Dice Superstition

[cubecrazymonkey]

Most players inevitably find a session where one particularly die seems hell-bent on their destruction, or perhaps the dice gods favor the player and grant them nothing lower than 15. And even though the laws of probability suggest that we're just silly in thinking so, it always seems like a specific die is "cursed" or "lucky".

What rituals does your group have to counter-act this phenomenon? Here's a few of my own:

~Original player: The dice know who they belong to. We once had a player using a miniature set of purple dice. He left, another player joined, and we gave his set to her. She never once rolled well, obviously because the dice refused to recognize her as master. Now every player must have their distinct, personal set.

~Punishment! (I've heard some really good stories on how to do this, but ours are pretty tame): When a particular dice is acting off and continually rolling off the table, we leave it under the couch or in whatever obscure corner it rolled off to until its had a chance to think about its actions and repent.

~Training: When a die is not being used, it must be left at its highest value at all times, so the dice will remember where they're supposed to go. Any die just sitting on a natural one is a terrible omen.

[Inyssius Tor]

Dice Karma gooooooo!

[The_Werebear]

If you open your dicebag, and multiple die fall out on 1, put them all back in the bag and use an online roller.

Any dice stack using a complete set (d4, 6, 8, both 10s, 12, and 20) is incredibly lucky, and will be a boon to that player until they must roll. If the builder knocks the stack over, it is bad luck. If another player knocks it over by bumping the table, the DM must proceed to smite said person.

[Flying Elephant]

I punish bad dice by microwaving them with the 20 up.

[psychoticbarber]

~Training: When a die is not being used, it must be left at its highest value at all times, so the dice will remember where they're supposed to go. Any die just sitting on a natural one is a terrible omen.

That's interesting, because my only dice superstition is this:

~Logical Progression: The dice have a preplanned order in which they will roll. This will turn out better for you if you do not muck with it. ALWAYS leave the die with the same number up as the last number you rolled.

[RandomNPC]

nobody touches my dice without asking, i keep them under some sort of cover.

when they do get to sit out i keep them on highest value.

to punish a set i glare at it and mumble the words of luck from a story i read when i was a kid.



this ones kinda silly, something i thought up and don't really follow.
owning multiple full sets results in the dice being jealous. the less used set(s) gives good rolls to try to take over, but if you only use it/them for specific moments they get smart to your plan and roll bad. the more used set gets jealous each time the other set is used and rolls badly on the next roll or two.

[Arbitrarity]

We have someone in out group who rolled initiative 5 times in one session, and never rolled less than a 16. With the same die. And is abnormally protective of that die ("Give me my die!" "But I want to roll for NPC's with it" "It's my die, give it back!").

[Black Hand]

For me there is the 'God Dice'. Two clear d10's one red one green that I've been DM'ing with for over about 15 years now. They have decided the life death and general luck of many a player. Nobody touches them.


Given the topic at hand I feel that it is necessary to post this:

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[Orzel]

I feed my dice chip and cookie crumbs so they listen to me. Full dice roll high.

Never bash dice into each other. The weaker ones get injured, become brain damaged, and roll 2's.

[clockwork warrior]

at our games we have two superstions:

1. the orange d20 rolls like crap, dont use it!

2. for lucky rolls, let me cough on your dice for great rolls

[Diggorian]

~ Dice Volunteerism: The first bunch of dice of a kind to tumble out of the dice bag are used for that session. They choose to take the stage.

~ Karmic Balancing (aka "Zeroing the Dice"): Before the next very important d20 roll, all D20 to be used that night must be rolled together. The lowest roller shall be rolled, for it's negativity has been purged, it has been zeroed.

I have witnessed one Execution by Microwave. I wouldnt do such a thing ... punishing the dice for their fickle nature.

[TheOOB]

I am in possession of what my group calls the "die of DM power", it being the first d20 I ever bought. As a player the die rolls normally, as a DM, it routinely kills the players.

[nerulean]

You roll your dice, or at the very least your d20, once before the game begins: no more, and no less. On a bad roll, it's saving up its luck for the game proper and is a smart die. On a good roll, it's trying its hardest and will serve you well. A mediocre roll spells trouble.

[mikeejimbo]

We'll do things like roll different dice if some start doing poorly.

But in all, I think that player's luck is more important than the die's. Some people just seem to roll higher, even using the same dice.

[Quietus]

I have several full sets of dice, and I feel for the right set when I'm playing. I have one set that I use almost exclusively for my IRC games that sits on my desk next to me, which are my personal PC killers. They roll awesome when I'm DMing, but poorly if I use them for a character of mine.

Generally, I end up using my translucent sparkly green set for my elven druidess, Zetris, and for my human wererat rogue, Kyle. My blue sparkly set gets used for Kyle on occasion, and for a few of my other chars. Sometimes I'll change it up, but once I pick a set for a session, I stick with that set until it's given me an absolutely ridiculous number of natural ones, at which point I punish it by putting it away and picking another set.

[Dervag]

I keep wondering why dice would want to be shaken up, thrown, and bashed against a tabletop, and thus would feel punished by not being so shaken, thrown, and bashed.

Maybe dice are lazy, and prefer to be left alone.

[Fooliodislapsis]

we don't try to counter-act bad dice rolls, we predict it. we cast every dice at once and determine which dice will do well or not based on the pattern they make. like if they make a line and the d20 is on top it will roll high later on.

also we find the d4's you buy at the news agent roll better character stats, we think it must have something to do with them being made with cheaper plastic.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

The Law of Comedic Heroism: Any die I touch is cursed to roll nothing higher than five until a life or death situation. Then it's nothing lower than 15. Makes for great story that the epic hero gets monkey stomped by a goblin camp only to one shot the ancient red dragon with the three 20 house rule.

Green Leaves: My brother's lucky d20 with a leaf symbol for the 20 never fails to loyally serve it's master, but when used by any other player has had a tendency to cause death to the offending roller.

[KIDS]

Even though I'm an agnostic, I still find praying to God works the best :)

Since I can't see anyone else linking to it so far, DM of the Rings had an episode about it recently, scoring in the process "170 comments. There are now n+1 comments, where n is a ridiculous number." And yes, of course the dice are alive, there is no doubt of it!

(Never was!)

[Roog]

If someone is rolling badly ask to borrow their dice for a while.

If you roll badly with it - tell them how unlucky the dice is.
If you roll well with it - tell them how unlucky they are.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

I usually treat dice like electronics. I pick a pair that looks the coolest, then test-roll them during a session (it doesn't matter what you roll outside of a real game) and see how well they do. If they're good enough, I use them and ONLY them(no one can use them either) until they start to fail me... Then I hand them out to whoever's on my left or right ahead of me and pick a new set, and there am I back at step one.

It's weird, because this is the only time I ever use any kind of superstition...

(All those sacrificed virgins for nothing...)

[mikeejimbo]

Even though I'm an agnostic, I still find praying to God works the best :)

I have a strange related story. I was once a cleric of Reorx and I cast something at a dragon we really needed to kill. I rolled to get past spell resistance, but first prayed to Reorx (in character, though) hoping for some DM fiat divine intervention.

I rolled a 20.

[Tormsskull]

I bought several sets of oversized dice (they are so much easier to see). The purple set is especially deadly when I DM, and as such my players will often try to hide the purple set when we sit down to play.

[Gorbad the Limb Rippa]

In my group there is one dice which i fear;
The dice of me slaying.
I have been killed by that dice thousands of times.
If the dice is being used by the dm,it kills me.
If it is being used by a pc,it kills me.
No matter how it's being used ,it will some how target me an utterly destroy my character

On a different note,a rolling ritual i have is putting the dice in the space behind my glasses while i am wearing them and rolling them from there,it usually works.Or shaking the dice in my hand near my feet, then rolling them.This works even better with d10's

[Runolfr]

If "dice karma" worked, it would be cheating, anyway.

[valadil]

I punish bad dice by microwaving them with the 20 up.

I'll one up ya on that. I know a guy who doesn't just microwave them, but he also lines up all his other d20s so they have to watch.

[Argent]

You roll your dice, or at the very least your d20, once before the game begins: no more, and no less. On a bad roll, it's saving up its luck for the game proper and is a smart die. On a good roll, it's trying its hardest and will serve you well. A mediocre roll spells trouble.

This is exactly my group's superstition. The first roll of the evening dictates how that session's rolls are going to go.

Bad dice also get punished by getting put back in the bag for the rest of the session. That'll show 'em.

[Jimbob]

I have 6 sets of dice. 1 set I only use for when im playing. But if im dming I get all my dice out and let them air off for a bit, get some fresh air and sun light before we start playing. And I take turns with my dice, so never use the same D20 twice in a row. My little superstition there

[Wolfgang]

I don't use any of the mystical mumbo jumbo that you hide-bound paranoids do; I use scientific principals.

When you're not using your dice, turn them all up to one of the highest numbers they can roll. If they are left in this position long enough, the matter in the dice will migrate toward the bottom due to gravity and/or science, making the bottom heavier and therefore more likely to end up on the bottom when rolled. Thus, you ensure more high numbers.


Note: Do not use this method in a system looking for low results.

[Indon]

I punish bad dice by microwaving them with the 20 up.

I know someone who puts them in the freezer.