December 17th, 2020: You just can't keep a good thing down...
After running interrupted, unmaintained, for over TEN YEARS... it was time for this site
to move to a new host, which was somewhat of a problem since we couldn't find the
source code to it. Not to mention that it was originally written using ten year old
technologues (such as .NET 2.0 and a SQL Server 2008 database) that aren't exactly supported
these days.
But, thanks to some digging and some rework, this site is back from the dead!
I don't know how many people used this thing... but
someone out there still did,
and that was enough for us!
If you wish to support this site's existence, you can do so through any of the following links...
And thank you for your continued support!
What makes this die rolling system so special?
The traditional generation of random numbers isn't exactly "random"... Most code-based
random number generators use complex mathematical functions in order to generate
what is sometimes referred to as
pseudo-random numbers. They may
appear
to be random, but over time consistant patterns do appear.
In the world of d20, one could argue that the same patterns appear on physical dice.
Some players have their own "lucky" dice that favor high rolls, or dice
that are "cursed" because of low rolls.
This system has been designed to level the playing field and provide rolls that
are as close to random as physically possible.
For each signed on user, the system retrieves die rolls in batches of 1000 from
RANDOM.ORG, automatically and
as needed. It maintains a separate die pool for each type of die commonly used in
RPGs (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20 and even d100), and once the pool runs out will
automatically access the RANDOM.ORG site and retrieve another batch of 1000. Only
in case of a failure in retrieval (for example, if RANDOM.ORG is down or inaccessible
when a die pool runs out) will it resort to the traditional method of generating
random numbers (if you must know, that means using the "System.Random"
class in the .NET 3.5 Framework), and even then it will attempt to replenish the
die pool the first chance it gets.
Each user's pool is separate and only for them, ensuring the degree of randomness
in one's own rolls. If one person rolls more than the other, it won't adversely
affect someone else's pool. Put in layman terms, you use your own dice and nobody
else's.
We know that, at least from a mathematical and logical point of view, the above
doesn't make sense. But some people believe that the evil dice that they or their
DM may be using might want their characters dead. If anything, our system provides
plausible deniability.
This system has limited maintenance... Honestly, we're surprised it's even running as it is.
If you do find any issues with it, please
contact me and we'll see what we can do.
We are currently developing other tools for use by the RPG community. Stay tuned
for further information on that.