Sunday 21 August 2011

Choose Your Weapon

Apropos of nothing, I thought I'd introduce you to some of "the boys". Apologies for the crappy quality of the lighting - I took these earlier at the local gaming club, which as well as being a wretched hive of scum and villainy is also very poorly lit. This helps members not to notice the thin layer of grime which covers everything in it.


This is "old pinky". He is a very poorly-made and cheap d12 I bought at The Yellow Submarine in, I think, Shinjuku South Exit. I hate having to roll this dice because it rolls further and longer than any I have seen in my gaming career. d12s are usually worse than other dice in this regard, but "old pinky" will roll for entire metres across a table top, fall off the far edge, continue rolling across the carpet, and head inexorably - almost deliberately - towards the heaviest and largest item of furniture in the room to lodge somewhere underneath it.


These are my elemental dice - earth, air, fire and water. These are probably the oldest dice I own: I got them when I was about 16. They're no Gamescience dice, but they have reasonably sharp edges and roll well; they also have a nice chunky feel that I appreciate - you feel as if the results will have import, which is of course as it should be.


This is "the horde" - a fuckload of d6s I bought mainly for the purposes of Burning Wheel dice pools. I like to line them up on the table and roll them in turn; those that score 4, 5 or 6 get recycled and return to the back of the line, but those that score 1, 2 or 3 have to go back to the dice bag and think about what they've done. When they've had some time to reconsider their positions they can come back into play.


This is my d8. There is nothing to say about my d8.

7 comments:

  1. I love the idea of punishing disobedient dice. :D

    (I feel a little sorry for your d8)

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  2. You know you love that d12. Pinky! Here's to grimy game clubs everywhere.

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  3. I miss going to Yellow Submarine (although I thought it was Shinjuku west exit). Those hordes of d6's look like the Daiso specials I've also got tons of. But then again, I'm sure there are other places to get that kind of cheap d6 than Daiso.

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  4. Billiam: I can't remember if I've told the story on my blog before of a teenage friend who used to put his d20s in the freezer if they'd performed badly?

    ze bulette: Our club hasn't been cleaned since about 1997. It shows.

    Lord Gwydion: You're right, it is the West Exit. There are Yellow Submarines everywhere, though - I even found one in a Marui department store in Musashi-Kosugi, which is a very bland suburb of Kawasaki. It was selling all manner of Japanese-language TRPGs, including D&D etc.

    I think I got those dice in a Tokyu Hands, probably the big one in Shinjuku. It's not bad for dice, actually.

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  5. Once upon a time in my youth, I owned a d20. It was yellow, translucent, and evil. It rolled 20s only in practice, the rest of the time (i.e., when it mattered) it was a 1 rolling machine. I threw that bitch deep into the woods after it vexed me one last time with (you guessed it) a 1.

    On the other hand, the magical green d20 my grandfather found while walking the dog was, well, magical. 20, 20, 20, 17 (nothing is perfect). Perhaps that green d20 ending up being tossed by someone else from a different town in situation similar to the one I had with "Demon Yellow."

    Hmmmm, nothing worse that stupid dice anecdotes.

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  6. Oh dice animism, I love you.

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  7. Your d8 has the following attributes:

    1: It is slightly rounded-edges.
    2: It is charcoal colored with white numbers.
    3: Its material is slightly transparent.
    4: It has no obvious chips or other damage.
    5: The numbers on its faces are arabic, not pips.
    6: It has been settled in this photo such that the "5" is upright and the "3" and "7" are clearly visible. A fourth side is partially visible.
    7: The upright side has its point facing the viewer.
    8: Its shadow is being cast upon the surface beneath.

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