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View Full Version : Gaming quirks, supersitions, and neuroses



BiblioRook
2012-07-18, 01:02 PM
I'm sure we all have them to some extent, little actions (or maybe even big ones) that don't really have much actual impact on the game but feel inclined or compelled to do anyways.

For example, my gaming store has a big lot of various used metal miniatures that I tend to go through looking for interesting bits. The other day I realized that I couldn't bring myself to actual buy any unless the adventurers that made up the miniatures I assembled formed an at least somewhat balanced party. More then a few times I had to go back and pick out a fighter type or spellcaster to 'round out' my purchase.

Hyena
2012-07-18, 01:42 PM
There is no way I could play an online game without the hardcover player handbook on my laps. I feel so... insecure without it. It's like going fighting dragon without some sort of weapon.
Edit: By the way, I am not a monk.

newBlazingAngel
2012-07-19, 12:50 AM
I seem to be the only person in ten miles legitimately interested in Roleplaying on a regular basis.

As for actual gaming, I will never ever split the party. I've seen too much Scooby Doo and listen to far too much Celtic folk music to ever consider it a safe option.

supermonkeyjoe
2012-07-19, 03:40 AM
In our group if ever someone is short of some dice, the DM will always offer some of his/hers. Don't accept them it's a trap! It's known that the DMs dice are bad luck for anyone except the DM to use.

Edit: we also have the rule; Never preface a dice roll by saying "The only way I can fail this is by rolling a natural 1!" in that case, you will roll a natural one.

Parra
2012-07-19, 05:03 AM
Im my group we have a sacred Dice known as "The Yellow D20 of Hope". It is only to be used in emergencies and under the most dire of conditions, like the group is 1 die roll away from a TPK

With spooky certainty it will always roll high in times of need

Krazzman
2012-07-19, 07:20 AM
Unde rno circumstance are you allowed to speak the following words in an encounter with Skelletal undead:
"That's just some skelletons." It was the fuel for 3 TPK's! One in Descent (the first one), another in a DnD One Shot (level 3) and one in a DnD campaign starting level 6... we rewinded that last one...

Tanngrisnir
2012-07-19, 08:32 AM
Whenever our DM absent-mindedly picks up a random player's d20 instead of his own he will almost always roll a 20 with it, and from then on the player will never seem to roll anything over 5.

Needless to say we all desperately try to keep our dice out of his reach.

prufock
2012-07-19, 08:54 AM
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy" is a favourite saying of one of our players. More often than not, he's right.

I always roll all my d20s before a game, and choose the one that rolls highest for that session. This isn't a superstition - I don't believe it has any impact on the following rolls - it's just a way of randomizing which die I use.

Rallicus
2012-07-19, 08:55 AM
There is no way I could play an online game without the hardcover player handbook on my laps. I feel so... insecure without it. It's like going fighting dragon without some sort of weapon.

I like this one and I agree.

Scrolling through a PDF just doesn't feel right to me.

eulmanis12
2012-07-19, 09:42 AM
Not a roleplaying game but close enough. I use normal D6s 90% of the time when playing Flames of War. Only when I desperatly need a role do I break out my US 2nd armored insignia dice. (the army I run is a tank company from the us 2nd armored)

Anxe
2012-07-19, 09:47 AM
Don't let the players touch my DM dice.
The players will always encounter the enemy, run, research it, and return to kill it (Just like Buffy!).
Physical rulebooks! Oh yes. It's so hard using a PDF.

Slipperychicken
2012-07-19, 10:24 AM
If you encounter it on a mission outside town, and it's survival is not critical to mission success, kill it. Especially if your mission is to kill everything in the area. Leaving it alive is always bad, no matter how sexy or innocent it looks. And doubly so if the DM tries to make it seem cute.


Always follow my advice, because it can one-shot the encounter (two bosses have been one-shotted by Hold Person, suggested by yours truly). In-game, doing otherwise always results in bad things.

Zombiegirl89
2012-07-19, 10:40 AM
My gaming group will name our D20s. they've got personalities and like different types of rolls.

I've got Venom, which rolls really well if i'm using poisoned blades, and for such crafting checks, or for gathering plants etc to make poisons. And Voltaire loves being evil. any kind of evil act. the worse the act, the higher he rolls. I also have Mystic, who loves anything involving magic; Princess, who loves rolls involving nobility and such; and Savant, who loves mental skill checks.


If you encounter it on a mission outside town, and it's survival is not critical to mission success, kill it. Especially if your mission is to kill everything in the area. Leaving it alive is always bad, no matter how sexy or innocent it looks. And doubly so if the DM tries to make it seem cute.

Also, i used to be that DM who would do that. but not any more. it got old. and made it hard to do some of the stuff that i wanted to do, because the players just wouldn't trust anything cute or sweet.

Hyena
2012-07-19, 10:44 AM
Oh, one more. Before each game I'm always rolling d20 until I get a big row of bad results, that means that my next rolls must be lucky.
... they never are, by the way. But I keep doing it.

Slipperychicken
2012-07-19, 11:08 AM
Oh, one more. Before each game I'm always rolling d20 until I get a big row of bad results, that means that my next rolls must be lucky.
... they never are, by the way. But I keep doing it.

I do the same thing, and think of it as "charging up" my dice or "wasting" the bad rolls. Obviously, you need to wait until you get one or two good rolls in a row, because that means the good-luck started dispersing. Stop there until you have to roll something real, because you don't want to use up the good luck on non-game rolls. Of course good dice work better.



Also, i used to be that DM who would do that. but not any more. it got old. and made it hard to do some of the stuff that i wanted to do, because the players just wouldn't trust anything cute or sweet.

Good for you and your players. It kind of sucks when you start thinking "I know this will bite me in the ass later, but I realy want to save the little girl. *sigh*, [shoots her, loots the body] what a cruel world my DM runs..."

I once heard a story where the PCs ran into an entire city full of cultists all worshipping a king-like figure atop a Ziggurat (spelled right?), with a little girl standing next to him. Before anyone could open their mouths, a genre-savvy PC shot the little girl first, and that finished the campaign.

Gensh
2012-07-19, 11:17 AM
Im my group we have a sacred Dice known as "The Yellow D20 of Hope". It is only to be used in emergencies and under the most dire of conditions, like the group is 1 die roll away from a TPK

With spooky certainty it will always roll high in times of need

It is forbidden for anyone but me to touch the holy dice of Archimon, and even I may only roll them on momentous occasions. The d20 has never rolled lower than a 9.

Lord Il Palazzo
2012-07-19, 12:10 PM
My group uses Scrabble tiles for miniatures and any NPC who is represented by the letter R is dubbed "Ranger Rick" (regardless of class) and is far more likely to fail at anything he tries to do than any other chracter. It's gotten to the point that I specifically try not to use the R because it so often fails.

Jay R
2012-07-19, 04:57 PM
It's a quirk, not a superstition, but I feel like I'm not fully prepared if my current character sheet has any pen or pencil marks at the start of the game. The results of the last session should all be in the computer and printed by this session.

NX_Phoenix
2012-07-19, 10:52 PM
In one of my gaming groups all plans fail would at step 3--all of them. No matter how simple or convoluted the plan if it was step 3 it would fall apart. The thing is that after we split up we found that if at least two of us from the said group were players then the Curse of Step 3 would follow us.

Kerrin
2012-07-19, 11:20 PM
When characters would rest for the night they'd take turns keeping watch. Usually there were four watch shifts.

If anything happened it usually seemed to happen on third watch. After a while the saying was a rather tongue in cheek, "Nothing ever happens on third watch."

Nowadays there is no third watch. There's first watch, second watch, and fourth watch. Always.

The Bandicoot
2012-07-20, 12:30 AM
I have one slightly see-through shadowey 20-sided that I call my combat die. In combat I have yet to roll under a 15 with it. This rocked for the first four rounds of combat in my 3.5 game with my Keen Falchion. Critted with every attack. Then the DM had an Orc sunder my blade.

One round later I've grappled a longsword away from an orc and manage to roll ANOTHER two crits on the orcs.

I'm thinking this dice needs a better name, an suggestions?

Slipperychicken
2012-07-20, 01:06 AM
I have one slightly see-through shadowey 20-sided that I call my combat die. In combat I have yet to roll under a 15 with it. This rocked for the first four rounds of combat in my 3.5 game with my Keen Falchion. Critted with every attack. Then the DM had an Orc sunder my blade.

One round later I've grappled a longsword away from an orc and manage to roll ANOTHER two crits on the orcs.

I'm thinking this dice needs a better name, an suggestions?

Orc Slayer, Orc Grinder, Orc Killer...

Orc-Bane.

Temotei
2012-07-20, 01:11 AM
I'm afraid to play a fighter because I'm so indecisive about character creation that it would take days to figure out my feats.

Erik Vale
2012-07-20, 01:50 AM
I have one slightly see-through shadowey 20-sided that I call my combat die. In combat I have yet to roll under a 15 with it. This rocked for the first four rounds of combat in my 3.5 game with my Keen Falchion. Critted with every attack. Then the DM had an Orc sunder my blade.

One round later I've grappled a longsword away from an orc and manage to roll ANOTHER two crits on the orcs.

I'm thinking this dice needs a better name, an suggestions?

Weapon masters Friend.
Reason I play with a Scimitar.
The One Die to Rule them all.
The One I can no longer roll.

Winter_Wolf
2012-07-20, 02:21 AM
Lemme see here:
*"Don't touch my dice. You will lose that hand."
*"Don't touch my books, I've seen what you've done to yours."
*I must have my books! I hate using PDFs since it's both inconvenient and strains my eyes to look at a monitor.
*I seem to suffer from Winter Wolf's Inverse Ability and Competency Syndrome, also known as "Why won't this sucky/mediocre character just DIE already?!": I've noticed that the less likely my characters are to fail at something, the more likely I am to make really bad rolls and fail at it anyway. Likewise my most long-lived characters have universally been mechanically weak but with awesome rolls in-game. Give me a character than can only fail on a natural one, and it will be dead within five minutes. Meanwhile the gimped character is blessed by the gods.

Socratov
2012-07-20, 05:21 AM
I actually never start gaming without setting up my laptop first with the chrystal keep documents opened and the search function enabled and the PDF's of PHB and any sourcebooks opened and set to some of the entrys I use a lot. I always print out my character sheets (it feels more like a real character instead of jsut a PDF) and I will blow on my dice when I really need them (either to wow the opponets with social rolls or when trying to hit). i also lay my dice out neat and orderly with their maximal values on top. I'll have 1 hand for eating snacks/drinking and another for rolling. I will drink alcohol when I need some good rolls (many times toasting to the Lady) and I will always equip my characters with an adamantium dagger (when starting at lvl 6 in dnd 3.5) and a few ranks in Sleight of hand. My bard will always have heavy diplomacy, sense motive and bluff, coupled with social skill boosting spells. And upon entering a tavern with my bard I will tell a story (ar at least perform) and seduce the barmaid (my bard wouldn't feel bard worthy when not doing that, this has backfired a couple of times by way of a funny DM, but I still honor the tradition of the hornyspoony bard).

Necroticplague
2012-07-20, 08:50 AM
The other members of the group I play this are convinced dice I bring are lucky, because I have better-than-average rolls most the time, so when things get rough, Others start using my dice. They're not entirely wrong, I roll dice I buy hundreds of times in my spare time to see if any are unusually weighted, and game with the ones that produce good results.

Oracle_Hunter
2012-07-20, 09:19 AM
Obligatory Link (http://www.kenzerco.com/hackmaster/downloads/On_Dice.pdf)

Personally, I am a great follower of the Dice Mysticism:
(1) Nobody touches my personal dice
These are the very first set of dice I ever owned, and they came from the Basic D&D Box released as an intro to AD&D (2nd Edition). Decades of use has filled them with great unmei and they are attuned to me. Nobody touches them. Nobody.

When I DM I have a set of Junk Dice I bought when I thought I had lost my Personal Set that other Players can use. But they don't because...

(2) The touch of the DM makes dice want to kill you
I DM a lot. One way I make sure Players never want to use my Personal Dice (which I also use when DMing) is that I make a few rolls with their dice if they leave them too close to me. After that, their dice actively try to kill them by failing important rolls for pretty much the rest of the session.

My Players have therefore gained some small respect for Dice Mysticism.

(3) Verbal and Somatic components are important for good dice rolling
When you want a good roll, it is important to roll the die with a flourish. See the Hackmaster guide for most of the common ones, but aside from that it is important to try different roll styles when your dice are rolling badly -- and when one works for you, keep using it!

For important rolls, a simple invocation also helps. I have taken to using "grant me the power of World Revolution" mainly cause I watched too much Utena and it kind of stuck with me :smallredface:

(4) And die positioning can't hurt either
For dice I need to roll high, I always leave them at rest with their highest value facing upwards. For dice I want to roll low, I always leave "1" facing upwards.

Amusingly, this technique is the one I've transferred most completely to my Players :smallbiggrin:

supermonkeyjoe
2012-07-20, 09:35 AM
The other members of the group I play this are convinced dice I bring are lucky, because I have better-than-average rolls most the time, so when things get rough, Others start using my dice. They're not entirely wrong, I roll dice I buy hundreds of times in my spare time to see if any are unusually weighted, and game with the ones that produce good results.

So you basically play with loaded die, that's kind of unethical don't you think?

Our group also has a rul that you aren't allowed to say "hey wouldn't it be funny/terrible/terrifying if X happened" until after the event, the DM has a habit of making the Funny/terrible/terrifying things happen with alarming frequency

Draconi Redfir
2012-07-20, 09:42 AM
My dice must /always/ be higher then all other dice. if they are not they will be angry and roll low. I can remove the dice from their high perch temporairly to roll them, however i must immidiately put them back afterwards. I usually kiss them if they roll high enough to encourage rolling that number again.


They also like to be rolled on carpet. I seem to get higher rolls when they roll on carpet. Hense i now have three carpet cutouts i always take to my games. i'm hoping on getting more sometime and building a raised-platform with a carpeted area for each individual dice or something.

comicshorse
2012-07-20, 10:07 AM
Oh, one more. Before each game I'm always rolling d20 until I get a big row of bad results, that means that my next rolls must be lucky.
... they never are, by the way. But I keep doing it.

I do that one too

A friend always insists, if the roll is vital that we not look at the dice as she rolls them

Also one of my characters seems to have developed a quirk. He will do terribly in combat until he gets wounded when suddenly he will start murdering everything. We've decided he really needs the taste of his own blood to get him into the fighting frenzy

Maugan Ra
2012-07-20, 03:57 PM
My dice have taken on a bit of my own persona, and are therefore backstabbing little cuboid bastards. They unfailing roll their best results only when said result will inconvenience or harm a PC in some way. When I am GM, this leads to such events as the Winterscale Punch of Justice, wherein a Rogue Trader npc delivered an uppercut to the Ork Freebooter character of sufficient force to knock him right into criticals and send him twenty meters through the air.

(We later calculated that such a die result would have allowed the barehanded punch to breach a ship bulkhead)

As a PC myself, I have gotten into the habit of intoning 'Murder Tony/Bryden/[other PC]' just before I roll. It seems to work.

Mono Vertigo
2012-07-21, 05:13 AM
In nWoD, every time I've got a single die to roll and it's not initiative nor a chance die, it comes up as a 10.
And now I've said it, I've surely jinxed it.
I don't care, the others are going to think I'm cheating somehow if I keep getting good results. :smallamused:

Silus
2012-07-21, 11:25 AM
I can't ever seem to bring myself to play characters that are built around mechanics. Like a charge-happy Fighter or the like. It's always got to be concepts. A half-elf Gypsy that hates slavery and has MASSIVE anger issues (So much that she goes into Matrix mode)(Dawnflower Dervish 2/Urban Barbarian 1) for example. I can't buff the party, but I can pump my to-hit and damage by +4 and my AC by +2 and dish out a hurting with a Dex-based Scimitar.

Dunno why, but in any given situation, I tend to suggest that fire is the best thing to use. Ambushed by goblins throwing bombs in a warehouse? Torch it. Kenku horsemen charging a village you're protecting by coming through the forest? Torch the forest. Basement full of bad guys? Torch the building and pick through the rubble later.

Also, I've learned to never tempt fate by saying things like "Oh yeah, I have X-AC/So-Many-Hit-Points" in the middle of combat. 'Cause it always ends up that the DM follows my comment up by saying something like "Critical threat....thread confirmed....you take....ouch...". Big example was I was bragging about my aforementioned Gypsy's AC, then I take a 36-damage crit with a Greataxe in a surprise round.

Slipperychicken
2012-07-21, 11:38 AM
Dunno why, but in any given situation, I tend to suggest that fire is the best thing to use.


No argument there. The way you describe it, it lets you deal with encounters without confrontation, and wear down enemy hp before the fight starts. It's also awesome.

Slipperychicken
2012-07-21, 11:46 AM
Also, I've learned to never tempt fate by saying things like "Oh yeah, I have X-AC/So-Many-Hit-Points" in the middle of combat. 'Cause it always ends up that the DM follows my comment up by saying something like "Critical threat....thread confirmed....you take....ouch...". Big example was I was bragging about my aforementioned Gypsy's AC, then I take a 36-damage crit with a Greataxe in a surprise round.

Never brag about your character, ever. Then you're just asking for it. Don't brag about hp, or your money, or your spells. The DM will try to take you down a notch, and that's the opposite of what you want.



Player says: "I still have 143 hit points, and an AC of 37, and a DPR in the hundreds. This fight is no problem!"

GM hears: "This encounter is not difficult enough. Take these hp off, by any means necessary, or else I will get bored and start bragging about how your game is too easy."

Eldest
2012-07-21, 12:49 PM
Weird trend of mine: I alternate between playing male and female characters. The males die. Always. The most amusing version of this was when I had a string of fighters named Alric (I, II, III, IV, V...) who died in increasingly bizarre and unfortunate ways. Then I rolled up one female fighter who was the latest one's sister and she's still alive, half a year of gaming later.

Laura Eternata
2012-07-21, 01:44 PM
I have these two d20s, both black with orange numbers. One of them consistently rolls above 12, the other below 10. No one can tell them apart; they even have the same slightly faded number 7. At this point, we're thoroughly convinced that they're actually one die whose spirit was split in two.

Velaryon
2012-07-21, 02:04 PM
I'm another one who sets out their dice sitting on their highest values at the beginning of every session. I don't know why I bother, it never seems to help.

Among my d6 collection, I have a lot of matched pairs of dice that are the same color, and when I'm rolling stats for a character I have to have two sets of matched pairs or I'm not happy. I will spend five minutes digging through my dice looking for the other translucent green die rather than just grab another die because I want the matched pairs.

I have another friend who insists on all his dice being the same color, white with black numbers and little flecks of black. He buys every die like this he finds in gaming stores, whether he needs more or not, and will not buy dice of any other kind no matter what.

Jay R
2012-07-21, 10:52 PM
Reading this thread, I'm starting to think that the biggest quirk at our game is that none of the players have any die-rolling superstitions.

We don't stack them, or leave them on their high numbers, or care who rolls our dice, or worry about which dice we use.

We just use them as mechanical random number generators.

Erik Vale
2012-07-22, 05:14 AM
At our group, some of the players have an app so their phone rolls....

No way to treat the dice with reverence there.

Wraith
2012-07-22, 12:35 PM
Mechanical or electronic number generators are banned from my gaming table. Unless you're willing and able to bowl it across the floor and into a wall, it's not 'random' enough. :smalltongue:

The original cocked dice must be rerolled - NEVER substitute it for another die even if you have to get up and fetch the original one. Dice are proud little things, and they have long memories for those who would deny them their chance to bring glory.....

I always set up my dice showing the '6' face, so that die gets to know where it 'ought' to land.

Everyone's dice must be kept in individual piles in front of each player. A die that is allowed to wander off by itself unattended is likely to turn feral and start getting some funny ideas about how it ought to behave.....

If you must pile your dice up on top of each other, the correct method is to build a tiny step-pyramid, like an altar so as to appease the Random Number God. '6's upwards for extra mystical effect, and capped with a d4 if at all possible. :smallsmile:

Fiery Diamond
2012-07-22, 01:53 PM
So you basically play with loaded die, that's kind of unethical don't you think?

That depends on your perspective. ALL dice (barring ones like GameScience - which are much closer to perfect) are uneven and have rolling distributions that are not perfectly random as a result of manufacturing. Is it somehow less ethical to actually pay attention to rolls and take advantage of that than it is to be completely clueless and still play with the same "unfair" dice?

ka_bna
2012-07-22, 04:32 PM
- When I put a d20 on the table, I always put the 1 on top. This way, when I roll the d20, it will have enough of the 1 and roll a 20.
- Dice are meant to be arranged, even outside the box. Except for d8's, they're meant to be played with like poker chips.
- In-game, sometimes I hoard odd things for no reason, even to myself.

huttj509
2012-07-22, 05:04 PM
That depends on your perspective. ALL dice (barring ones like GameScience - which are much closer to perfect) are uneven and have rolling distributions that are not perfectly random as a result of manufacturing. Is it somehow less ethical to actually pay attention to rolls and take advantage of that than it is to be completely clueless and still play with the same "unfair" dice?

Well, yeah. If you know your die is skewed to roll high, and you use it when you want to roll high, and not when you want to roll low, that's less ethical than happening to pick up a die that's skewed to roll high, but you didn't know it.

JetThomasBoat
2012-07-23, 09:57 PM
We had this weird quirk crop up where if we start playing and get to combat before one of the characters has a name, that character will die in the combat. One of my friends literally had to write up two extra characters in one session because of this.

NikitaDarkstar
2012-07-24, 01:03 AM
So you basically play with loaded die, that's kind of unethical don't you think?


Kind of why I stopped using one of my favorite D20's actually. Used it 6 months straight, never rolled below a 14 and landed on an 18 with a rather alarming rate. Took some notes out of boredom, turned out around ever 4-5th roll would come up as 18. After that I stopped using it because I just felt wrong using the thing.

As for my own personal quirks? I blow on my dice, shake them, then blow on them again before rolling them. And if I can manage to build a full dice tower (d20 in the bottom, then d12,10,8,6 and finally d4) I'm pretty much immune to natural 1's for the rest of the session. :D

Libertad
2012-07-24, 01:56 AM
If a certain die rolls low often enough, I'll trade it in for a "better" die.

Also, I have a plastic tube which I keep my dice in, and I usually place the d20 at the bottom.

KillianHawkeye
2012-07-24, 08:48 PM
I have two minor dice quirks:

First, I always arrange my dice with the highest values facing up so they know what to roll.

Second, I keep a special set of dice for DMing in a separate plastic container. Those dice don't fraternize with my other dice, because I don't want their evil energy being diluted.

Manly Man
2012-07-25, 01:15 AM
I've always been that when you buy your set of dice, you need to test them out. They kind of speak to the one who rolls them. My set had two twenties in a row on the first two rolls, and I knew that it was the one.

DontEatRawHagis
2012-07-25, 10:30 AM
I have two sets of dice that I cannot roll, except for special occasions. My black dice came with the 4e Red box and can only be rolled for special actions. Example, I had to roll for a Mob of people with guns to see if they hit so I used my black dice.

The Pink dice I tell my players are cursed, though I don't believe they are. If any of my players forgets their dice they have to roll the pink dice.

Kerrin
2012-07-25, 11:13 AM
I have a set of d6s that I call my Car Fleet dice because for Car Wars where you want to roll high they roll low and for Star Fleet Battles where you want to roll low they roll high.

This was proven out over many games. I even tried tricking them several times by not letting them see which game was being played but they continued their behavior.

So I retired them from playing either game and use them for other games only.

Randomguy
2012-07-25, 01:23 PM
In one of my gaming groups all plans fail would at step 3--all of them. No matter how simple or convoluted the plan if it was step 3 it would fall apart. The thing is that after we split up we found that if at least two of us from the said group were players then the Curse of Step 3 would follow us.

This reminds me of something from Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality:

That was when Father had told Draco about the Rule of Three, which was that any plot which required more than three different things to happen would never work in real life.

Father had further explained that since only a fool would attempt a plot that was as complicated as possible, the real limit was two.

joe
2012-07-25, 02:29 PM
I have this shiny red d20, that we call the "Demon Die." the Demon Die never rolls well unless there is a life on the line, in which case it will always roll to see something die.

It is like the Stormbringer of dice. If you're facing an important creature that can be killed with a single critical hit, than the demon dice will roll a 20 and you will get your kill. On the flip side, if you're trying to make a vital saving throw and you roll the Demon Die, it will roll a 1 and you will be killed. The Demon Die enjoys devouring the souls of PCs in particular.

The dice was named by a friend of mine, who would use it with the rest of its set of shiny red d20s. He rolled perpetually bad (the demon die doesn't like to roll higher than 6 on mundane rolls) and at one point got angry and shouted "Get this damn Demon Die away from me." He threw it across the room and it hit the wall and bounced back in front of him, landing on a 20, to specifically taunt him." He screamed several vulgar expletives and broke down crying, and the name stuck with the dice ever since.

I have another shiny red dice that people sometimes call the Demon Die, but I can tell the difference. That dice is not the demon die... it is an impostor. The Demon Die has a small white smudge underneath the 4, and is slightly darker than the other dice.

Vinyadan
2012-07-25, 03:52 PM
Orc Slayer, Orc Grinder, Orc Killer...

Orc-Bane.

May I suggest... Orcrist? :smallamused:

SowZ
2012-07-25, 04:10 PM
Orc Slayer, Orc Grinder, Orc Killer...

Orc-Bane.

Might as well go all the way and just call it sting.

Malak'ai
2012-07-26, 08:26 PM
I once had a DM that had a particular d20 that when ever he picked it up for ANYTHING we all suddered and started praying.
This Dice was a monster, in one combat which lasted 7 rounds, the troll we were fighting critted with nat 20's 9 times! Not quite TPK but VERY close.
Another time our party Rogue tried bluffing his way through a banquet at the royal palace, trying to pass himself off as the ambassador from one of the small boarder nations (he was actually from this nation) and everyone, and I mean everyone got nothing lower than a 17 on their sense motive... Cue jail-break side quest.

Saintheart
2012-07-26, 08:31 PM
I did know one guy who was so obssessive about pre-rolling out all the natural 1s from his dice he'd roll ahead of sessions, and once he pulled a 1, would carefully put the dice into a box with pre-cut holes in the foam liner so the dice couldn't move from that position until the next gaming session.

His reasoning was that if he allowed the dice to fall onto another face, that would count as another roll and we'd move into a tangential universe where all his pre-rolling did not count.

He was an odd sort of fellow. :smalleek:

SowZ
2012-07-26, 08:46 PM
I did know one guy who was so obssessive about pre-rolling out all the natural 1s from his dice he'd roll ahead of sessions, and once he pulled a 1, would carefully put the dice into a box with pre-cut holes in the foam liner so the dice couldn't move from that position until the next gaming session.

His reasoning was that if he allowed the dice to fall onto another face, that would count as another roll and we'd move into a tangential universe where all his pre-rolling did not count.

He was an odd sort of fellow. :smalleek:

Let me guess, when he rolled a one anyway he would shelf that die for a super important roll because it would become doubly lucky!

"What are the odds of THREE ones in a row?"
"Uhhh, in this case, one in twenty, bro."
"Nonsense!"

newBlazingAngel
2012-07-26, 09:10 PM
Is his name...Pete?

SowZ
2012-07-26, 09:47 PM
Is his name...Pete?

That is what I was getting at as well, Angel. Hehe.

Saintheart
2012-07-26, 11:22 PM
No ... you mean there's more than one person who acts like this?! :smallbiggrin: :smallwink:

newBlazingAngel
2012-07-26, 11:30 PM
You're going to make me look it up...


One possible superstition about dice, subscribed to by many gamers, is that if a die rolls badly (for some definition of "badly"), then it is obviously "tainted" and cannot be trusted when the chips are really down. There's also the idea that some dice are "hot" or "lucky" and will have a better chance than others of giving you the results you want. If you are lucky enough to possess such a hot die, you must be careful that nobody else ever uses or even touches it, as that will "rub the luck off". Gamers can have many quirks about how they treat their dice.

As pointed out so clearly in this essay on dice superstition, if dice are random, then it doesn't matter if you're superstitious about them. But if they're not... well, you better make sure you do the right thing and treat them properly. No use taking risks now, is there?

Pete, being the highly logical, calculating person he is, rejects all of that as superstitious nonsense. He instead applies the scientific approach. Over the years, he's collected somewhere around a thousand twenty-sided dice. Every so often, he gathers them all together. He sits down at a table and carefully and individually rolls each of the thousand dice, once. Of course, roughly a twentieth of them will roll a one. He takes those fifty-odd dice and rolls them a second time. After about an hour of concentrated dice rolling, he'll end up with around two or three dice that have rolled two ones in a row. He takes those primed dice and places them in special custom-made padded containers where they can't roll around, and carries them to all the games he plays.

Then, when in the most dire circumstances, where a roll of one would be absolutely disastrous, he pulls out the prepared dice. He now has in his hand a die that has rolled two ones in a row. Pete knows the odds of a d20 rolling three ones in a row is a puny one in 8,000. He has effectively pre-rolled the ones out of the die, and can make his crucial roll with confidence. Furthermore, being scientific about it means he knows that it doesn't matter who rolls the die for the third time, so he has no qualms about sharing his primed dice with other players, if that's what it takes to avoid disaster.

The guys a clear rip off of the Darths and Droids character.

Necroticplague
2012-08-01, 06:01 AM
Ow, reading the amount of gambler's fallacy in that story^ actually makes my hurt a little.

Dusk Eclipse
2012-08-01, 06:26 AM
You can't use die as soon as you get them, if you buy a new set of die, you must wait a least one session before using them, otherwise they wil, rebel and will roll low.

thugthrasher
2012-08-01, 02:45 PM
In our group, you need a new set of dice for each character. If you try to use a set of dice used for a previous character, you are doomed.

There are two exceptions:
1) The DM (whoever it is for a given campaign) uses whatever dice he can get his hands on, usually the discards from everyone's old characters that we always throw in a dice bag.
2) Me. If I use a set of dice that was NOT used by someone else for a previous character, I'm doomed. If I try to use new dice, I'm doomed. If I try to use dice that were previously used by ME, I'm doomed.

And yes, I make sure I occasionally buy dice for members of the group, so I'm not just stealing their old dice.

thugthrasher
2012-08-01, 02:46 PM
Grr....double post.

Yukitsu
2012-08-01, 03:21 PM
I put my poor performing dice on a dark alter in the middle of the forest, pour blood and gasoline on them, line all my other dice around it so they can see what happens to those who fail me, then light that sucker up.

kyoryu
2012-08-01, 03:51 PM
I put my poor performing dice on a dark alter in the middle of the forest, pour blood and gasoline on them, line all my other dice around it so they can see what happens to those who fail me, then light that sucker up.

... seek help. And don't buy a pet.

:smallbiggrin:

BootStrapTommy
2012-08-01, 04:51 PM
All the guys I play with seem to think the GM is out to get them.
It probably stems from most of their early RP experiences.

Also, the fear that the main quest giver is some how trying to compromise your alignment, by forcing you to err in ignorance.

Yukitsu
2012-08-01, 06:38 PM
... seek help. And don't buy a pet.

:smallbiggrin:

I have a dog to help. He wears the red cloak and uses the sacrificial dagger on the blood pouch we get at the dollar store.

Edit: This part is obviously a lie, but I actually do take my bad dice out to the woods and burn them in front of the others.

The Bandicoot
2012-08-02, 12:19 AM
Ok, new update on my D20 of Orc Bane. After rolling it in a few more games, tons of more combats, and more than a few other scenarios it's personality has developed a bit more. That personality seems to be a general 'Sapient Creature Bane' similar to the Demon Die described by an earlier poster.

In a fit of irony my other D20 which is the EXACT OPPOSITE (Cloudy white) seems to have the exact opposite personality, and so far has always rolled good when it was helping me survive(trying to avoid being grappled, reflex/fortitude saves, ect.)

Going to try storing each 20 sided with a different set of other dice to see if their personalities will rub off and I can have a full set good for killing and one for saving.

Silus
2012-08-02, 04:31 AM
No argument there. The way you describe it, it lets you deal with encounters without confrontation, and wear down enemy hp before the fight starts. It's also awesome.

Should have used copious amounts of fire last game for me (and it kinda makes sense for my character, seeing as her patron deity is a Fire/Sun Goddess).

Location was this thing called "Briar Hedge". Big'ol fort made of briar bushes full of Fey. I suggested we torch the thing from the outside and kill anyone that comes out, but apparently we needed to retrieve a minor artifact from there.

We ended up fighting these things called Timberjacks--scarecrow like Fey that can move through brambles and explode at will.

"Don't burn down the hedge you said. We'll be fine you said." *Watches as the Inquisitor and the Summoner drop*

Edit: Suppose I ought to add that I ended up saving the aforementioned players. Giving Haste to a Dawnflower Dervish that not only stacks Dex, but can rage for more Dex? Yeah, things get silly fast.

Me: *Rolls to hit* I got....a 4.
DM: Well that doesn't hi-
Me: Does an 18 hit the AC?

Slipperychicken
2012-08-04, 01:20 AM
Big'ol fort made of briar bushes


Might as well have named the fort "Bonfire", for how easy it burns. :smallbiggrin:

If the inhabitants aren't evacuating the artifact (which they would do no matter how you went about killing them), burn it down, then pick the artifact out of the rubble, casting divinations as appropriate.

..You may have just inspired my next character to be an arsonist.

Silus
2012-08-04, 03:24 AM
Might as well have named the fort "Bonfire", for how easy it burns. :smallbiggrin:

If the inhabitants aren't evacuating the artifact (which they would do no matter how you went about killing them), burn it down, then pick the artifact out of the rubble, casting divinations as appropriate.

..You may have just inspired my next character to be an arsonist.

I suggested it, but the DM was like "The whole place is magical and you're looking for a magic splinter of wood."

Summoner did end up bringing in a Fire Elemental though, so that helped a bunch.

link16
2012-08-10, 12:04 PM
I have silver plated D6 that I roll for damage in Harn, my players confiscate it after I kill the first player.

I also have a very old chessex set of blue speckled percentile dice that consistantly roll 1-15 (many critical successes). My 4 players have fought for 12+ rounds with 3 swashbucklers with 11 endurance... My players confiscated those dice too..

When I play I prefer to find any kind of explosive device possible, if in Dark Heresy, I always carry a grenade launcher (great for stopping traffic).

Slipperychicken
2012-08-11, 01:50 AM
When I play I prefer to find any kind of explosive device possible

It's hard to find a situation that a sufficient quantity of explosives won't improve. Also makes for good stories later on.

Jay R
2012-08-11, 11:21 AM
It's hard to find a situation that a sufficient quantity of explosives won't improve. Also makes for good stories later on.

"And that would be wrong. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0696.html)"

Jack of Spades
2012-08-11, 11:42 AM
Myself, I "fire" dice occasionally if I'm having a horrid session, but that's mostly a stress reliever. Also, and this is a rule that has saved many a character, I generally roll on some sort of raised surface, and thus always reroll dice that fall off-- but not without first glancing at the natural 1 that the die had come to rest on. It's made especially handy that this rule is generally just considered common courtesy.

However, I'm posting because I know a guy who I've seen spend half an hour before sessions trying to glean which of his multiple sets of dice is rolling well today. He also will let absolutely no one roll his dice if he can stop them, but is completely fine with the action in hindsight if it results in a low-numbered roll (he seems to think the die somehow stores a finite number of each possible roll, and thus doesn't want anyone else using the good ones).

The Boz
2012-08-11, 09:16 PM
One of my players will place the die inside his mouth and then spew it out if he wants it to roll high.
It works.
Don't ask who I DM for.

Winter_Wolf
2012-08-11, 10:03 PM
One of my players will place the die inside his mouth and then spew it out if he wants it to roll high.
It works.
Don't ask who I DM for.

I'm guessing other players don't ask to borrow that person's dice. Ew.

Remmirath
2012-08-11, 11:59 PM
I assign a different set of dice to each character I currently have in play in any game, usually based on what set seems to match the character's personality. It is considered bad luck to immediately reassign the dice after a character dies; a month is a goodly amount of time to wait. MERP characters only use the percentile dice out of the set, but the rest of the set is still off limits while that character lives (ideally, they are instead assigned matching but setless percentile dice).

I also keep my dice turned with the highest number facing upwards. If the roll is particularly important, shaking the die around beforehand (may) help.

If I really want the best results out of any roll, I dig out my oldest set of dice. Those - and most especially the d20, being the most venerable of the lot - are not ever used except in such circumstances, or when I am playing AD&D, as that was their original purpose. They are not assigned to a character. They are also not used as DM dice. I am not out to get the PCs, after all.

When DMing, I use yet another different set of dice than any of my current characters are using.

If I have multiple characters in any campaign (which is most of the time), the character sheets should be sorted in order of how much I like the character. The character I like best should be on top, or on the left if the sheets are spread out on the table. The dice should be arranged likewise.

The more battle scars, so to speak, a character has on their sheet the luckier it is (sheet wearing through from erase marks, water damage, tears, coffee cup stains, et cetera) - but only if they occur naturally.