Scientists Figured Out How to Design Dice to Roll Any Way You Want
Scientists Figured Out How to Design Dice to Roll Any Way You Want
Don't tell your Dungeon Master.
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TL;DR They’re not dice.
The computer-designed objects called trajectoids follow a predetermined path when rolling, and usually look somewhat like peeled potatoes.
I haven’t seen a trajectoid with an obviously arbitrary, complex path, such as someone’s signature (as opposed to demos of epicycles), so there may be limits to what lines can be made.I think the similarly-looking gömböcs are cooler: convex, uniform objects that always return to one stable orientation when laid on a flat surface.
Very cool from a maths perspective, but irrelevant to D&D
Not entirely irrelevant to D&D. Now we know that a skilled scholar could sculpt a boulder to roll in a specific way (for an Indiana Jones-style trap) without casting spells. Still, adjusting the terrain is a more productive way to do that.
But they're not useful as dice. Nobody ever uses a die’s trajectory shape to determine a random in-game outcome.
A gömböc could technically count as the most rigged die – only ever rolling up one number – if the only requirements for a D&D die were for it to be a convex object with uniform density.
Plato: "A die is a convex object with uniform density."
Diogenes: holds up gömböc "behold: a die!"
(Diogenes is genius but poor so the gömböc is a peeled potato)
Now seriously, the convexity requirement is there to ensure that spheres with voids inside don't qualify.
Its a d1, aka DM says so.
As a DM, that's my favourite die to roll. Well, other than the rocks-fall-you-die