Doing the Dice Engine on Roll20 II : Macros

I explained how easy it is to do the handful of d20 rolls for the Dice Engine on Roll20, but with macros you can make it even easier and get it to help with remembering the relationship between aptitude and the number of dice to roll.

A macro is just a stored instruction with an easy name. In this case we are going to make macors with the names a0, a12, a35 and a6p. These represent aptitudes of 0 (a0), 1 or 2 (a12), 3, 4 or 5 (a35) and 6 or more (a6p). When you invoke them they will roll the correct number of dice for the aptitude they represent, plus the wild dice. Note that you use the same macros for negative aptitude, you simply treat the results differently by removing excess high dice, instead of excess low dice.

To make the first on, go to the collections tool.

Then press the +Add button next to the heading “Macros”.

In the dialog give the name “a0” and in the actions pane type “/r 5d20”.

Save it. Mission accomplished.

In the chat screen type “#a0” and press return/enter twice. Dice should roll!

However having to type all that is still too much of a nuisance, so go back to the collections panel. Next to the macro you should see a check box for “In Bar”. Check that on and you will have a nice little button to press.

Do the same for the following macros:

a12 -> /r 6d20

a35 -> /r 7d20

a6p -> /r 8d20

And then you have a nice collection of quick dice rolls and can focus on just playing your game.