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Hi,
Recently I have found in Google Play a free app named DicePool (although there is a full version for 0.70€). With this app you can throw dice quickly for your wargames or RPG, even allow you to configure your own special dice for games like Xwing or Bloodbowl, etc.
It is fitting me very well for my Xwing parties with my friends, but I don`t now how often this aplication type are allowed in oficial tournaments, because the posibility of cheating.
What do you think about it? They would been allowed for quickeing the game? precisely in tournaments throwing, counting, picking dice become eternal sometimes, and you can cheat the rival equally whith cheated dice.
(this is the URL for anyone who wants to take a look on it)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=daemon.dicepoolfree

It doesn't say anything about how it generates its results.

I can't see many - if any - TO's allowing this into their events. besides, rolling dice and picking them from under the tables is part of the fun.

No, no, a thousand times no. I don't allow dice-roller programs for my tournies, won't play against them in friendly games, and I'd have a major, major issue playing against it competitively.

I have a feeling that the OP is the creator of the App.

I agree with "against dice rolling apps" all it would take is people to change the coding just a little bit to "randomize" higher results. I like the dice rolling part of the game makes it fun the more dice you roll, launching 100+ dice for orcs shooting was a blast. Dont take that away from me!

Real dice, or leave.

 conker249 wrote:
I agree with "against dice rolling apps" all it would take is people to change the coding just a little bit to "randomize" higher results. I like the dice rolling part of the game makes it fun the more dice you roll, launching 100+ dice for orcs shooting was a blast. Dont take that away from me!

Jejeje, I agree with that. Sometimes you feel "the power" when you take a hand of 30 or more dice and roll them on the table, screaming "yeaaahhhhh". In the other hand, other times the game became tedious spending much time throwing, picking, throwing, picking.... I don´t know, maybe both options are good depending on the occasion.
By the way, it´s very easy to check if the random algorithm is working fine in this type of aplications... throw a great amount of dice (100 or more) and check how many results of 1 or 6 have you got (120/6=20). If the the result is near the expected... everything is ok, jejeje.

The biggest problem I have with computer-generated dice rolls is they're pseudo-random rather than truly random.

The post above illustrated this well - you'll always get about where you expected with a computer throwing 100 dice.

Yesterday, I had a friend with six Noise Marines (no Blastmaster) who fired 18 shots at my troops. 12 hit, fair enough. 0 wounds, on 3's (firing at Guardsmen).

A computer finds the chances of that result to be so unlikely as to be practically negligible, and the pseudo-random system will NEVER have it come up. Real dice, as shown above, will.

All aboard the NOPE train to NOPEsville.

If you want to play a digital wargame, go play a video game.

 Unit1126PLL wrote:
The biggest problem I have with computer-generated dice rolls is they're pseudo-random rather than truly random.

The post above illustrated this well - you'll always get about where you expected with a computer throwing 100 dice.

Yesterday, I had a friend with six Noise Marines (no Blastmaster) who fired 18 shots at my troops. 12 hit, fair enough. 0 wounds, on 3's (firing at Guardsmen).

A computer finds the chances of that result to be so unlikely as to be practically negligible, and the pseudo-random system will NEVER have it come up. Real dice, as shown above, will.

This is probably the biggest reason why it's not a good idea. Everyone's had that situation where the dice went crazy and one grot killed a whole squad of hammernators (or similar). It happens when you roll dice for real, but won't using a computer program.

 grrrfranky wrote:

 Unit1126PLL wrote:
The biggest problem I have with computer-generated dice rolls is they're pseudo-random rather than truly random.

The post above illustrated this well - you'll always get about where you expected with a computer throwing 100 dice.

Yesterday, I had a friend with six Noise Marines (no Blastmaster) who fired 18 shots at my troops. 12 hit, fair enough. 0 wounds, on 3's (firing at Guardsmen).

A computer finds the chances of that result to be so unlikely as to be practically negligible, and the pseudo-random system will NEVER have it come up. Real dice, as shown above, will.

This is probably the biggest reason why it's not a good idea. Everyone's had that situation where the dice went crazy and one grot killed a whole squad of hammernators (or similar). It happens when you roll dice for real, but won't using a computer program.

Sigh. No, that is not how it works. Dice rolling software does not just give you some results that "seem random enough", nor does it check to make sure that the results aren't too unusual. A dice program rolls X dice by generating X random* numbers one at a time and then gives them to you. If events like failing to roll a single 3+ with 12 dice don't happen it's because those events are incredibly rare regardless of whether you're talking about physical dice or a software random number generator. There is absolutely no difference between the two, and the only argument for not allowing dice software in tournaments is that it's difficult to verify that a player isn't cheating with modified software that is deliberately non-random.


*Technically not strictly random by the formal mathematical definition, but the difference is only relevant in a very small number of situations that don't apply here. For gaming purposes a software random number generator is going to more accurately model the randomness of a D6 than an actual physical die will, since the software does not suffer from manufacturing defects that can skew the results of a physical die.

Thanks Peregrine. I make me cranky when people spout that dice programs are not perfectly random like dice. A craps setup in the casino will be about the best for random. The difficultly verifying good software from bad software is the only issue I have with dice rolling software.

 Unit1126PLL wrote:
The biggest problem I have with computer-generated dice rolls is they're pseudo-random rather than truly random.

The post above illustrated this well - you'll always get about where you expected with a computer throwing 100 dice.

Yesterday, I had a friend with six Noise Marines (no Blastmaster) who fired 18 shots at my troops. 12 hit, fair enough. 0 wounds, on 3's (firing at Guardsmen).

A computer finds the chances of that result to be so unlikely as to be practically negligible, and the pseudo-random system will NEVER have it come up. Real dice, as shown above, will.

That is not true at all. Computer programs doesn't generate random results finding chances of every result. They use random events as the ticks of the internal clock and things like that. Maybe that is not as random as throwing something fisically (even the sun attraction take place in the result), but this is as random as you need. If you throw fisically 100 dice, you will have a result in the range you expect. If you throw 100 dice again and again, eventually you will have a weird result. The same applies to 100 computer generated dice.

Anyway, this programs seems to me good tools if they are used in a proper way. For me, this one save my time quickenning my parties of warhammer 40k instead of wasting time picking up dice from the table. I miss a statter dice, that's true.

Obviusly in tournaments is more complicated as if there was a official tool for every mobile platform (android, iphone, etc), were more easy that everyone use the same tool. Of course if GW were the develper, it should cost 200€ and every edition we should have to change it, jejeje.