Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)

[Henri Barbusse]

The real problem is that d20 is an ableist die. It has too many sides to count on your fingers.

 

[p1138]

The real problem is that d20 is an ableist die. It has too many sides to count on your fingers.

You joke, but I've seen people on D&D livestreams have to count on their fucking fingers when a bless gets thrown into the mix.

 

[Sayer of the N-Word]

Thie die talk reminds me of a problem player (and an actual sperg, I suspect) who insisted that he didn't need physical dice because he had a dice rolling app, but he never showed us his screen. He was big into "realistic" playing, which meant hiding while everyone else fought, so it usually didn't matter too much, but still. The lengths some people will go to to stay on their phones...

 

[Konigsberg]

I was able to buy a set of dice for D&D at 11, online. What the fuck how is is gatekeeping?

They're poor, dumb, and most definitely felted. The hurdle of acquiring a small piece of plastic is simply too much for the smol bean enbys trying to bumble their way into this new fad they just heard about (A decade late and a dollar short, clearly.)

 

[Ghostse]

Yeah I wish I could find that specific video. I did find an image of a tweet that was promptly shat on and deleted out of embarrassment when looking for the video though.

https://x.com/thetshirtedone/status/1608887345532796936

View attachment 8784308

With replies pointing out that dollar tree has had polyhedral sets for years, Or just buying a d20 for 50 cents from the bulk bin at the counter of practically every game store that isn't just focused on cards(even a spindown would be better than nothing), or better yet if someone at the table really doesn't have some dice for whatever reason(lost them, left them at home, whatever) I've never seen a blanket refusal to just loan some dice. Especially since a lot of groups have that one guy who has a full crown royal bag with at least 40 partial polyhedral sets in it they've been gathering for 20 years, and is always far more dice than any D&D table will ever need.

that faggot is why gates need kept.

And yeah, I always have a "DGAF set" of loaners with my in the bag at all times. If you aren't an obnoxious mong no one wants at the table, you can get someone to loan you dice. But also even if you're at a gaming store raping you for dice, if you don't have $10 for a poly set you need to do something other than waste your time playing elf games, like figuring out how your life went so wrong.

The real problem is that d20 is an ableist die. It has too many sides to count on your fingers.

African D&D
Roll One, Two, or Many

 

[p1138]

that faggot is why gates need kept.

And yeah, I always have a "DGAF set" of loaners with my in the bag at all times. If you aren't an obnoxious mong no one wants at the table, you can get someone to loan you dice. But also even if you're at a gaming store raping you for dice, if you don't have $10 for a poly set you need to do something other than waste your time playing elf games, like figuring out how your life went so wrong.

Hell, I've just given out a few sets of dice over the years. They're cheap, they get the job done. Even ignoring the dollar store set, there's sets on amazon for under $3. And like people pointed out, if you're really THAT fucking desperate to play, just start with a dice rolling app on your phone that you definitely have. Frequent DM for new players? Buy one of those wiz dice bulk bags/cups/whatever on amazon that has 10 or 15 sets in it and new players will appreciate the $2 dice set if they didn't have their own.

Of course that all requires thinking and socializing like a normal human being...

Thie die talk reminds me of a problem player (and an actual sperg, I suspect) who insisted that he didn't need physical dice because he had a dice rolling app, but he never showed us his screen. He was big into "realistic" playing, which meant hiding while everyone else fought, so it usually didn't matter too much, but still. The lengths some people will go to to stay on their phones...

And why was this was allowed after their first secret dice roller app roll?

 

[Ghostse]

Hell, I've just given out a few sets of dice over the years. They're cheap, they get the job done. Even ignoring the dollar store set, there's sets on amazon for under $3. And like people pointed out, if you're really THAT fucking desperate to play, just start with a dice rolling app on your phone that you definitely have. Frequent DM for new players? Buy one of those wiz dice bulk bags/cups/whatever on amazon that has 10 or 15 sets in it and new players will appreciate the $2 dice set if they didn't have their own.

I bought some 1-lb bags of Chessex over a decade ago (fuuuuuuuuuuuck) and I still have most of them.

 

[Manly_Brony]

Okay, that one is REALLY specific, is there a story behind it?

Not really. Only that there are 3 kinds of lib female players: those who think Whites can't play other races, those who play another race as a powerful statement and the ones who think racism should be purged from all games.

 

[Ghostse]

I am a Chessex supremacist; they produce high-quality, affordable dice in large numbers. You can buy a set of 36 d6 for 7-16 dollars, depending on the colors. When I was doing Shadowrun, I got two sets of them and that was more than enough.

Chessex is the best non-bespoke dice hands down.

My chinese gemstone dice are my absolute favorite dice, no question; perfect weight, quality edging, I just wish they weren't so brittle. After that is my game science sets, the crisp edges are so nice. Then my chessex & metal dice.

 

[CrunkLord420]

All Actual Plays are soylennial cringe, right? I try to watch but I nope the fuck out so fast.

 

[Sayer of the N-Word]

All Actual Plays are soylennial cringe, right? I try to watch but I nope the fuck out so fast.

There are a few done by grognards who say little to nothing about politics. The best I can think of is Bandit's Keep, who runs a very good solo game which makes me jealous because of how well organized it is. No they/them PCs, no opening statement about inclusiveness, and no tirades about snowflakes for that matter. It's also all done in a single shot, so the only way he can cheat is by recording another 20 minutes of gaming in the same location (sometimes he does have to fudge because of ambiguities in the rules or because he's playing alone, but he always takes care to inform the viewers).

And why was this was allowed after their first secret dice roller app roll?

I discussed this with the DM in private and was told that she had made it clear to him that fudging was not acceptable, and the guy was such a bad liar that she was confident that the whole table would be able to tell.

 

[Lightning's Heraldry]

To my fellow OD&D/BX and retroclone GMs here I have a few questions;

How do you personally handle basic cursed items (like -1/-2 cursed weapons, bags of devouring, etc).
How do you personally handle advanced cursed items (like poison cloaks or strangulation necklaces, poison potions, cursed scrolls of instant death or permanent stat drain etc).
How much do you usually charge players for their remove curse castings.
How much do you charge players to have their items and potions ID'd, or do you allow that at all?
Do you use cursed items at all or do you just ignore them in modules when you come across them?

 

[AnOminous]

I discussed this with the DM in private and was told that she had made it clear to him that fudging was not acceptable, and the guy was such a bad liar that she was confident that the whole table would be able to tell.

I just think it's strange it was allowed at all. In any games I ran, the only person allowed to roll dice behind the screen was me. It actually was so I could fudge, but I'd only fudge in favor of the players, not against them, in the case of seriously unfair results.

I wouldn't even allow a dice rolling app if the person showed it because they could have rigged it. Maybe if I had one I had personally installed that players could use instead of dice if they felt like it.

 

[Brain Problems]

Chessex is the best non-bespoke dice hands down.

My chinese gemstone dice are my absolute favorite dice, no question; perfect weight, quality edging, I just wish they weren't so brittle. After that is my game science sets, the crisp edges are so nice. Then my chessex & metal dice.

Jesus Christ, you have a set of dice that are ~$150??

Also, if I'm not mistaken, for the Chessex you should do the "gemini" variant as those are a little fancier, nicer than the regular ones. If you throw the two together you will notice the difference.

I swear to god that finding great dice is (almost, not nearly) as bad as good poker chips.

 

[p1138]

I discussed this with the DM in private and was told that she had made it clear to him that fudging was not acceptable, and the guy was such a bad liar that she was confident that the whole table would be able to tell.

That's still so ridiculous.

Jesus Christ, you have a set of dice that are ~$150??

Prior to covid and other stupidity you used to be able to pick up sets like those for $70-100. Yeah that's still more expensive than chessex, but having the occasional nice thing isn't some kind of problem and can be done without being a consoomer that's got to buy them all.

 

[LovisXVI]

Chessex is the best non-bespoke dice hands down.

My chinese gemstone dice are my absolute favorite dice, no question; perfect weight, quality edging, I just wish they weren't so brittle. After that is my game science sets, the crisp edges are so nice. Then my chessex & metal dice.

Jesus Christ, you have a set of dice that are ~$150??

Also, if I'm not mistaken, for the Chessex you should do the "gemini" variant as those are a little fancier, nicer than the regular ones. If you throw the two together you will notice the difference.

I swear to god that finding great dice is (almost, not nearly) as bad as good poker chips.

I would say if you are going to splurge on any game use dice (as opposed to display sets), it should be single, flat probability dice, like a d20 or d100 set. Fistfuls of d6 or d10 evens out any potential weighting on an individual die, but a weighted d20 can genuinely fuck everything up.

 

[Manly_Brony]

Chessex is the best non-bespoke dice hands down.

My chinese gemstone dice are my absolute favorite dice, no question; perfect weight, quality edging, I just wish they weren't so brittle. After that is my game science sets, the crisp edges are so nice. Then my chessex & metal dice.

Nice, I have three amethyst and amber D6s myself but only bought the amber one in a small natural history museum. Everything else is plastic and was either bought in a game store or came with a board game from my childhood. One small bag because I don't own TTRPGs that require a shovel full of dice.

 

[The Ugly One]

How do you personally handle basic cursed items (like -1/-2 cursed weapons, bags of devouring, etc).

Rare.

How do you personally handle advanced cursed items (like poison cloaks or strangulation necklaces, poison potions, cursed scrolls of instant death or permanent stat drain etc).

Nonexistent.

Cursed items don't make the game fun. The first couple times players get burned, they just never use anything without identifying it.

 

[LovisXVI]

Rare.


Nonexistent.

Cursed items don't make the game fun. The first couple times players get burned, they just never use anything without identifying it.

The only gotchas that are fun are things like mimics, which keep them on edge rather than just screws them over.

 

[Ghostse]

To my fellow OD&D/BX and retroclone GMs here I have a few questions;

How do you personally handle basic cursed items (like -1/-2 cursed weapons, bags of devouring, etc).
How do you personally handle advanced cursed items (like poison cloaks or strangulation necklaces, poison potions, cursed scrolls of instant death or permanent stat drain etc).
How much do you usually charge players for their remove curse castings.
How much do you charge players to have their items and potions ID'd, or do you allow that at all?
Do you use cursed items at all or do you just ignore them in modules when you come across them?

- I usually treat them as something the players need to dispose of; in most games, followers of Truly Evil gods will get a bonus commiserate with the curse on others, so if the players just toss them asside they are likely to find the goblin now has a magic long sword.

- Those are "quest-defining" items. Or lethal traps.

- I don't usually charge in gold, I usually have some task they must perform.

- Usually the magic user of the party can try to ID or they can take it to a mentor. the roll to find the curse depends on the caster level attempting to disguise it. So basically whatever the usual appraisal fee for the system is.

- I will see how the item will affect the game and if it will ruin it or not.

Cursed items don't make the game fun. The first couple times players get burned, they just never use anything without identifying it.

They can make the game fun but you need to use them as a Big Event. Like random sword in the corner of the dungeon being cursed is no fun. The ring the players find on the corpse at the center of the Tomb of the Immortal Lich King being enervating and requiring a pilgrimage to the healing spring the Paladin who defeated said immortal lich king to remove IS fun and drives the game.

Jesus Christ, you have a set of dice that are ~$150??

No. They were ~40, its only semi-precious stone and possibly "reconstituted". Perfect for my purposes though. Unfortunately the chinese amazon seller closed shop to dodge customs or I'd have ordered some other sets.

I do have (total) over $150 worth of metal dice.

The only gotchas that are fun are things like mimics, which keep them on edge rather than just screws them over.

And even then, Mimics have rules. In my games, mimics can either imitate organic or non-organic material, and change coloration to whatever is under them.