"Converting 2d6 to a single die roll?" Topic
18 Posts
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Black Cavalier | 09 Aug 2013 9:08 p.m. PST |
One of the game I'm interested in uses 2d6 for combat, but the 2d6 is rolled for each figure in the squad, which ends up being kind of slow. I've been thinking there might be a way to convert the probability of 2d6 to a single die roll, so all the dice for the squad could be rolled at once. Since I haven't seen a d36, the closest I've gotten so far is to use a d20, & have the numbers at the far ends of the bell curve be over-represented in the probability. Any other ideas? Thanks |
Rich Bliss | 09 Aug 2013 9:24 p.m. PST |
2d6 give a nice weighted bell curve. There is no way to match that statistically with a single die. You could go with a d20 and use a table to match the probabilities but that wouldn't be any faster. Why don't you just get several pairs of d6's in different colors and throw a bunch of pairs at once. That's what we used to do for Star Fleet Battles damage allocations. |
Dan 055 | 09 Aug 2013 9:42 p.m. PST |
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BigNickR | 09 Aug 2013 10:20 p.m. PST |
2d6 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 11 possible results from 36 permutations with a bell curve favoring 6,7,and 8 heavily, but not cripplingly so. 1d20 20 results with no particular weight to either end of the scale (despite what any d20 player might whine) 2d6 versus d20 02 = 1 03 = 2 04 = 3,4 05 = 5,6 06 = 7,8 07 = 9,10,11,12 08 = 13,14 09 = 15,16 10 = 17,18 11 = 19 12 = 20
It's not perfect, but if you're like any gamer I know you've got plenty of d20's laying around
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Fire at Will | 09 Aug 2013 10:52 p.m. PST |
Use a selection of different coloured pairs of 2d6 |
MHoxie | 10 Aug 2013 3:12 a.m. PST |
You could use a success table to derive the "to hit rolls" or whatever, and write the resulting numbers down on the unit cards (or whatever) to avoid the table look-up. 2 = 36/36 = 1+ 3 = 35/36 = 2+ 4 = 33/36 = 3+ 5 = 30/36 = 4+ 6 = 26/36 = 7+ 7 = 21/36 = 9+ 8 = 15/36 = 13+ 9 = 10/36 = 16+ (or 15+ if you want more successes) 10 = 6/36 = 18+ 11 = 3/36 = 19+ 12 = 1/36 = 20+ If you want to preserve the wonky effect modifiers to the roll have, just slide up and down the table instead of add- ing or subtracting. You could print the table on the edge of the unit cards, and mark the default "to hit" roll with a paperclip, moving it up and down with the appropriate DMs. |
Lupulus | 10 Aug 2013 3:27 a.m. PST |
I have skipped several rules sets for the same reason. Roll individually? Pass. For rolling 2D6 on a single die, try one of these: link
link
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Chef Lackey Rich | 10 Aug 2013 4:43 a.m. PST |
What Fire At Will said. For extra speed, sort each pair into a pocket of one of those cheap plastic "parts organizer" things the craft hobbyists use, and roll the dice by simply shaking the whole thing vigorously, putting it down, and reading the dice as they've wound up in the pockets. Star Fleet Battles and Battletech players have been using that trick for decades, and it works fine – although it is disconcertingly noisy. You can make it even better by attaching labels to each pocket (there are 17 in most organizers) so you can track which dice pair is which model. No mucking about with dodgy custom dice, no loss of the bell curve. |
79thPA | 10 Aug 2013 6:09 a.m. PST |
I may need to steal some of this. Thanks. |
Captain Oblivious | 10 Aug 2013 7:20 a.m. PST |
I converted 2d6 for d20 for battletech a few years back. It actually worked pretty well, and gave a much faster game. You wouldn't think it, but rolling 1d20 vs. 2d6 does actually take a much different amount of time. I used a system similar to MHoxie. |
KatieL | 10 Aug 2013 11:40 a.m. PST |
My ex-husband was at one point making D20s that were doing 3D6 rolls combined in one, using blank dice and letraset, following some computation about which values got what repeats. I can't recall what they were to be used for. |
Airborne Engineer | 11 Aug 2013 10:35 a.m. PST |
I certainly wouldn't try a conversion chart to speed up a game. I would take blank D20s and write or print stickers with the numbers you want on them to get the bell curve. Or you can try the dice inside of dice thing. Plenty of options with a quick google. link |
timlillig | 11 Aug 2013 7:10 p.m. PST |
I have seen people use a clear box with several chambers, where each chamber has a pair of d6 inside. |
Last Hussar | 11 Aug 2013 7:15 p.m. PST |
If everybody trusts the programmer then a simple programme would do it- select number of pairs to be rolled, and it tells you how many of each score. I do like Airborne Engineer's idea of putting the numbers on a d20 though-probably the engineer genes form my dad: my wife rolls her eyes when I say 'I modified it'. Bear in mind it will skew the rolls- the 2 and 12 will have a 5% probability, not 2.77%. some adjacent values will have identical chances. '7' is 1 in 6 on 2d6 – 16.66%. You'll have 4 of them on a d20 (20%). You CAN'T have 3 (15%) because this will leave 17 sides, and you need to split them equally between 2-6 and 8-12, unless you have a 'roll again' side. A d20 would be numbered 2,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7, 7,7 (or roll again),8,8,9,9,10,10,11,12 or drop a 4 and 10 for a 6 and 8 on 2d6 rolling 2-4, 7 or 10-12 all have the same probability |
Last Hussar | 11 Aug 2013 7:16 p.m. PST |
I can't help it. I like maths. |
Black Cavalier | 12 Aug 2013 10:25 a.m. PST |
Thanks all for the good suggestions. I was thinking of using the d20 & maybe even do a second d20 roll for those numbers like 2 or 12 that have smaller than 5% chance. & yes, that's still rolling 2 dice, but I think rolling all the d20s once & then picking out a few to roll again would be faster than rolling 2d6 for each figure one at time. But the matching colored dice or dice in a box are good ideas too. I also found that Chessex has a d34 which might be close enough, although they're $3 USD each, so would get expensive. Last Hussar, no worries, I love math too. I was trying to figure out the percentages for the different rolls in my head on the way home from work. |
(Phil Dutre) | 15 Aug 2013 3:23 a.m. PST |
There also exist transparant D6s with a little D6 inside, so you get a 'real' 2D6 roll with only a single throw. link |
Mserafin | 15 Aug 2013 9:25 a.m. PST |
What are the outcomes possible from 2d6 in the game you're using? Are there really 11 possible outcomes for each roll, one for each possible number you can roll on 2d6? Can't really answer the question properly if you don't know what you're trying to re-create. |
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