Updated 10/19 - Discussion on the topic of loaded dice at BeakyCon2

First I want to say that this news has been public since October 7, which was the second day of the Grand Tournament. You can find relevant discussion here...

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/480973.page;jsessionid=DD5E0B3E68A13FF4F8B9025EC31205C9

Some have claimed we tried to sweep this under the proverbial carpet which is not true. In fact I posted a link to article on Tasty Taste's blog over on the Wrecking Crew forums as soon as I saw it.

I want everyone to know that we the TOs of BeakyCon take the subject of cheating very serious. Some have said that simply assigning an automatic loss and disqualifying the player from winning any awards was not strict enough. Maybe that's true but I'd like you to know there will be lasting ramifications set in place next year that we have discussed with the player who was cheated.

In general I'm very strict as a TO - for example this year all army lists had to be submitted ahead of time for review and those that sent theirs late were docked battle points as a penalty - which turned out to be important since the award for best general had to be decided by the margin of victory. Note that we did this mainly since 6th edition is very new and we wanted to make sure we didn't run into any problems with illegal army lists for any reason and this was successful to the best of my knowledge.

As a TO there is a myriad of checks and balances that can be implemented to prevent cheating. Some have suggested that dice should be provided for everyone who attends. While that sounds good in theory and might be practical I can say I have never attended any major event that did so and I have played around the country for well over the past decade. Further on this particular subject I saw this posted online elsewhere by my good friend Thomas Reidy (aka Goatboy):

"I have always thought dice should be provided - but then there are issues with custom tournament dice as well. I think they should buy just a tub of dice - give everyone 20 and just call it a day. Hell I use cheap as hell dice I bought in Vegas. They are easy to read and look decent. 12 for a buck - and they come in all sorts of colors. 

"Either way - it is ass to cheat with dice in any event - especially one your opponent might have shelled out a ton of cash to play in. If I caught it I would be making all sorts of hell because well - it isn't cool to waste people's time and energy for whatever needs you have to win. It is just a game."

I am very interested to see if in the near future and over the next year if other TOs provide players with dice. Note that to prevent someone from tampering with tournament dice it would be necessary to collect them all at the end of the first day then hand them out again at the start of the second day. Remember that all it takes to cheat is one cooked dice so there is more to it than meets the eye at a first glance.

Here is what Nick Rose (aka Darkwynn) had to say in regards to TOs providing dice:

"It's too... expensive to provide dice on a grand scale. People need to get over it and move on. It's better to take the risk and make it too high for a person to cheat. If the risk is too high people will have to reduce amount. No reason for extremes to be put back on the business or the TO. These things are already run on a low bottom line and this breaks the bank."

By the way both Thomas and Nick are TOs for WarGamesCon.

Some have said in the past that I'm too strict and this was the subject of much discussion a couple of years ago. This year if we had elected to eject the player found with the loaded dice in all likelihood his two friends that came with him from Miami would most likely have had to leave as well if he decided to go home the first day and that was a concern for me. I probably should have been more strict.

Here is a sales blurb from an ad on the Internet that sells these loaded dice:

This is a set of three loaded six-sided dice weighted to roll sixes, specifically designed for rolling up 18 stats for your D&D characters. Let's be clear here: when you use these dice to roll a D&D or Pathfinder character, you are cheating. Blatantly and flagrantly. There is no excuse for this, except possibly if your GM is evil and cheats as well, killing off characters unfairly, and using these loaded dice is just the next step in the escalation that will inevitably lead to rage-fueled table flipping, dice throwing, and eventual man-hugging as you become cool with each other again.* 

These are standard-sized black six-sided dice with silver pips for numbering. They are numbered normally, but are weighted so that they're more likely to roll six. They won't always roll six, but are far more likely to. In general the longer they roll, the more likely they are to land on six -- after a short drop they'll land mostly on whatever face is up, but after a nice long roll they'll usually come up all sixes. If you want to be extra sneaky you can mix one or two of these in with some other dice, just to slightly edge things in your favor without being super blatant about it.** 

With a little bit of practice you can pretty frequently get a natural 18 on a roll of the three. The dice will easiy pass casual examination, but anyone who picks them up or rolls them a bunch will pretty quickly realize that they just about always roll sixes.**

They sell these dice clearly to make money and at first they tell you not to cheat but then they say it's okay in certain situations (*)... That's a load of total bull shit. They also provide some tips how not to get caught (**)... LOL that really takes some balls.

Finally some have said the player who had the loaded dice should have his name made known publicly which I have and will refrain from doing. I have seen his name mentioned elsewhere and I imagine it is easy enough to find if you know how to use an Internet search engine. I hope he has learned a lesson - he is banned from play in the future.

Note (as of 10/19) that upon further investigation into this matter I was informed by his first round opponent as follows...

"However one thing made it not fun in my first game, the guy... who was using loaded dice and got caught in game 3. I caught him on it the beginning of turn 2 in Game 1 and he just stopped using it, so I was like, OK I guess.

"He used it for many things in the first couple turns, especially cover saves from my Manticore blasts on his parking lot of Land Raiders and vehicles. 

[So] I was wrong and should have reported him to the judges right away, I apologize to the Game 3 player he got."