You know what sucks about this whole social distancing thing?
(I mean, except for people dying, the economy collapsing, people losing their jobs, etc…)
My D&D groups have to cancel all gaming sessions.
I don’t even have any online groups going at the moment, and even if I did, the convenience provided by Roll20 eliminates the need for one of my favorite things… Dice.
I looove dice sets. I don’t know why. It’s not like any of us ever used to obsess over the six-sided die in the family’s Monopoly set, but as soon as you start playing Dungeons & Dragons, there’s some switch in your brain that gets flicked and you suddenly need an incredibly fancy set of dice for each of your characters, each with a backup set in case the first one gets jinxed and you start rolling fail after fail.
I don’t know if all tabletop gamers get like this, or if I just mainly play with girls, and girl gamers need something to replace normal women’s obsession with shoes…
But I’m not the one among my friends spending the most on new dice I don’t need. I’m just the only one who will impulse-buy three cheap sets on eBay in her lunch break at work and now own the most SETS of dice. Luckily I’m too cheap to purchase any of those beautiful amethyst dice sets I see on Twitter. I just follow the maker’s account and drool over the photos.
But some of the cheap sets I have are rather lovely. And a fellow player informed me that they were well-balanced in the sort of mansplainy voice that makes me think he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I should probably do the water test on them, but as long as they are reliably one-shotting enemies and almost getting me killed in the same session, I chose to trust them.
So, that’s where I’m at. Just spreading my 68 favorite dice (yes, those are just my favorites) across my living room table and staring longingly at them, remembering better times, and then deciding I can’t be assed to clean up the mess I just made.
But honestly, 2020 was supposed to be the year for the geeks. We were all so excited for our dice-themed New Years photos, so 2020…?
What about giving the players just a few crits?
Have you written any posts showcasing your dice? Today, I’m giving you full permission to plug your blog by posting links to them in the comments!
Go on… Feed my dice craving.
Dice… are wonderful. Well done, my friend.
I was going to say something like ‘oh no, it’s not a gendered thing, I’ve got tons of fancy dice myself!” but almost all the dice I own were given to me by the women I play or chat about the game with soooooooooooo… not the best example.
I still break out the physical dice every once in a while, even though I play online. I could just have roll20 whisper a roll when I want to hide it from the players, but there’s just something viscerally satisfying to it to send the icosagon skittering across the table. I have to do it sparingly, though; I’m pretty sure my dice are cursed, and only the worst stuff happens when I roll them.
Mine are cursed to never roll highly when rolling for healing, which means the rest of my group is also cursed.
Roll20, though not as satisfying, tends to be kinder to me.
Agreed! Whats a D&D game without the critical dice roll falling off the table and everyone getting down on their hands and knees and then arguing whether its cocked or not. Just wouldn’t be cricket.
If it goes on the floor, it’s a reroll, no questions asked.
Which is a damn shame, because my floor dice always do some great rolls!
Your roleplaying group seems quite sensible. Ours… is… well… they’re house trained.
My current one is quite sensible, but if I’m lucky I’m playing with a new group on Saturday, and they could be trained apes for all I know.
Zoom and Roll20?
Nope, a hopefully responsible physical meet-up.
Denmark is reopening at the moment, so we’re able to follow requirements and guidelines.
Don’t die Michelle. I will miss you…
… and your one legged (angry) owl.
I’m fairly sure I will be okay, even if I were to contract Covid19, but it’s nice to know I’ll be missed if that’s not the case.
I can leave you Artemis in my will, if you want.
Um… a homicidal, one legged burrowing owl that may murder me in my sleep?
Eh… no thanks.
What else ya got? Ha ha.
I do have some non-sentient weapons as well.
Oh yes please. I’ll take those. I’ll take good care of them! And they will be in good company 😀
Nothing +1 or better though?
I got a rapier with -3 to attack (it has a safety point, so it can be used for stage fighting, but a rough file and a lot of dedication should take care of that) and a couple of recurve bows.
If all else fails, I got a really heavy frying pan.
Cool. Pencil me into the last Will and testament of Michelle Louring. I’ll make sure they get a good home.
🙂
The only condition is that you think of me every time you stab, shoot or bludgeon an enemy.
Your name will be my warcry!
Which… now that I think about it… would in its (insane) randomness probably be quite terrifying.
It would be glorious.
(I’m still alive, though!)
Michelle… you’re messing up EVERYTHING!
I know, I know! But I could still drop dead tonight, or even tomorrow…
Okay. Will keep my fingers crossed. Joey needs him some shiny stuff
I’ll be sure to tell you if I kick the bucket.
Thanks. Appreciate your work ethic.
I’ve got an article I wrote several years ago, Magic Dice.. It kindav fits in to what you are saying here: http://gamemasters.com/?p=417
That’s exactly the kind of content I wish to see!
Ooooo. I really like those black/green dice.
Those are also some of my favorites! The contrast of the two colors look really great.