I’ve been seeing a lot of tweets, Facebook and LJ posts about The Bones: Us and Our Dice, an anthology recently released by Gameplaywright Press. It’s a collection of essays and anecdotes about, well, dice, and everything from their use in game play and their randomness, to the superstitions and emotions gamers attach to them. Big names like John Kovalic and Wil Wheaton were involved, and I’m eager to read it.
In the mean time, the book’s premise got me thinking about my own dice-related idiosyncrasies, as well as those of my buddies at the game table. Everyone has their own tics when it comes to their dice, after all. Maybe this exercise will give me a little insight to the book before I even get my hands on a copy!
Me And My Dice
I am a dice whore. A trip to the game store means standing in front of the dice display and drooling over the myriad colors and sparkles. More often than not, I end up caving in and buying some. Currently I own eleven sets of polyhedral dice, a set of ten d10s, a large assortment of d6s, and a few random other dice that I’ve picked up along the way (and that’s just me – let’s not talk about how many my husband owns). You can see some of my collection in the picture accompanying this post (plus a dice bag I made). Most of my dice are Chessex brand (that’s what my FLGS carries), but I have a few by Crystal Caste as well, including a set of hematite Dwarven Stones and a set of their way-cool crystal-shaped dice. Really, I don’t care who makes ‘em, so long as they look good and call to me.
With so many dice, it must be hard to choose which ones to use on game night, right? Oh my, no. Here I reveal one of my dice superstitions: each character has a dedicated set of dice, from which I do not waver. If the dice are rolling poorly, where many gamers would put that set away and use another, I stick to it – my character is just having a bad day.
My only exceptions to this rule are White Wolf games (I use that same set of ten d10s for every character) and Star Wars D6 rules (that’s where the assortment of d6s get to shine). I don’t idly roll my dice while sitting at the table, because it would pain me too much to roll a 20 and not have a use for it. I will sometimes use a rolling tray, but more often than not I just roll them on the table.
I’m also a stickler for using a matched set of dice. Star Wars D6 is again my exception, but I am thinking of getting a dedicated set for the upcoming game I’ll be in. I don’t like to recycle dice for a new character, either, until the character those dice used to belong to is on indefinite hiatus, and even then it sometimes bothers me. For example, I had a set that were for my gladiator in a wild anime-inspired Pathfinder game that is now on hiatus (it’s become the game we’ll whip out and play when between other games, or on nights when a number of people can’t come to the club). When we started our latest Mutants & Masterminds campaign, I realized that I hadn’t packed my lone d20 (M&M uses a d20 only), so I had no choice but to use the d20 from the only set in my bag not being used for an active character, and that was Pansy the Powerful’s d20. It’s still bothering me a bit to be using that one for Adanya, but I’ve been using it long enough now that I’m afraid to switch it out for her!
Speaking of dice bags, all my “traveling” dice – the ones that go with me to the game club and to cons – live in a purple bag I crocheted. My “home” dice – for my games at home – just kinda hang out on the table. They really want their own cozy warm bag to live in, so I’ll be making one soon.
My Friends And Their Dice
Looking around my gaming table, I see lots of differences in dice treatment and superstitions. My hubby Robert has a lot of the same dice quirks that I do, though he’s big on using a rolling tray (and even a dice tower at home!). We also each have a big d20 that we use as a counter. C (another C, not me!) has a huge storage container with all his dice in their original boxes – he’ll pick one set out to use, and if it’s not rolling well, he puts the whole set away and selects another one. D has his eclectic collection of dice in a big bag I made, and tends to keep them in there until he needs them, and puts them back in after he’s rolled them. He doesn’t seem to have a particular affinity to any of them – they’re just dice. P also has cool mis-mash of dice, and she likes to take them out the bag and set them on the table highest number up. CJ has three sets of dice – red, white, and green – in a Crown Royal bag. (As an aside, does anyone know how the Crown Royal bag became the standard? I’d love to know how that started!) He also likes to have them all sitting highest number up, and always rolls them in a tray. He uses different colors at different times, but I haven’t quite figured out his system for when to use which dice.
M has another varied collection, which he dumps out on the table at the beginning of the night. He fusses with his dice a lot, and usually drops a fair number of them on the floor as the game progresses. A brings one matched set to the table – still in the Chessex box – and sticks with that set all night. B has his own dice, but rarely brings them, and uses dice out of the game club’s jug o’ dice. If a die is rolling crappy, he throws it back in the jar and gets out another one. S has a couple sets of the heavy metal dice and uses them both throughout the game, and has been known to put a poor performer back in the bag for “time out”, which usually straightens it out. K has a couple of sets of ten-siders for White Wolf games, and a handful of d20s for M&M (I’ve yet to play Pathfinder or D&D with him), and he yells at them when they betray him.
Considering the wide variance in dice habits in our relatively small gaming group, I’m not at all surprised that there were enough different stories to make up a 250-page book!
Why Are Dice So Important, Anyway?
Unless you’re playing the Amber RPG, dice are a necessary part of the gaming experience. Obviously, they help you determine success and failure for your character, and make things more realistic and objective. Let’s face it – if it was up to us, our characters would never miss a shot with their bow, or inadvertently say the wrong thing to the ship’s captain. A bad die roll is just as important as a good one.
I’ve always felt that dice are more than just a tool for the game, though. They’re an extension of your character, and take on part of the character’s personality. It’s no coincidence that I use a set of fiery orange dice for my cleric of the fire god, or that my half-drow ranger has dice that match the silvery-white of her hair. Dice hold and trigger memories of the game, both good and bad (“Remember when I rolled two 20s in a row to hit the dragon, then on the next roll fumbled my reflex save to get away from its fire breath?”). And there’s just something so soothing about the sound of dice rolling against the table. No matter how bad a day I’ve had, the first time the dice fall from my hand at the table, I’m instantly in the zone, and spirited away to that fantasy world, where no one wants me to fit them for shoes or let them in a fitting room.
Dice have some powerful mojo, and our emotions toward them are valid. Treat your dice well, and they’ll pay it back to you in kind.
What are your dice superstitions? How many dice do you own?
About c
Have you ever seen dice mate? You know, when you and someone you meet at a Con get your dice mixed up on the table and then when you seperate them out there are three or four dice that neither of you claim. Where did they come from?
For those who do want to talk about my dice, despite C’s insistence not to, it is currently 16 matched sets of polyhedral dice, plus a set of 4 d20s for Mutants & Masterminds, plus a mismatched set of 11 d10s for White Wolf games, plus a matched set of small pipped d6s (for extra dice on those fireballs!), a set of 3 d3s (6-siders numbers 1 to 3 twice), a d6 with a skull & crossbones for the 1, a d5 (yes, a d5), and a single orange plastic d6 with edges and corners well worn from years of rolling. This d6 is the only die left from the set of dice I got out of the original Blue Box D&D Basic Set in 1978, and it is a treasured part of my dice collection.
My collection of dice has fluctuated over the years, depending on my level of immersion in gaming. At one point, about 11 years ago, I was down to a single incomplete and mismatched set of polyhedrals. Those were sad times. When we joined the Sandbaggers Game Club a little over a year ago, I took a couple dozen dice from incomplete and mismatched sets to the club and contributed them to the clubs “jug o’ dice”.
I’m such a dice whore I don’t even let myself go to the FLGS anymore; I know I’ll inevitably pick up some shiny new polyhedrons if I do, and I simply can’t afford to maintain the habit.
As for my own habits? I have two bags for my dice; one that generally stores all of them, and one that serves as an isolation chamber (you can’t put the die that’s rolling poorly back in the general dice bag, you see, or its bad attitude will spread and infect the others). I also tend to assign a particular collection of dice to a particular character, but I have no compunction about throwing one that’s misbehaving into the second bag. Also, I don’t own any uniform dice sets. Uniform dice are the enemy. Dice are generally antagonistic by nature, I have no desire to amplify that by giving them five friends of like mind with whom they can conspire against me. By keeping them surrounded by strangers I can play them against one another and encourage them to perform better in an effort to endear themselves to me (which is done only so they can get close and stab me in the back, naturally, but such is the nature of the beast).
On a related note, it never ceases to amuse me that I’m a secular atheist and generally skeptical of just about everything not proven by science, yet some small part of me is firmly convinced the dice are not only sentient but consciously and thoroughly malevolent and moderately susceptible to short-term psychological conditioning.
oh dice….dice dice dice
I think I’m actually afraid to count how many I own 
but definitely – the two marks of a good gaming store for me are a good selection of used gaming books and a good selection of dice
when I have time I try to make or find dice bags for each set, with style/fabric appropriate to the set (I swear it makes them roll better!)
we used to have a house rule for idle rollers, but only for d20s – if you rolled a 20 (and had people see it was a 20) then, as a witnessed roll, your very next roll was also 20 you could save it to use on your next turn where a 20 would be a good thing. (Most of us were inveterate idle rollers so we had to come up with something to quell the pain
)
I think I may need to go dig out my dice now….
I’m not at all dice superstitious, but I’ve certainly known people who were. My friend Jim would literally freak out if Anyone touched his dice…so of course I took the chance to do so at least once a game.
For me, any dice will do. My normal set, sitting in the ink dicebag from my FLGS with their logo on it, are a mix of Chessex, Crystal Caste, and even a die from DragonRaid, the Christian RPG my church youth group got all excited about.
This was a good read. Thank you very much for the enjoyment.
I don’t own as many dice as I would like. Even though my GF I live with plays rpg’s with me, she isn’t that happy about me buing new rpg books regularly. But she tolerates it. What comes to dice, she doesn’t approve buying them. Either books books and books or dice. Sad.
My only real superstition about dice is don’t ever roll with another player’s dice unless they are specifically offered. It curses you and the dice.
@Okuma – In my gaming group, if someone leaves the table for whatever reason and is still gone when their turn comes up, a sure fire way to get them running back is for another player to threaten to roll for them, or to touch their dice!
I am not superstitious about dice, however my brother and I observe many “dice traditions.”
1. Do NOT touch another player’s dice without permission. The exception to this is if it rolls on the floor and the whole group is looking for it.
2. I usually start with my bag of assorted dice out on the table for my current D&D character. If I make two poor rolls consecutively, that die goes back in the bag. Except my D10. I only have 1 d10 right now.
There used to be a game store near the gas station I frequent. Every time I fueled my car, I’d take the resulting coins and buy a new die. Unfortunately, they moved the store.
I have an “emergency” dice set in my car in case I forget the dice bag.
One of the players in my D&D group also DMs a Nintendo RPG of his own design on Fridays. When that group gets out of hand, he brings out his metal, gold d20. That generates the villain the group has to face.
1. My friend KNH considers my touch a bad-luck-toxin for her dice, so I am obligated to try to touch them once per game.
2. I use different dice for different functions. As a player I have a separate set I use for each given character in a live game. As a GM certain dice are used for specific tasks, such as rolling for bad guys or checking for random events.
3. It is tradition to buy a new set of dice at GenCon.
4. I keep at least one set of traveling dice in my car.
5. Certain dice earn names, such as Mean Green, Bone, or Heavy Metal. So far only d20s have earned names.
6. I don’t handle another player’s dice. Unless they belong to KNH.
This one is more tradition than superstition, but we almost always have a “Peppy Die” in our games as well. Named after one of the guys that used to DM for us, it’s basically like a deck of Many things in that it has random effects depending on your roll, but it’s also cursed and compels you to roll it if you neglect it for too long. Generally it will have a full 20 effects, one for each side and if you manage to roll all of the sides without dying (quite the possibility considering some of the random effects, and that it exerts its will most often when you’re stressed, like combat), you will receive a massive reward. It’s a double edged blade though, since no one wants to touch it for fear their armor and weapons will simply fade away mid-combat.
@Lee – Indeed I have!
It happens frequently at the game club. Even with the communal jog o’ dice, sometimes there’s one at the table that no one seems to remember taking out of the jug, and it doesn’t belong to anyone, either. (This also happens with minis.)
@Robert – Meh, I don’t have to reply to you!
@Woodsmoke – You don’t used matched sets?! I’d go crazy if my dice didn’t match!
Maybe the little bit of a control freak in me needs that consistency among the dice to counter the randomness of their rolling…
@Sandrinnad – A bag for each set? Not a bad idea – that gives them each their own little home! My friend S has each set of dice in its own pouch, then he puts the little pouches together in a big bag.
Like you, I judge a FLGS by its dice selection. Dice are such an easy sell, I don’t know why you wouldn’t stock tons of them!
That’s a good house rule to get to save an idly rolled 20 for later. I think I’d limit it to once per game though! Sometimes you get on a 20-rolling streak…
@GGG – I’m not big on other people touching my dice, but I can usually handle it so long as the die in question isn’t the d20.
@Thaumiel – Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Maybe if you only buy dice for yourself when you also buy dice for the GF, she might be more receptive?
@Okuma – Like I said to GGG, no one touches my d20, but if the sorcerer needs an extra d4 for rolling magic missile damage, or the rogue needs another d6 for sneak attack damage, I can deal, and I will gladly offer my dice for that.
I like the Peppy Die! That sounds like it could add a lot of fun to a game session!
@Jordan – If a die hits the floor, all rules about touching another’s dice go out the window. But have you ever noticed how often, when you finally find that rogue die, it’s on a 20 (or whatever the max is)? Grrr! I don’t know about you, but for us, a roll doesn’t count if it’s not on the table.
@Oz – All good habits/traditions! Though you’re going to give your poor friend a complex if you keep touching her dice.
Great piece!
We’d love it if you’d drop a link to this on either The Bones page at Gameplaywright (http://gameplaywright.net/?page_id=958) or The Bones blog carnival page (http://gameplaywright.net/?page_id=1474) so people who’re interested in the book can find it and check it out.
@C I used to own a couple sets, but for what I hope will be the only time, superstition ultimately won out over aesthetics. I do have a lot of dice that look awfully similar to each other, but none that actually match. It’s actually kind of fun to see how much I can expand my dice pool while making sure they’re all more or less unique.
I don’t have any d20 dice sets that I own, only several d6s, and even though I only game online I still want to buy one set someday. But I have a weird little rule I’m gonna follow where I must roll a dice set before purchasing it. “It’s not the gamer who chooses the die, it’s the die that chooses the gamer.”
Though I do have a small mineral stone carved into the shape of a human skull that I sometimes try to keep on the desk when playing. Not often, but sometimes.
@Jeff – Thank you so much for stopping by! As requested, I just posted the link in a comment on the book’s page.
@Woodsmoke – Well, collection-wise, having a large group of all-different dice is pretty cool.
@David – *gasps in horror* Oh my! I could never buy a set of dice knowing someong else had already rolled them! I want them to be virgins until I roll them the first time!
You can still do that by buying dice in boxed sets, C. I was thinking of getting mine from those dice bins where you can just reach in and grab a handful of dice. But I dunno, I might buy some boxed set without rolling them if the dice are nice and fancy enough.
As a scientific sort, I don’t have any superstitions regarding dice. I did when I was a kid, but those were too embarrassing to go into. As for dice habits, I tend to idly roll my dice when my character isn’t doing anything. As well, I bring my shiny green D20 everywhere. Seriously, I carry it in my emergency altoid tin. Occasionally I’ll roll it and revel in success whenever I get a good roll.
I remember in my school gaming group that there was a girl named Amy who was convinced that scratching at her sides like a chimpanzee with the dice in her hand would imbue them with luck. Seriously. She did it three or four times a session. I still find that hilarious
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Jon – I’ve debated carrying an emergency d20 in my pocket. Maybe it could help me with Diplomacy checks at work…
I’ve known a number of people who blow on their dice – or have their significant other do so – for luck before rolling, but the chimpanzee scratch is a new one to me! Hey, if it worked for her… 