So who here prefers to use dice trays (or towers) to roll in, whether gaming for SW, dnd, pathfinder or any other game, over just rolling in the open on the table..?

39 minutes ago, LTuser said:

So who here prefers to use dice trays (or towers) to roll in, whether gaming for SW, dnd, pathfinder or any other game, over just rolling in the open on the table..?

I've never tried them; are they any good?

Personally, I've never really had any issues rolling dice on tables, but I've played with enough people who either set their dice down daintily or shotgun everything in sight with them that I can certainly see the appeal.

I'm a huge fan of dice towers. They seem to even out the probability of dice results MASSIVELY (which has made me suspicious of more than a few players - when forced to use a dice tower, suddenly their consistently-beyond-belief die rolls become quite-statistically-average), but they also do a great job preventing dice knocking over ships in the middle of an intense dogfight.

I've used the Chessex one for a while, now, and it breaks down for travel quite nicely.

I prefer a dice cup. Doesn't throw dice all over the place and reasonably small for transportation

I have a friend who rolls his dice so uncontrollably that we use a lid to a large board game like Shogun or Axis and Allies. Dice still seem to spill out....

I prefer some sort of dice containment especially in wargaming.

Rolling dice "out in the open" has too much of a chance of either squirreling into some piece of terrain or crashing into some models. It's worse during tournament or league when space is at a premium.

Collapsible dice trays are a great combination of functionality and portability so I use them the most. They also make it easy to display dice results to other people at the table to ensure clarity.

I like the feel and soothing thunk dice towers create, but even folding ones/separate trays are bulky. They also tend to lead to cocked die if you start reaching capacity and aren't friendly if you need to manipulate die like X wing requires you to.

To add on to this; does anyone use the dice app?

3 minutes ago, Hylian100 said:

To add on to this; does anyone use the dice app?

My buddy has started to. His physical dice trend towards blanks so much it is painful to watch (and extremely frustrating for him) so he finally went heck with it and picked up the app. It has been allot more even. I think some how he ended up with several bad sets (or is subconsciously screwing himself on the rolls when he rolls by hand).

I really dislike the dice trays that are common around here, mainly because i am too timid to speak up and they mean my opponent rolls dice and touches them all without me ever seeing the results. I always feel guilty when an opponent has a lucky roll and my brain goes, now did he get that roll or did he ...

Maybe i should be less short so i can see in the little tray thing

I use one from micro art studio, are Links here ok?

https://shop.microartstudio.com/de/zubehoer/1003-tournament-tray-terminus-deluxe.html

Not only nice to carry around my stuff, but also good to roll in it. not too high edges, so even while my opponent sits he can see my rollt. and the sacred boardstate get's not ruinied by rolling dice at ships or obstacles.

1 hour ago, fearpils said:

I really dislike the dice trays that are common around here, mainly because i am too timid to speak up and they mean my opponent rolls dice and touches them all without me ever seeing the results. I always feel guilty when an opponent has a lucky roll and my brain goes, now did he get that roll or did he ...

Maybe i should be less short so i can see in the little tray thing

Results trays should be viewable by all players. Just have to find the stones to ask that they put the tray where you can see it.

5 hours ago, Archangelspiv said:

I have a friend who rolls his dice so uncontrollably that we use a lid to a large board game like Shogun or Axis and Allies. Dice still seem to spill out....

What excuse does he make for not keeping his rolls under control? Is he a child? I played one game of Axis and Allies with a guy who insisted on rolling like that. Violently "rolling" his dice with throws into the box lid. Violence inappropriate even to a craps table. It was a short game. Guy probably still thinks he got one over on me.

6 hours ago, xanderf said:

They seem to even out the probability of dice results MASSIVELY (which has made me suspicious of more than a few players - when forced to use a dice tower, suddenly their consistently-beyond-belief die rolls become quite-statistically-average), but they also do a great job preventing dice knocking over ships in the middle of an intense dogfight.

This echoes my opinion on towers and such. Keeping the dice wrangled is a key benefit.

I found a Krosmaster Arena folding dice tower for my son years ago, he was young and would throw them wildly. I also have one from a Zombicide KS and I like them because they fold up compact and easy to take . The Zombicide is a little wider and shorter so I like the Krosmaster one a little more, especially after I replaced the stickers with Marvel/DC ones for my son.

https://boardgamegeek.com/image/2302306/zombicide-folding-dice-tower

3 hours ago, fearpils said:

I really dislike the dice trays that are common around here, mainly because i am too timid to speak up and they mean my opponent rolls dice and touches them all without me ever seeing the results. I always feel guilty when an opponent has a lucky roll and my brain goes, now did he get that roll or did he ...

Maybe i should be less short so i can see in the little tray thing

Also not a fan of the vertical walled dice trays that obscure the dice.

I'm not timid per se, I just don't think the small chance of them being a cheater is worth the negative implication of saying basically "hey please don't use that because I don't trust you"

But still, its bothersome.

But if its my buddy I'll say "hey **** off with that cheat aid mother****er" and then after they ignore me I will just constantly claim their paint was blank when it was in the tray

I play with a guy who uses a tray. It’s great and I’ll get one as soon as I see it for sale in person.

I think I prefer dice trays. I don't mind towers or cups but trays feel the most natural to use for me. It's just like a little dice corral to keep your dice from bothering the rest of the table.

7 hours ago, Hylian100 said:

To add on to this; does anyone use the dice app?

this may just be us, but we had to ban it at our local Game Store because one guy kept using it, and over the course if about 3 or 4 games only rolled 1 blank. but that may just be us.

(though once he started rolling for Mines, his super dice worked to our favor!)

I use a dice tray during Pathfinder games in which I use my metal or stone dice sets. I don't actually like to use it ... it results in a lot more cocked dice than rolls on the table. But those dice are heavy, expensive, and the stone ones are obviously more fragile than normal polyhedrals. (Even the metal dice can be prone to the plating chipping.) I don't like it for X-Wing only because it takes up so much space, and space is so often at a premium on X-Wing tables.

I've tried using a dice tower, but gave up after a while. It was a combination of the results sometimes being hard for my opponents to see, the footprint it consumes on the table, the space it takes up in my backpack, and the extra time involved in rolling and recovering dice. (That last one might be my imagination, but when it comes to preference, that's enough.) I do occasionally use the tower when I'm GMing and want to hide my rolls.

A dice cup has most of the same issues as the dice tower. Tried that for a while, too.

I've toyed with using the app, which has been improved a huge amount since first released. But the reaction against it is pretty visceral. I don't feel strongly enough to buck the almost universal dislike of it.

Finally, just about the only prizes I've won that I care about are my sets of Regionals dice. I don't really like most of the templates or tokens; just the dice. So not using them feels bad, man.

I'm not a fan of the dice trays so many people seem to be using at my local game store. It makes it surprisingly difficult to see all the results of my opponent's dice rolls, even when standing. They also usually start modifying results before I see what they initially rolled on all their dice. I mostly just have to trust what they tell me results are. That's my only real issue with dice trays.

I don't know why I didn't think of just asking my opponent to move the tray closer so it's easier to see the results until reading this thread. I'll try that next time.

8 hours ago, Hylian100 said:

To add on to this; does anyone use the dice app?

Yes to great effect. Turns out I'm just a bad flyer. I also use the dice app for dnd, eote, etc. Love it, would recommend.

9 minutes ago, Redd9 said:

Yes to great effect. Turns out I'm just a bad flyer. I also use the dice app for dnd, eote, etc. Love it, would recommend.

What do you do in D&D when a Focus comes up? O_o

Just now, JJ48 said:

What do you do in D&D when a Focus comes up? O_o

you can select what dice to use, it has swrpg, d20 set, armada, x wing and i think something else.

I just roll em, but I’ll add in, the people that shake them excessively drives me crazy! Taking 15+ secs to throw the dice isn’t going to make them any more random. Pick em up give em a shake and toss em!

6 hours ago, Frimmel said:

What excuse does he make for not keeping his rolls under control? Is he a child? I played one game of Axis and Allies with a guy who insisted on rolling like that. Violently "rolling" his dice with throws into the box lid. Violence inappropriate even to a craps table. It was a short game. Guy probably still thinks he got one over on me.

One of the earlier game stores i played at, in Norfolk, had this one player (mid-late 30s), who was like that, no matter WHO THE DM was, and how many times the DM told him "STOP DOING THAT". Needless to say, after one player's little sister, effectively got beened in the head with one of his 'hard rolls', he got BANNED from the store...

11 hours ago, Hiemfire said:

My buddy has started to. His physical dice trend towards blanks so much it is painful to watch (and extremely frustrating for him) so he finally went heck with it and picked up the app. It has been allot more even. I think some how he ended up with several bad sets (or is subconsciously screwing himself on the rolls when he rolls by hand).

Me and my friend have long since used shared dice pools while playing for exactly this reason. Mitigates the "bad dice" for one player, and now everyone can use the bad dice...together

1 minute ago, irdonny said:

Me and my friend have long since used shared dice pools while playing for exactly this reason. Mitigates the "bad dice" for one player, and now everyone can use the bad dice...together

Offered on several occasions, he declined the offers after the first time when it didn't help.