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Written by Antti
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Friday, 22 August 2008 |
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Comparing different methods of rolling dice in terms of their results can be an exhausting exercise, especially if you are an approbatur-level mathematics drop-out student like me. Luckily Torben Mogensen has developed Troll, a language for describing dice roll mechanisms, as well as an interpreter which also calculates the probabilities between the different alternatives in the mechanics described.
 Simply put, Troll handles every kind of dice, every kind of roll, (almost) every kind of mechanic. You name it, you can do it in Troll, and test it in the interpreter. The primary entities in Troll are rolls (2d6) and numbers ("4") which can be combined with all manner of arithmetical (-, +, *) and logical (<, largest etc.) operations. It also supports variables (d6*d6 is different than x=d6, x*x). You can also use if-then-else structures, functions, repetitions and the whole kitchen sink.
I cannot say enough praising words about this creation. It is exactly what one needs when designing an/or tweaking a game with dice roll based resolution. A classic. Anyone not using this should seriously stop anything they're doing right now and take a look. Torben Mogensen's page on Troll, with links to the interpreter and its manual.
A tiny disclaimer: You need to learn about arithmetical and logical operations a little bit to use Troll efficiently. If you can write code, you'll be ok. If you are a mathematician, you'll do ok. If you can do formal philosophical logical operations, you'll learn this very quickly. Otherwise, just take a look at the examples in the excellent manual.
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Written by Antti
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Thursday, 21 August 2008 |
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New plans, projects and games are a definite sign of Autumn. And, as I've hooked up with people for two potential new rpg games, taken up board gaming (El Grande session yesterday) and the movie club is starting again, it's clear to me that we've heading onwards after a rainy Summer. Now I just need to take up knitting and boatcarving to fulfill my heart's desires.
 For me the New Year's resolutions have been a thing of the past for a while now - I think that people make more promises to themselves after the Summer. Students promise to rack up credits in a way they've never done, holiday spenders and drifters promise to become well-earning pension-saving citizens again etc. I promise to take up social and sporting activities again after a free-flowing Summer.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 August 2008 )
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Written by Juha
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Tuesday, 19 August 2008 |
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So it is the third part of the series, hence I'm attending the second session of 3:16 roleplaying game, and looking very much forward! Since we're going to be militaristic as hell, and blowing some alien guts to the walls and so on, I think we need something special. Yes, so the first thing would be: Dr. Pepper.
I also need something that remings ammunition of a slugrifle, so maybe I'd go for some good old reliable liquorice
The third element would be: surprise. So I'm thinking something between potato chips, or peanuts. Last time I tried peanuts, they were not so nice because of the sound they made in Skype, but maybe some radio noice would be in order. But well, this is to be seen.
And last but not least, the battle drug for the evening would be: beer. Maybe some dark lager or something that feels a bit bitter on the tongue. Bitter as the tears of a fallen comrade. .
Yeah, let's roll.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 August 2008 )
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