A few years back I told Jenn “You know what would be awesome? A gumball machine filled with dice.” I forgot about it… she didn’t. So meet the newest addition to our house. It’s just as awesome as I expected, but it’s not a small machine. Jenn included a few pounds of dice as part of the present, and I’ve added in all the loose dice I had around the house, but that’s still left us with a significant amount of room at the top. And that gave me an idea.
As gamers, dice are our faithful (and sometimes treacherous) companions and tools. We have our favorites, we have superstitions, we have memories of amazing critical hits and tragic fumbles. One of my favorite experiences during my Have Dice Will Travel tour was the story of how D&D came to Bulgaria… in particular, how for many years it was very difficult for Bulgarian gamers to acquire dice. A set of dice was a relic to be treasured by a gaming group. At one point the first Bulgarian gamer had to sell some of his dice to raise rent money. Stop and think about that for a moment: you need some significant cash, fast, so what do you do? Sell some dice, right? At the end of my trip to Bulgaria, my guide Stefan gave me one of those very dice (both pictured below), and that little grey die is one of my regulars today. It’s not much to look at, but once upon a time it was one of the only dice in Bulgaria.
Dice aside, I love hearing people’s stories about how they started gaming, why they play, or favorite moments. It’s especially great to hear from people who have enjoyed something I’ve done – to hear YOUR stories of Eberron, Gloom, or anything else. Last year at Calgary Expo I met a pair of newlyweds who’d met in an Eberron campaign; the year before I met a soldier whose unit played Eberron in Iraq using dice made out of toilet paper.
So I have a diceball machine with empty space at the top, and thousands of people out there whose stories I haven’t heard. I could just buy another two pounds of dice, but I thought I’d do something different. I want you to send me a die and a story. It doesn’t have to be your favorite die, and it doesn’t have to be an epic story; just tell me something about you. Why do you game? What was one of your favorite moments? If you played in Eberron, what’s the most awesome thing you did there? I’ve made a layer of white at the top of the machine so I can tell where the story dice begin, and if we get enough I’ll drain it from below. Perhaps someday every die in the machine will have a story.
If you’d like to take part, send your die and your story to:
Keith Baker
PO Box 13250
Portland, OR 97213
… or catch up with me in person somewhere! Let me know if it’s all right to share your story with others, and make sure to include your email address so I can follow up with you. And please pass this along to anyone you know who might be interested.
As long as I’m talking about the stories of dice, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention The Bones, an anthology assembled by the brilliant Will Hindmarch. The Bones includes stories from Kenneth Hite, Matt Forbeck, John Kovalic, and many others… including a more detailed account of my time in Bulgaria.
In the days ahead I’ll be writing about Phoenix, Gloom, and the many exciting projects I’ve got lined up for 2014. I’ll be back with more Eberron Q&As. Until then, I hope you’re having a fantastic holiday, and I hope you’ll share a story with me!
Last night was the trial run of the 5E Eberron adventure I’ve put together for ChariD20 – a event raising money for child literacy charity Reach Out And Read. The event is TODAY! The first game starts at 10 AM Pacific Time, where I will be running the game for John Rogers (Leverage), Grant Imahara (Mythbusters), Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Helix, The Middleman), Kyle Vogt (The Room), and Jessie Pridemore (RuffleButt Cosplay). You can see the full schedule throughout the day at the main website, along with links for donating and watching the games.
