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Geek Randomizer Guide
The BasicsThink of the Geek Randomizer as a sophisticated die roller app for the Geek. It is used to play various Play-by-Forum (PbF) games. Below are all the gritty details of all the various dice types and modifiers which you can use. But for most people, that's going to be information overload. Normal users of the Geek Randomizer only need to know how to insert a roll into their post and are likely to perform only the more basic rolls. So before you get confused here is 99% of what you need to know: Whenever you make a post, you can add a roll simply by pressing the ROLL button:
You will add a very specific syntax to the "Roll" field (there is also an optional comment field). Here are some basic types of rolls which are commonly used (you can use these as examples to copy and paste with slight changes as needed for your own use):
Table of Contents
The Geek RandomizerThe Geek Randomizer is a tool to add dice roll and other random number to most of the system on the Geek. Rolls can be added to Forum posts, geeklists (both the header and the items ), blog posts and general comments around the site. A roll is attached to the user who created it, to the place it was added to, and also to a parent 'aggregator'. That means if the post\comment where the post was added to gets deleted, you can still see the result on the top parent. Where does my roll shows?As said on the intro, rolls are aggregated to keep a log and avoid cheating. Rolls added to a forum post, will show also on the thread. Shows added to a comment (like an image comment, a file comment, etc) will also show on the item itself. Geeklists are a bit different. Rolls added to the GeekList header, to GeekList comments and to GeekList items show aggregated on the GeekList itself. Rolls added to comments for GeekList items shows aggregate on that GeekList item. How to hide the rollsIf you want to hide the Dice Rolls block of the posts, and the ability to roll on another user post, you can edit it on your Forum Settings. For this, got to Edit Forum Settings, under your Account and un-tick the box "Show Rolls block on Replies". Disabling won't block rolls to show inside posts though, only block the post log and the thread log.
Editing the forum settings
Allowing Other Users to add rolls to your postIf you want, you can allow other users to attach rolls to your posts, to be shown (linked to their username) on the Dice Rolls block for that. To do that, you must check the Allow Public Dice Rolls checkbox when creating or editing your post. Since not every post will have other people rolls, this box is unchecked by default.
Enabling public dice rolls
Rolls Limits and AbuseThere is no limit on the number of rolls a post can have. But there is a limit of 2 rolls per user on posts not created by them. You can add as many rolls as you want on your post. Abusing of this feature, is considered a form of Forum abuse and will be dealt as such by the moderators. Using RollsAdding a roll to your post
Adding a roll to a post
To add a roll to a post you are editing or creating, click on the Add a Roll button (item 1 on the figure), and it will Popup the Chose your Dice box. The polyhedral dice link, add them to the roll input (item 2) or you can just type there directly. The comment box (item 3), as it explains, is optional if added it will show everywhere the roll is linked. After you create your post you may click on Validate, if you want, just to see if the string is valid, otherwise just click on Add Roll (which does validate before rolling). After creating your roll the code for it will be inserted on your post (item 4). IMPORTANT When you create a roll with this method, the result is calculated only when you Save the post, if you preview you will just see a placeholder with what you are rolling and the comment you added if any, but not the result itself. This is done to avoid cheating on PbF games. As soon as you submit the result will be calculated and shown everywhere it should be. Deleting RollsYou can't delete a roll you make, nor can you detach it from the post it was added too. If you delete the post, the roll will still show on the Parent Log. The Post Log
The Post Roll Log
Every post that has a roll attached will show the Dice rolls block of the image above (unless you select to hide them). When you load a thread the log is hidden, clicking anyone on the title line (item 1 on the figure) will show it (or hide it is shown already). A default roll line (item 2) contain the following info
If you click anywhere on the roll line, it toggles the show of what was indeed rolled on each of the dice (item 3). The Parent Log
The Parent Log
The parent log shows all the rolls on a given page, first ordered by post than by post date. Deleted posts still have their rolls shown here. The format is more or less the same as for the post log, the main difference is that if you click on a roll it takes you to that post page, the full result string is not shown here. Adding a roll to another user post
Add a roll
Another way to roll, is by clicking on the Add a Roll link on the bottom of the post. This link will appear on your own posts and posts where the user allowed for other people to attach rolls. Rolls done here will appear on both the posts log and the thread log. Displaying the Roll
Four rolls displayed
To display a roll use the following code [geekroll=id][/geekroll] on your post. What will be displayed depends on a few things.
Rules and Dice TypesIn the tables and sections below you will find all the rules to create your own roll. This includes which functions, dice type and modifiers are allowed and where. This document will be updated when we add new dice types. As a rule of thumb, a string of rolls should will be collection of dice strings separated by the one separator. There are exceptions, mostly regarding parenthesis. When creating your string, remember that the result string (after the calculation of each die roll) must be a valid math expression. That means that if your write 1d6u + + 1d8, there will be an error in your string and it won't be accepted. Each dice block should have the following format: [number of dice][dice type][dice value][modifiers] The tables below present the valid separators, dice type and modifiers. Modifiers are specific to the dice type, and in some case different modifiers may operate differently depending on the dice type. As a general rule, only the dice type and dice value are mandatory, the rest can be left out. When multiple modifiers are found they are checked from left to right. Characters are case insensitive and spaces are ignored. SeparatorsSeparators are mathematical operators used to bind the dice. Normally, a dice roll will give you as a result a single number, which will be put in an equation with the separators. There are only 6 valid separators +, -, *, /, (, ). Precedence is as usual: parenthesis first, then division and multiplication, then by addition and subtraction. Nothing fancy. Dice typesThe table below list all the dice types accepted in the system, along with a full explanation. A value of Doesn't apply in a column means that that specific column cannot appear on the dice. A (default:) means that unless specified, the default value is assumed. If there is no default for an item, it must be filled. Dice type shows the character(s) that must appear on the string as the type. For the modifiers, click on the name to go to their description. There is an examples heading later which should assist.
Card Decks TypesThe card deck system allows the user to get a group of cards and use the as a deck, pulling cards from it and depleting the deck on the process. Decks are created for each roll made, therefore is not possible to deplete a deck between rolls, unless you use Remove Cards/tiles everytime. The table below shows all of the possible deck types and the valid attributes for each. All of the decks use the format [number of dice || w]k[type token][modifiers]. The type can be found on the table below. Modifiers, unless otherwise specified, may come in any order desired. You can also find below the list of valid cards for some of the types here.
Deck of Many ThingsThis is the list of valid cards with abbreviation for a Deck of Many Things. The abbreviation is what should be used with Remove Cards/tiles.
EverwayThis is the list of valid cards with numeric, name and full text for the Everway Fortune Deck. The numeric value without the sign is what should be used with Remove Cards/tiles.
Custom Dice
Options RangeYou can add either a character range or an array range, and an optional step integer. The format is startingpoint - endpoint[, stepvalue] (the brackets not appearing and indicating only the optional part, spaces are ignored so they can be added for readablity). If you are using a character for starting and endpoints, it must be an us-EN alphabet character, there is a differentiation between uppercase and lowercase. If you don't pass an step value, it will assume that you want it to be continual. The below examples should help.
Options ListAnother option is to give a list of the values for each face. For this you must use a list of values, separated by semi-colon optionally enclosed in double quotes (which don't appear on the final output). The only limitation is that you can't use double quotes on your values. If all of the values of the list are numeric, the output is considered numeric and will accept modifiers, otherwise not. Blank faces, curly bracers and brackets must be enclosed by double quotes. Any BBCode that you add here are kept on the output, just remember that the font is already bolded, and you can't change that. You can use the options list to display images of the geek too, the option for the image should have the following format: iid:image_id . Images are displayed inline so use small images (max size 20x20px) as not to break the flow of the text.
Weighted Options ListEverything said above about lists apply here. Also, every option on the list must be on the format weight:value, again, optionally enclosed in double quotes. Weight must be a positive numeric integer. Everything else works like above. The number of "faces" on the die, is the sum of all of the weights. For example
Dice ModifiersModifiers are represented on the roll as a string which may be or not followed by a set of brackets with numbers. Except for the Ars Magica Dice Type modifiers, all the others apply only to the Common Die type. Although you can add together as many you want on to a roll, some may not be logical and will give strange results. Every modifier entry has a table in the below format:
Every time a modifier accepts attributes they must be surround by brackets. The A2 must be preceded by a comma, so for example, to add 2 attributes, 10 and 5 to a modifier, you would write [10,2] if you only want A2, [,2] and for A1 only, [10]. When you are passing a non numeric attribute, it must be enclosed by curly brackets, and multiple values separated by semi colon and optionally enclosed in double quotes: For example [{skull;shield}], [,{data;"a;d"}] or [{skull;shield},]. Non numeric attributes do not have default values. Zero Based Die
A Zero based roll is when you consider that the die starts one zero and goes to (total - 1) value. For example, instead of a die counting from 1 to 10 it goes from 0 to 9. There is an special rule here, as it must be the first of the modifiers, otherwise it won't validate. Exploding Die
An exploding die, means that if you roll higher than a given number, you roll an additional die and add that value to this result. The first attribute sets the threshold for the re-roll (it is greater or equal, not just greater). So, 3d10r, will roll an additional die for every 10 rolled, while 3d10r[8], rolls a new one for every 8 or higher rolled. A2 makes the dice imploding too. That means if you roll less or equal to the number given you roll a new die and subtract from your result. (4d10r[,3] would reroll and subtract on every 3 or less. A dice can both be imploding and exploding at the same time. Normally an exploding die is non-recursive, that means that if you roll higher than the target on the reroll you don't get a new die, using rr changed that behavior. For example, let's say that I'm rolling 3d8 exploding on 6 or greater and I roll (4, 5, 8) rolling a 7 on the extra die:
You may explode, but not implode, non numeric die. In those cases, A1 should be the list of values that allow for re-rolling. When applying other modifiers to a roll, specially Count Success, every new die that you got when you exploded recursive or not, count as a different die. That may not be the intended behavior always, for example you may want to explode a die add to your first value to surpass a difficult that is even greater. For these cases, you can preceed the token by an s (using sr for non recursive and srr for recursive). This will treat the exploded dice values as part of the first die value. These tokens cannot be used with non numeric dice. Drop Highest
As the name implies, this modifier drop from the result the highest die rolled. If A1 is given, that amount of die will be dropped, if not only 1. Drop Lowest
As the name implies, this modifier drop from the result the lowest die rolled. If A1 is given, that amount of die will be dropped, if not only 1. Count Success
The count success modifier changes the calculation from a straight sum to a count. Every die rolled above A1, or the max value for the die if none given, counts as a success (adds 1 to the count); other rolls count as 0. If A2 is given, any die equal or lower than that number is counted as a failure and removes 1 success from the count. If you use the ic token, the count is inverted, which means that every die rolled below A1 counts as a success, and every die rolled above A2 (if provided) counts as a failure. For non numeric dice, the Count must receive at least on of the Attributes. If both are empty it will fail. When comparing for success (or failure), the result must match one of the elements of either array. Ars Magica Dice Type
There are 3 Ars Magica dice type, the Stress(s), Quality(q) and Simple(i) die, which appear depending on the edition but work the same in all of them, of these only the stress die can accept an attribute. The simple die, as the name implies, is a simple 1d10 die where the 0 count as 10. The quality die behaves a little different. If you roll an 1 you will roll another d10 and multiply the result on this second d10 by 2. If the new d10 is another 1, you keep rerolling and multiplying. So, for example, if you roll 1,1,8 the final result is 32. On the first die (before any 's rolled) a 0 count as 0, on the next die it counts as 10. The stress die works like the Quality, but on the first roll if you roll a 0, you will have to check if you rolled a botch. You will roll A1 new dice (or 3 if none given) and every 0 in there counts as a botch. If no botch is rolled, the dice is assumed to have been a simple 0 roll and things go normal, if any number of botch is rolled the Storyteller will decide what happens. The Ars Magica Stress die can give you a non-numeric output, n case of a botch, so be careful of putting it on the same string as any other dice, as this will give you strange results. Fudge Text Display
The fudge text display is an way to convert the numeric result of the dice into a string representation of how good the roll was. It allows for a lot of options, including the feed of your own table, and which is the skill\attribute level you have. A1 represents the start level for the roll. It can either be a numeric value or an string with an entry on the options table. If you want to add an string representation it must be enclosed by curly bracers, the numeric value must be by itself. If no entry is given, an index of 0 is assumed. If an string is given, and it can't be found on the array of options, it fails. Valid entries can be ft A2 represents the table with the range options for your roll. All of the values needs to be enclosed by curly bracers. There are some common tables already defined with acronyms: these can be vanilla and fudge (both maps to the fudge table below) and fate (maps to the fate table). If you want to create your own options table the values must be separated by semi colons, optionaly enclosed by double quotes and each has to use the following format int_index:value . So for example ft[,{0:Fair;"-1:Total Doom";+1:Beyond the Thunderdome}] will be a correct map. When converting to the string representation, results that explode the table will be preceeded by "Beyond" or "Below" as appropriate. The Fudge Vanilla Table
Deck and Dominoes ModifiersDecks and Dominoes, use a separate set of modifiers than the ones used for dice. So they were separated on the code and will be separated in here. The default column shows the behavior for that modifier if it is not present on the roll. Change Display
Decks might have more than one type of display, some allow you to show images instead of texts, others at least have the possibility of using at least an abbreviation or the full text display. The table below shows the possible values, which deck types use them and the value of A1 that you need to use.
Do Not Deplete
By default, all of the card on the deck are considered unique, so when you pull one, that card is removed from the deck. By setting this option you change this behavior so that if you select more than one card, the full generated deck is used every time. Remove Cards/Tiles
There are types where you want to create a deck but remove a few of its cards before rolling. One of the basic uses is to simulate that the same deck is used among several rolls. The list of cards should use the numeric (In the case of Everway) or the abbreviation for the card types. Check the Examples for how it works. Also check it deck entry about the possible values. Suits
A basic deck is considered a set of playing cards with numeric values and a group of face cards in a number of suits, where every suit has the same card values. On a tarot deck, this is the rule played by the minor arcanas. You can use this attribute to choose which suits you will use when rolling the deck. The suits are dependent on the specific type of deck you are using, so refer to Deck Style and Tarot Type for the valid values. You must use the suit identifier on the list, not its full name. Deck Style
A basic deck is considered a set of playing cards with numeric values and a group of face cards in a number of suits, where every suit has the same card values. There are 3 types now on the system. The French Design, Piquet cards and the Neapolitan deck. The table below shows the structure of each of them regarding the suits and the cards that appear on it.
Tarot Type
A basic deck is considered a set of playing cards with two separate groups. The Major arcana are a set of cards, with its own numeration and each with archetype\image displayed. The Minor Arcana consist of numeric and face cards in a number of suits, where every suit has the same card values. There are two type now on the System, they are similar with minor variations, Marseille and Rider-Waite.
Everway Reshuffle Rules
When playing Everway, You may want to draw multiple cards at once but still desire a reshuffle to happen when The Usurper is drawn. This option lets you specify the card number(s) you wish to reshuffle on; most often card 1, The Usurper. The full option uses the full deck including those removed (with the Remove Cards/tiles option) when reshuffling, while the custom leaves the removed cards out when reshuffling. Note that the Do not Deplete option supersedes the shuffle option. ExamplesOn the table below you can find a list of test rolls and how the system will process then.
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