're probably also a cheater who "forgets" about those penalties and "just so happens" to roll crits every other roll.
I've kicked people like you out and I can safely say that my games have only gotten better because of it.
Also dice magic is only possible to do with real dice.
Noah Cooper
Feeling the dice in your hand and having your own little set is way more fun than flicking a touch screen.
I'll use a dice app, but I'll opt for dice when they're available.
Ian Phillips
>randomization isn't pure >Implying "random" doesn't just mean 'out of your control'.
Parker Wright
This. I have dice that are number stacked (one face is 11-20, the other 1-10; not the usual 'fully scrambled' die) and you get to know how to throw them....
Lucas Torres
System issues? If your game requires you actually OWN 50+ d6.......
Tyler Johnson
...
Julian Barnes
Preference. That being said when I GM and see someone holding a phone, be it with a dice app or not, I get the feeling that he's not paying full atention
That aspect lowers the enjoyment for me somehow, even if it shouldn't really, so I'll choose physical ones anytime
Carter Rivera
What if it's the GM holding the phone?
Angel Anderson
I guess that at least in my group the urge to look at the screen and roll the dice around mindlessly is too hard to resist. Idk, it just seems like a distraction