RPG dice notation

The Machinations tool allows the designer control over random values produced. The tool can simulate dice rolls by using a similar notation for dice rolls and calculations that is commonly used in pen-and-paper role-playing games. In these games "D6" stands for the value produced by a roll of a single six-sided die, where as "D6+3" adds three to the same value, and "2D6" adds the results of two six-sided dice and thus will produce a number somewhere between two and twelve. "D6*2" multiplies the outcome of single die roll by two for a different distribution. Other types of dice can be used as well: "2D4+D8+D12" indicates the result of two four-sided dice added with the results of a eight- and twelve-sided die. Unlike pen-and-paper role-playing games, the Machinations tool is not restricted to dice that are commercially available. It can use five-, seven or thirty-five-sided dice.