Stuffed!

In the United States, the time has come once more to hunt down a turkey and fixin's, throw on the telly, and eat yourself into a food-induced coma. Though the holiday is particularly late this year, a food coma is one thing that seems like it can’t come quick enough. But before we gorge ourselves with stuffing (or tell our families to get stuffed over political differences), let's take a few quick moments to figure out how we could stuff some gaming into our already-packed schedules. Sure, we have meals to cook and roads to travel, but you can always get little time in for gaming, right?

There and back again… at an Expected Party

Travel has to be the biggest obstacle to fitting in quality game time, no matter if you’re headed to or from your event, or whether we're talking about video or tabletop formats. While I might have been found on long car trips with a Game Gear in my youth, cell phones and other mobile gaming devices bring plenty of opportunities today. However, as adults we might find ourselves having to do the driving and/or entertain the children while making the trek to our host table to enjoy the sacrificial turkey. That doesn’t mean we can’t game on the way, though - and I don’t mean punch buggy or "cows," though classic car games can still hold their charm. You can still tell stories any way you like, dice or not. Traveling may not be your preferred time to game, or to hold your favorite games, but it's still full of potential fills for that gaming opportunity while you're heading over the river and through the woods.

Not At Home

Then, once you’ve made the journey, you’re stuck... often with people you disagree with and in disagreeable conversations. Well, you may have to stay, but your brain is leaving. Why not count how many times you hear something racist in an hour, then see if you can beat that number in the next hour? Or you can just go off to cider town in your head, and tell your own stories. Your presence doesn't mean you're required to fully attend to other guests, particularly if doing so makes you uncomfortable. Tell that story in your head, set some difficulties, and roll the appropriate dice on your phone. Hang with the youngest folk. They’ll probably be eager to play board games and get away from most of the olds, anyway. Or, if you’re really hating your time, see how many people you can offend at once. Then maybe next year, you won’t be invited back and not have to worry about doing any of this.

The Last Stage

Of course, the best option might be to just stay home. Cozy yourself up with a nice warm blanket, a hot microwave dinner, and your favorite games. Be thankful that you aren’t dealing with any of that hassle and stress and just having a relaxing time. No matter what, try to get some sort of gaming in, especially if if that's your preferred escape or way of decompressing. Until next week folks, enjoy your turkey (or non-meat plant-based substitute) and enjoy your tables, whether it be the kids' table, a gaming table, or just the tables in some of those TTRPG books you've been waiting for a chance to dig into.

- A

Send questions, comments, and wishbone horror stories to neversaydice20@gmail.com or tweet us @neversaydice2.

The Weather Stone

If the rock is wet, it's raining. If the rock is swinging, the wind is blowing. If the rock casts a shadow, the sun is shining. If the rock does not cast a shadow and is not wet, the sky is cloudy. If the rock is difficult to see, it is foggy. If the rock is white, it is snowing. If the rock is coated with ice, there is a frost. If the ice is thick, it's a heavy frost. If the rock is bouncing, there is an earthquake. If the rock is under water, there is a flood. If the rock is warm, it is sunny. If the rock is missing, there was a tornado (or the Rogue stole it). If the rock is wet and swinging violently, there is a hurricane. If the rock can be felt but not seen, it is night time. If the rock has white splats on it, watch out for birds. If there are two rocks, stop drinking, you are drunk. If the rock is glowing, get to a fallout shelter. Weather Stones have been "prognosticating" the current conditions for as long as…well, probably as long as there have been rocks. ...

Devouring "Roll for Sandwich"

Good timezone to Never Say Dice fans, adventures in Aardia, TikTok and beyond. No, I’m not the Roll for Sandwich guy (neither of us is), but if you haven’t heard of him already (or especially if you have), this week I wanted to talk about the TikTok/YouTube show Roll for Sandwich hosted by Jacob Pauwels. The premise is exactly what it sounds like: every episode, the host rolls dice to determine the various items that comprise a sandwich (except when the episode is about s’mores). He assembles the sandwich, then actually eats and critiques his random creation. If it sounds pretty niche to you... it is. You should probably be both a bit of a foodie and a TTRPG fan in order to truly appreciate both the strange layered creations and the roleplaying references. My eldest son has been so interested in the web series that he decided he wanted to try doing it for himself. So, for the last week of summer this year, we took stock of our cupboards, made our own charts, and proceeded to con...

An Introduction to Risus

While roaming the internet in the late nineties/early noughties, I came across a TTRPG that was rules-lite and called itself “the anything RPG.” Want to play a high school cheerleader/samurai-in-training part-time goth enthusiast fast food cashier? The hot pink stick figure art glared back at me. Nah, not interested. But I was wrong. The stick figures were actually purple, and Risus is a surprisingly versatile, handy and down right fun TTRPG. I wouldn’t figure that out though till I discovered it again several years later. Even though it was written as a comedy system (and somewhat lighthearted response to GURPS) you really can use it for just about anything: space opera, high fantasy, pulp, vampires,western, any movie setting you could think of...seriously anything. You can read a far more detailed and interesting history in a number of other places should it strike your fancy. It is time for your Risus indoctrination introduction. Risus really is versatile and fairly easy to learn...

Boggled by Boglins

Last Octoberween, we took a campy nostalgic stroll and created some creatures for 5e Dungeons and Dragons (and a hidden Risus one) out of Blurp Balls . There was a significant amount of “family friendly” macabre-influenced media in the '80s and early '90s, as we mentioned previously. I do tend to revisit some of that media around this time o'year, and that might be a discussion for a later post. Like last year, I want to focus again on the "gross" toys that came out in the time period . Other than the Blurp balls, there were a few other horror-lite themed toys in my collection as a kid. Most, if not all, have likely been donated and hopefully found their way into the hands of some lucky kid instead of a landfill. I don’t think I ever owned any Madballs , but another toy that's held out in my mind are Boglins. So let's work again to see how we might transform an '80s toy into some tabletop RPG inspiration! If you don’t remember them, Boglins were esse...

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