Here are found simple tricks and nonsense relating to everyday stuff in use at RPoL.  These are things I find handy for reference purposes, mostly.

This little list gives a handy guide to what all those nice text styles included in the editor look like.  It can serve also as a guide to what impact changing the colour scheme will have, since you can jet out, change your colour scheme from User Preferences, and come back here to see how everything looks.


The available text styles are:

Serif
Monotype
Cursive
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:52, Mon 20 Nov 2017.

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1002 - The RPoL Dice Roller

The nice folks at RPoL have provided us with a very useful, flexible, and configurable dice roller.  This dice roller, in addition to supporting almost any die you can think of, and many system-specific dice, can be pointed to in-game via a RuBB code link which can pre-configure it for any roll that might be required.

NOTE:  Even though the roller is pre-configured when it opens, it does not roll the dice for you immediately.  You must still click the button to make a roll.

Some Background:  RuBB stands for Roleplaying Unlimited Bulletin Board, a custom BBCode variant written entirely from scratch by Jason Roper in Perl and PHP.  It incorporates features unique to RPoL, among them the RPoL dice roller.

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1002.1 - Creating Dice Roller Links in Your Posts

It is more usual for a GM to create dice roller links, but players can do it, too.  The basic form of a dice roller link is:

[dice={dice}]

where {dice} is replaced with the string representing how many and what type or types of dice you wish to be rolled.  The more or less standard way RPG gamers represent dice applies.  For instance, 1d6 would roll one six-sided die.  2d10 would roll two ten-sided dice, and so forth.

1002.11 - Multiple Dierolls:

Multiple dierolls can be made of any combination of allowable dice by listing them separated by commas.  For example:

[dice=1d4,2d6,3d8,4d10,5d12,6d20] Roll 1d4,2d6,3d8,4d10,5d12,6d20 would scatter a lot of different virtual dice onto the virtual table.  Note that the result in the dice roller log might look like:

00:06, Today: Chief Tinker rolled 3,8,7,27,13,66 using 1d4,2d6,3d8,4d10,5d12,6d20.

NOTE:  When the dice roller opens for a roll of many different types of dice, the comma separated list will appear in the Manual field of the dice roller near its upper right corner.

1002.12 - Die Modifiers:

Die Modifiers (bonuses or penalties) can easily be added to any given die roll that is part of a link.  Append the sign and value of the modifier thusly:

2d10-4 --> roll two ten-sided dice, subtracting four from the result.
3d6+2  --> roll three six-sided dice, adding two to the result.

It is possible in games that use a series of bonuses or penalties for a roll to string them all together, e.g. 3d6+3+1-2 would be the equivalent of 3d6+2, and may be written either way and will still work.

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This message was last edited by the GM at 09:44, Sat 17 Feb 2018.

1002.2 - Further Dice Roller Options:

There are many other options which can be used in a dice roller link.  These may be appended (in any order) to a dice roller link to add enhanced functions to that link.  A concise list of these options is:

• memo="{reason text}"
• text="{reason text}"
• system={game system}
• target={target value}
• dok={d|k}{l|h} drop=number
• maxes=yes
• ones={none|all|first} <--yet to be verified by experimentation!  Only available on the responsive site at https://r.rpol.net
• record=yes
• unique=yes
• rc={character ID Number}
• bo={character ID Number}

The list above is only for reference purposes.  Note that each option takes the basic form:

option=value

Note also there are no spaces between the option, its equal sign, and the value the option is set to.  This is important.  Spaces do belong, however, between each option in a dice roller link, e.g.

[dice={dice} option1=value1 option2=value2 ... optionN=valueN]

(meaning that no matter how many options are used, spaces are left between them in the link, but not inside of them.)

We will examine these options in groups based on similar syntax and function.

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This message was last edited by the GM at 20:55, Fri 20 Dec 2019.

1002.21 - Memo and Text Options:

The first group consists of the options:

• memo="{reason text}"
• text="{reason text}"

These options both display a "reason text" in quotes which is passed to a dice roll link .  For example, the link:

[dice=2d6 memo="Basic Task Roll"],

which includes a memo option, would appear in a message as:

Roll 2d6

It's output in the dice roller log would appear similar to:

20:06, Today: Chief Tinker rolled 9 using 2d6.  Basic Task Roll.

The text "Basic Task Roll" appears in the dice roller in the field Reason for roll, and is appended to the log entry when the roll is made as a record of why.

Contrast this with how the text option works.  For example, the link:

[dice=2d6 text="Unmodified Task Roll"]

would appear in a message similar to:

Unmodified Task Roll

and it's output to the dice roller log would appear similar to:

20:17, Today: Chief Tinker rolled 10 using 2d6.

The difference is a small but useful one.  We may, of course, use both of these options together.  A link such as:

[dice=2d6 text="Unmodified Task Roll" memo="Basic Task Roll"]

Would appear in a message as:

Unmodified Task Roll

and its output in the dice roller log would be similar to:

20:20, Today: Chief Tinker rolled 7 using 2d6.  Basic Task Roll.

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This message was last edited by the GM at 02:07, Tue 13 Feb 2018.

1002.22 - Game Specific Options

These get a bit tricky.  RPoL supports rolls that are specific to any of several game systems.  To do this, it uses two options:

• system={game_system}
• target={target_value}

The following is a list of supported game_system codes and the name of their game systems:

System Code     Game System
===============================================
1ring           The One Ring
1roll           One Roll Engine (ORE)
8ball           Magic 8-Ball
advant          Advantage
ars_sd          Ars Magica Stress Die
artesia         Artesia
coda            CODA
d6c             d6 Classic
d6l             d6 Legends
dead            Deadlands
deck52          Draw from a standard deck of playing cards
deck54          Draw from deck of playing cards with two Jokers
earth           EarthDawn
earth3          EarthDawn, 3rd Edition
ex              White Wolf Exalted
fengsh          Feng Shui
fmwerk          FrameWerk
fudge           FUDGE/Fate Dice
fullf           Full Light/Full Steam
hackbab         Hackmaster Basic, Advanced Backstab
hackbap         Hackmaster Basic, Advanced Penetration
hackp           Hackmaster Penetration
hero            Hero (Champions)
hero5ka         Hero, 5th Edition, Killing Attack
hero6ka         Hero, 5th Edition, Killing Attack
lastunicorn     The Last Unicorn
onlywar         Only War
prowlandpara    Prowlers and Paragons
ricochet        Ricochet
rifts           Rifts
rm              Rolemaster/Spacemaster
sh              Shadowrun
sh4e            Shadowrun, 4th Edition
sho             Shadowrun, Open Test
spooky          Spookyengine
sorc            Sorceror
swee            Star Wars:  Edge of the Empire
target          Target Number  (note that target is also used as an option!)
tat             Tunnels and Trolls
tros            The Riddle of Steel
unisys          UniSystem
wartest         Warhammer Test
wod1e           World of Darkness, 1st Edition
wod2e           World of Darkness, 2nd Edition
wod2es          World of Darkness, 2nd Edition, Specialized
wod3e           World of Darkness, 3rd Edition
wod3es          World of Darkness, 3rd Edition, Specialized
nwod            World of Darkness - New World of Darkness
nwoda           World of Darkness - New World of Darkness, Armoury
nwodcd          World of Darkness - New World of Darkness, Chance Die
nwodcw          World of Darkness - New World of Darkness, Clan Weakness

This table was updated with kind help from bigbadron and Skald on 13 Feb 2018.

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system=<system> selects a system for the roll.

Example: Draw from a Deck of 52  [dice=1d52 system=deck52 text="Draw from a Deck of 52"]
(choose from a 52-card deck)

Example: Roll 1d20  [dice=1d20 system=8ball]
(get an answer from the Magic 8-ball)

Note that the "dice" set-up is is still necessary and the die roller may complain if it is abnormal for the chosen system (e.g., trying to roll 1d20+4 on the Magic 8-Ball).  From my experience, it is beneficial when crafting dice roller links to play around with the system-specific rolls to see what the appropriate value of dice= should be.  As I discover more of these, I may add a column to the table above.

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1002.221 - The Target Value vs. the Target Option:

Target as an option (i.e., target=) is always used in conjunction with (and downstream of) the system= option.   This is not the same as using system=target, where the value target stands for Target Number as a system.  We'll differentiate this in examples to follow.

target=<value> sets any important number for the system.

The target= option's value is always a number, and this option is only for use with the system option, above.  It allows the setting of the value of the target number, the fumble range, the step number, number of cards to be drawn, etc.

This value box in the dice roller is prefaced with text indicating what it is used for, so playing with your link and checking its output to the dice roller is possibly the only way to know for sure what the target signifies for a given system-specific roll.

Example: Draw Five Cards from a Deck of 52 [dice=1d52 system=deck52 target=5 text="Draw Five Cards from a Deck of 52"]

The value box for this target will show "no. of cards"

Example:  White Wolf, Exalted [dice=1d10 system=ex target=2 text="White Wolf, Exalted"]

The value box for this target will show "target number"

Just to contrast target being used as a value for system= with target= as an option, look at the following example:

Exampe:  Roll a d20, target number is 9 or greater.  [dice=1d20 system=target target=9 text="Roll a d20, target number is 9 or greater."]

In this link, the first 'target' is used as a value for the system= option, and the next use of 'target' is in the target= option, as target=9, which specified what the target number is.  The output from such a roll in the dice log might look like:

21:37, Today: Chief Tinker rolled 1 success using 1d20 with the Target Number system with a target of 9.

Just to show the nuts-n-bolts here, the status line at the top of the dice roller shows:

21:37, Today: Chief Tinker rolled 1 success using 1d20 with the Target Number system with a target of 9 ((16)).
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:00, Fri 20 Dec 2019.

1002.23 - Roll Modifying Options

The options we will cover here modify dice rolls in certain ways:

• dok={d|k}{l|h} drop=number
• maxes=yes
• ones=yes
• record=yes
• unique=yes

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1002.231 - Drop or Keep

The format of this option is:

dok={d|k}{l|h} drop=number

This option is used to specify whether to drop or keep high or low dice, and how many.  As shown above, the valid arguments for dok= are:

One of the following two symbols:

• d (which stands for drop)
• k (which stands for keep)

in conjunction with one of the following two symbols:

• l (which stands for low dice)
• h (which stands for high dice)

After specifying a valid value set for dok= a numerical value for the drop= option must follow it, specifying the number of dice to be dropped or kept.

Example:  Roll 3d6, drop the two lowest. [dice=3d6 dok=dl drop=2 text="Roll 3d6, drop the two lowest."]

Example:  Roll 3d6, keep the two highest [dice=3d6 dok=kh drop=2 text="Roll 3d6, keep the two highest"]

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1002.232 - Re-roll Maxes

This option specifies that any dice which display their maximum value shall be re-rolled.  Both the maximum rolled and the value re-rolled are added to the total for the result.

Example:  Roll 3d6, rerolling any sixes. [dice=3d6 maxes=yes text="Roll 3d6, rerolling any sixes."]

To demonstrate the effect of this, since that effect is not shown in the dice roller log, we now show the entry from the upper line of the dice roller screen:

04:00, Today: Chief Tinker rolled 16 using 3d6, rerolling max ((4,(6+3)9,3)).

As can be seen, the second die was re-rolled after turning up a six. The six and that re-rolled value (3) were both added to the total for that die, which was then added to the total for the entire roll.

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1002.233 - Re-roll Ones

This option specifies that any dice which display ones shall be re-rolled, and only the new result will be added to the total result.

Roll 3d6, re-rolling any ones. [dice=3d6 ones=yes text="Roll 3d6, re-rolling any ones."]

Again, we demonstrate the effect by showing the upper line of the dice roller screen:

04:15, Today: Chief Tinker rolled 12 using 3d6, rerolling ones ((4,{1}2,6)).

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1002.234 - Record Each Die

Use this option when the result for each die in a roll has significance, or for debugging or testing purposes.

Roll 3d6, showing each die. [dice=3d6 record=yes text="Roll 3d6, showing each die."]

The result of this will be shown in the dice roller.  For example:

04:27, Today: Chief Tinker rolled 16 using 3d6 with rolls of 6,5,5.

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1002.235 - Roll Unique Results on Each Die

This option is used to ensure that, in a pool of rolled dice, all results are unique (i.e., no two results are equal)

Roll 6d6, displaying unique results for each die. [dice=6d6 unique=yes record=yes text="Roll 6d6, displaying unique results for each die."]

The result of this roll might look like:

04:35, Today: Chief Tinker rolled 21 using 6d6, unique dice with rolls of 5,3,2,1,4,6.

and while the result set will be the same for this roll, the order of the results may vary with each instance of it.  A second roll will still show the results 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, but might look like:

04:38, Today: Chief Tinker rolled 21 using 6d6, unique dice with rolls of 4,5,6,1,2,3.

One possible use for specifying a roll where the number of sides on each die and the number of dice to be rolled are equal is to simulate initiative in combat.  Rolling 6d6 as shown above could establish an initative order for six combatants, for example.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:03, Fri 09 Mar 2018.

1002 .24 - Character-Related Options

The last group of options for the dice roller specify who is rolling the dice, and, if they are rolling for someone else.  (Usually the GM will roll for a player if the result needs to be secret for some reason, and there may be other instances which require a GM roll on behalf of a player).  these options are:

• rc={character ID Number}
• bo={character ID Number}

The character ID number is found by viewing a character's details and looking in the URL displayed in the browser for &ci followed by a number.

Note also these two options are mutually exclusive.  One does not specify both rc= and bo= in the same dice roller link, since only the GM can make rolls on behalf of players.

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1002.241 - Roll as Character

A link such as:

Roll Percentile Dice [dice=d100 text="Roll Percentile Dice" rc=299435]

will configure the dice roller so that Chief Tinker can immediately cast a percentile dice roll.  The entry in the dice roller log might look like:

04:54, Today: Chief Tinker rolled 79 using 1d100.

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1002.242 - Roll on Behalf Of

Roll a d20, add 4, on behalf of Homunculus. [dice=1d20+4 text="Roll a d20, add 4, on behalf of Homunculus." bo=303757]

makes a roll of d20+4 by Chief Tinker on behalf of Homunculus:

05:01, Today: Chief Tinker, on behalf of Homunculus, rolled 23 using 1d20+4.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:09, Sun 11 Feb 2018.