Left, with the topmost vertex being labeled and treated as the result of the roll.
Most dice are read with the number from the top-most face, but is is impossible to lay a tetrahedron -- the most common d4 shape and a Platonic solid, barrel dice need not apply -- flat on the table. We still realize that there is a face on the d4 that is "flat."
However, this flat-lying face is the one that is on the table and cannot be read. Therefore, the solution is to write the face's number on the face's edges. This creates a scenario where a tetrahedron d4 is still having its "flat face" read which is consistent with the other Platonic solid dice.
However, this is inconsistent with the labels of the dice being on the edges. You COULD make a d4 with the sides labeled, but you'd have to "read" the number you rolled by process of elimination, which is awkward.
However, if we alter our perception and instead realize that a tetrahedron has the same number of faces as it does vertexes, we can instead opt to treat the vertex opposite the "flat face" as the rolled value, and label the vertexes rather than labeling the sides.
There is inconsistency either way, but for readability's sake, and because it is consistent with the logic of "look at the top number, dumbass" for every single other die (including barrel die), the labeled vertex is the most logically consistent. Why you gotta make me look at the BOTTOM of the die, for fricks sake?
The point of a die is to determine how it landed. As a d4 pyramid has no "UP" side, the only side that is relevant is the bottom flat side. And the Bottom Flate side is labeled with closest visible number to its surface, which is the lowest number.
In fact, the d4 with the numbers along the bottom is the truest of all die, because no other die can you ask "what number did it "land on?" The d4 pyramid is the only die that can land on a number.
And now consider that the perversions among other die have already gone too far. Many d6 die have either the 1 or the 6 replaced with a symbol. It's as if the creators KNEW that a d6 was but a shallow imitation of the superior shape, and sought to reduce the d6 to have fewer numbers.
I disagree with your logic. All dice, even ones that aren't other Platonic solids, all have a "bottom flat" and a "top flat" side when at rest, and yet I have never seen any other die's "bottom flat" side be the one that is read.
You do bring up a good point about the literal interpretation of "landing on" a number, and this is the only argument that I will accept.
tfw the d4 stops "rolling" and you have to come up with a result knowing full well you can't read this shit and somebody will get impatient and just tell you anyway
The one that's shaped like a butt plug? Novelty, but not really a contender. And d8s that just have 1-4 x 2 is still a d8 because the die type is ultimately defined by the number of sides, not the numbers on it.
I have one that is traditional pyramid shaped, but each face is a different solid colour and number. You simply use the face that is on the table, either by picking it up or looking at the other 3 faces and deducing which is missing. I also have one that is an 8 sided die with each number printed twice
As long as it's pyramidal, it's cool in my book.
Anything else (rollers, shards, daggers, smoothed out angles, caltrops, dreidel, fricking beyblades) is poser shit.
Left, with the topmost vertex being labeled and treated as the result of the roll.
Most dice are read with the number from the top-most face, but is is impossible to lay a tetrahedron -- the most common d4 shape and a Platonic solid, barrel dice need not apply -- flat on the table. We still realize that there is a face on the d4 that is "flat."
However, this flat-lying face is the one that is on the table and cannot be read. Therefore, the solution is to write the face's number on the face's edges. This creates a scenario where a tetrahedron d4 is still having its "flat face" read which is consistent with the other Platonic solid dice.
However, this is inconsistent with the labels of the dice being on the edges. You COULD make a d4 with the sides labeled, but you'd have to "read" the number you rolled by process of elimination, which is awkward.
However, if we alter our perception and instead realize that a tetrahedron has the same number of faces as it does vertexes, we can instead opt to treat the vertex opposite the "flat face" as the rolled value, and label the vertexes rather than labeling the sides.
There is inconsistency either way, but for readability's sake, and because it is consistent with the logic of "look at the top number, dumbass" for every single other die (including barrel die), the labeled vertex is the most logically consistent. Why you gotta make me look at the BOTTOM of the die, for fricks sake?
The point of a die is to determine how it landed. As a d4 pyramid has no "UP" side, the only side that is relevant is the bottom flat side. And the Bottom Flate side is labeled with closest visible number to its surface, which is the lowest number.
In fact, the d4 with the numbers along the bottom is the truest of all die, because no other die can you ask "what number did it "land on?" The d4 pyramid is the only die that can land on a number.
And now consider that the perversions among other die have already gone too far. Many d6 die have either the 1 or the 6 replaced with a symbol. It's as if the creators KNEW that a d6 was but a shallow imitation of the superior shape, and sought to reduce the d6 to have fewer numbers.
I disagree with your logic. All dice, even ones that aren't other Platonic solids, all have a "bottom flat" and a "top flat" side when at rest, and yet I have never seen any other die's "bottom flat" side be the one that is read.
You do bring up a good point about the literal interpretation of "landing on" a number, and this is the only argument that I will accept.
I have also re-formulated my argument as a meme.
I don't fricking trust d4s. They don't roll. I roll d8s and chop them in half.
You must run out of dice a lot
[1D20]÷5
Number on top, no question.
d6, if you land on 5 you reroll if you land on 6 you pick the god damn number
d12 divided by 3
tfw the d4 stops "rolling" and you have to come up with a result knowing full well you can't read this shit and somebody will get impatient and just tell you anyway
>too stupid to read dice.
moron.
I worked it out at the age of 12. Seek help.
Right is old school
Left, anything else is Black folkhit
Neither. d6 should be the smallest dice in use. d12 the largest. d10's and d% are lame.
The only dice i like are d6, d8, and d12
this. the d8 is a d6 with better range, and the d12 is a d20 but not as swingy
>they haven't seen *that* d4 design
It’s pretty nice, I gotta say. Autists would have an aneurysm about skewed randomness, though, same shit as with d10s.
The one that's shaped like a butt plug? Novelty, but not really a contender. And d8s that just have 1-4 x 2 is still a d8 because the die type is ultimately defined by the number of sides, not the numbers on it.
Left but the result is the only number that DIDN'T show up on the face of the die.
I prefer 2d2
Neither, d4 is shit. It doesn't roll, it just plops.
I kinda like these new ones
I really love a lot of the stuff q-workshop put out
I spin my dreidel d4
I choose a better way. God, I miss when Barrel D4's were in game stores. Making the test print right now.
I have one that is traditional pyramid shaped, but each face is a different solid colour and number. You simply use the face that is on the table, either by picking it up or looking at the other 3 faces and deducing which is missing. I also have one that is an 8 sided die with each number printed twice
So-called "d4"s are not dice, they're markers.
As long as it's pyramidal, it's cool in my book.
Anything else (rollers, shards, daggers, smoothed out angles, caltrops, dreidel, fricking beyblades) is poser shit.