Post/Author/DateTime	Post
masterofmayhem 12-15-05, 09:58 PM	So I hear all the time about this or that dice game being played in books or even in D&D, but the people playing are always just "playing dice." I was curious, does anyone actually know what game such people are assumed to be playing? Or what real, historical dice games were played? Or are people just rolling to see who can hit the higher number? ;)
Khael 12-16-05, 12:30 PM	I think it is just rolling to get the highest total number on several dice. I'm no expert on medieval dice game (read: i have no real knowledge of...) but i should imagine in D&D is a simple game that even orcs can understand (i use to play warhammer-if an orc there could count he'd be a genius), you can gamble on it, and its easy to imagine it being played in any time where dice are in common supply.
JohnSnow 12-16-05, 02:37 PM	Well, I can explain one. I know it as "Ship, Captain, Bosun" and it's a dice game that dates back to at least the Renaissance. It works like this. You have 5 dice (traditional d6's). You try to get a ship (6), Captain (5), and Boatswain/Bosun (4) on your dice. You have 3 tosses to do so. As you acquire each, you remove a die from your pool. Once you have all three, you start accumulating "crew" by totalling up the numbers on the dice. That sounds complicated, but it's really quite simple. Player A throws the following tosses. 5d6 - 6, rest irrelevant. SHIP 4d6 - 5, rest irrelevant. CAPTAIN 3d6 - 4, 3, 4. BOSUN. 7 Crew Score: 7 Player B throws the following tosses. 5d6 - 5, 4, rest irrelevant. CAPTAIN, BOSUN. 3d6 - 6, 5, 4. CAPTAIN, 9 CREW 2d6 - 6, 1. 7 Crew Score: 16 Player C throws the following tosses. 5d6 - 6, rest irrelevant. SHIP 4d6 - 4, rest irrelevant. BOSUN 3d6 - 5, 3, 2. BOSUN. 5 Crew Score: 5 Player D throws the following tosses. 5d6 - 6, rest irrelevant. SHIP 4d6 - 5, rest irrelevant. CAPTAIN 3d6 - 1, 3, 2. Jack Score: FORFEIT Player E throws the following tosses. 5d6 - 6, 5, 4, 4, 2. SHIP, CAPTAIN, BOSUN, 6 CREW. 2d6 - 5, 3. 8 CREW 2d6 - 2, 1. 3 Crew Score: 17 - barely edging out B and winning the game. So that's one. There are lots of variations.
Ogmug 12-16-05, 02:48 PM	The ravenloft supplement once gave some great ideas on dice games (and other games that are often played, and how to simulate them with dice, etc) I think one was called wolf cubs? anyway, it is a 5 player game, played with 4 sided dice. Each player puts in thier ante (usually 1 silver) Each player then rolls thier dice (usually of different colors to differentiate) All players put in silver to match the number on thier dice rolls any player that matches any other player's dice are considered to have joined the "pack" and are out. The remaining players roll again. If both players match, the pot rolls over to the next round. At any time, a player may suggest that they split the pot. All players left active must agree, if not there is no split. If they agree, they divide the pot by 3 and the next round starts.
Seeker95 12-16-05, 02:49 PM	A few sites found using Google: Medieval Games (http://www2.kumc.edu/itc/staff/rknight/Games.htm) includes card games. The Book of Dice (http://games.rengeekcentral.com/tc4.html) a medieval book on dice. Knucklebones (http://www.heronter.org/Library/GameoftheMonth/knucklebones.html) a pre-dice game. Medieval and Rennaisance Games (http://jducoeur.org/game-hist/) home page.
masterofmayhem 12-16-05, 04:15 PM	Alright, that's great! "Knucklebones" was actually the game I guess I was thinking of, but I thought that it was just a generic term for dice, hence my difficulty in finding it. :embarrass Thanks a lot for the suggestions/links, everyone. I shall enjoy cheating my players out of their money with these when we play. :schemes:
JLP 12-16-05, 07:04 PM	I don't know the exact history of it, but it's my understanding that playing dice (as opposed to knucklebones, which aren't 6-sided) was usually playing a form of craps.
Rolof 12-17-05, 11:40 AM	I've kinda always thought of it as JLP said, some kinda form of craps. For instance, in the Wheel of Time books, there's a character (Mat) who loves playing dice games, and wins a lot of money that way. In at least one instance that I can think of, he lost after rolling "the Dark One's eyes". Sounds like snake eyes to me (a roll of two). After reading this thread, I started trying to think of games I could invent or adept from existing games, and I thought of this: Adapted from a card game called Screw Your Neighbor. In the card game, you try to get the highest card. Each player gets one card, face down. The first player chooses whether to keep their card, or trade to the next player for their card. The next player has no choice but to trade cards with the previous player, unless they have a king, which is the high card in the game. (Aces are low, not high.) If they do have a king, they reveal it, say "screw you" or whatever other bit of wit they feel like saying among friends, and both players keep their respective cards. Play goes around the table till it gets to the dealer, who has the option of drawing a better (hopefully) card from the deck, or keeping whatever they have. Which, in a large group, is likely to be an ace or a two that has been traded all the way around the table, barring someone having a king to stop it. The person with the lowest card is eliminated from winning the pot, and a new round commences, minus one player. To adapt this game to dice, you'd have to assume that d12's are available, just have everyone roll 1 die, hidden from all the other players, then follow the rest of the rules for trades etc. A 12 would be high, and equivalent to a king. And with dice you'd have no dealer, or deck, just everyone rolling, at the end the dealer would have a choice of re-rolling instead of drawing from the deck. The major drawback to this adaptation being that rolling a die is much easier to cheat than a face-down card, the die can be tipped over to a better number, etc. I guess die rolls would have to be made behind a cupped hand to simulate a face-down card. However, it would be a very easy game to learn and play, and since one of the staples of the game has always been things like sneaking past fighting Orcs or whatever, perhaps it's not so bad that it's easy to cheat at. ("Uglug see you tip die, you cheat! *draws sword*)
Thurbane 12-18-05, 10:35 PM	I used to play a (gamabling) dice game a few years back called "Crown and Anchor". It used special dice that instead of pips, have Ace, Club, Heart, Spade, Crown and Anchor on them. http://tinypic.com/ir3rlw.jpg Crown and Anchor Rules Rules For Crown & Anchor: This is a fast game in which any number of players play against a banker. Three special dice are used, each marked with a crown, anchor, heart, spade, diamond, and club. These symbols also appear in a diagram or "board" in front of the banker. Play: Each player puts a wager on one or more of the symbols. The player then throws the three dice, and pays out the result of the throw. The usual odds are even on singles, 2 to 1 on pairs, and 3 to 1 on three of a kind. The advantage always lies with the banker. You can just imagine a similar game being played by soldiers two or three thousand years ago. The ease of carrying a few dice, the dragging boredom of military life. Were they so very different then?
The_Wandering_Dru 12-19-05, 04:16 PM	We've done a version of Farkle (google it) where each point is worth a copper and the winner gets the difference in the scores in cp. If playing to 5000, you risk 50gp. For instance, the players end with the following scores: Player A - 1200 Player B - 5150 (winner) Player C - 4400 Player D - 3950 Player B would receive 39gp & 5sp from Player A, 7gp & 5sp from Player C and 12 gp from Player D. You could easily increase the stakes by making each point worth 1sp, 1gp or (for the high rollers) 1pp.