So, Dice Towers?

[Agrinja]

Anybody use them? Spotted the concept online, debating it's usefulness, tempted to hack one up out of some foamboard.

[Leress]

At first I though this was going to be about the podcast, but since it's about the object I will say this: I have hands and I don't need another thing to clutter the table.

It looks nice and is functional, but I could save my money and get some second hand gaming book.

[Prak]

some people swear by them for extra randomization, especially for people who habitually roll poorly. I've never really tried one out in a game, but it's definitely extra clutter on, in my experience, an already cluttered table.

[Koumei]

I was hoping you were talking about the act of stacking up towers of dice when waiting for your turn.

I don't have a rolling tower. Like Leress, I also have the technical devices known as hands.

[Clutch9800]

Yeah,

I made one and I like it. It keeps dice from falling off the table and shattering on the floor, knocking over miniatures, rolling cock-eyed, etc.

We even use it for family game night with Monopoly and the such.

Clutch

[Prak]

you know what also keeps the dice on the table? a frisbee

[Clutch9800]

you know what also keeps the dice on the table? a frisbee

Eh, Whatever....

I like to do wood-work, so I built a dice tower.

Clutch

[Koumei]

I like to do wood-work, so I built a dice tower.

That makes sense, really. That's a reason I can get behind.

I will admit I was tempted to make a dice tower for 40k, in the form of a blasted out chapel tower, with the dice falling into a fenced-off courtyard. But I had enough trouble transporting a case of minis and two big bags of tanks as it was.

[RobbyPants]

some people swear by them for extra randomization, especially for people who habitually roll poorly.

Extra randomization? I don't think these people understand how randomization works or what it is.

I could see the advantage for using it to keep dice on the table, but as already noted, there are other easy to acquire items that can do the same thing.

[ubernoob]

Half the reason I play tabletop games is because I get to physically roll lots of dice with my hands. Dice tower is definitely not up my alley.

[violence in the media]

If you enjoy terrain building AND use terrain in your games, then I'd say go for it and make one that can serve both functions. Make it a cave mouth, or a tower, or an inn, etc. Otherwise, I agree that they're generally unnecessary clutter.

[Count Arioch the 28th]

Looks pretty cool. I don't know if I'd ever get one though (the clutter issue is something I will echo), but I could potentially see myself using one.

[Clutch9800]

What would be uber-cool would be one of those "Geek-Chic" game tables with a dice tower in each corner.

That would be the cat's ass.

Clutch

[Psychic Robot]

I enjoy rolling dice with a measuring cup.

[Juton]

I noticed two things with dice towers:
1) People think they are more 'fair' for some reason.
2) It takes about twice as long to roll die with a dice tower then it does to roll by hand, so if you are rolling lots it takes a noticeably longer to resolve.

[Prak]

gamers almost always have their superstitions about dice, the fairness of dice towers is just one more gamer folk myth designed to answer a question and provide a solution "Why do I always roll shit?"

[RobbyPants]

The only reason I can see these things as being more "fair" is because that you can't pull crap like spin the dice or something to try for a particular result.

Assuming you're not trying to cheat with your dice, a tower is no more fair than a roll.

[Count Arioch the 28th]

I'm not trying to justify wanting a die tower for any other reason than "because it's kind of neat", just for the record.

[Koumei]

gamers almost always have their superstitions about dice

Best ones I've heard:
[*]Dice are social creatures. They roll better if you roll them in groups - include a handful of (different type/obviously marked) support dice with your rolls.
[*]Commissar theory: when a die goes rogue, arrange the others in a circle. Place a transparent glass of boiling water in the middle of the circle. Drop the offending die in. The others will learn.

[Prak]

[*]Dice are social creatures. They roll better if you roll them in groups - include a handful of (different type/obviously marked) support dice with your rolls.

...given that I seem to roll better in Storyteller, I can see this...

[Juton]

gamers almost always have their superstitions about dice

Best ones I've heard:
[*]Dice are social creatures. They roll better if you roll them in groups - include a handful of (different type/obviously marked) support dice with your rolls.

This is interesting from a sociological perspective. If you roll 10d6 it's pretty likely you'll roll at least one 6, this may lead a person to believe they got a good roll because they can focus on the die that gave the best results.

[*]Commissar theory: when a die goes rogue, arrange the others in a circle. Place a transparent glass of boiling water in the middle of the circle. Drop the offending die in. The others will learn.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot of variations on this, if you do something like this then you are being proactive and may let the gamer feel in control of the situation, despite the inherent randomness. Actually doing this would make you a contender for dweeb of the year though.

[Crissa]

More than one die thrown together will bounce and roll more. You get less skids and stops with multiple die in a throw.

-Crissa

[8one6]

... It keeps dice from falling off the table and shattering on the floor ...

What kind of dice are you using that shatter if they hit the floor?

[Crissa]

The original dice that came with D&D did have a tendency to shatter their corners.

-Crissa

[Koumei]

Actually doing this would make you a contender for dweeb of the year though.

Nah, the person who taught me that art was pretty cool. Mostly it was a stress relief thing. I also banished one bad die to her freezer. And forgot about it. It remained there for a few years.