The Dice-Rolling Magna Carta

[funrun]

In an effort to come up with agreed-upon tourney dice-rolling rules that will ensure fair and efficient play, I now bring you this thread!

For some people this stuff will be common courtesy, but for others it is a grey area that can be massaged to give one player an advantage, or at the very least, to drive the other player insane! In general, players can carry on according to their own agreed-upon understandings, but in the case of disputes or differing dice styles, we need to have firm rules to fall back on.

These items are open for discussion and I would like some confirmation of which rules are agreeable for tourney use.

Dice-rolling Area
1. Roll into a confined and flat space. Dice towers, bowls, or boxes are preferred but not required. The idea is to prevent dice from falling off the table or ending up in a cocked position. (See What is a Valid Result.)

Before You Roll
1. Clear all other dice away from your dice-rolling area. Your dice should not have the opportunity to get mixed up with any bystanders.
2. Gather the total number of dice you will need for this roll. If this is not possible, alert your opponent. (See Partial Rolls.)
3. Do NOT pre-align your dice. Fair dice-rolling (see Rolling) will produce statistically random results independent of which side was facing up before you rolled, thus your alignment ritual only takes up time and annoys your opponent.

How to Roll
1. Release all dice at once (per each attack/defense, of course.)
2. Dice must be rolled in such a way as to ensure that all dice turn sides before coming to rest.

What is a Valid Result
To be considered a validly-rolled die:
-The die must come to rest in a flat position.
AND
-The die must come to rest on the designated gaming surface, which is usually the tabletop and game pieces, but not other items on the table such as food wrappers, plates, body parts, etc. Note that keeping the dice within your usual Dice-Rolling Area is irrelevant to this rule.
1. For each individual invalid die: re-roll only the invalid dice according to the rules of Partial Rolls. Except when. . .
2. If, before the next attack occurs, any player realizes that too many dice were rolled AND that the resulting number of wounds could have been more or less if the extra dice hadn't been involved, then that entire roll is invalid. Re-roll the correct number of dice. Note that an invalid attack does not invalidate a correct defense roll, and vice-versa.

Courtesies
1. If, before the next action (next roll, turn marker, etc.) occurs, a player realizes he/she did not roll enough dice, then the extra dice may be rolled according to the rules of Partial Rolls.
2. Do not to pick up your dice results before your opponent has a chance to verify them for himself/herself. Be aware that, for example, the sides of your dice tower may block your opponent's view of some dice.

Partial Rolls
To be used only in situations as specified above, or as deemed acceptable by the Tournament Director. The above rules still apply, but with these additions:
1. Alert your opponent to the need for a partial roll and make sure they are in agreement of the need.
2. Tell/ show your opponent the results of your last roll.
3. Remove the dice from your last roll.
4. Only roll however many dice that could not be counted as valid in preceeding rolls.
5. The same physical dice may be used again in partial rolls, however the results of partial rolls are counted in addition to preceeding valid results and are NOT counted as a replacement redo.
6. Continue making partial rolls, as needed, until you complete this attack or defense.

Disputes
1. The Tournament Director decides.

[markwars]

Awesome! Thanks so much for doing this, funrun. Very nice.


I would like to see some discussion about how certain situations are handled. One situation that comes to mind is what to do when you roll too many dice. I think it is clearly a case of "all dice must be re-rolled", but I won't assume that my thoughts are law.

Another situation that comes to mind is what happens with dice that don't make it into the prescribed rolling area. Are they allowed a re-roll? Or is the skull that showing on the die under the table valid?

[underling]

Originally Posted by markwars

Awesome! Thanks so much for doing this, funrun. Very nice.
I would like to see some discussion about how certain situations are handled. One situation that comes to mind is what to do when you roll too many dice. I think it is clearly a case of "all dice must be re-rolled", but I won't assume that my thoughts are law.

The way we typically handle this, for any game we play, is to reroll all of the dice, with the correct number of dice being rolled on the second roll.

Originally Posted by markwars

Another situation that comes to mind is what happens with dice that don't make it into the prescribed rolling area. Are they allowed a re-roll? Or is the skull that showing on the die under the table valid?

We allow rerolls of dice that are "off the table" or cocked (not lying flat).
Kevin

[funrun]

Originally Posted by markwars

I would like to see some discussion about how certain situations are handled. One situation that comes to mind is what to do when you roll too many dice. I think it is clearly a case of "all dice must be re-rolled", but I won't assume that my thoughts are law.

I knew I had forgotten to get back to at least one thought that floated into my mind while I was writing some other section. This was the one! Indeed I think all dice must be re-rolled.

Originally Posted by markwars

Another situation that comes to mind is what happens with dice that don't make it into the prescribed rolling area. Are they allowed a re-roll? Or is the skull that showing on the die under the table valid?

See Valid section #2. Perhaps a clearer re-wording is in order.

Making edits. . .

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Originally Posted by funrun

What is a Valid Result
Evaluate per individual die, not as the sum of the total roll:
1. Each die must come to rest in a flat position.
2. Each die must come to rest somewhere within the designated gaming surface (usually includes the tabletop and game pieces, but not miscellaneous items on the table such as food wrappers, plates, body parts, etc.)
3. For each individual die that is not valid: re-roll only the invalid dice according to the rules of Partial Rolls.

I'm wondering - is it necessary to mention about dice flying out of dice towers? Should those results count or be rerolled?
Rare the occasion may be, I personally will re-roll any dice that fly out of my tower for validation's sake. How is it handled in Tournament situations?


EDIT:

Originally Posted by funrun

See Valid section #2. Perhaps a clearer re-wording is in order.

Ah, this answers my question as well then.

[Uprising]

Great post funrun. There are far too many people who try to cheese on their dice rolls.

[funrun]

Actually it is worth noting that in house rules I sometimes like to do something that contradicts the above. Mainly, no matter where a die lands, so long as it is obvious what the result is, then it counts. This can add a bit of fun and suspense when you have to go hunting under the table to see whether you got that last, desperately-needed shield.

When I was a kid I can remember games where everyone purposely rolled in such a way to make the dice bounce all over. That allowed you to watch them turn through many potential results (fun like a slot machine) and land wherever. We sometimes also tossed dice way up in the air, all at once, such that some dice might land halfway across the room. Then all the players went hunting in suspense to see what the results were. We usually only did this in our great room with wide open carpet spaces, cuz of course we didn't want to lose any dice!

For tournies though, I suggest what I wrote in the first post :P.

[InfinityMax]

Here's how we handle the 'rolled too many dice' scenario.

If my roll was even a partial success, I roll them all again. If my roll was a failure, the roll stands. No invoking some BS house rule to get a reroll if you choke.

[markwars]

Originally Posted by InfinityMax

Here's how we handle the 'rolled too many dice' scenario.

If my roll was even a partial success, I roll them all again. If my roll was a failure, the roll stands. No invoking some BS house rule to get a reroll if you choke.

The Man Genius strikes again. That MUST be added to the charter.

[funrun]

Originally Posted by markwars

The Man Genius strikes again. That MUST be added to the charter.

lol. It is a cleaner wording, but a "partial success" is hard to define, and I don't think defining it as "anything except blanks" is a good idea. For example, I do not want someone who rolled 1 skull out of 5 attack dice to re-roll with 4 dice because the chances are too good that he gets more than 1 out of 4 with the next roll.

[Revdyer]

At GenCon I had one younger opponent who rolled at least half of his turns off the table (once three times in a row!). I know some people state flatly that a die off the table is simply lost and not rerolled. I wonder if that is the intention of Valid #2; if so, it should be said a bit more forcefully.

[Cavalier]

funrun, thank you for composing and posting this. I think getting a concensus on something like this is a great idea.