Rolling Wednesday: Free Dice Winner!

Rolling Wednesday shall end with free dice!

More of my dice collection

The winner is Thriftomancer.   You will be receiving this eclectic mix of dice.  Congratulations and thank you to everyone who entered.

Rolling Wednesday: Free Dice Contest still going!

Last Wednesday I announced the retirement of the Rolling Wednesday posts.  In celebration I decided to send some free dice to someone.  There are no claimers yet so here is what I have decided.  I will continue this contest for another week.  I will add more dice to the pot.  If there are no winners by next Wednesday, I will add even more dice to the pot. 

Soldiers playing dice in a tavern by Adriaen Brouwer 

Here are the rules to the contest.

If you would like me to mail you some free dice, here is what you need to do:

Send an email to nedpatrick ( AT ) yahoo ( DOT ) com.
Put "I love Dice" in the subject line.
In your message include your name and your favorite kind of die.

That's it.  Next Wednesday I will pick a winner.  If I get no entries then I will add more dice to the pot and continue the contest.  There are currently 12 mystery dice in the pot.

Good luck and happy rolling!

Rolling Wednesday: Free Dice Giveaway!

Rolling Wednesday is going away!

I am retiring my experiment of trying to post a picture of a die or a dice-related post every Wednesday.  I may bring it back, but for now this will be the last Rolling Wednesday post.

Let's end it with free dice!

A portion of my dice collection

I love dice.  I love buying them, collecting them, rolling them, and giving them away.  Do you want some dice?  I will go to my local game store and a few other locations and pick up some dice.  There will be polyhedrals.  Other than that it will be a random hodgepodge of dice.  Will there be nothing but d4s?  A misshaped d12?  Whatever they are, you can have them for free.

If you would like me to mail you some free dice, here is what you need to do:

Send an email to nedpatrick ( AT ) yahoo ( DOT ) com.
Put "I love Dice" in the subject line.
In your message include your name and your favorite kind of die.

That's it.  Next Wednesday I will pick a winner.  Your odds of winning are good, since this blog is mainly read by my dad.  Shout out to Dad, whose Avalon Hill wargame collection inspired me to become a tabletop gamer.

Good luck and happy rolling!

2018: No Resolutions!

As we enter a new year I would like to take a look at my gaming habits in 2017 and reflect on the state of the blog.

Boardgame Highlights in 2017

One of my struggles as a game collector is finding a multitude of great games but then not actually playing them.  For years I have been interested in the game lines from Starfleet Games, such as Star Fleet Battles and Federation Commander.  Both of those games have free print-and-play demos and I have tried both of them solo.  This year I convinced a friend to try out the Federation Commander demo.  We ran a basic Federation vs. Klingon scenario.  I now own a copy of Star Fleet Battles so my goal for this year is to find an opponent for that game.

Returning to Magic the Gathering was another gaming highlight.  I have always been curious about Magic and I found someone to teach me the game about six years ago.  At that time I had steady opponents.  I played for a few years but them my Magic playing trickled to a drip, and Magic is a game that requires practice in order to be proficient.  In 2017 I started playing more and I even participated in a sealed league, which is a format that was new to me.

Play-by-Mail Highlights in 2017

I continued to experiment with play-by-mail in 2017.  I dropped Duel2, the gladiator combat game run by Reality Simulations.  I enjoy the game, highly recommend it, and will probably return to it again.  I just needed to spend my time and financial resources elsewhere.  I am still playing Hyborian War, a grand strategy wargame in the Conan universe.  Once this current game ends I will sign up for another one.  I have started a science fiction game called Starweb run by Flying Buffalo.   Starweb is an exploration/trading/combat game.  I plan on writing reviews for both Hyborian War and Starweb this year.

Role-Playing Game Highlights of 2017

I was reviewing my rpg plays over at rpggeek.com and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I started 2017 by running a Pathfinder session.  I have wanted to return to Pathfinder as the first time I ran it I didn't feel that I knew enough at the time to make it work as smoothly as it should.  That session ended in a TPK!  I continued to be a player in a D&D 5ed campaign in 2017.  I enjoy playing and I think that every gamemaster needs to play a lot in order to understand gaming better.  However I am definitely getting the urge to run a campaign and I ended the year running a Black Crusade scenario.

Life Highlights of 2017

We moved!  Moving has put some chaos into my life.  We moved into an apartment and my gaming space shrunk.  I have two FLGS in the area, both that have game nights.  I have not been to either game night yet.  I also applied for a job in the tabletop game industry.  I did not get the position, but I did make it to the second round of applicants.  Not bad for someone with no profession game industry experience.

State of the Blog in 2017

I did not write as many entries in 2017 that I would have liked to.  I had 35 posts, which is the 2nd lowest total for a year.  I was hoping to keep up Rolling Wednesday throughout the year.  I thought that posting a picture of dice wouldn't be too hard.  Well, moving really messes up our life and my Rolling Wednesday experiment did not post every Wednesday.  I also failed to make any big changes to the visual look or design of the blog.

No Resolutions!

We are in 2018 and like the title says, I have no resolutions.  My goals are what they always have been, try to play and create more.  I will continue posting to the blog.  I will continue writing reviews.  I am consciously trying to limit my acquisition of game products and enjoy what I already own.  In fact, I have a bunch of unpainted miniatures that I hope to paint soon.  When I do I will post pictures!  Game on!

Rolling Wednesday: Random d12

Here is random d12 from my collection.  I'm hoping to resume regular posts soon.  Happy Wednesday and game on!

Rolling Wednesday: Custom Game Store Dice

I haven't done a Rolling Wednesday in a while.  Today I want to show what I think is a cool idea, making custom dice for a game store.  I have some dice where the owners have put the logo of their store on the six side of a d6.   I'm not sure how much it costs to order a batch of custom dice but I think that this is a great way to advertise a store.

These are from the Dice Dojo in Chicago. Illinois

These are from Excalibur Comics, Cards, and Games in Shreveport, Louisiana

Gamers always need more dice and custom dice are great conversation starters.  I approve of game stores advertising with dice.  Game on!

Rolling Wednesday: Quickest Kickstarter Ever!

I got my Diminishing Knight dice in the mail last week!  I would have posted them last Wednesday but I already had a post ready to go.  They are nice and big and I even got a cool fridge magnet.  Hats off to Black Oak Workshop.  This is one of the fastest Kickstarter fulfillments I have ever had.

Rolling Wednesday: Random.org

There are various dice rollers on the internet.  Today I wanted to share one of my favorites, random.org.  This site is actually a site for generating random numbers.  They explain how most computer programs use pseudo-random methods to create random numbers.  Random.org uses "atmospheric noise" to produce truly random results.  There are some great articles explaining how the site works and how it achieves randomness.  My favorite is the article that shows two bitmaps side by side; one generated by random.org and one by the Microsoft Windows random number generator.

There are two ways that you can use random.org as a dice roller.  They have a dedicated die-roller page, where you can roll up to 60 six-sided dice at a time.

I rolled boxcars on random.org

If you want to roll other types of dice then you have to use the integer generator.  You can have it generator a number between 1 and 20 for a good old d20 roll.

I've set it up to generate a d20 roll.  Note that you can have it generate more than one number at a time.

I rolled a 4

Random.org has other great uses.  You can use it to randomize lists, shuffle a deck of cards, pick lotto numbers, and even white noise.  I use it in education to randomize lists of students and answer choices.  They have an app that you can download.  The app has a coin flipper that allows you to pick different coin images.  You know nerds made it because one of the coins that you can use is Two-Face's double-headed coin.  The app gives you the coin flipper for free and for a small fee you can unlock the other features.

Two-Face's coin on the app

Rolling character stats on the app

Random.org is a cool website and it is worth a visit to see what it can do.  I recommend it.

Rolling Wednesday: Stone Dice

Today's dice is a set of stone six-siders that I picked up at the Natural History Museum in Houston.  They are nice and hefty.  I don't dare roll them because I am afraid that I will either break the dice or the table.  They look cool and make great props, though.

Rolling Wednesday: Round Dice

This is a round die.  It belonged to a pair but I lost the other one long ago.  The die has a weight inside of it.  You roll the die and the weight eventually brings it to a stop.  I loved my round dice when I was a kid.  I thought they were really neat.  The problem with them is that the results are not always clear.  Sometimes they will stop "in between" numbers,  Anyway, it is a cool die to have in the collection.

Rolling Wednesday: Pizza Dice (and more!) Kickstarter

This is another shout out for a dice Kickstarter.  Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo (the company that publishes Tunnels and Trolls) is doing a Kickstarter to make more of his pizza dice.  Pizza dice are a product that Flying Buffalo sells.  The idea is that you roll the dice and they tell you what pizza toppings to get.  The faces of the old pizza dice were printed.  The esteemed Mr. Loomis is trying to raise money for a mold, so that the new pizza dice will be engraved.

The old pizza dice.  The new ones will have the words engraved in the faces.

You don't just get two pizza dice with this Kickstarter.  For ten dollars you get ten dice.  Two pizza dice, five adventure dice (for generating things like traps and treasure), a nuclear die, a monster reaction dice, and a fast food die.

My description does not do this project justice so please check out the Pizza Dice Kickstarter.

I will end by saying that I have been ordering products from Rick over at Flying Buffalo for ten years.  He has some of the best gaming products for the best value around.  His customer service is excellent.  Plus, he sells one of my favorite rpgs (Tunnels and Trolls!).

Rolling Wednesday: Slot Machine Dice

Appendix F of the first edition AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide has rules and descriptions for gambling games that can be used in a campaign.  Gygax included two ways to model a slot machine using standard six-sided dice.  I was able to take this concept and improve on it.  I have a set of dice with slot machine symbols on them.

I pulled these dice out during a Hackmaster campaign.  The characters were in a city that had a large gnome population.  The gnomes were specialists at making all sorts of magical and mechanical devices.  The tavern that the characters were in had a slot machine.  I passed over the dice and let the players wager their gold.

The dice themselves are white plastic six-sided dice.  The symbols are printed on the sides.  I acquired them in a set that contained 5 different dice games (poker dice, put and take, bowling dice, slot machine dice, and standard six -sided dice).  The slot dice were a nice little prop to add some flavor to a standard tavern scene.

Rolling Wednesday: Random D4

Here is a random four-sided die from my collection.  This one is white with red numbers.  I find the d4 to be the most mystical die, due to its pyramid shape.

Rolling Wednesday: Jade Gaming News RPG Character Dice

Today I will be showing the RPG Character Dice that I recently ordered from Jade Gaming News.  These dice are sold in two sets, one for 3rd edition D&D and Pathfinder and one set for 5th edition D&D.  The sets include two six-siders with alignments, an eight-sided die with races, and a twelve-sided die with classes.  I ordered the factory reject 3rd edition set and a jumbo race die.

I rolled a chaotic evil dwarf fighter!

The factory reject dice were cheaper than the regular set and I am very happy with them.  I haven't examined them closely but I don't really see any obvious blemishes or defects.

I got a lawful neutral elf sorcerer!

These dice are cool and I don't think that I will ever get tired from rolling up random character options.

I love the halfing graphic

 The race die is hefty and has nice graphics.  It is 24mm and well made.

Half-orc!  Take that 2nd edition!

You can order your own sets at the Jade Gaming Shop.  Prices are in Canadian dollars.

Rolling Wednesday: Gamescience D12

Today we have a Gamescience twelve-sided die that I rescued out of the bulk dice bin at my FLGS.

Look at that shiny orange die!

The die is a nice clear orange.  I really like the way that it looks.  It is not inked, but I don't think that I will ever want to ink it.  The die has a jewel-like appearance that would be marred by the inking process.

You can make out the tell-tale spruce mark that Gamescience dice have.

If you don't own any Gamescience dice I would definitely pick some up.  Head on over to their website and browse.

www.gamesciencedice.com

They have tons of other stuff, including TWERPS, a role-playing game that only has one stat.  Check them out.

Rolling Wednesday

Today we have a six-sided die with a skunk on it.  That is all.

Rolling Wednesday: The Diminishing Knight Die Kickstarter

I have been trying to cool it on Kickstarters this year.  However, I do love dice and I was intrigued by the Diminishing Knight Die Kickstarter.  I researched the company and they have come through on their past projects.  For $10 you can get a pair of their dice.  I will admit that I had a brain fart when I looked at their campaign.  I thought, "Huh, that is neat.  The dice have a picture of a knight losing his limbs one by one.  That is cool."  It took me a little bit of time to figure out the reference.  I backed for a pair.  Check them out.

It's just a flesh wound!

Rolling Wednesday: Mystery Die

Today's die is a wooden six-sider that I picked up while cleaning up at my in-laws.  It measures 15mm.  One side has a purple dot, one side has a black dot. two sides have a green dot, and two sides are blank.  It is well used.  I have no idea where it came from.  My guess is that it is from a European family game made in the 1980s.  If you know what this die was originally used for, please comment.

Rolling Wednesday: A D6 Inside a D6

Today's die is a six-sided die inside another six-sided die.  My wife got this for me at a Montessori convention.  The outside transparent plastic cube is 30mm and the white die enclosed within appears to be 16mm.  The idea is that you can roll one die and get the result of rolling two dice!  I like using it as a gelatinous cube miniature.

Rolling Wednesday: Misprinted Dice

Today's die is a weird misprinted six sider that I found at my local game store.  I was digging around in the bin of single dice and I found this red d6 that captivated me.  I really liked the color and the design.  When I started to roll it while gaming I noticed that the die had some problems.  One side was blank and it had three pips embossed on two sides.  Also, one side bulges out.  I'm not sure what I will do with it.  I like the red too much to get rid of it.

It's unique.

From one angle it appears to be normal.