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thewayneThe purpose is to generate encryption keys with a high level of entropy. Specifically, it's a kit of 25 dice that get locked in to a 5x5 grid. For each die, the die is individually numbered, each face is individually numbered, and the rotation is individually numbered! Because of this, the entropy possible is 2^196, or 124,127,134,662,179,891,202,329,100,571,859,806,502,566,406,865,813,504,000,000! That's a bloody huge number!
Here's what it looks like after you shake the dice in the provided bag, roll them into the provided plastic cage and lock them down:
After you roll the dice and lock it down, you use a smartphone app to capture the dice and an app generates the key, which you can use within your phone or copy into a USB key. The best thing is that the software that generates the key is open source, so if the company disappears, as long as you still have your dice or a picture of it, you can still regenerate your key! And the case design is such that if you drop it (or a toddler accident), it won't accidentally pop open and spill the dice all over the place.
Bruce Schneier, noted encryption expert, is a consultant on the project.
I ordered two of them, I think they're pretty cool. And at $25 for the basic kit, they're not too expensive. Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever use it, but the potential utility is quite good. And since they've already built 900 kits and sent them to the fulfillment center, there's zero chance that the project will not succeed.
https://www.crowdsupply.com/dicekeys/dicekeys
Here's what it looks like after you shake the dice in the provided bag, roll them into the provided plastic cage and lock them down:
After you roll the dice and lock it down, you use a smartphone app to capture the dice and an app generates the key, which you can use within your phone or copy into a USB key. The best thing is that the software that generates the key is open source, so if the company disappears, as long as you still have your dice or a picture of it, you can still regenerate your key! And the case design is such that if you drop it (or a toddler accident), it won't accidentally pop open and spill the dice all over the place.
Bruce Schneier, noted encryption expert, is a consultant on the project.
I ordered two of them, I think they're pretty cool. And at $25 for the basic kit, they're not too expensive. Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever use it, but the potential utility is quite good. And since they've already built 900 kits and sent them to the fulfillment center, there's zero chance that the project will not succeed.
https://www.crowdsupply.com/dicekeys/dicekeys
no subject
Date: 2020-08-23 02:17 pm (UTC)I agree. Part of the joy of the original was using your imagination.
However, adding rulebooks, character books, and other add-ons makes them money.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-23 02:59 pm (UTC)The books add details that add complications and for me, unless the GM can memorize it all - which is usually me - really slows down the game. It ruins the flow. I run a really loose game to keep the story flowing as smooth and fast as possible, so I don't want numerous volumes of details. I want the details to be color in everyone's heads, in the settings. And I got a lot of compliments on the games that I ran.