A Roman Glass Gaming Die
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A Roman Glass Gaming Die
1–10 of 36 posts
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#2Wonderful. You can get so much Maths out of probability. The fifth most popular page on my personal Web site is
http://sohcahtoa.org.uk/pages/rolling-two-dice-experiment.ht...
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#3This is as likely a magical object as a gaming die.
Glass would have been expensive for a mere gambling device, whereas bone dice were cheap.
It's a Platonic solid found in Egypt, the epicenter of Neoplatonism.
And the symbols on the sides are astrological.
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#4This is as likely a magical object as a gaming die. Glass would have been expensive for a mere gambling device, whereas bone dice were cheap. It's a Platonic solid found in Egypt, the epicenter of Neoplatonism. And the symbols on the sides are astrological.
Fair enough on the symbols being astrological, but we do know the Romans used gaming dice. One of my favorite exhibits at a museum I visited in Bath was a pair of wooden dice from a Roman camp. There were two very cool things about them: they used the same dot pattern that we use today, and, as the plaque informed us, they were loaded, rolling 6 significantly more often than the other numbers.
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#5This is as likely a magical object as a gaming die. Glass would have been expensive for a mere gambling device, whereas bone dice were cheap. It's a Platonic solid found in Egypt, the epicenter of Neoplatonism. And the symbols on the sides are astrological.
Magical, in the sense of an Oracle casting a prediction. Which makes it pretty much the same as a D&D dungeon master rolling to determine the outcome of an event, except the players (and maybe the DM) believed it was real.
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#6This is as likely a magical object as a gaming die. Glass would have been expensive for a mere gambling device, whereas bone dice were cheap. It's a Platonic solid found in Egypt, the epicenter of Neoplatonism. And the symbols on the sides are astrological.
Fair enough on the symbols being astrological, but we do know the Romans used gaming dice. One of my favorite exhibits at a museum I visited in Bath was a pair of wooden dice from a Roman camp. There were two very cool things about them: they used the same dot pattern that we use today, and, as the plaque informed us, they were loaded, rolling 6 significantly more often than the other numbers.
Not surprised that they were loaded that way; the 6 side has the most material removed, so it's the lightest. A fair die needs to be counter-balanced.
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#7It's a twenty-sided die; a wet dream of any d&d player.
Hidden bonus: +1 on any roll
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#8From 2003.
Allow me to summarize the internet commentary since then:
Hur hur, D&D.
Repost.
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#9With that die I'd crit on every toss.
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#10From 2003. Allow me to summarize the internet commentary since then: Hur hur, D&D. Repost.
And the relevant XKCD comic https://xkcd.com/593/