Post by Malchor on Dec 7, 2018 17:25:34 GMT -6
Back in early 1975, a year after the release of OD&D, it was still hard to get polyhedral dice.
In APA-L #505, published January 16, 1975, Lee Gold asked, "Where do you get those weird dice from?" And by APA-L #510 published February 20, 1975, Lee was still without "D&D dice."
But the Golds found a way:
One might jump to the conclusion that the Golds were using the method at the back of Korns's "Modern War in Miniature" or Table A-1 in McHugh's U.S. Navy Fundamentals of War Gaming. If someone did, they would be very much mistaken. Firstly, Korns (and McHugh's) was simulating probability in 5% increments, not each face of a d20 (e.g. if you have 20% chance, on a d20 you can roll 1–4, not just 4). Second, Lee specifically said "two dice of different colors." When approximating percentiles with 2d6, you add the numbers, so having two different colors would be meaningless.
That said, if you looked to McHugh's table A-5, you would get a hint at what the Golds were up to.
Don't worry if you don't have U.S. Navy Fundamentals of War Gaming, here is the solution to use two 6-siders (one red and one white) to simulate a d4, d8, d12, d10, and d20. This may or may not have been what Lee had in mind, but I think it is.
In APA-L #505, published January 16, 1975, Lee Gold asked, "Where do you get those weird dice from?" And by APA-L #510 published February 20, 1975, Lee was still without "D&D dice."
But the Golds found a way:
We still haven't managed to get a set of D&D dice, tho we do have two set's on order. WE have however figured out how to mock up an 8-sided die, a 12-sided die and a 20-sided die (with probability being kept the same for any given face turning up) with two dice of different colors. (How will be left as an exercise to the reader.)
One might jump to the conclusion that the Golds were using the method at the back of Korns's "Modern War in Miniature" or Table A-1 in McHugh's U.S. Navy Fundamentals of War Gaming. If someone did, they would be very much mistaken. Firstly, Korns (and McHugh's) was simulating probability in 5% increments, not each face of a d20 (e.g. if you have 20% chance, on a d20 you can roll 1–4, not just 4). Second, Lee specifically said "two dice of different colors." When approximating percentiles with 2d6, you add the numbers, so having two different colors would be meaningless.
That said, if you looked to McHugh's table A-5, you would get a hint at what the Golds were up to.
Don't worry if you don't have U.S. Navy Fundamentals of War Gaming, here is the solution to use two 6-siders (one red and one white) to simulate a d4, d8, d12, d10, and d20. This may or may not have been what Lee had in mind, but I think it is.