Author Topic: Buggaboos, and superstitions..  (Read 1132 times)

garhkal

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Buggaboos, and superstitions..
« on: 03 January 2020, 02:44:34 »
When you game, what buggaboos, or superstitions (or OCD like compulsive things) do you have to do/don't do??
What have you seen in those you game with?

For me, i remember one lad i gamed with (ADND back in London) who was so superstitious about keeping her dice clean, if anyone ever touched them, he'd have to give it a quick washing, with those portable packs of baby wipes.  EVEN IF they fell on the floor and You just handed it back to him.
Another guy had to arrange them in a line, with the #1 facing upward...

One lass, wouldn't write anything on her cha sheet, TILL she had twirlled the pen she was using (or mechanical pencil) three times..
It's not who you kill, but how they die!
You can't shoot what you can't see.
You can not dodge it if you don't know it's coming.

Sabelkatten

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Re: Buggaboos, and superstitions..
« Reply #1 on: 03 January 2020, 05:31:58 »
Roll all dice until the lie "right face up" here. :D

dgorsman

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Re: Buggaboos, and superstitions..
« Reply #2 on: 03 January 2020, 11:55:12 »
I played with someone who would pop his d20 in his mouth prior to important rolls.  Because it usually worked.
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Insaniac99

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Re: Buggaboos, and superstitions..
« Reply #3 on: 03 January 2020, 13:13:03 »
I face dice towards the number I want while they are sitting. I know it does nothing. But I like the look.

I switch dice for different rolls. I know it does nothing, but I still do it.

I use salt water to float my dice and make sure they are fair. This is a real thing that works to get rid of unfair dice.

garhkal

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Re: Buggaboos, and superstitions..
« Reply #4 on: 03 January 2020, 15:58:34 »
What do you mean, about floating the dice, to weed out unfair ones?  Are you talking about loaded die?
It's not who you kill, but how they die!
You can't shoot what you can't see.
You can not dodge it if you don't know it's coming.

Insaniac99

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Re: Buggaboos, and superstitions..
« Reply #5 on: 03 January 2020, 16:31:22 »
What do you mean, about floating the dice, to weed out unfair ones?  Are you talking about loaded die?

Dice can have deformations or excess material, this will create an unfair die and it relatively easy to see with the naked eye.

They can also have air pockets in the resin, that you can't see unless the resin is translucent. This too will create an unfair die, but it is not the same as a loaded die (which uses weights to make them unfair)

If you float a die (salt water is just the easiest way to do so) and then keep poking and spinning the die and it repeatedly comes up one number, it likely has an air bubble inside.

The effect is small, but I try to avoid them. Some people will intentionally try to buy them as the effect is not detectable like a loaded die and while not as reliable as a loaded one, it does affect the average roll over time.


rebs

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Re: Buggaboos, and superstitions..
« Reply #6 on: 03 January 2020, 17:17:36 »
Put all the D20's on 20 so they "charge up".
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garhkal

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Re: Buggaboos, and superstitions..
« Reply #7 on: 04 January 2020, 00:38:09 »
Dice can have deformations or excess material, this will create an unfair die and it relatively easy to see with the naked eye.

They can also have air pockets in the resin, that you can't see unless the resin is translucent. This too will create an unfair die, but it is not the same as a loaded die (which uses weights to make them unfair)

If you float a die (salt water is just the easiest way to do so) and then keep poking and spinning the die and it repeatedly comes up one number, it likely has an air bubble inside.

The effect is small, but I try to avoid them. Some people will intentionally try to buy them as the effect is not detectable like a loaded die and while not as reliable as a loaded one, it does affect the average roll over time.

Never heard that before.  Thanks for the info. :thumbsup:
It's not who you kill, but how they die!
You can't shoot what you can't see.
You can not dodge it if you don't know it's coming.

rebs

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Re: Buggaboos, and superstitions..
« Reply #8 on: 04 January 2020, 01:37:49 »
It's true.   My old DM had a d20 we called The Die of Death.  It rolled an uncanny amount of 20s and could be used for us players or against us.  It was definitely a deformed die.
Playing Guitar On My YouTube Channel:
Current cover tune: "The Wind Cries Mary" (by Jimi Hendrix)
https://youtu.be/m6a8wZiCsjM?si=0w7tVOgk7yylNv6a

"Thou shalt not create a machine in the image of the human mind." ~ The Orange Catholic Bible, Dune, Frank Herbert

StoneRhino

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Re: Buggaboos, and superstitions..
« Reply #9 on: 04 January 2020, 03:41:51 »
I don't know if it would be considered a superstition, but when i used to GM games my dice would tend to roll high. This led to players being killed a lot more then I would tell them. I would reroll some times to try and reduce how lethal encounters would be, even those that were supposed to be very easy. These same dice, when rolled for a game of Battletech against the same people would roll very low. I rolled them the same way and on the same surface as when I GMed.

My dice seem to roll low as mentioned above, even though I have bought several more dice since the days when I GMed games. They roll low until someone starts getting a bit arrogant. If I had some average dice rolls in BT people wouldn't get to advance the way that they do when everything is missing. if they start thinking that it's them, which is shown by comments that they make, those low rolling dice go hot and shots start connecting. Once the other player seems to get that its my dice, not them, and they check their comments then my dice will go cold again.