Dicember 2017, Day 5: Ground Rules

Tales of a GM is running the 12 Days of Dicember, a project dedicated dice in all their randomized glory. The question for the fifth day of Dicember is “What is your rule for when dice roll off the table?”

Easy answer: re-roll it on the table. Doesn’t matter if it’s a critical hit or a critical fumble; if it hits the ground, you re-roll it.

A related rule is that a die must end its roll flat; it can’t be a “leaner” (meaning the top surface of the die can’t be at an angle). Dice that end up on a seam or crack may need to be re-rolled. To test, place another dice on top of the uneven die; if it slides off the die, the original die needs to be re-rolled.

4 thoughts on “Dicember 2017, Day 5: Ground Rules”

  1. Hi Ken,

    That is an interesting rule about an uneven die. I may steal that as the house rule question for next year, although I doubt anyone would top your system.

    Also, that is a lovely die in the picture. I have a thing about blue dice, as you might guess.

    Thank you again for participating in The 12 Days of Dicember project
    Phil

    • Thanks! And thanks again for organizing the project! The “leaner” rule goes back to the very early days of our gaming group (so something like 21 years ago). I don’t recall how it originated, though I suspect it was my friend Nate’s doing. Regardless of who came up with it, the rest of us embraced it as a logical, fair, and often amusing house rule.

  2. Those are my rules, with one addendum. If you are rolling a set of dice and one or more fall on the floor, the entire set is re-rolled. Thinking about it logically, it doesn’t make much sense, but it’s been my rule from my early days of gaming.

    • Hey David — thanks for stopping by! Nice house rule — I haven’t come across that one before. Sounds like exactly the sort of quirky rule that makes each group unique.

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