RPG Roller 2.4RPG Roller - The name says what it does, and it does what it says. RPG Roller is not a toy. It’s simply the best, most powerful gamer’s tool there is for rolling polyhedra dice. No !ashy, unnecessary graphics, no unnecessary sounds, no gimmicks. Just a set of powerful features designed to let you roll dice however you need to roll them.

RPG Roller provides a number of convenient ways to quickly roll dice without any messing around:

• Powerful Formulas: A feature-packed die rolling formula system, including keeping or re-rolling high/low rolls, dice with any number of sides, the ability to roll different kinds of dice at once, repeating rolls, roll threshold counts, exploding dice, 10-again dice, Fudge dice, and more.

• Quick buttons: With just a single button press you can roll 10 six-sided dice to compute damage from a #reball spell, or 5 eight-sided dice to roll hit points for a random monster.

RPG Roller 2.4• Hot buttons: De#ne any number of your own color-

coded buttons, using whatever title and formula you want.

• Roll History: Look back on previous roll results, with formula and each individual die roll.

• Formula History: Access previously used formulas, so you don’t have to type them in again.

• Roll Bar: At the top of every page is a bar with a formula box, a roll button, and roll result area. There is a drop-down tray to view full results which hides when you don’t want it.

• Other useful features, such as a formula composer and an animated roll distribution plot.

Roll Bar

Roll button Roll result Formula box

The roll bar appears on the top of most pages. It looks like this:

No matter how you roll dice with RPG Roller, this is where to look for the results.Tap on the roll button, and it rolls dice according to the formula in the formula box. The results are shown in the black area next to the formula box. In the example above, six eight-sided dice are rolled, and the resulting sum of all six rolls is 26. If you want to see all six individual rolls, tap on the result and a dropdown tray displays them for you (or go to the roll history page to see them).When rolling using either the quick buttons or hot buttons, the button formula is loaded in the box, and the new result is displayed in the roll bar.Tap on the formula box, and you can directly enter any formula you like!

Tray

Quick ButtonsQuick buttons are the simplest way to roll dice. A button matrix of common dice combinations appear across #ve pages (scroll from side to side to change pages). Buttons are arranged by the number of sides per die in rows, and die count in columns by default. (You can swap the orientation on the settings page.)This makes rolling really fast and easy. No typing in formulas - just pick the button you want and tap it. The result appears in the roll bar, along with the formula. You can roll again using the roll button if you like.

Hot ButtonsHot buttons are a lot like quick buttons, except you de#ne your own! Tap and hold anywhere in the hot button window to activate edit mode. Tap on buttons to edit them. You can de#ne the button title, formula and color, and the assigned formula is rolled when you tap the button.If you have too many buttons to #t on a page, just tap the “New Page” button and you’ll have a whole page of new buttons. You can delete the current page of buttons with the “Cut Page” button, and paste it back in at a different location.

Hot Buttons (Continued)When edit mode is active, all button slots on the page appear, even empty ones. Tap on a button and you will be presented with available options for editing:

• Cut button: Clear the button but save its contents in the clipboard for later pasting to other button slots. This effectively lets you move a button.

• Copy button: Leave the button alone, but save its contents in the clipboard for later pasting to other button slots.

• Paste button: Replace the contents of the button, if any, with the button saved in the clipboard.

• Edit button: Open the Hot Button Editor to edit the contents of the button, including title, formula and button color. See the next page for a description of how this works.

• Edit page title: You can name each hot button page to whatever you like!

When you’re #nished editing buttons, tap the “Done” button. All blank buttons will disappear until the next time you enter edit mode. Be sure to save a backup using the Backups page if you make changes!

Hot Buttons (Continued)You can de#ne button colors using the three sliders on the Hot Button Editor page. If you would like to use a preset or previously de#ned color, tap on the “title color” box to open the color selection palette. You select a color from the palette by tapping on the one you want.There are 20 preset colors to choose from in the #rst four rows. The bottom two rows display the last ten colors you de#ned with the sliders. This makes it easy to create a color you like and use it for other buttons.

Roll HistoryThe Roll History page displays a scrollable table of past rolls, with the most recent at the bottom. Individual rolls are separated by alternating color. When using a formula with a repeat count (e.g. 3x4d8), you will see all of the repeats grouped together. Each line includes the roll number, sum of the rolls, the formula used, and each individual roll. Tapping on a line in the roll history page loads the formula and result in the roll bar. Tap on the blue arrow to see all the detail. This is useful when you want to see individual rolls, but they don’t all #t on one line.

Multi-roll result

Single roll result

Formula HistoryThe Formula History page displays a scrollable table of previously rolled formulas. This provides fast access to formulas you’ve used before, without having to type them in again. Just tap on a formula, and it appears in the roll bar. Tap the roll button, and voila!The most recently used formula appears on the bottom.

FormulasThroughout RPG Roller you will see dice rolling formulas. If you are a fan of role playing games, you are already familiar with formulas like 3d6 (three six-sided dice). RPG Roller brings this to a new level with powerful extensions to the standard formulas found in popular RPGs and other dice rolling applications.The most basic of formulas takes the form all role playing gamers are familiar with. For example:• 3d6 - Roll 3 6-sided dice and sum the results• 8d95 - Roll 8 95-sided dice. (RPG Roller supports

dice with any number of sides, up to 1000).RPG Roller expands on the standard dice notation, providing a wide array of extensions. There are a variety of math operators, formula modi#ers, and dice modi#ers that affect the way results are calculated. These extensions allow you to create formulas used by most role playing games in existence.

Formulas (Continued)Mathematical OperatorsA number of math operators are supported. Note that RPG Roller only makes limited use of parentheses, in order to keep formulas as short as possible. Unless you are enclosing an entire formula, parentheses are not used for grouping.Supported math operators are:• + Add.• - Subtract.• * Multiply.• / Divide.• ^ Exponent (raise dice to the power of something,

or something to the power of the dice).Addition and subtraction can be applied on individual dice rolls within a formula, or when combining rolls of different kind of dice. The other operators can only be applied within a formula. For example:• 3d6+1 - roll 3 6-sided dice and add 1 to each die

roll.• 3d6 + 1 - roll 3 6-sided dice and add 1 to the sum.

Formulas (Continued)• 4d8-4 - Roll 4 8-sided dice and subtract 4 from each

roll.• 4d8 - 4 - Roll 4 8-sided dice and subtract 4 from the

sum. Again, note the spaces.This is an important aspect of formulas. Spaces around +/- operators cause them to be applied to an entire formula result. Operators without spaces are applied to individual rolls. The other operators can only be used within a formula (no spaces around the operator) and are used like this:• 2d10*3 - Roll 2 10-sided dice and multiply each die

by 3.• 1d9/3 - Roll 1 9-sided die and divide by three. The

results of division are always rounded up.• 5d4^2 - Roll 5 4-sided dice and raise each to the

power of 2.• 2^5d4 - Roll 5 4-sided dice and raise 2 to the power

of the result of each die.

Formulas (Continued)Combining Mathematical OperatorsYou can combine certain operators to make even better formulas. For example:• 6d6+1 - 7 - Roll 6 6-sided dice and add one to each

die. Subtract 7 from the total.However there are limitations and some operators cannot be mixed. RPG Roller will let you know when you try an invalid combination of operators.Formula Modi!ersThere are a number of formula modi#ers that change the way dice are rolled. Supported formula modi#ers are shown in the following table.Compound modi#ers (indicated by a “Y” in the “Comp” column) may be used both in a formula and o u t s i d e a co m p o u n d fo r m u l a’s e n c l o s i n g parentheses. They have different effects depending on where they are used.

Mod Comp Description

h Y Keep the N highest rolls from the results, discarding the rest.

l Y Keep the N lowest rolls from the results, discarding the rest.

m Y De#ne the minimum roll allowed on a die.

M Y De#ne the maximum roll allowed on a die.

e N Rolls "explode" on a certain value or higher.

E N Rolls "explode" on a certain value or lower.

i N As with ‘e’, but instead causes implosion.

I N As with ‘E’, but instead causes implosion.

t Y Set a dice pool threshold for a certain value or higher.

T Y Set a dice pool threshold for a certain value or lower.

a N Roll another die on a certain value or higher (a means "again").

A N Roll another die on a certain value or lower.

x Y Repeat the formula N times.

Formulas (Continued)

Formulas (Continued)Here are some examples:• 2m3d6 - Roll 3 6-sided dice, throwing out any rolls

less than 2 and rolling them again.• 5M3d6 - Roll 3 6-sided dice, throwing out any roll

above 5.• 2m5M3d6 - As above, but throw out rolls below 2

and above 5.

• 3h4d6 - Roll 4 6-sided dice and keep the highest 3.• 2l4d6 - Roll 4 6-sided dice and keep the lowest 2.• 8e1d10 - Roll 1 10-sided die, exploding (rolling

again and adding in the result) on an 8 or better.• 2E1d10 - Roll 1 10-sided die, exploding on a 2 or

less.• 4e5E1d10 - Roll 1 10-sided die, exploding when

less than or equal to 5 and greater than or equal to 4.

Formulas (Continued)Note that the last one is unusual. It might seem that exploding should occur on any value because the ranges overlap. Rather than support this less-than-useful behavior, overlaps are instead treated as a middle range for explosions to occur. This overlapping behavior is also supported for the i/I, a/A and t/T operators.

• 5t10d6 - Roll 10 6-sided dice and count the number of dice resulting in a 5 or better. Instead of the sum of the dice the count over 5 is returned.

• 3T10d6 - Roll 10 6-sided dice and count the number of dice resulting in a 3 or less.

• 4t5T10d6 - Roll 10 6-sided dice and count the number of dice less than or equal to 5 and greater than or equal to 4.

• 10a2d10 - Roll 2 10-sided dice and roll a second die for any that result in a 10.

• 3A2d10 - Roll 2 10-sided dice and roll a second die for any that result in a 3 or less.

• 5a7A2d10 - Roll 2 10-sided dice and roll a second die for any that result in a number greater than or equal to 5 and less than or equal to 7.

Formulas (Continued)The difference between a/A and e/E is subtle. Exploding rolls all count as a single die roll. For example, when rolling 6e1d6+1 and you roll a 6, you get to roll a second die. if the second die is 3, the total is 9. Then 1 is added, for a grand total of 10. When rolling 6a1d6+1, however, and you roll a 6, 1 is added to the six for a total of 7. Then another die is rolled, also possibly causing another roll if the result is 6.This behavior is useful for "10 again" type rolls, which require re-rolls to be treated independently. To achieve "10 again" behavior, you would use a formula like this:

• 10a7t10d10 - Roll 10 10-sided dice, counting all results greater than or equal to 7. Any die resulting in a 10 causes another die to be rolled, which itself may add to the count of results greater than or equal to 7.

Formulas (Continued)Notes on formula modi#ers:The e/E/i/I/a/A/m/M modi#ers are applied before any numerical operators. The t/T modi#ers are applied after any numerical operators have been applied. Repeat counts (the x modi#er) are not affected by, nor do they affect, other modi#ers because they do not modify a formula result. There is one exception: the h/l modi#ers will reduce the repeat count accordingly. The m/M modi#ers apply to individual dice when included in a normal formula, and to the total result when used outside parentheses. See the Compound Formula section for more details.When both explosion and implosion operators are present, explosion operators take precedence upon con!ict.The "Smooth Explosions" option in the settings page causes one to be subtracted from the die when an explosion occurs, and one to be added to the die when an implosion occurs. So rolls like 6e1d6 will be able to result in a 6, which would otherwise be impossible.

Formulas (Continued)Combining Modi!ersYou can combine modi#ers in a wide variety of ways. For example:• 6e2m1d6 - Roll 1 6-sided die, re-rolling when less

than 2, and exploding on 6.However, some do not make sense to combine. RPG Roller blocks some combinations of operators, notifying you when you try and enter them. Note that some con!icting or nonsensical formulas may not be detected due to the complexity of the formula. Take care to enter formulas that make sense.Die Modi!ersIn addition to using digits to specify the number of sides on a die, several modi#ers are provided: Supported modi#ers are:• F - Fudge dice. This notation is shorthand for d3-2.• Custom dice - You can de#ne your own die using

set notation to designate the value of each side of the die. The format is as follows: 1d{set} where {set} is a list of die sides.

Formulas (Continued)Die sides are comma-separated, with ranges being allowed as well. Ranges are speci#ed by "N..M", where N is a number less than M. Ranges are inclusive, so a range of "3..6" represents "3,4,5,6".Here are some examples of die modi#ers:• 4dF - Roll four fudge dice.• 3d{1,2,2,3,3,4} - Roll a 6-sided die with 1 side each

having a 1 and 4, and two sides each having a 2 and 3.

• 2d{4,6,9..11} - Roll a 5-sided die with sides 4,6,9,10,11.

Notes on die modi#ers:Mathematical operators are not allowed with Fudge dice, since Fudge dice implicitly contain operators. Custom dice can have any sort of modi#er or math operator, just like normal dice. Custom dice can have sides with negative values.

Formulas (Continued)Compound FormulasYou can combine multiple formulas into a single compound formula. When you roll a compound formula, each individual formula is rolled and the results are combined into a single sum. For example:

3d6-1*4 + 1d8 + 3In this example three six-sided dice are rolled with one subtracted from each roll then multiplied by four, one eight-sided die is rolled, the results are summed, and three is added to the total. Another example:

4d10 - 2d4 + 1Here four ten-sided dice are rolled, two four-sided dice are rolled and subtracted from the 4d10 roll, and one is added to the total. Note that in this example a negative result is possible.

Formulas (Continued)Compound Formula Modi!ersSome of the normal modi#ers can be applied to the result of an entire compound formula. See the previous modi#er table for the list. When specifying a compound formula modi#er, the entire formula is enclosed in parentheses. This denotes that the modi#ers are to be applied to the entire result, not to individual dice. For example:• 3x(2d12 + 3d4 + 1d6) - Roll a bunch of dice and

sum the results. Repeat 3 times.• 20t(4d8) - Roll 4 8-sided dice and return 1 if the

sum equals or exceeds 20, or 0 if it didn't.• 6x30T(7d10 + 9d9) - Roll 7 10-sided dice and 9 9-

sided dice and return 1 if the sum is less than or equal to 30 or zero if it's not. Repeat 6 times.

• 3x2h(3d12 + 1d6) - Roll “3d12 + 1d6”, repeat 3 times and keep the highest 2 repeats.

• 3x2h7m(3d12 + 1d6) - Roll “3d12 + 1d6”, repeat 3 times and keep the highest 2 repeats. The minimum total result for each will be 7.

• 3x2l(2l3d6) - Roll 3 6-sided dice and keep the lowest 2 dice. Keep the lowest 2 of 3 repeats.

Formulas (Continued)Compound Formula Modi!ersNote that repeat counts for compound formulas always require enclosing parentheses. It is also important to use parentheses when applying the h/l operators to a repeat count rather than an individual formula. When using the m/M operators outside of parentheses, be sure that the formula has a solution! It is possible to craft an impossible formula. For example:

20m(1d10 + 1d8)This formula is invalid. The highest possible total result is 18, but the “20m” constrains the total to a minimum of 20. Another example:

101M(100d1000 + 1d6)This formula, while possible, is highly unlikely to occur. Invalid or low probability formulas will result in an error when rolled.If you #nd formulas confusing, use the composer page to help you create them until it all makes sense. Note that the composer is only intended for helping create basic formulas. However, once you master those, you won't need the composer!

ComposerThe Composer helps you create basic formulas without having to remember the formula format. Most formulas are simple, but the composer helps create those tricky ones.If you type a formula directly into the formula box, the composer page is automatically populated with the broken-down values. This makes it easy to modify the current formula. Or type in values from scratch.When you’re done, hit the compose button and your new formula appears in the formula box, ready to roll with.The composer page displays the parameters for a single formula. To create compound formulas, tap the page selector bar on the right side to add a new formula page. You can go back and forth between pages by tapping on the left and right sides of the page selector. Enter one or more additional formulas this way, and when you have #nished entering them all, tap the compose button. They will all be combined into a single compound formula.You can combine up to ten formulas to create a compound formula!

Composer (Continued)

Number of sides on the dieNumber of dice to roll

How many rolls to keepKeep high or low rollsAdd or subtract adjustment

The minimum roll to allowThe maximum roll to allow

How many times to repeat the formula

Per-die adjustment

Explode the die at this value

Add or subtract formula

Page selector bar

Clear (delete) this/all pages

Most of the items on the composer page are common sense. The +/- selector next to the die box determines if that formula will be added or subtracted in a compound formula. The #rst one must always be positive. To de#ne a #nal overall adjustment, like the “+ 8” in “3d6-1 + 8”, just enter a lone adjustment in its own page.

Multiply rolls by this valueDie count threshold

ChartThe Chart displays a random distribution graph of the formula in the formula box. This is useful for determining whether custom formulas are providing the desired frequency of outcomes. For example, you have a tyrannical orc chieftain who despite poor health has carved out a leadership position in the tribe. You want its hit points to be higher than average for a similar, healthy orc. You decide to use 4h7d{1,1..7} instead of 4d8, and the chart con#rms that the rolls will tend to be on the high end of the scale. If this doesn’t make sense, don’t worry. It’s fun to watch, but isn’t necessary.

Number of trials to run

Current number of trials (successful roll rate in parentheses if compound m/M used)

Min/max/average result

Height indicates likelihood (frequency) of results

BackupsThe Backups page allows you to create and store backups of your hot buttons. You can use backups to restore your hot buttons to any previous state. You can also export (email) your backups, so you can share with your friends or send to your other iOS devices. Just click on the attachment in the email and it automatically saves to your backup list in RPG Roller.To create a new backup from the current state of your hot buttons, click on the New Backup button and con#rm the popup. The new backup will be added to the list. Clicking on any backup in the list will open a menu with the following choices:

• Delete: Delete the selected backup. (You can also do this more easily with the Edit button.)

• Rename: Set the backup name to whatever you want (replacing the default “untitled”).

• Export: Send the selected backup as an email attachment.

• Restore: Restore the hot buttons from the saved backup, overwriting your current hot buttons.

• Append: Add buttons from the backup to your current hot buttons (leaves your buttons alone).

SettingsThere are a number of preferences that you can set, and they can have a big effect on the behavior and performance of RPG Roller. The Settings page allows you to set them as you like.

• Roll history size: The number of lines in the roll history. Max value 1000, set to 100 by default.

• Formula history size: As above, but for the formula history list. Max value 200, set to 50 by default.

• Max exploding dice: The maximum number of successive exploding dice. Max value 50, set to 50 by default.

• Dropdown tray open/close time: When set to a nonzero value (and when the tray is con#gured to open automatically), the dropdown tray will automatically close after this many seconds. When set to zero, the dropdown tray must be closed manually. Max value 30, set to 2 by default.

• Automatically open dropdown tray: After each roll, open the dropdown tray. If this is enabled, you probably don’t need or want auto-switch to roll history. Off by default.

Settings (Continued)• Arrange Quick Button dice vertically: Normally the

quick buttons are arranged so that different dice types are arranged vertically, with the die type incrementing by rows. Disabling this setting swaps the button matrix so that different dice types are arranged horizontally, with the die count incrementing by rows. There are less dice types and counts in horizontal mode, but some users may prefer this legacy orientation. On by default.

• Auto-switch to roll history: When rolling a formula with a repeat count (e.g. 3x4d10), automatically switch to the roll history page so all of the results can be viewed. Off by default.

• Show discarded rolls: Show all rolls in the tray and roll history page, even discarded rolls outside the high/low limits. Discarded rolls are displayed in square brackets (“[“ and “]”) and explode rolls are displayed in curly brackets (“{“ and “}”) in the tray and roll detail displays. Off by default.

Settings (Continued)• Flash roll result: When enabled, this setting causes

the roll results to !ash momentarily after each roll. The !ashing provides visual con#rmation that the roll occurred. This is especially useful when you get two identical results in a row, so you know the roll actually happened. On by default.

• Smooth explosions: When enabled, all exploding dice rolls are “smooth”. One is subtracted from exploding rolls so that the explode value itself becomes a possible result. Off by default.

• Display big text: When enabled, roll results are momentarily displayed on the screen in large numbers. On by default.

• Keep device awake while app running: When in the heat of battle, you probably don’t want your device to go to sleep. This setting will keep it awake, at the cost of battery life (if less than 20% remains, your device will sleep anyway, to conserve battery). When plugged in, your device will never sleep in RPG Roller, regardless of this setting. Off by default.

Settings (Continued)• Zoomed Quick/Hot buttons: When set, both the

Quick/Hot buttons pages are initially zoomed at app launch. Off by default.

• Enable double-tap-to-zoom: When set, double-tap a button or the grey background on either the Hot Buttons or Quick Buttons pages to zoom in and make the buttons larger. Double-tapping a second time zooms out again. Great for those who have trouble with small buttons. On by default.

• Enable iCloud: Keeps your backups in iCloud and automatically shares them with all of your devices with RPG Roller. Only available if your iOS device is con#gured to use iCloud. Off by default.

• Enable shake-to-roll: When on a page displaying the roll bar, shaking your device initiates a roll as if the roll button had been tapped. On by default.

• Enable detailed roll history: Each row in the Roll History table is numbered. Two lines of text per row are displayed, instead of one. This allows more information to be displayed, at the cost of smaller text. On by default.

Settings (Continued)• Roll sound: Selects a con#rmation sound that plays

whenever you roll the dice. Adaptive selects a sound each time based on the number and type of dice being rolled. Silent by default.

• Quick Button dice: Lets you set the die types on the Quick Button page to whatever you want, if you don’t like the default choices. This only affects the dice when they are arranged vertically. See the Arrange Quick Button dice vertically option above.

• Reset: This section of the menu allows you to clear (completely erase) the various histories and hot buttons, reset the settings to defaults, or all of the above at once. Resetting does not destroy your backups! Those can only be deleted manually. (Note: you can delete individual entries in any list in RPG Roller using the traditional #nger swipe method, if you only want to delete a few.)

iCloudWhen you enable iCloud support in RPG Roller, your hot button backups are automatically stored in iCloud and shared with your other iOS devices. (Requires iOS 5 and an iCloud account.) When you add, delete or modify a backup, the change appears on your other iOS devices in a matter of seconds, as long as you are connected to the Internet. If you make changes while offline, those changes will be synced to iCloud the next time you are online again.When you #rst enable iCloud support, your existing backups are merged with any backups you might already have in the cloud (from other devices or if you previously had iCloud enabled and then turned it off). From that point forward, all changes are mirrored across all of your iCloud enabled devices.Should you get a new device, or wipe and restore an existing device, any backups you previously saved in iCloud will be automatically restored to that device. If you later turn off iCloud support in RPG Roller, all backups currently on your device are kept, but subsequent changes will not appear on your other iOS devices (and vice-versa).

iCloud (Continued)Note: You must enable “Documents and Data” in the iCloud settings of your device to turn on RPG Roller iCloud support. Take care to #rst disable iCloud support in the RPG Roller settings if you later decide to disable “Documents and Data” in your device’s iCloud settings. By #rst disabling RPG Roller iCloud support, your backups will be saved to local storage on your device by RPG Roller. If you turn off “Documents and Data” #rst, iOS will destroy any backups you’ve made, and RPG Roller will be unable to save local copies of your backups.If this happens, fear not. Your documents are still in iCloud and you can recover them. Just turn everything back on, and then turn them off in the order described above.

Additional InfoRPG Roller is a free application, but development resources and website cost money. If you like RPG Roller, please consider donating. Visit our site at:

http://www.moonsoft.com/rpgrolleriphone/

Comments, compliments and bug reports should be sent to:

rpgroller@moonsoft.com

Please be sure to put “RPG Roller” somewhere in the subject, or it will not pass the spam #lter.

Thank you for using RPG Roller!

RPG Roller is a Moondog Software ProductionCopyright © 2010-2011 Steve Scherf

All rights reserved