# Tips/Tricks/Rituals to "bless" new dice?



## NewJeffCT (Jan 24, 2011)

OK, for many years now, I have had famously bad luck in rolling dice, either as a player or as a DM.  Though, maybe every 8-10 sessions, I roll fantastically well and either score a memorable crit as a player, or kill a player or two as DM.  We make our rolls on the table so everybody can see the natural 20 or natural 1 come up and either cheer or groan, as appropriate.

With that in mind, as we start a new leg of my current campaign, I bought a new set of dice.  Almost all of my old dice are some form of black, white, grey, or maybe black & brown mixed together.  So, pretty plain colorwise.

I bought a more colorful set of bright blue dice this time around, hoping to change my rolling luck.

But, does anybody do anything special before using dice for the first time to help ensure luck?

Thanks


----------



## jonesy (Jan 24, 2011)

NewJeffCT said:


> But, does anybody do anything special before using dice for the first time to help ensure luck?



Of course not. The mere idea is preposterous. We most certainly do not wrap our dice in silken cloth or place them in a crystal bowl. And to say that we would place the bowl upside down on the floor and would then hop one-legged around it in anti-clockwise fashion is totally absurd, and we definitely do not do it while reciting Kubla Khan. No, because that would be crazy.

Besides, we only tried _that_ the one time, and it only produced bad dice.


----------



## TheVengefulKoala (Jan 24, 2011)

I like to annoint my dice with the fresh blood of virginal chickens before every game. In full view of my players.

Blesses the dice for luck, and reminds them who the GM is.


----------



## kitsune9 (Jan 24, 2011)

NewJeffCT said:


> But, does anybody do anything special before using dice for the first time to help ensure luck?
> 
> Thanks




The Prayer of the Fourth Standard Deviation

Oh Gods of Randomness and Probabilities, hear my plea!
May thy glory to the bell curve of the Universe favor me!
May I be one of those who is on the tail end beyond the fourth standard deviation of rolling well
Bless this d20 for it is roll critical hits and score successes!
Bless this d12 so that I always roll high on the hp of barbarians!
Bless this d10 and d100 for the myriad of possibilities I may need  of it!
Bless this d8 for the damage of my longsword and the clerical healing my character may need!
Bless all the d6's when I blast my enemies into dust with a well-placed fireball!
Bless this d4 so that magic missiles strike my enemies square in the face or when I have need of my dagger!

May your tender mercies shine upon this pious soul. Amen.


----------



## NewJeffCT (Jan 24, 2011)

jonesy said:


> Of course not. The mere idea is preposterous. We most certainly do not wrap our dice in silken cloth or place them in a crystal bowl. And to say that we would place the bowl upside down on the floor and would then hop one-legged around it in anti-clockwise fashion is totally absurd, and we definitely do not do it while reciting Kubla Khan. No, because that would be crazy.
> 
> Besides, we only tried _that_ the one time, and it only produced bad dice.





Yes, that would be crazy.


----------



## NewJeffCT (Jan 24, 2011)

kitsune9 said:


> The Prayer of the Fourth Standard Deviation
> 
> Oh Gods of Randomness and Probabilities, hear my plea!
> May thy glory to the bell curve of the Universe favor me!
> ...




reminds me of the Holy Hand Grenade...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOrgLj9lOwk]YouTube - Monty Python-Holy Hand Grenade[/ame]


----------



## jonesy (Jan 24, 2011)

NewJeffCT said:


> Yes, that would be crazy.



Surprisingly fun, though.


----------



## Micp (Jan 24, 2011)

As far as DM'ing goes the solution is simple:

1: Get DM screen
2: Cheat

although be fair about it. the main job as a DM is to make sure that everyone has a good time, and if your is either continuously good or bad they will stop having fun. it's great to win a battle but if it's always easy then it looses it's shine.

as a player i guess you'll just have to get used to suck. i feel with you, i'm in the exact same position, but the only alternative is to get weighted dies and believe me you don't want to turn into that kind of player...


----------



## NewJeffCT (Jan 24, 2011)

Micp said:


> As far as DM'ing goes the solution is simple:
> 
> 1: Get DM screen
> 2: Cheat
> ...




well, going back to 2E days, the groups I've been a part of have always had the DM and players make all of their rolls on the table - though rolls by the DM that requires secrecy (NPC reactions, opposed skill checks, etc) were done in secret.  

The reason for rolling on the table was from an old DM.  He was a terrific DM and his explanation was that years earlier, he and some other players started a game as prisoners aboard a ship... they decided to try to escape and they all rolled terrifically - 18/19/20 - on all their attacks.  However, they kept missing on everything but natural 20s, and were beat down by the guards, who never missed. They figured that the guards must be very powerful, so went quietly back to the brig, and they had no more thoughts of escaping and awaited their fate, as the guards took their best shots.  However, at the prodding of an NPC, they reluctantly tried to escape yet again.  This time, they rolled poorly - many rolls under 10 - yet, kept hitting the guards and won their freedom.   The first attempt was just not the right time in game, so the players called BS on the DM and demanded all combat rolls be done on the table, which they stuck to over the years.

Ever since, I've stuck with the idea that the DM should make as many rolls as possible in full view of the players.  However, it is tempting at times, but then I think my players would think the change odd.

I'm rarely a player anymore, though, so bad rolling is not that big an issue for me there.


----------



## Micp (Jan 24, 2011)

Yes, there is a problem in explaining the players your need for the screen, but if you explain it to them without any BS they should be able to understand it.

Personally i am a player in two campaigns and running another as DM and in all the campaigns we use the screen and EXPECT the DM to cheat once in a while to keep the game interesting. When i'm running the game i use my own rolls typically 17 out of 20 times. when i do cheat i purely do so in the interest of the game, more specifically making sure the creeps hit when it's going too easy for the players and they miss when they're close to dying (it's okay for one of the players to go down, but in a game with three PCs anymore could easily lead to TPK). 

It's never enough for the players to actually know when i cheat, but they know i'm doing it and accept it, in the interest of the game.


----------



## Traveon Wyvernspur (Jan 24, 2011)

Get Wil Wheaton to bless them for you at a Con...


----------



## Wik (Jan 24, 2011)

Micp said:


> Yes, there is a problem in explaining the players your need for the screen, but if you explain it to them without any BS they should be able to understand it.
> 
> Personally i am a player in two campaigns and running another as DM and in all the campaigns we use the screen and EXPECT the DM to cheat once in a while to keep the game interesting. When i'm running the game i use my own rolls typically 17 out of 20 times. when i do cheat i purely do so in the interest of the game, more specifically making sure the creeps hit when it's going too easy for the players and they miss when they're close to dying (it's okay for one of the players to go down, but in a game with three PCs anymore could easily lead to TPK).
> 
> It's never enough for the players to actually know when i cheat, but they know i'm doing it and accept it, in the interest of the game.




A lot of GMs like the randomness of die rolls, and I think it's a fair thing to adhere to.  Sometimes, it does mean that the game becomes less interesting for an encounter, as the PCs hit a lucky streak and trounce a well-planned encounter.

Sometimes it means that DM "boss encounters" don't work as planned, and the PCs prevail easily because the GM never rolled higher than a '6' on an attack roll.  

And sometimes it means that the PCs are nearly killed by goblins.  I've done encounters where 5 low-level monsters rolled something like 7 crits in two rounds.  

The thing is, if you start modifying die rolls too often, it robs the players of chances to shine (if you raise the target numbers they need to hit to prevent a fight from being a "cakewalk"), or it denies them the opportunity to fail.  Dice in the open means the players know you're being honest, and not trying to shoehorn them into things.

It means that their successes, and failures, are entirely their own.  And I believe that's a good thing.


----------



## Ralls (Jan 25, 2011)

Micp said:


> As far as DM'ing goes the solution is simple:
> 
> 1: Get DM screen
> 2: Cheat
> ...




I disagree, The GM's job is to be the judge, impartial to the players from die-to-die rolls. It's the individual player's job to make sure they have fun individually. 

This method makes for some more meaningful, authentic, campaigns, with more risk verses reward.

Edit: here, this sums it up quite nicely:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/art...raps/7540-Check-for-Traps-It-s-Not-Your-Story


----------



## Nemesis Destiny (Jan 25, 2011)

I generally like to assign dice to particular characters or roles (I have 'DM dice'), and the dice are always kept fairly segregated, either in dice bags or in their plastic boxes. Some of my older sets from my 2e-era gaming are co-mixed, but all the characters they were used for were in the same setting and played around the same time.

Other than that... nothing in particular.

A friend of mine, with _terrible_ dice-luck, just got a new set, and he's keeping them separate from all his old dice to see if they'll keep their mojo longer.

Another one of our gaming group treats all his dice like crap, but has this one set of translucent light purple dice which he has dubbed, "the Lavender Dice of Love," making mocking reference to my DM dice, which I'd dubbed the "Black Dice of Doom." Unlike my BDoD, which roll _horribly_, these Lavender dice are murderously high-rollers, especially the d20. He once rolled four critical hits in a row, several of which were natural 20s.

I called him on it, and he says that there is no real mojo to it, and that it only seems that way because he calls attention to all his high rolls and glosses over the bad ones. He likes to make good-natured fun of the rest of us and our silly dice superstitions, rolling conventions, and other idiosyncrasies.


----------



## fba827 (Jan 25, 2011)

Traveon Wyvernspur said:


> Get Wil Wheaton to bless them for you at a Con...




You mean like Matt James did ?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OLqlKm4u0w]YouTube - Matt James gets his dice blessed![/ame]


(his youtube of about a dozen or so GenCon celebrities blessing his dice)


----------



## Chris Knapp (Jan 25, 2011)

When I need a new d20, I buy 2. I place them side by side, then smash one with a hammer. I then hug the other one. I like to keep my dice on their toes.

j/k. I don't hug the other one.


----------



## Tewligan (Jan 25, 2011)

Whenever I buy new dice, I immediately swallow them. Once they have completed their arduous journey and emerged from the other end a day or so later, they are totally in synch with my needs, and respond appropriately with the desired numbers when rolled.

(I would suggest not starting with Game Science dice, though.)


----------



## shadzar (Jan 25, 2011)

Nice gentle bath in sea-salt then air dried, followed by a mild coat of oil, then place them into a leather pouch.

Not sure what it does for the dice, but the pouch is great afterwards.


----------



## TarionzCousin (Jan 25, 2011)

A guy in my group was so upset by one of his d20's, that in the middle of a game he threw open the woodstove and tossed the die in there. Then he took his other dice over and "showed" them the stove.

When we fished the die out of the stove later, one side had burned down --so it is now a 21-sided die.


----------



## Shadowslayer (Jan 25, 2011)

Thou must anointeth thy dice with the golden nectar of the gods. Having baptized them thus, thou must also carry them forevermore in the purple and yellow trimmed sack that the gods golden bounty came in.


----------



## francisca (Jan 25, 2011)

Gygax signed one of my AD&D 1e PHBs and one of my AD&D 1e DMGs.

I follow the Hackmaster protocol, as detailed in the bottom of the "Fame Rub" box in the HM 4e PHB.

When I want a high number, I rub the die across Gary's signature, left to right.  For low numbers, I rub right to left.

The other thing I do, which doesn't really affect the roll, but which distracts the DM, is to shine a laser pointer through a translucent gamescience d20.  You get these funky interference patterns setup within the die, which looks like retro-70s special effect, dazzling the DM, and opening his mind to suggestions...."The half-orc Dagon cultist doesn't want to kill me.....he wants to give me his treasure and walk away from this unfortunate misunderstanding...."


----------



## jimmifett (Jan 25, 2011)

3 Options.

1) Invoke the blessings of Ifni, goddess of chance and destiny, capricious as she is. (David Bryn's Uplift series reference)

2) Intimidate your dice and torture a poorly performing die in front of the others to show them the price of failure. When waterboarding your dice, make sure to add a drop of dish soap to the solution to break the surface tension so that no life giving air bubbles can be trapped in the grooves of it's numbers. When using a magnifying glass in the sun to more deeply and painfully etch a side's number into the die, make sure to avoid breatheing any smoke or fumes given off as pleas for mercy.

3) DM's only: Channel the necrotic energy of your body fighting itself into your dice while you undergo a strong allergic reaction. Remember to seek medical attention before anaphylactic shock sets in.

Options 1 and 2 has mixed results. Option 3 has created for me a blue d20 that is feared by all (but only while being used by the DM). Just this past sunday, i pulled it out and one of the players asked "Is that your crit die?" to which i replied "yep, let's see how it's feeling today" and rolled a 20 on the first first toss. Another player on the other side of the table immediately said "i swear i'm going to take that die and burn it!". That session, it rolled high for monsters and crit several times, and 1s and 2s for any roll benefitting a player. Unfortunately, it's evil powers of darkness are only available to DM use, as a player, i can't roll sqaut with it.

It all started last year when I started to break out in allergic reaction from something. I was DMing, so i went to the game anyway, as I thought it was just a tiny rash. During play, my body turned against itself, skin turning into large puffy regions. While this went on, I rolled 10+ crits, and non crits were 17+ on the die. 7 of the crits were against 1 player. Also, the damage die of non crits managed to roll max or near max damage. Was a fun time for a DM 

Afterwards, about 1am, i went to the hospital and the doc said "good thing you got in, if it covered your chest, you'd be toast".

From that point on, this blue d20 is the bane of players! Mwuahahahahahahah


----------



## Stoat (Jan 25, 2011)

Francisca has the right of it.  Take the die, orient it so that the highest numbered face is showing, and rub it from left to right across Gygax's name.  An original signature works best, a reproduced signature is next preferable, the printed name itself is least efficacious.

It is also sometimes necessary to punish dice that perform poorly.  A die can be placed in "time out" -- segregated from its fellows in an area reserved for shameful reflection.   A die can be chastised verbally, a technique that works well when combined with a time out.  "Sit there and think about what you've done!" is often sufficient motivation for the poor-rolling polyhedron.  Corporal punishment, including dunking the die in Mountain Dew, hucking the die across the room and exposing the die to extreme temperatures (putting it in a freezer, for example, or holding it over a candle flame)  should be considered only as a last resort.  If things are that bad, you are probably better off executing the offender _pour encourager les autres._


----------



## NewJeffCT (Jan 25, 2011)

Stoat said:


> Francisca has the right of it.  Take the die, orient it so that the highest numbered face is showing, and rub it from left to right across Gygax's name.  An original signature works best, a reproduced signature is next preferable, the printed name itself is least efficacious.
> 
> It is also sometimes necessary to punish dice that perform poorly.  A die can be placed in "time out" -- segregated from its fellows in an area reserved for shameful reflection.   A die can be chastised verbally, a technique that works well when combined with a time out.  "Sit there and think about what you've done!" is often sufficient motivation for the poor-rolling polyhedron.  Corporal punishment, including dunking the die in Mountain Dew, hucking the die across the room and exposing the die to extreme temperatures (putting it in a freezer, for example, or holding it over a candle flame)  should be considered only as a last resort.  If things are that bad, you are probably better off executing the offender _pour encourager les autres._




hmm, in terms of celebrities, is it just gaming celebrities, or would any celebrity do?  I've never been to any sort of Con, GEN or other, so my exposure to gaming celebs has been non-existent


----------



## kitsune9 (Jan 25, 2011)

Tewligan said:


> Whenever I buy new dice, I immediately swallow them. Once they have completed their arduous journey and emerged from the other end a day or so later, they are totally in synch with my needs, and respond appropriately with the desired numbers when rolled.
> 
> (I would suggest not starting with Game Science dice, though.)




That's sounds.....painful. Do you have to swallow them one at a time or gulp the whole set?


----------



## kitsune9 (Jan 25, 2011)

jimmifett said:


> 2) Intimidate your dice and torture a poorly performing die in front of the others to show them the price of failure. When waterboarding your dice, make sure to add a drop of dish soap to the solution to break the surface tension so that no life giving air bubbles can be trapped in the grooves of it's numbers. When using a magnifying glass in the sun to more deeply and painfully etch a side's number into the die, make sure to avoid breatheing any smoke or fumes given off as pleas for mercy.




There you go! You show those dice who's the master!


----------



## Scott DeWar (Jan 26, 2011)

using a soldering iron on cloudy days wsorks better as the sunny days stave off depression, and cloudy days instill a deeper sespiration in the dice.

an alturnitive:
ominus diium 

giva me a my dominosa pizza


----------



## TarionzCousin (Jan 26, 2011)

One guy I gamed with ate copious amounts of cheetos and doritos. His dice had oily orange powder all over them.

It might not work as a blessing, but it sure worked to keep the other people from using his dice!


----------



## Zhaleskra (Jan 26, 2011)

I used to have some silly ritual to "attune" my dice. At the moment I can't remember what it was.

In play, if I die rolls crappily enough I "ground" it to my dice box. The die goes back in the box and is immediately replaced, the original not being touched for the rest of the session.

Not that that has any real effect on future uses of the original die.


----------



## Neonchameleon (Jan 26, 2011)

Sit behind the DM screen.  It seems to be all it takes for my dice to catch fire.  When mooks are hitting Old Masters in Feng Shui every session (requires a dice to explode twice before you've started) after the second time your PCs have requested a change of dice there are problems.


----------



## jonesy (Jan 26, 2011)

NewJeffCT said:


> hmm, in terms of celebrities, is it just gaming celebrities, or would any celebrity do?  I've never been to any sort of Con, GEN or other, so my exposure to gaming celebs has been non-existent



Who did you have in mind? David Caruso?

You roll the dice and they stop on an edge, wait a second, then make a little spin, and land on max.


----------



## NewJeffCT (Jan 26, 2011)

jonesy said:


> Who did you have in mind? David Caruso?
> 
> You roll the dice and they stop on an edge, wait a second, then make a little spin, and land on max.




My dad has a ton of sports memorabilia (mostly baseball/NY Yankees).  I'm sure I could dig up a Derek Jeter or Mickey Mantle signature somewhere.

I guess I could try that and see if it works.  If not, I can always buy a new set.


----------



## NewJeffCT (Jan 26, 2011)

Neonchameleon said:


> Sit behind the DM screen.  It seems to be all it takes for my dice to catch fire.  When mooks are hitting Old Masters in Feng Shui every session (requires a dice to explode twice before you've started) after the second time your PCs have requested a change of dice there are problems.




I'm almost exclusively a DM nowadays, and my bad rolling continues, as I make all of my combat rolls on the table in view of others.


----------



## El Mahdi (Jan 26, 2011)

NewJeffCT said:


> My dad has a ton of sports memorabilia (mostly baseball/NY Yankees). I'm sure I could dig up a *Derek Jeter*...signature somewhere.
> 
> I guess I could try that and see if it works. If not, I can always buy a new set.




But then your dice will only roll well when they're adequately paid.

And they'll expect bonuses for crits...


----------



## NewJeffCT (Jan 27, 2011)

El Mahdi said:


> But then your dice will only roll well when they're adequately paid.
> 
> And they'll expect bonuses for crits...




I would gladly give my dice bonuses for crits, since it so rarely happens. Though, back early in our 3.5 campaign about 3 years ago now, I did flatten the party ranger with a mega crit once - I think he ended up at somewhere around minus 30, and was only like fourth level at the time, so was facing an appropriate encounter for his level.  (That was one of those "every 8-10 sessions" I had mentioned where I rolled really well... it was almost a TPK)


----------



## GandalfMithrandir (Jan 27, 2011)

I have two dice bags, on for dice that roll well to go into, and one for those that roll badly. When a good die starts rolling badly, consistently, mind you, not some of the time, it is put in the bad bag, which I use for rolls that do not benefit me, then I have the dice in the good bag that do benefit me.

another side story about dice rolling, I have players that do not believe that dice can roll badly consistently, then I have a clear red d20 that is awful, and it rolls, our of 10 rolls, only 1 of them was above 10, and even that was an 11, then I have another, blue with gold streaks through it, out of 10 rolls, it rolled 2 of them below 10 and 3 20s

proof that there are better and worse dice.


----------



## nedjer (Jan 27, 2011)

Can't go wrong with a traditional approach

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEOQqnHMSMc"]YouTube[/ame]


----------



## Olgar Shiverstone (Jan 28, 2011)

You don't bless dice, you train them, with both carrot & stick:

New dice must spend 24 hours in the company of dice turned to their maximum value, so they learn by example what is expected.  Then they are rewarded by being kept in a comfortable place.

Dice that habitually roll 1s are summarily executed in front of the others.


----------

