ROLLDICE(6)							   Games Manual 						       ROLLDICE(6)

NAME

       rolldice - rolls virtual dice

SYNOPSIS

       rolldice [ options ] dice_string dice_string ...

DESCRIPTION

       rolldice rolls virtual dice.  The dice strings passed on the command line contain information on the dice to roll in a format comparable to
       the format used in fantasy role playing games.

OPTIONS

	      -h,--help
		     returns the usage of diceroll

	      -v,--version
		     returns the version of diceroll

	      -r,--random
		     uses /dev/random for random number generating

	      -u,--urandom
		     uses /dev/urandom for random number generating (default)

	      -s,--separate
		     prints out the result of each individual die separately, as well as the operations and totals

DICE STRING FORMAT

       The dice string uses the following format:

	      {#x}{#}d[#|%]{*#}{+/-#}{s#}

       The dice string doesn't have to be in the format that I outlined above, but this is the nicest order for me.  It will try to parse any dif-
       ferent string containing the same sections in the best way it can, and will throw out anything that isn't one of the sections below.

	      {#}d[#|%]
		     This  is  the  only required part of the string, and now really isn't even required, as it defaults to 1d6 if not found.  The
		     first number is the number of dice to roll, and the second number is the number of sides the dice have.  The  numbers  rolled
		     on  each  die  are  then added up and given as the result.  Hence 3d6 means "roll three six-sided dice, add them together and
		     return the result".  If the first number is left out, then the number of dice defaults to 1.  If the second number is  not  a
		     number, but a percentage sign, then the number of sides becomes 100 (for a percentage roll).

	      {#x}   This  number  tells  how  many  times to roll.  For example, if you want to roll 3 6-sided dice 6 times, you would say 6x3d6.
		     This would return six numbers, corresponding to the six different rolls.

	      {*#}   This number tells how many times to multiply the result of each roll.   3d6*100  would  return  a	number	in  the  range	of
		     300-1800, since 3-18 is the range resulting from 3d6, which is then multipled by 100.

	      {+/-#} This  number is the modifier to be added or subtracted, depending on the sign, from each roll.  1d4+1 would result in a range
		     from 2-5 (1-4 for the die, plus 1).  This step is handled *after* the multiplication modifier.

	      {s#}   This number tells the program to drop the # lowest dice rolls.  This step is handled *before* the multiplication modifier.

       in the order show above.  For an extreme example, "3x4d6*5+1s2" would roll four six-sided dice, drop the lowest two, multiply the result by
       5, add 1 to that, and repeat the process two more times, for a total of three results.

DIAGNOSTICS

       The following error messages may appear on STDERR:

       Failure in getting dice attributes
	      Either memory could not be allocated while parsing the string passed to the rolldice program or an invalid dice string was entered.
       Failure in rolling dice
	      Memory could not be allocated while actually rolling the dice.
       Unknown option
	      Take a wild guess ;)

BUGS

       I  haven't  noticed  any  yet...   rolldice  is	a quick hack to provide a virtual dice roller for FRPGs that I play.  Any improvements are
       greatly welcome, as I am not the most experienced C coder...

AUTHOR

       Stevie Strickland <sstrickl@cc.gatech.edu>

VERSION

       1.10 - 25 Nov 2001

Linux								    25 Nov 2001 						       ROLLDICE(6)