Cheaters

From: Brian K. Curley (Master of Time & Space) <"Brian>
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 04:03:24 -0500 (CDT)

Hi Folks,

I guess this is off topic, but the discussion started here so...

   Someone commented recently about players cheating on die rolls and what-not. I had an episode recently in which a player, a rules lawyer to be sure, was involved in one of the competitions on The Garhound Contest. He had made several poor rolls in a row and was rolling to attack in the joust. Now bear in mind I *saw* this with my own eyes, so it isn't speculation. He rolled his dice, I saw the one he'd used a the 10's digit on the previous roll come up a 9. "Oooohh...", I thought. Then when he reached for the dice I saw him deliberately place his forefinger on the die and, as he pulled the pair together to "read" the result, flip it gently so it rolled to show a 5.

    I was stunned. It was right there in front of 6 other players. I think I was the only one who saw it (see below). I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to make a scene in front of the other players. I knew that would make them horribly uncomfortable. Another part of me wanted to expose this *sshole right then and there. Well, I let it slide.

    Now my dilemma is this: discussing what I had seen with a couple of others after the game, I was told that this same player had, several times during the run, changed which die was his 10's digit. It appeared to them that he was reading the lowest result of the two possible combinations. This player also has the habit of gathering his dice together from a roll rather quickly, then picking them up off the table to read them. Now, in fairness, he does have impaired vision, but I've seen him read them off the table before (usually when he's rolled something really well and wants everyone to oohh and aahh). So what do I do?

   I have thought of the following options:

• - e-mailing him telling him that I saw what he did and warning him not to do it again.
• - confront him the next time I see it (I tend to watch him very closely now).
• - asking him, the first time he rolls d100, which is his 10's digit and make sure he never changes it.
• - asking another player to put him on the spot when he sees him do it ("Hey... wasn't the other one your 10's die before?")
• - asking him not to pick up his dice until I confirm his roll (I'd probably have to do this with all the players to be fair)

Hmmm....

Brian

+-------------------------+------------------------------------------+
|      Brian Curley       |   She was tall and cool and pretty and   |
|   Holder of Previous    |   she dressed as black as coal, if she   |
|      Knowledge          |   asked me to I'd murder her, I would    |
|  bkc_at_axle.adp.wisc.edu  |   gladly lose my soul...                 |
+-------------------------+------------------------------------------+




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