Collecting, and curating those collections, is something that seems to span cliques, cultures, and economic statuses, even throughout history.Though there are some major differences: one would imagine the upper crust collects things such as cars and yachts, and historically what gets collected has certainly changed over time along with tastes change... though you still see Hummel figurines, pressed pennies, and fancy spoons in tourist destinations. Ask any average person today, and they'll likely say they collect something themselves. It might be as simple as coins or stamps (if you’re thinking booooorrriiinnnggg , you're probably right, but don’t yuck their Yum !), as widespread as trading cards, or as nerdly as dice (shout out to our fellow dice goblins ). We even have games based around collecting - the writers of Never Say Dice are certainly no strangers to Magic: the Gathering and other collectible card games, even if we’re not currently wizard-dueling each other. They al...

A phrase that's probably most associated today with the Marvel What If…? animated series, the concept predates it by some time. Before the phrase even came up in comics (Marvel's original What If series started in 1977), the concept was over all sorts of media. Not necessarily in a What if "B" happened instead of "A", but certainly in a sense of “what if you took a vigilante detective series" (already a popular genre at the time) "and made it bat-themed ?” Often, the answers are very satisfying. They scratch some sort of brain itch we may not even be aware we had. You see it come up in comics, TV shows, movies, even our old favorite Choose Your Own Adventure  books, which are essentially founded on the question. One place where you typically don’t see it, oddly enough, is in our tabletop roleplaying games. So this week on Never Say Dice, let's explore the concept of “What If” sessions in tabletop gaming. - A Book(mark) It! A : In the original ...

The Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster. Is there another fictional (or even real-world) mixed drink as well-known to geeks and nerds everywhere? Like much of the larger Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy universe, it doesn’t make much of a direct appearance in the story itself, but establishes the character of the setting and the people who occupy it, especially given how early it appears in the story. The original 1978 radio play text ( unchanged in the 1981 television version ) is a great bit of writing, but it’s expanded upon greatly in the 1979 novel with the actual recipe for the “best drink in existence.” Each ingredient comes from a different planet, each with its own story or tradition, and, even though we never get to see any of these worlds (or their contribution to the Gargle Blaster), the sequence does a massive amount of worldbuilding and tone setting. And that’s one thing that’s interesting about cocktails - unlike most real food, they’re specialty preparations that stand out on ...

The environment is a pretty big thing in TTRPGs. Perhaps you’re out in space, or in some post-apocalyptic game, but even in D&D, the environment is a big part of the game, with event-specific classes and spells to drive this point home. Specifically, the Druid (not to downplay the Ranger) is one big call-out of D&D. They’re even mentioned as far back as the original Greyhawk supplement from 1975 (you may have already seen our Greyhawk posts ), though they didn’t become playable as a character class until 1976. Along with that, there are plenty of nature-based abilities and spells. It should be no surprise, then, that those spells and abilities get misused. Yes, once again you’re in for another round of Never Say Dice Ruins Your (shitty) TTRPG Memes . This one comes from a frequent offender, and we’re going to stop naming them to (hopefully) discourage these things from happening, or at least going quite as viral. The setup goes something like this: Player : I’m going to use Pl...

In pre-printed tabletop games, and even morein freeform adventures, we know our location from the start. Your pre-published map shows all three levels of the castle, along with a a list of shops and other points of interest in the town. The spaceship blueprint has a list that covers crew quarters, the engine room, gunner stations, etc. Or maybe your book doesn’t have maps or blueprints, and presents flavor text and broad descriptions of the the people and places it covers. Both maps and descriptions, even general ones, are helpful when you’re running a game, and can cut down prep time for a scene. For those of us who fly by the seat of our GM pants in sessions, though, these may sometimes become a hindrance when we haven’t had a chance to go over them in advance. When presenting players a location, knowing where things are placed, what's secret or hidden, what doors are sealed/locked, where all of the traps are and so on, are all things you should probably know ahead of time. But ...

Last week, in the face of an evident (and still extant, if not as prominent) financial crisis, we talked about ways that you can keep getting new experiences with games you’ve already acquired. This time, we wanted to discuss ways that you can access totally new (to you) games without requiring the kind of investment it takes to be on the cutting edge of releases. While we all have those inner voices (that may or may not sound like our parents) telling us to just be happy with what we already have or that we have games at home, if we have any interest in the way the medium of games develops, we want to at least be aware of what’s new and catching people’s attention. So how do we get our hands on games we don’t own (yet) without handing over much loot? - B B : We’re all gamers here, we’re all used to representing concepts as numerical models and converting values within that model. If we’re trying to cut down on one form of currency (cold, hard cash), we need to make up for it in other ...

The way things are going, it looks like we’re headed straight into the third worldwide economic crisis in less than two decades… and the second since we started this blog. So while it seems likely that things will be very, very bad by the time you read this, even if catastrophe is somehow averted, it should be clear that we’re all living in a world that could melt down at any moment. Gaming, in both electronic and tabletop forms, may not be as expensive as some pastimes (particularly if we limit ourselves to… legal activities), but there’s still some degree of investment if you’re pursuing new and innovative experiences. As well there should be, corporate profits notwithstanding, artists and creators should be paid for their work. But, as COVID isolation reminded us, when you’re stuck with the Old Favorites, they well… get old pretty quick. Going into a future where we can assume we’ll all have less money to work with, how are we able to keep having novel gaming experiences and stay on...

Tabletop roleplaying games are all full of helpful hands, particularly in Dungeons & Dragons . You and your teammates are always helping each other - there's even a "help" action. There are quite a number of hand-y spells such as Chill Touch, Shocking Grasp, Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp, and Vampiric Touch. You even have spells with the word "hand" in them like Burning Hands and Bigby’s Hand. Today, though, we’re specifically focused on one hand in particular. A simple cantrip, but a favorite of many spellcasters, and extremely useful. We’re talking about Mage Hand. While we could expound upon the multiple uses of this utility spell, and maybe we shall eventually, today we’re going to focus on a meme . That’s right, this is another edition of Never Say Dice Ruins Your (shitty) TTRPG Memes. You can see our previous work regarding the Peasant Rail Gun ,  animating skeletons and the Divine Bovine earlier in this series. The set up this time is rather simple: y...

Some five years ago, when it seemed like the world was coming apart, two friends decided to create something together - a space where they could talk about the things they cared about, where they could share their thoughts and maybe a few people might even listen in. And this endeavor was inaugurated, naturally enough for 3/14, with a series of riffs on pie puns. We find ourselves in a similar situation today, with uncertainty, chaos, and cruelty swirling around us. But we’re still putting out this blog, and every year, we’re still putting out another round of terrible pie riffs. (Not about terrible pie, mind you - everyone knows there’s no such thing.) And this year is no different. As the world falls apart around you, take time for each other and make an effort to keep doing the things you care about. Even when it’s a bunch of pie jokes. -  B Save the Twin Pies Mall! For 80s movie-inspired games like Kids on Bikes or Tales from the Loop . The PCs come from a town centered around...

This blog talks largely about the finer aspects of storytelling. Tips on keeping players engaged , to bringing life and expanding our story worlds , and video game tie-ins . Rarely do we focus on a singular character that captures our imaginations. A hero to the masses. Perhaps even someone that may one day define a generation... or perhaps as one history's great villains. Time will tell. Sure, we’ve talked about Tapper , and Bad Dudes like the Nazis , but this week it's only fitting that we focus on someone else. Someone recently in the news even. So sit back a moment and indulge us as we extort the virtues of this particular individual. Appearances At this point, it would be hard to believe if you don't know the name. He's been everywhere! I hear the ladies think he is pretty attractive, too. Sure, he isn’t the tallest fellow at 5’8”, but one would imagine he's still taller than most of his crew . Besides, with the dark hair and blue eyes, I’m sure it's quite...