Optional dice rolling system for those without Fudge Dice

[arentol]

Roll 4d6, add up the total, compare to either of these tables for result. The odds are only off by a teeny bit (fudge is 144/1296 for each result, for this system all results fall between 141 to 146/1296 per). I realize this won't be for everyone, but some people may find it a bit easier than the 1,2- 3,4 5,6+ method.

Number rolled / Result
4   -1
5   -3
6   -4
7   -2
8   -3
9   -4
10   -4
11   -3
12   -2
13   -1
14   0
15   1
16   2
17   3
18   4
19   4
20   3
21   2
22   4
23   3
24   1

Result / Number rolled
-4   6   9   10
-3   5   8   11
-2   7   12   
-1   4   13   
0   14      
1   15   24   
2   16   21   
3   17   20   23
4   18   19   22

[Bosh]

Probably simplier to just do d6 - d6 in that case, it'll give you a bit different distribution but it's fast.

[R00kie]

Roll 4d6, add up the total, compare to either of these tables for result.

Rolling dice needs to be exciting. There's something magic about that moment when the dice hit the table, and you immediately know if things have gone in your favour or not. Using this method you've got to actually calculate your result. If I roll d6s (six sided dice) and see a table full of sixes I want to instantly know either that it was a great result or (depending on the system) a terrible result.

I think, for those without Fudge dice I would recommend any of the following methods:

1) Buy some. You've just spent $90 on a roleplaying game. By comparison buying a set of dice for $6 is cheap. You could even spend $20, buy one of the Fudge GMs packs and have dice for the whole table.
2) Buy d6s with pips and use a permanent marker to turn them into Fudge dice (http://www.fudgefactor.org/2001/12/01/babys_first_fudge_dice.html)
3) Make your own fudge dice out of cardstock or light cardboard (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/sprkdice.htm)

But if you really are averse to fudge dice
4) Use d6s - treat 5 or 6 as +, 3 or 4 as blank and 1 or 2 as -

There are also a variety of d6 based methods which produce a different curve, but it doesn't really matter so long as everyone on the table uses the same method.
5) Use two different coloured d6s. Define one as positive and one as negative. Roll d6-d6 and treat results of +5 or -5 as 0
6) Use two different coloured d6s. Define one as positive and one as negative. Roll them both. Treat a matched pair or set of a 5 and a 6 as 0. For any other roll take the value of the lowest number showing. If its on the negative dice its a negative result.
7) Add 7 to all difficulties in the game and roll 2d6. Treat Double 1 or Double 6 as a roll of 7

The advantage to all these methods - as soon as my dice hit the table I know if its a good result or not.

[R00kie]

Probably simplier to just do d6 - d6 in that case, it'll give you a bit different distribution but it's fast.

Treating results of +5 or -5 as 0 gets it closer to the Fudge dice probability curve, but having +5 and -5 results doesn't break anything.

The important thing is that everyone uses the same method.

[Valarian]

A set of blank dice and a permanent marker works

[neko128]

You could even spend $20, buy one of the Fudge GMs packs and have dice for the whole table.

Only cost me $15 to order them through my FLGS.

[arentol]

Just forget what I posted anyway. Just realized I was totally miscalculating Fudge Dice odds to start with so what I posted is completely wrong.

[luminos]

Just forget what I posted anyway. Just realized I was totally miscalculating Fudge Dice odds to start with so what I posted is completely wrong.

Yeah, it kind of looks like your substitution would give a flat distribution

[arentol]

Yeah, I need to go back to Stats class!

[neko128]

Yeah, I need to go back to Stats class!

Don't do it!  You'll never be the same!  DON'T DO IT, MAN!

[Mattastic]

DFRPG needs Fudge dice?
What are those?

 /not reading the books in any order

[Deadmanwalking]

DFRPG needs Fudge dice?
What are those?

 /not reading the books in any order

They're normal dice in shape, but insead of having numbers two sides are blank, two have - symbols on them, and two have + symbols. When rolling, a blank adds nothing, a + adds 1 and a - subtracts 1. Thus, if you roll 4 of them, you get a number between -4 and +4 to add to your base skill.

[theDwarf]

Roll 4d6, add up the total, compare to either of these tables for result. The odds are only off by a teeny bit (fudge is 144/1296 for each result, for this system all results fall between 141 to 146/1296 per). I realize this won't be for everyone, but some people may find it a bit easier than the 1,2- 3,4 5,6+ method.

Number rolled / Result
4   -1
5   -3
6   -4
7   -2
8   -3
9   -4
10   -4
11   -3
12   -2
13   -1
14   0
15   1
16   2
17   3
18   4
19   4
20   3
21   2
22   4
23   3
24   1

Result / Number rolled
-4   6   9   10
-3   5   8   11
-2   7   12   
-1   4   13   
0   14      
1   15   24   
2   16   21   
3   17   20   23
4   18   19   22

Actually the results are weighted incorrectly.
Using Fudge dice (d3's .. removing the duplicate results) there are 81 permutations and only 1 way to get a -4 and one way to get a +4. The number of permutations for -4 to +4 respectively are in fact 1,4,10,16,19,16,10,4,1.

So 1296/81 = 16.  Therefore for your distribution to work there would have to be approximately 16 permutations for a a number resulting in -4 to come up.  Analyzing a "6" result, the most rare of the numbers you have indicated, I come up with 10 permutations that result in a 6 on 4d6 (1113,1131,1311,3111,1122,1212,1221,2112,2121,2211). Therefore the sum of permutations in your chart that yield a -4 is significantly greater than 16 as you have 3 numbers resulting in a -4 result and each has 10 or more permutations (10 + much more than 10 + much more than 10 > 30 ... heck, probably well over 50 if not 100+).

-4 to +4 results are probably able to be mapped onto 4d6 summed results, but you will have to do more statistical analysis to properly map the permutations.

Hope that helps!

[theDwarf]

Better mapping of 4d6 summed ...

Maps 4d6  A    B 4   -4   -3 5   -4   -3 6   -4   -3 7   -3   -4 8   -3   -3 9   -2   -2 10   -2   0 11   -1   -2 12   -1   -1 13   0   -1 14   0   0 15   0   +1 16   +1   +1 17   +1   +2 18   +2   0 19   +2   +2 20   +3   +3 21   +3   +4 22   +4   +3 23   +4   +3 24   +4   +3

Notes:
  Map A is more intuitive and thus faster to determine results but although nearly exact at the extremes (15 in 1296 rather than 16) it follows more of a chevron distribution rather than a bell curve  and thus the chance of getting a "0" is greatly increased (426 in 1296 rather than 304) at the expense of +1/-1 and +2/-2 (229 rather than 256 and 136 rather than 160 respectively).

  Map B suffers the worst inaccuracy at +3/-3 then +1/-1, but even then the highest inaccuracy is ~-1% (+3/-3) and rest are within 0.7% or less (all slightly over except +2/-2 is exact) but this is much better than Map 1 with a high of 9.41% over and all the rest under by more than 0.69% except +4/-4.  Therefore Map B is a good, solid map that replicates the curve as well as possible but is obviously less intuitive.

I hope that helps!

[Remy Sinclair]

Wow really? Ummm, yeah... so let me get this straight you come up with some insane system to use regular D6s for FUDGE Dice. My group we do not use FUDGE dice we use regular D6s following what what page 16 in Your Story book says:

What Are Fudge Dice?
Fudge dice are six-sided dice that have different markings from normal dice—instead of numbers or dots, they have two sides marked
with a +, two sides marked with a -, and two sides that are blank (0). If you find yourself without Fudge dice or don’t want to purchase them, you can roll 4 normal six-sided dice. Any die showing a 1 or 2 is treated as -, any die showing a 3 or 4 is treated as a 0, and any die showing a 5 or 6 is treated as +.

So when rolling a D6 the result is the following:

• 1,2 = -
  
• 3,4 = 0
  
• 5,6 = +

My group has been using this without an issue. My wife and I have D6s galore because we are gamers. Our other player just bought a box set of D6 for 3 dollars from Walmart. He got 9 dice in that pack. You can also find D6 at Dollar Stores Cheap. Not just gaming stores.