October 15th was World Math(s) Day. No, not the math day back in March, you’ll have to read our very first blog post to see our appreciation for that holiday. Even if the world can’t agree on calling it Math, Maths, or any other variation, I think most of us can agree that math is extremely important. While it's sometimes called the "universal language," math doesn't have a single agreed-upon definition. Part of this is likely due to how much the term incorporates: space, structure, quantity, change, even time. Humans tend to be obsessed with math, using it to explain their world and bring order to a chaotic universe... even attempting to mathematically define chaos itself. For many tabletop gamers, math takes on the physical form of dice, and while RPGs are relatively new to human history, dice are not. The traditional cubic D6 goes back thousands of years, with examples of stone and bone dice appearing in many cultures. Even the now-famous D20 goes back all the way

  Recently, collective ranting amongst the NSD team about a listicle purporting to share "ten things that don't make sense" in the first Back to the Future film grew into a larger discussion about the nature of "Nitpick Culture" - (mostly) online media "criticism" centered on throwing out as many "mistakes" or "plot holes" in a work as possible, whether there's an actual problem or not, and often contradicting itself in the process. Youtubers Shaun and Jack Saint have done some excellent video essays on the subject, but we wanted to have our own conversation, both as fans and as creators.   Bugsy : Let's talk about the specific post that set this all in motion, since it's not only about a topic we each know very well, but also embodies quite a few aspects of "Nitpick Culture" in general. Andy, how would you respond to the author of "Back To The Future: 10 Things That Make No Sense About The Original Mo

If you don’t already know about Risus , you can find out a ton about it in various places, including my own Introduction to Risus post on this very blog. To put it simply, Risus is a rules-light,versatile, and downright fun “anything” TTRPG. If you’ve read my previous post, you’ll know I’ve been building a setting for this particular system: Risus Arcade, a world in the style of series like ReBoot and Wreck-It-Ralph . This week, I’ll be detailing my builds for the four characters from the arcade classic Gauntlet ! The original Gauntlet is a third-person, top-down, beat-em-up (so many hyphens) game you could play with three other friends at your local arcade. While I visited the arcade plenty of times growing up, I mostly remember playing it on home consoles. It was ported to a number of different systems, so there's a good chance your own experience was similar. The series has evolved and changed over the years, with the latest edition, also entitled simply Gauntlet , appearing o

If you've been following along, you'll know I've been reading The Chronicles of Narnia books with my son and watching all of the adaptations of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe . This week we’ll be reviewing both the animated and BBC adaptations. One reason I think this series of books has stuck with me is that they were some of the first things I read when making the switch between picture books and chapter books. You can find my review of the Disney film, as well as an introduction to this whole project, in a previous post . In my next Narnia post, we’ll go over what I’ve learned about the ITV version and wrap up the adventure in watching these adaptations with my family. Where will your fav orite adaptation land in my rankings? Let's first discuss the animated and BBC versions. Animated version As I mentioned in my first post, I was a bit stunned to find out that there was an animated version of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe made in 1979. I’m sure it was

Just about a month ago, the Maryland Renaissance Festival would have opened for yet another season. You may have caught my previous post Missing MDRF where I talked to Kim Alexander (Author at Page after Page) and Louie of The London Broil Juggling Show. In Maryland, we’re slowly creeping towards fall, and it just doesn’t seem the same without the Renaissance Festival. With the pandemic still a pervasive problem, the magical living story of Revel Grove will have to wait for another year. Most of my time in recent years has been spent watching my own wee bairns down at the pirate play-yard deep into the forest, but I would love to be there nonetheless. If you are missing it as much as I am, you might still have a small taste of it. For what is known to many as Talk Like a Pirate Day!, I’ve interviewed a few more folks you might want to hear from. So, grab yourself a good drink (possibly in a wooden drinking vessel) and read through these interviews with: Joe of Goodly Woods and the (fa

The Chronicles of Narnia have been on the list to read to my son for a long time. He's finally around the age I was when I began the seven-book saga, and we’ve now started read-alongs with the series. Last week, we finished The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe , which is the first book in the series (although not the first book chronologically.) Finishing it got the whole family excited to watch the adaptation. But which adaptation? There have been various audio versions as well as a number of theaterical productions. Let's focus on "family movie night" though. As a kid, I was a big fan of the 1988 BBC live action miniseries of the book, and the subsequent ones that they completed. I also remembered good things about the Disney version that came out in 2005. While looking up the best way to stream these two, I made a discovery. Somehow, I’d grown up unaware of both the 1967 ITV production and the 1979 animated TV movie. Would these be gems and new classics in my eyes

The momentous, long-awaited release of Bill & Ted Face the Music has finally taken place, and your most-humble friends at Never Say Dice have undertaken this journey (of indeterminate bogusness) to discuss it with you, our truly excellent readers . By necessity, this conversation will have some spoilers, so if you haven't seen it yet, go forward in time to when you have, then come back to today and pick up right here. Bugsy : Well, Andy, it actually exists. After rumors and legends and delays and everything else, a third Bill & Ted movie is out there in the world, and we should take a minute to appreciate that. This wasn't a cynical studio cash grab to exploit nostalgia from a long-dormant property, but a labor of love from both the series' creators and the fans, and, regardless of anything else, I'm happy that it's here and we're able to talk about it. Andy : It is also a truly triumphant film. I may have a few small issues with it, but we'll get i