A Different Kind of Ritual

[CleverNickName]

June is only a week away, and our new 4E books will be here before we know it. Which means, for me at least, that it is time to do some dice shopping.

See, I have a little ritual that I do, before I ever start a new adventure path or campaign. I go online to Koplow, Crystal Caste, or Chessex, and I order a custom set of dice. I am very particular about the dice that I order...the color is carefully selected to fit the game that I will be running (for my Egyptian-themed campaign, I ordered a set of sand-colored dice with black lettering.) I always order a complete set of ten dice, all cast in the same color, plus an extra d20 (in case the first one gets lost or doesn't roll well.) I make certain that all of the six siders have pips on them instead of numbers, and that the ten-siders are numbered differently (one must have single digits, the other must be numbered with factors of ten.) And as a final flourish, I make or buy a dice bag to match the whole ensemble...I made my current dice bag from Egyptian cotton with gold drawstrings, and I hand-painted the bottom hem with heiroglyphs that I found on Google.

When this campaign ends, I will box up this set of dice along with the notebooks and character sheets. I never re-use dice from campaign to campaign...and I'm not sure why. It just doesn't feel right. (Consequently, I have amassed more than twenty sets of dice over the years.) So regardless of whether I am playing 4E or Pathfinder (or another 3.5 campaign), once this campaign ends, I'll be needing some new dice.

I can't be the only gaming nerd with such a tradition. How about you? Do you have any particular rituals that you follow, every time you get a new book, roll up a new character, or start a new adventure? Some gamers paint and collect minis. Others make their own scenery, sourcebooks, and handouts. My gamer geek obsession happens to be dice.

 

[Valerion Steele]

every time i created a new character i sprincle the sheet with wax , beer , wine and coffee to give it "character" and after this point each character has different kinds of strenghts and weaknesses regarding rolls..
example: my druid always rolled high on listen but failed almost every spot check he ever did..
unfortunately my monk almost never hit unarmed... so he began using a silver plate to hit his foes and did remarkably so...
that´s my ritual

 

[That One Guy]

Your ritual rocks. I'm highly impressed.

About once a year I buy a multi-section notebook to put all of my various game notes into. This last year hasn't been very good for my gaming so there's been a lot of crossbreeding... different games going into the same area. It's annoying.

I have one Color of dice that are MY dice. I originally got a set of D10s for a V:tM game. I loved the way they looked and they rolled so well so often that I picked up a set for my D&D games. I only bring them out when I'm a PC, or when the players are going into a tough fight. I have other dice I like... but everyone I play with gets told at least once or twice a game how awesome I think my dice are.

I don't know if always using the same coloration is a ritual or not, but I'll hope it counts.

 

[malraux]

Every set of dice I have hates me. Every new set of dice I buy has apparently had all its good numbers rolled out of them. My main ritual is painting a fig for each new character. Of course, with that ritual, as soon as I finish the character and bring it to the game, that's the night that the character will likely die and I have to create a new one.

 

[NewfieDave]

My only dice ritual is that I can't roll d20s that have hard-to-read numbering. All my d20s are dark with clear, white numbers. Any d20 I have to squint to decipher will result in a string of critical misses, and I've noticed this trend with other players in our group as well.

I've also become attached to certain dice. My favorite when I PC is orange and my favorite as a DM is dark purple (both with white numbers of course).

 

[greyscale1]

I bought a giant steel d20. The. Thing. Is. Damn. Heavy.

A little to heavy to be used for every roll, but damn is it fun.

My ritual (as DM) is to only use the die when my roll is of some magnitude. I let my players use it under the same circumstances. In 3.5 we confirmed criticals with it and made important saving throws and skill checks with it (like to catch a rope when falling from an airship). The effect this created was wonderful.

I suspect in 4e we will still be using it for important saving throws, and I will use it when making attacks against an almost dead PC, or using a Solo monster's big encounter power, etc.

Definitely a fun tradition. I would recommend the 20-30$ expense to anyone.

 

[CleverNickName]

I bought a giant steel d20. The. Thing. Is. Damn. Heavy.

Awesome. My wife bought me a set of solid copper dice for Valentine's Day a few years ago. They are the dice I use on the rare occasions that I get to be a player, and not a DM. They roll smooth, man.

 

[djdaidouji]

I...I... I'm embarrassed.

I started RPing when I was into Naruto. To this day, when I need to make an important roll, I put two fingers to my forehead and say a quick jutsu.

Lets just say, 50% of the time it works like a charm.

 

[Eridanis]

And over to General we go...

 

[Steely Dan]

How about you? Do you have any particular rituals that you follow, every time you get a new book, roll up a new character, or start a new adventure?

Yep, before I kick off a campaign, I string together about a dozen d20s on a thin piece of cloth, and then I stick them up…

...never mind.