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2000 Year Old Roman d20 Up For Auction
dolo666 writes "There is a d20 for sale at Christie's. Titled; "A ROMAN GLASS GAMING DIE", this item dates to circa 2nd Century A.D., and it's likely to go for a mere $6k USD! Just think of the die-hard dice gamer on your list, this festive season! That would make all those late night Cthulhu missions with Lord Nekrull, my 16th level Assassin demi-god, a smashing good time!"
Modern scholarship has not yet established the game for which these dice were used.
Actually these are called Slave Dies and were popularised by the Roman Emperor Publius Helvius Pertinax in the mid 2nd century AD. During periods when professional gladiatorial combat was lacking, 400 slaves would be seperated into 20 groups of 20 each. The diplomat (or the Emporer himself) running the game would roll a Slave Die 4 times. The first time selected a group, the second a slave within the group. The 3rd and 4th rolls repeated this selection.
The two slaves would then be outfitted with crude weapons and ordered to fight to the death. Because slaves had horrific medical care the survivor of the battles usually died from infection later on.
If, in the odd event, the die rolls selected the same person twice then that slave would immediately be freed and given a not insubstantial amount of gold as it was deemed that the gods had smiled on this person.
It was a horribly stressful thing; you wouldn't want to be rolled once, but if that were the case you'd be praying for a second roll to select you.
actually.. I made that all up, sure sounds good though, eh? PS: f1st pr0st
Trolling is a art,
"That would make all those late night Cthulhu missions with Lord Nekrull, my 16th level Assassin demi-god, a smashing good time!"
You, sir, are a nerd!
Care to play some time?
hey!
I think PvP says it best:
http://pvponline.com/index.php3
CRAPICUS!
Scott Kurtz did a little scetch on this in his latest comic
-- Sorry, I can't think of anything funny to say here.
I had no idea DND went back that far. It makes me wonder where Gygax got his claims to have invented it.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
Alea iacta est!
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
And now we finally know why it took over 20 stabs to fell Ceaser; Brutus, like many frustrated gamers, suffered from the profound disability of often rolling low on his hit die...
There is also a hilarious cgi version of this sketch, perhaps someone can post a link!
(DM) Utena- Galstat, you have entered the door to the north. You are now standing by yourself in a dark room. The pungent stench of mildew eminates from the wet dungeon walls.
Juri- Where are the Cheetos?
Utena- They're right next to you!
(Galstat) Anthy- I cast a spell!
Juri- Where's the Mountain Dew?
Utena- It's in the fridge, duh!
Anthy- I wanna cast a spell!
Juri- Can I have a Mountain Dew?
Utena- Yes, you can have a Mountain Dew, just go get it!
Anthy- I can cast any of these, on the list, right?
Utena- Yes, any of the first level ones.
Juri- I'm gonna get a soda, anybody want one? Hey, Grem I'm not in the room, right?
Utena- What room?
Anthy- I wanna cast magic missle!
Juri- The room where he's casting all these spells from!
Utena- he hasn't cast anything yet!
Anthy- I am, though, if you'd listen...I'm casting magic missle!
Utena- Why are you casting magic missle? There's nothing to attack here!
Anthy- I'm attacking the darkness!
(Laughter)
Utena- Fine, fine. You attack the darkness. There's an elf in front of you.
Anthy- Whoa!
Utena- Yeah, you guys can talk to eachother if you want.
Anthy- Hello, I am Galstat, sorcerer of light!
Elf (Nanami)- Then how come you had to cast magic missile?
(Laughter)
Utena- You guys are being attacked.
Juri- Do I see that happening?
Utena- No, you're outside, by the tavern.
Juri- Cool! I get drunk!
Utena- There are seven ogres surrounding you.
Elf (Nanami)- How could they surround us? I had Morton Kiden's magical watchdog cast!
Juri- I'm getting drunk! Are there any girls there?
Utena- No, you didn't.
Elf (Nanami)- I totally did! You asked me if I wanted any equipment before this adventure and I said no, but I need material components for all my spells, so I cast Morton Kiden's faithful watchdog.
Utena- But you never actually cast it!
Juri- Roll the dice to see if I'm getting drunk!
Utena- (dice rolling) Yeah, you are!
Juri- Are there any girls there?
Utena- Yeah!
Elf (Nanami)- I did, though, I completely said when you asked me...
Utena- No, you didn't! You didn't actually say that you were casting the spell, so now there's ogres, okay?
Juri- Ogres?! Man, I got an ogre-slaying knife that's got a +9 against ogres!
Utena- You're not there, you're getting drunk!
Juri- Okay, but if there's any girls there, I want to DO them!
Going... going... gone!
I guess Ancient Roman civilization really WAS advanced... Wonder if they had Mountain Dew and Doritos, too...
I'm so sorry Publius, but you only rolled a XVI and you needed XVII to hit an Orc with Armor Class IX with your +I short short sword.
Maybe because you are, as we say in Latin, a "dorkus malorkus."
I bet the Romans played by the old rules! And they remembered what the letters TSR stood for!
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Gates M'dna wgah'nagl fhtagn.
Yeah, well, now that slashdot readers know about it, there's no way anyone's going to be able to get a bargain on that die too...
Rats, and I was really hoping to surprise a friend with that too. Nothing says "I'm a geek" more than a nearly two-millenia old d20.
So what makes them think this was for gaming? Given the religious significance of regular polyhedra in the classical era -- including but not limited to the Pythagoreans -- it's much more likely that this was either a divination tool or a model representing someone's cosmological theory.
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
Well since it's covered in strange symbols it would only require mild persuasion to convince the dungeon master, that today the round thingy with the squigly bit means you scored a critical hit.
Whoa. Back when we were playing D&D (20 some years ago), the cool thing was to come up with the coolest looking dice. Some of us made them out of epoxies, some of us bought cool looking clear dice from the local gaming shop and my friend Gary comes up with this six sided die that he claimed was from ancient Rome that he got from his dad. We laughed our asses off, thinking (as 13 year olds are prone to do) that multi sided die were a modern invention but........ Gary, I hope you still have it.
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No, but it was made of glass, so it was a hard die for the die-hard die fan.
(Spudley Strikes Again!)
Just for the halibut...
(Not my Experience, I found it Out There(tm))
The Gazebo
This is a story of a DM (Ed) and a paladin (Eric) during a game of AD&D.
ED: You see a well-groomed garden. In the middle, on a small hill, you see a gazebo.
ERIC: A gazebo? What color is it?
ED: (Pause) It's white, Eric.
ERIC: How far away is it?
ED: About 50 yards.
ERIC: How big is it?
ED: (Pause) It's about 30 feet across, 15 feet high, with a pointed top.
ERIC: I use my sword to detect whether it's good.
ED: It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo!
ERIC: (Pause) I call out to it.
ED: It won't answer. It's a gazebo!
ERIC: (Pause) I sheathe my sword and draw my bow and arrows. Does it respond in any way?
ED: No, Eric. It's a gazebo!
ERIC: I shoot it with my bow (rolls to hit). What happened?
ED: There is now a gazebo with an arrow sticking out of it.
ERIC: (Pause) Wasn't it wounded?
ED: Of course not, Eric! It's a gazebo!
ERIC: (Whimper) But that was a plus-three arrow!
ED: It's a gazebo, Eric, a gazebo! If you really want to try to destroy it, you could try to chop it wih an axe, I suppose, or you could try to burn it, but I don't know why anybody would even try. It's a @#%$*& gazebo!
ERIC: (Long pause - he has no axe or fire spells) I run away.
ED: (Thoroughly frustrated) It's too late. You've awakened the gazebo, and it catches you and eats you.
ERIC: (Reaching for his dice) Maybe I'll roll up a fire-using mage so I can avenge my paladin...
At this point, the increasingly amused fellow party members restored a modicum of order by explaining what a gazebo is. This is solely an afterthought, of course, but Eric is doubly lucky that the gazebo was not situated on a grassy knoll.
note that the pedigree of this item is a single
statement that the thing was bought by the sellers
father in Egypt in the 1920's.
That is the kind of pedigree that would bid this
item up to about $20 as a curio.
The seller is smoking crack, as is anyone who bids
more than a few bucks on that thing.
Modern scholarship has not yet established the game for which these dice were used. Obviously they were used for Ulterius Carcerae et Draconae
...Historians were amazed to see the words 'patent pending 44BC' in small print on the die.
Can you imagine a game with these?
"How many points damage does a squigly line with 2 dots sort of next to each with tails coming out of them do?"
/* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
The original audio of this is from the group The Dead Alewives, from my hometown. Look for it on p2p and try to find part 2, one of them brings their girlfriend along.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
TSR = Tactical Studies Rules, you geeks.
;-)
TSR was the company, I believe, that started in about 1974 with the publication of "Dungeons & Dragons - Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Minature figures"
I know, cuz' I read it on the front of the box, that I still have.
One of the AD&D 1st Edition books.
They show a picture of a wizard, barbarian, etc. sitting around with parchment and dice, and the wizard is telling a newcomer something like "We're playing a game where we pretend to be students and workers in a post-industrial society."
That and the picture of the plate-mail clad fighter jumping into the wizard's arms when he sees the rust monster make the 1st Ed. books keepers.
Matthew 27:35
Mark 15:24
Luke 23:34
John 19:24
I've heard some people claim that when the Roman soldiers "cast lots" as mentioned here, they actually played a dice game to see who would get Jesus' clothing. It doesn't seem to mention dice though. *Shrugs*
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
Jesus Saves!
And takes 1/2 damage...
Proconsul: "Oh $@#$@!! Not my Level 28 Thracian!"
Emperor: "Hold on... he's not dead yet. Roll it."
Proconsul: *Rolls D20*
Proconsul: "%#@@#&!!!"
Emperor: "A 10.. "
Emperor: *Peeks behind screen*
Emperor: "I'm very sorry, but Maximus has failed his saving throw..."
Emperor: *Makes thumbs-down gesture to crowd*
---Crowd boos
---Gurgle of dying gladiator from arena floor
Proconsul: (Muttering to self) "By Jupiter I swear that he will live to regret this day! There are many in the Senate who would welcome the elevation of a new Dungeon Master..."