A Dice A Day
Today I would like to address a topic very near and dear to the typical players heart; the topic of dice.
Dice are the single object that epitomizes gaming, nearly every game uses them from board games - to collectable card games*.
To a gamer dice are meat and drink.
The icing on the cake.
For some it's even a reason to get up in the morning, though we tend to look down on those gamers.
The amount of dice available are astounding.
There are the poly-hedral dice: coming in 4's 6's 8's 10's 12's 20's and even 30's and 100's; but even these dice have a variety of shapes, col0rs and materials.
There are dice made from bone, metal, antler, and of course plastic.
Every colour that you can imagine also: from the standard colors of the rainbow, to metalic, clear or translucent, to shimmer dice that change color in the light.
Of course gamers have their superstitions about dice too.
Some will only face the dice a certain way on the table, others will never roll thier dice but on a designated surface.
Others perform rolling rituals and such when selecting dice for an evening of gaming.
I have a habit of kissing my dice before certain rolls.
Of course this is all a load of bull, dice will roll how they were designed to roll despite all these little quirks.
They are random, and nothing more..... or are they?
I'm going to say they are.
Why all the fuss though?
Why do gamers pride and obsess over dice?
Well, dice are the wild card for most rpgs. They are the one constant with all characters.
A bad die roll can mean anything from having a character who is a simpleton, a pansy, a klutz. To being consumed by the dragons flame and having to roll up a new character.
In more conventional board games dice often determine who will win.
Roll low a few times and your buddy's a head of you on the board, you losing.
Now dice are of course just implements of a silly game (or games).
But as hobbies go, gaming isn't a bad one... well it can be socially, but it is a fairly creative and inventive hobby, even if most people consider it a great waste of time.
But then, how much time is wasted watching sports (most people don't play in any competitive manner)?
Or crafts?
Sure you might have something after your done doing the craft, but it isn't usually something you need or is neccessary.
All hobbies are a waste of time.
For more on dice and the history of dice... go to these links.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dice-play/History.htm
http://members.aol.com/dicetalk/history.htm
http://www.gamblecraft.com/review/craps/history.htm
http://www.aboriginemundi.com/dicelab/
Enjoy
*Most collectable card games use dice as counters, to represent units of life, creatures, or an effect of some sort.
posted by F.G. Shaw @ 4:50 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home