Generating Percentages with 2D6

The Best of the Dragon had a bunch of interesting articles, including one on alternative ways of generating random numbers for games. In "What to Do When the Dog Eats Your Dice," Omar Kwalish listed ideas from the straightforward, like drawing chits, to the bizarre, like plucking chest hairs (WTF?). A couple that I really liked involved ways to generate a wide range of numbers using ordinary six-sided dice.

PERCENTAGES GENERATED WITH TWO STANDARD DICE (D6)

The following table is from FIGHT IN THE SKIES. The column on the left is percentages and numbers needed to get them, while the figures on the right are the actual probabilities. (I.E., if there is a 10% chance of an encounter, a roll of "9" indicates that it occurs. The actual percentage chance of rolling a "9" with two standard dice is 11.1 %.)

05%...	11	5.6%
10%	9	11.1%
15%	6	13.9%
20%	7, 12	19.4%
25%	4, 7	25.0%
30%	7, 8	30.6%
35%	2, 4, 5, 6	36.1%
40%	5, 6, 8	38.9%
45%	6, 7, 8	44.4%
50%	4, 5, 6, 7	50.0%
55%	5, 6, 7, 8	55.6%
60%	3, 5, 6, 7, 8	61.6%
65%	4, 5, 6, 7, 8	63.9
70%	3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	69.4%
75%	all except 2, 3, 4, 10...	75.0%
80%	all except 2, 4, 10	80.6%
85%	all except 3, 11, 12	86.1%
90%	all except 9	88.9%
95%	all except 11	94.4%

USING SIX-SIDERS FOR HIGHER NUMBERS

One six-sided die can be used to determine any number range divisible by two, three or six. (I.E., for 1-100, first roll determines if it is between 1 and 50, or 51-100, the second 1-25 or 26-50 (assuming first roll indicates 1-50), the third determines in which group of five (discarding rolls of "6"), and the last the actual number.)

Sure, you could do it the easy way and generate these numbers using your fancy-schmancy polyhedral dice, but this way's more fun.