I don't know about the rest of you guys, but when it comes to rolling dice, I feel like I can't roll the target number to save my life.

So I was wondering, since I'm a superstitious sort of guy: what sort of weird rituals do you guys do while rolling dice (in SR or any other RPG for that matter) that seems to help out a bit? Chants? Waving them around? Rolling one at a time?

I have a "cube." That's 36 dice in a set and they all have to have my MOJO on them to work.

Don't ask.

I always set mine in rows with the 6's up. I have this strange idea tha if I use the same dice that way long enough, eventually gravit will somehow move the molecules and make the wieghted dice.
I also dumo them all out at once when ever possible. I find that when in a bad situation, the sound of a lot of dice rolling from MY hands (not the GM's) is comforting!
And of course I always microwave the dice that do bad to teach the others a lesson!

Hmm. I just pick some dice up and roll a ton of sixes.
My dice-fu is strong.

Edit: You're a sick bastard, Smiley.

I play with the standard red, green, and white dice. White are skills, red are pool, and green are karma. I know it sounds odd but hey I once survived a 15 round burst from a Vindicator with only a light wound, when I rolled like this. I'm not gonna mess with success.

i have to have all my dice set up in a really odd way. all in there place like so

123456
234565
345654
456543
565432
654321

At the start of a session, while everyone's getting munchies or going over their character or (I hate that) finishing their karma/xp expenditures from last game (which everyone else did last game)...that dead time, right before the game starts? At that time, I get whatever dice I'm gonna use for the night, and I roll them and roll them and roll them until each one is "1" up. Once one comes up with a "1," I just leave it and roll all the others. When I'm done -- right about the time the GM pours his Dew and sits down and clears his throat to start the game -- I've got all of 'em sitting in "1," waiting to be rolled for the first time in game.

Hey, what're the odds it'll come up two 1's in a row?! (okay, so I know it's the same odds as anything else, but it's what I tell myself -- lightning striking twice, etc, etc)

I really dislike anyone else touching my dice. In my opinion, it's almost as bad as someone fooling with my tarot. I don't want other people's psychic imprints on them.

I used to not let anybody touch my dice and lay them down all 6s showing. but then a friend lost all his and has to borrow mine (I would prefer not but its that or no game) since that started I have been loosing a lot of dice so now I don’t have enough, that don’t spend long enough in my hands to lay out any more and my successes are suffering for it.

I think a large pat of it is that my friend likes to bully dice while I am kind to them. The mixed messages really screw them up.

Edward

Thats why I always carry a spare set of loaner dice with me. Usually that's my Blood & Gunsmoke set, they roll absolute shit for me, but roll fair to hot for anyone else that uses them.

I just always use my lucky cube. I've got a lot of dice: probably 30 sets of D20 dice, 15 unique pairs of d6's, and 4 different cubes of the 12mm dice. One of those cubes kicks serious ass, so that's the one I play with. I GM with em too, and it pisses off my group

Now, for D&D, I roll all my D20's a bunch at the start of every session to see which one(s) seem to be rolling well that day.

I have a pair of jade dice that I roll on a naked 19-year old female Japanese masseuse for luck.

Nothing like the good ol' "Pound o' Dice"

In the requisite Crown Royal bag of course

i have an issue that if ive been rolling poorly all night, and i need this roll really badly, i pick however many i need and throw them as hard as i can.

everytime its a great roll. i only use it in emergencies

the virgin sacrifices work well too

Oh yeah. It's horrible.

You sit there GM'ing, and the guy has to make this one, really, really important roll. He shakes the dice about in his hand for a moment, then proceed to spill them out across the table.

Half of them fall to the floor. He swears. I swear. The other players swear. He vanishes beneath the table to find the dice. I smack my head into the table. He swears again. Someone else swears (I don't know who, because my eyes are staring into the table surface). He starts searching under the couch. I groan in mental agony. Someone moans. Then he finally find all the dice, pick them up, and toss them again. Half of them fall to the floor.

Pain.

Aside from that, he's a nice guy, an enthusiastic player, and fun.

EDIT: Oh, btw: First post. And me and Psykotisk game together.

It's not so much a ritual, but back when I was in high school I did a project for a "Math Fair" (Like a typical science fair, except the projects had to emphasize Mathematical techniques). I performed a statistical analysis on my collection of d6s, to see how close to the theoretical ideal of each face coming up 1/6th of the time each die was.

Essentially, I rolled each die a couple thousand time and recorded the results. Naturally, there were slight variances from the ideal with each die. On some, a particular number might come up ever so slightly more. The project took first place, and as a bouns, I now know the real expected probabilities on my d6s.

(One thing about making about 10k rolls on each of about 20 dice, you get to see the wierd rolls. Had one where the die spun on it's corner for aproximately 5 minutes before coming to rest. Long enough for me to go down the hall and call the rest of the household in to see it.)

Based on Critias' earlier posts I'd say he's well aware of that, psykotisk_overlegen. And likewise, I don't mind little rituals no matter how silly, as long as they don't take too long. The shaking dice in your hand for ages thing is really frustrating.

I always have them laying on the table with the 6's up. Ocassionally speak to them, treat them well and give them some free time so they can socialize

I've got two things that I always do with my dice. Although one is not really a ritual. I keep my SR dice in a seperate crown bag. I don't want the cooties from D20's and other odd dice (I have a 30 sider for some odd reason) rubbing off on my D6's.

I GM frequently. As I am setting up, I get the GM screen out, poor out all my dice from the SR bag and start picking them up in matching pairs. How they land is not all that important, but when I line them up, they come out of the pile in pairs of dice.

Where can you find jade dice - i need some now.

We like to insult the dice by saying things like "There is no way THESE dice can roll 6" or "These dice can't roll over a 4, they suck.", in hopes the dice will feel challenged and roll more 6's than we can handle.

I don't have a ritual for my SR dice yet, hmm, since everyone uses my dice and i GM, this could be good. i did have a set of 6 8mm that I used for "dice" a game similar to yatzee, I carrid the dice everywhere, and after a few months the would roll a run (1-6) in the first two rolls, often on the first roll, it was kinda creepy that they would roll the best score so constently, but I broke them, played SR with them, and somehow lost one, so now they are confused. poor things have gone into retirement. ... maybe if I replace the missing one, and re-bind them......

If I have to make an important roll, I put all the dice I'm rolling into my hand, and have another player (NEVER the GM) pound the top of my hand with the dice in it once.

And I'll usually pick out one die that matches the color of shirt I'm wearing, for luck.

Some of the dice in the GM's big bag o' dice (about 5 pounds of dice, so hardly anyone has his own in my group) are from some game called Stack 'Em or something like that. I have no idea how the game works, but I do know that it has 6 colors of d6 with about 15 of each, and that suits my ritual for dice with Riddle perfectly.

I color code my dice based on what they will mainly be used for. My pistol skill is blue with the extra die from enhanced articulation pink with the improved ability dice yellow. Combat pool is 9 black dice and 1 white (the white is for the point of combat pool that goes away at night do to a geas on Improved Quickness). Reaction dice are all orange.

These conveniently total 33 dice, so I put them in an 11 x 3 pattern in front of me with the reaction on the left, pistols in the middle, and combat pool on the right.

I don't really have a system that is as well developed for my other characters. If it is a mage, I'll typically make a pile for spell pool a pile for sorcery and a pile for combat pool, but I don't have the same degree of color coordination for them. This doesn't come up too often because if we aren't playing the SR campaign that Riddle is in, we're typically playing the D&D campaign I DM.

Hmm, no rituals here. None beside soaking my dice in a pint of goat blood 13 days prior to the gaming session, that is.

Thanks Syd - do they sell 19 yr old female Japanese girls too?

Yes, but you have to train them in massage therapy yourself (or put them through a course).

That's a shame.

I wave my hand over the dice like they are chance cubes and I am a Jedi.

One of these days, I'll get a set of Crystal Caste's bone dice and get a fame roll off of Lovecraft's tombstone.

I keep my dice in a mettle pencil case. I lined it with felt so they would be more comfortable.

I also have a couple of jade dice but I don’t use them because I don’t have a cloth to roll them on, a friend got them for me in New Zealand if it can be made from jade they will have it but it’s a long trip from the states.

Edward

Jade dice are useful if facing the Shadowlands.

I chant "1s! 1s!" on the theory that the Dice Gods are perverse creatures and if they think you want 1's all you'll see are 6's.

Wouldn't it be a bit impractical to roll your dice on two different girls, I'd think I'd settle for one swede.

Ah, yes, of course.
Why not one french and two swedes then? Join the fun.

I of course keep al my dice in Crown Royal bags. I have three bags. 1 very large bag for the general population and odd balls. 1 small bag of second stringers, and then a felt bag for the starting line up.

I start by placing all the dice (regardless if they are actually used for the game in question) on the table with the highest number showing. All the 20's with 20's 12's with 12's etc all the way down. I have a dozen red 6 sided I bought for a Warhammer 40k game and they get there own spot. Then I put the bag of second stringers on the table, near where the lineup can see them but not so close they feel threatened.

If all the dice roll well then they go back to their comfy home at the end of the game. If they are having an off night I might threaten them with the bench, and that usually clears things right up.

Occasionally a dice will misbehave repeatedly and have to be benched. In which case I pull in one of the second stringers and make a big show of it to scare the other dice.

Now if the dice in question performs badly enough often enough he may get demoted and replaced by a second stringer. While this has happened to my D20 dice occasionally my D6 from W40K have performed stunningly for the five years I have owned them.

I have heard of people who actually sacrifice poor performing dice before the game, as an example to the other dice to do good. I love all my dice though and I don't think I have the heart to kill one.

I think all gods of dice will agree with us when we put the french one beneath the swedes.