Dungeons and Dragons has attracted some of the most passionate and talented nerds on the planet. All the wonderful fan art and ever-expanding homebrew campaigns are proof of that creative spark. Sometimes, these projects may even fulfill a niche that no DnD fan thought they needed before. Realdice.org is one such project, and it’s a blast to play with.
Created by u/Lazy_Hovercraft_420 on Reddit, Realdice.org is yet another DnD dice rolling app. While these apps are a dime a dozen, what makes Realdice.org stand out is that it’s a digital app that actually rolls a physical die. The creator has a 24/7 camera trained on a 20-sided die, which users can roll at any time through the website.
What makes the project so charming to me is how jank the setup is. It’s a basic $10 dice roller placed on some random desk with very visible wires. At peak hours, the dice essentially never stop rolling, which makes it a poor app for use in actual campaigns. I thankfully managed to capture my Nat 20 roll before it was unceremoniously replaced by a meager seven.
Personally, I find the overcomplication of a physical dice roll a real rib tickler. I’ve never been one for dice rollers, towers, and what-have-you, but I can’t deny how fun they are to play with. I always appreciate the passion DnD fans have for the game, especially with silly little projects like this.
The creator continues to improve upon the concept, such as increasing video resolution and framerate. The site is rather stable now, so if you feel like killing a few minutes, give the app a few rolls. As of this writing, the app has rolled 18,700 times. Yours truly was the 18,700th roll.
The less said about that roll, the better.
In the market for a new DnD party? The Wargamer Discord has plenty of dice-rolling DnD fans to talk to. If you’d rather stay on top of DnD releases, the DnD release schedule should get you caught up.