I had already overcome my initial resistance to Roll and Writes when the 2020 lockdown hit but that really pushed me further into that particular niche of gaming. Not that I am alone in that.
But that did lead to me using die rollers more often instead of physical dice.
Looking back, there were a number of games that were being developed to be played while social distancing (via video conferencing, for instance) like Rolling Realms or Pointree. And those games are designed to be played with little to none dice manipulation. No rerolls or dice flipping or the such.
And one of the ways I often play R&Ws is via clipboard. When playing without a table, die rollers are practically key. My smart phone or my smart watch are my dice when I’m playing on a clipboard.
However, I found also started actively looking for R&Ws that were die roller friendly. While there is a time and place for those games, that was extremely limiting. Even games like Yahtzee or Bunco don’t qualify for crying out loud.
Not including the very valid argument that if you are playing a physical game with paper and pencil, you should go the whole nine yards and play with physical dice, actually having physical dice expands the toolbox that designers have to work with.
Depending on the sophistication of your die roller (and the one on my smart watch is quite limited), basic mechanics like rerolls or flipping or banking dice can be tricky to impossible. And some games, like Battle Pages, have you place dice on the page. Trying to draw in dice would just be asking for trouble.
Now, I’m not reversing course and condemning die rollers. When a clip board or the equivalent are what you have to work with, die rollers become essential. However, when I have the time and space, I now reach for a dice bag.
Die rollers are very useful tools. They are just not an actual replacement for dice.
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