Binary Dice Meet Simplified Dice Pools

Not long ago I wrote about the virtues of simplifying dice pools for the Ghostbusters role-playing game in the manner of All for Me Grog (here and here). In a simplified dice pool, all that matters is that the randomizer gives one of two possible results: evens or odds on a die, heads or tails on a coin. Counting dice with even numbers is significantly quicker than adding all the numbers in a standard dice pool system, and substituting binary dice for ordinary six-siders makes it even quicker. Binary dice can have any number of sides, although I recommend the six-sided variety as they are the easiest to roll in large numbers and represent the perfect polyhedron (as far as this Web log is concerned). Binary dice, as the name suggests, give two possible results: 1 and 0. Roll your dice pool, count the dice that show "1," and ignore the dice that show "0." That's all there is to it. It's the fastest way to roll.

(Availability can be a problem. Koplow manufactures six-sided binary dice, and there is or has been at least one Kickstarter project involving the manufacture of other polyhedral binary dice, but binary dice of any kind are difficult to find in stores. Online stores specializing in educational supplies are an option, and some game retailers sell them occasionally on certain well-known online markets.)