I have intelligent friends. Really. Quick, witty, smart, learned, all of them. That’s particularly true of my gaming friends.
And yet, as bad as any gambler who develops elaborate “systems” to beat slot machines, or any athlete who keeps wearing his “lucky shirt” to keep a “winning streak” running, all my friends are nuts about their dice.
Dice are randomizers. By their nature, they should roll randomly, right?
So why does one of my friends, who can debate physics and metaphysics, decide which D20 to use by rolling four of them, take the one with the lowest number, on the assumption that it will then roll a high number?
Why will another person, who is also bright and intelligent, have a conniption when the GM touches her dice?
Heck, why do I decide which D6s to roll by rolling all of them, taking the highest rolling, cull them again one more time that way, and end up with the “best”? Why, when rolling poorly on a D20, will I swap it out for another one, hoping it will roll “better”?
Yeah, I know the answer, about psychological needs to control randomness through quasi-religious development of some artificial “rules” that I can follow to propitiate the Dice Gods, or stuff like that.
But it’s still weird.
Because the lizard/pigeon part of our brains is wired for ritual. Besides, if everyone else has dice superstitions, why should I flaunt tradition?
Instead of rituals, I anthropomorphosize [erm] my dice by mood. Some days “The dice hate me,” and on others, “We’ve got a good working relationship.”
I have gamed with someone who was a pure statistics-fiend. The dice acted exactly how he said…which meant that the “sheer flukes” happened less. THAT was creepy and bordering on “the supernatural” if you ask me… [grinning]
it’s magic. me, i have karma dice. if it’s really important, i get what i need…if it’s really humiliating, i get…uh….
Ah, diceless.
Faster play, and no internal heebie jeebies that the gods are mocking you (it’s just your gm, really…)
You’re not using the ones that were rubbed on Gary Jackson’s dead body, are you?
Ew.