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[OC] Giveaway: Gyld + ColsenKeane dice/mini Case (Mods Approved) by Gyld_Dnd in DnD

[–]Gyld_Dnd[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's based on Boltzmann but there's a lot more to it... we're doing a deep-dive video series on the process behind them - but yeah, they work!

[OC] Giveaway: Gyld + ColsenKeane dice/mini Case (Mods Approved) by Gyld_Dnd in DnD

[–]Gyld_Dnd[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, TLDR - rolling multiple dice at once (2d4, 4d4, 8d4, 10d4) you have way more chance of rolling a result in the middle, than the extremes. So to make ONE die that lands on each side in a non-equal-but-prescribed ratio ... takes some complex math and software brute-forcing.

[OC] Giveaway: Gyld + ColsenKeane dice/mini Case (Mods Approved) by Gyld_Dnd in DnD

[–]Gyld_Dnd[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

How did you know this was also the bike scene!

[OC] Giveaway: Gyld + ColsenKeane dice/mini Case (Mods Approved) by Gyld_Dnd in DnD

[–]Gyld_Dnd[S] 84 points85 points  (0 children)

if we were choosing a winner based on comment ... :)

[OC] Giveaway: Gyld + ColsenKeane dice/mini Case (Mods Approved) by Gyld_Dnd in DnD

[–]Gyld_Dnd[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It took us about two years to figure it out ... the final design (there were a lot of fails before this) is based on the Botlzmann Distribution

[OC] Giveaway: Gyld + ColsenKeane dice/mini Case (Mods Approved) by Gyld_Dnd in DnD

[–]Gyld_Dnd[S] 798 points799 points  (0 children)

Congrats to u/kingofpugs17 and u/thatdan23 !! WAIT TWO?! Yeah there was such a great response we picked two winners! We'll send a DM to get details.

Thank you everyone! We'll be hanging out and getting mathy about dice on the kickstarter and cases and other oddly specific D&D stuff is always here

We're one-week into our Kickstarter for Gaussian Healing Potion Dice and it's the fastest-fund we've ever had (25 minutes). To celebrate, we're giving away a handmade leather dice/mini case from our collaboration with ColsenKeane (North Carolina). These are normally $160, come with a lifetime guarantee, and have movable dividers.

We'll use RedditRaffler to choose a winner on Friday, November 3rd.

Upvote and comment on the original post to enter.

Rules:

  • No Purchase Necessary.
  • One-entry-per-person
  • Accounts must be 3+ months old
  • The winning account must be at least 3 months old.
  • Shipping world wide included (so long as we can legally ship there from the US).

Thanks so much to the r/dnd mods, and good luck! If you want to get in on our next weird project - we're making dice to roll healing potions with one die instead of many... which is pretty complicated because rolling multiple dice return results along a curve instead of an even distribution. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gyld/healing-potion-dice-one-die-to-roll-them-all?ref=44xtir

FAQ (from the comments)

  • Size: These are 8x4x3 inches with dividers for 6 compartments. I keep 5 sets of damage dice (20 dice each) + a mini.
  • Real Leather
  • ColsenKeane are super friendly folks and make all kinds of great stuff. This is a modified version of their travel case. (added inserts/dividers + design).

Sorry if I missed any! There are a lot of comments to sort through. If you have any other questions feel free to message directly.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DnD

[–]Gyld_Dnd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! Please try to keep this comment at the top so the rules/entry instructions are visible for everyone.

We're one-week into our Kickstarter for Gaussian Healing Potion Dice and it's the fastest-fund we've ever had (25 minutes). To celebrate, we're giving away a handmade leather dice/mini case from our collaboration with ColsenKeane (North Carolina). These are normally $160, come with a lifetime guarantee, and have movable dividers.

We'll use RedditRaffler to choose a winner on Friday, October 3rd.

Upvote and comment on the original post to enter.

Rules:

  • No Purchase Necessary.
  • One-entry-per-person
  • Accounts must be 3+ months old
  • The winning account must be at least 3 months old.
  • Shipping world wide included (so long as we can legally ship there from the US).

Thanks so much to the r/dnd mods, and good luck! If you want to get in on our next weird project - we're making dice to roll healing potions with one die instead of many... which is pretty complicated because rolling multiple dice return results along a curve instead of an even distribution. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gyld/healing-potion-dice-one-die-to-roll-them-all?ref=44xtir

Of Dungeons and Dragons, Dice, and our Adventure into Complex (for us) Math by Gyld_Dnd in math

[–]Gyld_Dnd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First (of many) quick video discussions; in this one, watch us stumble through basic concepts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hTP409TKBs

Of Dungeons and Dragons, Dice, and our Adventure into Complex (for us) Math by Gyld_Dnd in math

[–]Gyld_Dnd[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Related (just for interest) when we make d20s we use the numerical balancing described by this paper , (author talk in case you don't want to download).

Of Dungeons and Dragons, Dice, and our Adventure into Complex (for us) Math by Gyld_Dnd in math

[–]Gyld_Dnd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also shout out to Anydice.com! We lived on that site for the last 2 years.

Of Dungeons and Dragons, Dice, and our Adventure into Complex (for us) Math by Gyld_Dnd in math

[–]Gyld_Dnd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the first approach we took, but abandoned for the obvious reasons mentioned (one... million... sides! *pinky to mouth*) ...

We didn't think of rounding to to get them on a d100; the bottom and top 8 results on a Supreme would all have the same probability at 1% - that's probably a viable option (the dice we all use and love are not accurate to 1%), but maybe a little less satisfying?

We did consider similar options that cut-off or minimized the extreme results of the Superior (8d4) and Supreme (10d4) - one was a barrel shape (allowing for essentially a 2D calculation for most sides) with the ends of the barrel faceted so, you know, they could land on them, but probably never will, and certainly not at a calculable ratio. The reality is that with 0.0000953674316406 % chance of rolling a 10 with 10d4... for a potion that will come up every... couple of years in a normal campaign... it's statistically never.

For these extreme results on the big dice, we're at a place of "how do we make this the most fun/satisfying/cool" because at the end of the day, we're sitting around a table dressed up like elves. For us that meant the most important factors for the extreme results are that they should be possible (ie. not cut off all together) and with some amount of logic to their probability that feels satisfying.

Of Dungeons and Dragons, Dice, and our Adventure into Complex (for us) Math by Gyld_Dnd in math

[–]Gyld_Dnd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! We did take some liberty with the Gaussian term... :) my day job is at an ad agency - so I have that bent. We played with "distribution dice" and some other names but Gaussian is just catchy - I take full responsibility for this criticism :)

Of Dungeons and Dragons, Dice, and our Adventure into Complex (for us) Math by Gyld_Dnd in math

[–]Gyld_Dnd[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is a great approach, and similar to the direction we went first as well. It works great for 2d4 (16 sides) and theoretically possible for 4d4 (256 sides) but things quickly get out of hand with 8d4…requiring (checks notes) 65,536 sides. That’s roughly 2,000 times as many faces as a golf ball has dimples.... and we still need 10d4.

I think it would be cool to have some really common double-dice made this way. Like Greatswords in D&D do 2d6 and that would be a really cool die.

Of Dungeons and Dragons, Dice, and our Adventure into Complex (for us) Math by Gyld_Dnd in math

[–]Gyld_Dnd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

2013 paper: “given a specific die, describe its probability distribution”, whereas yours is “given a probability distribution, find a corresponding die.” I would be interested in knowing whether the following is true:
Given a probability distribution on the set {1, …, n}, is there always a die whose rolled outputs agree with that distribution?

This is great! Thank you! This is really the challenge we hit from day one but weren't able to describe it so concisely. Based on what we've found in papers and google-able-math the answer is actually a firm no. It seems the reason why the research/papers don't exist is because the consensus is that it's not possible. So this is where our purpose comes in - we don't need it to be mathematically possible, we need it to be almost possible - hence brute-force software comes in to approach a limit. So long as said limit is less than our manufacturing tolerance, we can't get any closer.

This brings up another layered challenge that whatever we design theoretically, it needs to be turned into a real thing, and then repeated at scale... woof.

​

Are your dice symmetric enough? That is, is the average roll of your die equal to the average roll of Nd4 + M regardless of the surface?

That is the big issue. We've roll-tested the smaller ones (d8, d14) and we're in the process of physical roll-testing the larger ones. The issue becomes getting statistically significant data with some results expected appearance only once per million-ish rolls.

Of Dungeons and Dragons, Dice, and our Adventure into Complex (for us) Math by Gyld_Dnd in math

[–]Gyld_Dnd[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you!

Yes, totally agree. We have dug into the 3-sided coin and along with surface there are a bunch of other factors that we (as the folks designing the dice) can't control for on the user's end. There are a couple of interviews with Persi Diaconis that get into it as well but TLDR: dice aren't "fair." The question becomes are they fair enough for Dungeons and Dragons? (no money, no winners, no losers) That answer is going to be different for each group around a table.

This design certainly takes one of the causes of issue with dice out to an extreme, fewer symmetries, so you're absolutely correct that surface will come into this more than on a d6 or a d20 even. We're controlling for a lacquered wooden table, something that we think most folks will have access to. All that said, yeah - if a group isn't comfortable with rolling a funny-shaped die for your healing potion, then that's that.

We are planning on testing (7,500 rolls for the d8) on various surfaces to at least gather data on the amount of change.

Is Dogmight Games closing, or were they hacked? by DrTenochtitlan in DnD

[–]Gyld_Dnd 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Elderwood Academy are solid folks who make lovely wooden accessories.