Honest dice: real physics in the browser
Every digital dice roller faces the same temptation: pick a random number, then play an animation that pretends to arrive at it. Fate's Throw refuses. The dice land on whatever face they land on, because they actually fall.
Simulation instead of theatre
Under the hood, every die — D4 to D20, up to sixty simultaneously — is a rigid body in a real-time physics simulation running in your browser. Gravity, collision, friction, restitution: the tumble you see is the computation, not a decoration on top of it. The result is read off the geometry after the dice come to rest. Nothing is predetermined; a nudge of extra throw force genuinely changes the outcome, the way it would on a table.
The dice themselves are procedurally generated — geometry and numbered texture atlas built in code rather than downloaded as heavy 3D assets. That keeps the whole experience installation-free and fast, even with a fistful of D20s bouncing off each other.
Tables and towers
Atmosphere does a lot of work in a dice app, so Fate's Throw ships with eight table styles — felt in four colours, wood, marble, slate — each defining its own dice palette. And for the full fantasy ritual there are two dice towers, a warm medieval castle and a dark magic one, complete with a see-through mode that lets you watch the dice clatter down the shaft. The towers are fully physical too: enclosed shafts, baffles, a catch tray the dice cannot escape.
Why bother?
Because the feeling is different, and feelings are the product. A scripted roll is a slot machine; a simulated roll is a ritual. Tabletop players know the difference instinctively — the moment of watching the last die wobble between a 1 and a 20 is the entire point. Software that respects its users keeps that moment honest, in four languages, for free, in the browser.