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Seattle, Washington, United States
I'm an old time roleplayer who became a soldier who became a veteran who became a developer who became a dba who became a manager who never gave up his dream of a better world. Even if I have to create it myself.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Awesome Tool: AnyDice

Phoenix RPG uses exploding dice extensively.  You can read about my earlier analysis on exploding dice, but if you want to know how likely it is that a 14 comes up on a roll of 2d+10's, then this is the tool for you.

Mathgasm.

You can find this awesome tool at http://anydice.com/.

In the command box at the top you can enter either a single command, or multiple ones to compare the results directly. Each output command goes on a separate line.

Sample commands:

output 2d10Shows the probabilities for non-exploding 2d10
output 2d [explode d10]Shows the probabilities for exploding 2d10
output [highest 2 of 3d [explode d10]]Keeps the highest 2 on exploding 3d10
Check out the odds of 19!

It's a pretty slick tool and great for quickly determining odds of complex dice probabilities - an important consideration in any game design activity.  The functionality goes quite a bit further than what I've illustrated here, including a couple of different ways of graphing the rolls, the odds of getting at least or not more than a certain number, and more functions.

I've previously donated to this site - if you make good use of it, consider doing the same.  I support quality work!

3 comments:

  1. I see 29 also shows similar behaviour to 19.

    Maybe it's the Dark Tower Katet causing this.. . .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All I remember in Dark Tower is a guy wandering around a desert. And some dude with a crow eating a mule.

      I assume it got better?

      Delete
    2. Depends on your point of view. Ended up being an 8 novel series and is written by an author you say you don't like.

      I liked the post apocalyptic setting, insane computers mixed with mutants, vampires that feed on emotions and cowboys.

      A lot like gamma world, even has robot chickens.

      Delete

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