Deeper dice (2) - Dice+ and networking

If you haven't heard of Dice+, there's some info here at BGG.

It's a powered die, for use with tablets and so on. The version shown seems to have a battery, accelerometers, LEDs and a wireless transmitter. You roll as normal, the LEDs show the roll was recognised and the result is sent to the main device.

With all that tech inside we might wonder how balanced it can be, and how big the market is. After all, how many of us would want to carry it with a mobile device, especially for a possible US$30? I'd guess the firm want the niche to support long-term development with an eye on larger electronic gaming surfaces.

Whatever, it has me pondering how else a die like this could be used. There's clearly potential for peer-to-peer with setups like Pluristem and Flailsnails, and for any dispersed group. But what about in face-to-face games too? If all the dice were hooked up as a network, some of the ideas on relationships in the last post could be automated, and explored much further.

Assuming we're even willing to accept the idea - and I'm not convinced it's a good move - what else could a network do?

Think how cybernetic our kind of gaming already is. The basic language we use can seem quite limited, and tabletop games very mechanistic - we're all but chess computers at times. So what if the dice had voice recognition? If they realised one roll was a hit roll, they might guess the next die picked up was for damage, and even identify the rules needed. They could follow the game. With a speaker they could even tell us the number we need, or the chances, or correct us, and maybe advise us.

If terrain and miniatures were tagged, or the map scanned, the dice could triangulate the positions. The network could act as an opponent. Maybe one day we'll be pieces in their games..?

_

Deeper dice (1) - interactions and relative positions

The first in what will probably be a very occasional series on result generation - random or not - to get some of the weirder raw ideas out there for delving into in the spirit of the D1 post.

For the first then, what if dice were a kind of particle of fate?

What if when you roll more than one die and two or more of them end up touching, they annihilate each other, meaning the results aren't counted? Or the smaller result is subtracted from the larger? Or they fuse, so you total the two numbers?

Or maybe some pass beyond knowledge, so if one die ends up at least twice as far from the nearest as that one is from any other, it's ignored? Or maybe it can't be used until another one gets closer? If it rolls off the table the effect in-game could take place on another plane, or the result could show how many dice vanish with it, bleeding potential from the tabletop.

It could also work for interactions between the dice being used by different players, and there's real potential here. If dice stop in contact or strike each other and rebound, there could be a connection in-game. Stopping in contact could mean a result for one player affecting another immediately, but a rebound might see the effect offset in time or space, with the distance between the dice on a line drawn to the roller being direction in time. Positions relative to objects like mugs, notes or terrain pieces could be interpreted in terms of events or locations.

The connections could be allowed alter the nature of the game world, changing established facts and keeping reality in flux.

Could colour make a difference, or the energy put into the roll, or a given number being rolled in a matching hour or minute?

What happens if a die manages to get past the GM's screen?
_