colonel@sunybcs.UUCP (04/06/87)
> Not being into D&D, I use a pair of ordinary 6-sided dice. Roll one die > from each hand, being careful to keep them separate. If a die comes up 5 > or 6, roll it again. This is pretty slow, considering how many 5s and 6s you'll throw. Why not take 6 * red + white, subtract 7, and convert to 5 bits? That way you don't need to throw again unless you throw 32-35, and 13 good throws suffice to generate your 64-bit key. "One draws a circle, beginning anywhere." --Charles Fort -- Col. G. L. Sicherman UU: ...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!colonel CS: colonel@buffalo-cs BI: colonel@sunybcs, csdsiche@ubvms
franka@mmintl.UUCP (04/15/87)
In article <2881@sunybcs.UUCP> colonel@sunybcs.UUCP writes: >> Not being into D&D, I use a pair of ordinary 6-sided dice. Roll one die >> from each hand, being careful to keep them separate. If a die comes up 5 >> or 6, roll it again. > >This is pretty slow, considering how many 5s and 6s you'll throw. Why >not take 6 * red + white, subtract 7, and convert to 5 bits? That way >you don't need to throw again unless you throw 32-35, and 13 good throws >suffice to generate your 64-bit key. When generating bit patterns from 6 sided dice, I count 1 to 4 as bits 00 through 11, 5 is 0, and 6 is 1. This gives 5/3 bits per roll, vs 4/3 from the original method. The Colonel's method is somewhat better, giving 20/9 bits per die; applying the same trick to the values 32-35 improves this to 7/3. Really, though, if you do this to any extent, it is worthwhile to go out and buy some eight-sided dice. They are available at most any game or hobby store these days. Frank Adams ihnp4!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka Ashton-Tate 52 Oakland Ave North E. Hartford, CT 06108