Another Dice Method for Creating Hexagrams (with one 8-sided dice, and coin and yarrow probabilities!)

[CircleRiver]

Hi all,

I put together a quick blog post on this elsewhere, but wanted to share here. I'm not sure if someone else has already beaten me to the punch here, but most dice-based systems I've seen online have been based on a standard six-sided ("d6") die.

Yet the probabilities of both coin and yarrow methods are generally in 16ths, which can be reduced to 8ths. With one 8-sided die, you can create a line with coin probabilities for changing lines, and with an extra 4-sided die and you can get yarrow probabilities.

You can get these funky sided dice online (they're usually designed for role-playing games and board games) or at a local board game/gaming store.

(Full blog post, explaining the maths of this and the symbolism: https://circleriver.blot.im/two-quick-yijing-dice-methods-with-yarrow-and-dice-probabilities)

Methods:

Coins:

1. Roll a d8.
2. If an even number, it’s a yin line. If an odd number, a yang line.
3. If the result is 8 (the highest possible yin number), it’s a moving yin line. If the result is 7 (highest possible yang number), it’s a moving yang line.
4. Repeat five more times for a complete hexagram!

Yarrow:

1. Roll a d8 and d4 at once.
2. If the d4 is an even number, it is a yin line, if odd, a yang line.
   1. For yin lines: if the d8 is showing 8, it is a moving yin line.
   2. For yang lines: if the d8 is showing 6, 7, or 8, it is a moving yang line
3. Repeat five more times for a complete hexagram!

 

[remod]

Jason A. Wolcott proposed something similar some time ago using a 1d20 and a 1d8 based on the same principle, but he didn't provide a procedure for getting 3-coins probability (which is a nice addition).

 

[CircleRiver]

Jason A. Wolcott proposed something similar some time ago using a 1d20 and a 1d8 based on the same principle, but he didn't provide a procedure for getting 3-coins probability (which is a nice addition).

Ah, really similar for the yarrow! Not sure why he went for a d20, but the principle is there. Given that the second die is just a binary yin/yang switch, you could replace that with a d6, a coin flip, whatever you might want - I just found a d4 to 'fit' symbolically, following the duplication from the 1 through 2/4/8 in Daoist/neo-Confucian cosmology.