Dice and Chances

[Anthony Roberts]

I bet this has been suggested before, but, eh. I want to add onto the idea.

It would be interesting if Resources Department had a simple code they could enter to an object, when you use it, that it selects a number between # and #. This would allow us to make dice, or other chance type items that could be used in the game.

For example, a player uses a Die (A single cube in a pair of dice. Die = 1, Dice = 2). Outloud, all will see:

You see a man in his twenties roll a die getting #.

The "roll a" would need to be defined by the code as well for Resources, so that it can have stated other things. Such as:

You see a man in his twenties flip a coin getting #.
Or
You see a man in his twenties choose a card from a deck cards getting #.
Or
You see a man in his twenties spin a horizontal disk getting #.

We could make a multitude of chance items with this simple random number system, like: a Die (1 to 6), a pair of Dice (2 to 12), an 8 sided Die (1 to 8), a 10 sided Die (1 to 10), a 12 sided Die (1 to 12), a 24 sided Die (1 to 24), a 100 sided Die (1 to 100), pair of 8 sided Dice (2 to 16), a pair of 10 sided Dice (2 to 20), a pair of 12 sided Dice (2 to 24), a pair of 24 sided Dice (2 to 48), a pair of 100 sided Dice (2 to 200), a coin (1 or 2), a deck of cards (1 to 10; 11, 12 and 13 could be used to simulate J, K, and Q - But this would be a Cantr Deck of cards, there may not be a J, Q, or K.), a horizontal disk (Think Roulette - 0 to 70), a vertical wheel (Think 'The Wheel of Fortune', no, not the Game Show - 0 to 60), etc.

I would think there'd be enough items there to merit Chance items its own catagory in the manufacturing screen. Now, why do I want this so badly? Think of the possibilities that could open up from this! Casinos for one (That's actually the main reason), games that people would make up and play, etc.

I think it would be pretty simple to program too. Just, when 'use>use>random:roll a>1,6' is found in the object uses input, that would mean "You see a man in his twenties roll a [object] getting [random number between 1 and 6]". Or, 'use>use>random:spin a>0,70' would be "You see a man in his twenties spin a [object] getting [random number between 0 and 70]"

Programming Department, would this at all be a feasable addition to the code of the game?

Everyone else, what do you think of such an addition to the game? Would you enjoy it? Do you see any drawbacks that might make it not worth adding? Are there ways that you think the system could be enhanced, but still be minimum work load for Programming (So that it's added faster!)?

[The Industriallist]

Drawback: takes programmers time. Maybe not much, but there are much better things they could do. If you need a game of chance, you could use 'odds and evens' or something of the kind.

[Anthony Roberts]

Every new feature takes time, so it's not a drawback, but a consequence.

It's not that it's a "game" of chance, it's just "tools" for chance. The people/characters will develop their OWN games of chance using the tools of chance.

That's something else I forgot to mention. Cantr has NO games, at all, practically. I guess there'd be word games, but no games in the game! I haven't seen a single game made or played, except War Tag and Truth or Dare, that's it. With these 'tools of chance', I think that would open up a lot of possibilities for "entertainment" to be in the game. That's a good thing to have in a society simulator.

And, what do you mean, Odds and Evens? Can that be done with the present mechanics? Because I don't understand how, you'd need to explain it to me.

[The Industriallist]

Easy. but you do need a referee of sorts. It's similar to rock-paper-scissors (can't spell...)

One player is even, other is odd. Have eack person whisper '1' or '2' to the referee. Add the two numbers, and if the sum is odd, od player wins. If even, even player wins. I guess you could have more players, using a mod-n system.

[Anthony Roberts]

Ahh, I get it. But still, the Referee could cheat and list out a different number, or something. That would be a difficulty. Plus, that only allows for two players to "win", whatever it is. There could be no "chance" with only two possible outcomes. Well, okay, there would be a 50% chance, but I mean... when you play Roulette, there's ALL those things to choose from. That's more chance and luck than 50% is.

[Mavsfan911]

I like the Las Vegas type idea.
Come home from gambling, and lost 10k grams of carrots... Ooh, the wife would be mad.

[Anthony Roberts]

Only two opinions? Comon people, tell me what you'd think if this were to be added!

[The Industriallist]

I still don't really want to see it, but if it will happen:

Remember that rolling multiple dice doesn't create evenly distributed numbers.

[Anthony Roberts]

You're against EVERYTHING, holy shit. What are you, Mr. Negativity? Lol. Oh, comon, there's gotta be something you want seen in the game. Regardless, what's the harm in dice stuff? I don't see it causing everyone to die or something. I think it would be good because it adds RP value. Not all items need to have a guaranteed "purpose". No matter

Now, what do you mean that rolling multipile dice doesn't create "evenly distributed numbers". I know I'm stupid, and I admit it - so just explain it and we'll make fun of me later.

[The Industriallist]

I want item deterioration. Untill that comes out, anything that takes coding goes on my "please put off" list.

When you roll one die, you have an equal chance of getting any of the numbers on the die. But if you roll two (lets say six-sided for simplicity),some rolls can come up only one way, while others can come up in several. 2 and 12 can come up in only one way. 3 and 11 can come up in 2 ways (for 3, coming up 1,2 or 2,1)

4 (or 10) can come up in...3 ways.
5 or 9 in 4 ways.
6 or 8 in 5 ways.
7 in 6 ways.

I can't think of the general formula right off. Maybe someone else can do it? I'm sure it's something relatively simple.

[kroner]

you could do it like this:
probability of rolling the number k = (6-|k-7|)/36, where k is an integer between 2 and 12.
it's not a very nice formula.

[Anthony Roberts]

Ahh, yes, probability.

I agree that there should be some formula behind it, however, the simplier it is, the easier it will be to program and apply to objects. So, it would be just as equal to get any number using any object, sure, that's not accurate, but it could have its advantages (And disadvantages)

[The Industriallist]

No problem with it if yiou don't insist on making 'pair of dice' items. If you want to roll two dice, roll two dice. If a pair of dice behaves differently from two individual dice, much puzzlement will ensue.

[Jur Schagen]

I like the idea, though we should keep the "pair of hundred-sided dice" out... You can create almost all kinds of chances you want with a single "dice" item, and I mean the six-sided regular one; a pair of dice could be emulated with two dice rolls, a 20% chance by rerolling any sixes, etcetera.

As for the deck of cards, that would be much more complicated since it would require registering what cards had already been drawn from the deck...

And about current games: there was someone organizing a lottery in Blojt the other day, but it folded... I think the lots were too expensive or the prizes too low. And in some mountain loc, forgot which one, people were betting on the first letter of the first sentence that any stranger entering woiuld speak. The "H" came out winner, I wonder why that was...

[Anthony Roberts]

Ahh, Industriallist, you just love coming through. No need for "pairs" of dice then, since it's not like the single dice will dissapear when it's used, so they can easily roll a single dice as many times as they require.

As for the deck of cards, when I wrote that, I wasn't thinking of people actually playing with the cards. Just for a Tarot reader or something, they pull out a card, explain it's meaning on the fortune, and toss it back in the deck. But I guess people would try to play with them, and that would cause problems, so the deck is out.

As for the higher numerical dice, I choose to add them, because combinations of some dice don't add up.

An example would be the 10 sided dice. Using a 6 Sided or 8 Sided dice, you can't always get a number between 1 and 10 as you could on a 10 sided dice. The 10 sided dice would come in use, especially when determining percents (But more so the 100 sided dice).

The reason I want dice so BAD, is because I have a character that has a "business" mind. He has a sneaky plan, but I won't indulge you all on it, because I plan on this character being the first to create such a thing, and become popular