Dice [damerell]

This poll is for people who play geeky games with dice that aren't six-sided. Whenever I read books or comics or whatever by Yanks about these games, they always seem to assume that touching someone else's dice is a big no-no and to use communal dice would be about as gross as using communal underpants. Conversely in my gaming group we generally just roll whatever's closest to hand.

I was talking to a Canadian about this, and she also was perfectly happy to roll whatever dice there are to hand.

Poll #4560 Dice

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 39

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Is it rude if someone else touches your dice?

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Why not? They're just dice.
33 (84.6%)

It's not entirely de rigeur.
5 (12.8%)

It is quite unforgivable.
1 (2.6%)

How about someone else rolling your dice?

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If they wash them afterwards they can stuff them up their nose for all I care.
9 (23.1%)

Sure, why not?
27 (69.2%)

I'd rather they didn't.
2 (5.1%)

It is even more unforgivable.
1 (2.6%)

Where did you first play games with polyhedral dice?

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Britain
28 (71.8%)

Ireland
1 (2.6%)

America
5 (12.8%)

Canadia
0 (0.0%)

Scandiwegia
3 (7.7%)

Other bits of Europe
1 (2.6%)

Australia
1 (2.6%)

Somewhere else, you oaf
0 (0.0%)

Do you own many dice?

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None, really, except a few in the games that need them
3 (7.9%)

I've got one or two standard sets; d4, d6, d8, 2d10, d12, d20
14 (36.8%)

I've got a bagful about the size of my fist
17 (44.7%)

I've got a bagful about the size of my head
3 (7.9%)

I have more dice than I could readily transport to a gaming session
1 (2.6%)

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It's definitely been considered rude in most of my (USian) gaming circles to touch/roll someone's personal dice without permission. However, lending dice or having a bunch of communal dice available have both been totally normal as well. But if someone brought their own dice and has them sitting in front of them, the assumption would be that you shouldn't play with them without asking.

A lot of people around here also get incredibly superstitious about luck in their dice, and have all sorts of rituals around them. I've definitely encountered people who've gotten upset that someone rolled their die and let the luck out which they were saving for a critical Save vs. Instant Death.

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(That was dumb, should've used this icon)

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Yes, I sort of got the impression that dice-exclusivity was for susperstitious rather than hygenic reasons. Still mad, but a different sort of madness.

Darths & Droids discuss it:
http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0099.html

(Possibly a 'which side of the puddle' question might have helped for correlation purposes?)

The only game I can bring to mind at all in which players each use different dice is backgammon. Under all other circumstances, not differentiated by the divide between 'mainstream' board games and 'geeky' roleplaying/wargaming, I'd naturally assume that somebody (typically the session's host, or a guest by prior arrangement if the host couldn't provide) would bring along a collection of the appropriate dice for the game, and everyone would use the same ones and pass them on to the next player when necessary.

Backgammon has always struck me as a very strange exception: using distinct dice per player is an obvious security hazard, and it therefore seems particularly foolish to have it be the norm in a game traditionally played for money!

In "geeky" gaming so many people have their own dice that it's not really necessary for the host to provide.

I think this may have more to do with whether people regularly game in groups with friends, or at tournaments/conventions. I don't mind my friends touching my dice, but I'd be more wary about strangers touching my dice in a large room, because they might lose them!

While there's a lot of "roll someone else's dice" going on, we normally sit so that there's no handy central surface, so having your own dice along (or securing a set of dice the first time you need to roll) is pretty much what everyone does. No one's touchy about lending dice, but since they're essentially "not on the table", mugging somoene for dice both takes longer and is less polite.

For some values of "I've got a set of dice"; I have a set, but am struggling to convince my ex that they do not belong to him :(

I've not RP'd much, but my experience has been like adults borrowing a medium nice pen: its polite to loan, but its polite to ask first. Not because i dont want anyone borrowing them EVER but because i might want to keep some handy within reach and not lose them.

I assumed USian comics were massively exaggerating the possessiveness of a few obsessive people for the humour value, but a couple of comments here suggest maybe it is more common.

damerell

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