Well, they can't ban 1-bit random number generators (e.g. coins) and with a bit of time, you can simulate any of dice used in RPGs.
Yes, coins -- all forms of currency, actually -- are banned.
Ok a leaf? Or a piece of toilet paper.
How Inmates Play Tabletop RPGs in Prisons Where Dice Are Contraband
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Re: How Inmates Play Tabletop RPGs in Prisons Where Dice Are Contraband
#22Well, they can't ban 1-bit random number generators (e.g. coins) and with a bit of time, you can simulate any of dice used in RPGs.
"With a thunderous roar, the colossal red dragon envelops the party in a cruel wave of fire! You each take 24d10 damage, but while I'm sitting here flipping this coin six hundred times please do let me know if you make your reflex save for half..."
If you converted the rules to be powers of 2, each coin representing a binary digit, it shouldn't be too bad
24d10 becomes 0-240, so change it to 0-256 and you've got 8 flips (8d2?)
Distribution won't be correct but hey, 8 flips
Re: How Inmates Play Tabletop RPGs in Prisons Where Dice Are Contraband
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
As far as pastimes go it seems pretty innocent, but I guess one could argue that because jail is supposed to be punishment time passing actives aren't a priority (not saying I do or do not agree with that stance).
That’s probably the problem. Jail/prison should primarily be for reform, not pusnishment. If I punish without helping you change, I’m only telling you to not get caught next time.
But how will the corporate prisons earn future profits if prisoners reform in jail?
Re: How Inmates Play Tabletop RPGs in Prisons Where Dice Are Contraband
#24We used to make them with toilet papier-mâché. Just add water and push them into the corner of the locker. When it dries, put on dots and wrap it in clear tape to protect the dots.
Would not using cards (which appear to be allowed) be simpler
Even though the section on cards mentions that "many prisons" do allow them, what the article is trying to emphasize there is that playing cards can be used to simulate dice if the prison happens to allow them (while also implicitly demonstrating that the rules against gambling are often inconsistent and arbitrary). The implication seems to be that there are more prisons that disallow cards than that allow them, and indeed earlier on the article quotes a prison handbook that explicitly mentions cards as contraband.
Furthermore, even if cards are explicitly allowed by the rules, that doesn't mean that cards (along with pretty much anything else) can't be confiscated at any moment. For those instances, it's good to have a backup that involves materials that are always on hand.
Re: How Inmates Play Tabletop RPGs in Prisons Where Dice Are Contraband
#25I was waiting for the article to mention using those 6 sided pencil stubs in the first image as dice. Seems like a good way to disguise a die.
Re: How Inmates Play Tabletop RPGs in Prisons Where Dice Are Contraband
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
"With a thunderous roar, the colossal red dragon envelops the party in a cruel wave of fire! You each take 24d10 damage, but while I'm sitting here flipping this coin six hundred times please do let me know if you make your reflex save for half..."
If you converted the rules to be powers of 2, each coin representing a binary digit, it shouldn't be too bad 24d10 becomes 0-240, so change it to 0-256 and you've got 8 flips (8d2?) Distribution won't be correct but hey, 8 flips
Well, you can re-flip on >240, with an expected number of flips to receive a number in the range being around 1/(1-15/256) ~ 1.062, so pretty close to just one 8-coin-flip (with some low probability of having to re-flip, which vanishes exponentially as the number of re-flips).
This has the guaranteed correct distribution ('correct' being 'uniform'), too!
EDIT: I guess, to be more clear about the algorithm: flip 8 coins and convert this result to binary. If the result is greater than 240, flip the eight coins again. The number of total 8-coin-flips that need to be done on average is something like 1.062, and the likelihood that you need to perform n 8-coin-flips to receive a result ≤ 240 vanishes exponentially as (15/256)^(-n).
Re: How Inmates Play Tabletop RPGs in Prisons Where Dice Are Contraband
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
"With a thunderous roar, the colossal red dragon envelops the party in a cruel wave of fire! You each take 24d10 damage, but while I'm sitting here flipping this coin six hundred times please do let me know if you make your reflex save for half..."
If you converted the rules to be powers of 2, each coin representing a binary digit, it shouldn't be too bad 24d10 becomes 0-240, so change it to 0-256 and you've got 8 flips (8d2?) Distribution won't be correct but hey, 8 flips
Four flips can get you 16 outcomes of course, rerolling values out of bounds means you need 4*16/10 = 6.4 amortized flips to generate a d10, or ~154 total to get 24d10.
For large dice counts like that, it's probably better to just use a manual table for a bell curve based on ~8-10 flips. No human player is going to care about result fidelity beyond a thousand possible results anyway.
Re: How Inmates Play Tabletop RPGs in Prisons Where Dice Are Contraband
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
"With a thunderous roar, the colossal red dragon envelops the party in a cruel wave of fire! You each take 24d10 damage, but while I'm sitting here flipping this coin six hundred times please do let me know if you make your reflex save for half..."
If you converted the rules to be powers of 2, each coin representing a binary digit, it shouldn't be too bad 24d10 becomes 0-240, so change it to 0-256 and you've got 8 flips (8d2?) Distribution won't be correct but hey, 8 flips
I didn't know the central limit theorem when I played D&D, but it's interesting how massively different those two distributions are -- 24d10 versus a uniform 24-240 distribution.
24d10 is 24 independently rolled d10's, that means we convolute the uniform distribution with itself 24 times and the result will be nearly indistinguishable from a scaled bell curve.
Edit: Click the “Graph” button here to visualize: http://anydice.com/program/4ddf
Re: How Inmates Play Tabletop RPGs in Prisons Where Dice Are Contraband
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
As far as pastimes go it seems pretty innocent, but I guess one could argue that because jail is supposed to be punishment time passing actives aren't a priority (not saying I do or do not agree with that stance).
That’s probably the problem. Jail/prison should primarily be for reform, not pusnishment. If I punish without helping you change, I’m only telling you to not get caught next time.
Criminal justice is for reforming but also deterring criminals.
If it were only for the former reason, capital punishment wouldn't exist.
Re: How Inmates Play Tabletop RPGs in Prisons Where Dice Are Contraband
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you converted the rules to be powers of 2, each coin representing a binary digit, it shouldn't be too bad 24d10 becomes 0-240, so change it to 0-256 and you've got 8 flips (8d2?) Distribution won't be correct but hey, 8 flips
Well, you can re-flip on >240, with an expected number of flips to receive a number in the range being around 1/(1-15/256) ~ 1.062, so pretty close to just one 8-coin-flip (with some low probability of having to re-flip, which vanishes exponentially as the number of re-flips). This has the guaranteed correct distribution ('correct' being 'uniform'), too! EDIT: I guess, to be more clear about the algorithm: flip 8 coi…
24d10 has a normal-ish distribution. The scheme you suggest will produce a uniform distribution.