Dice Mechanics: Printable Paper Teetotums... really.

[mutex]

So, I was reading Greg Costikyan's blog, and he was referring to some (I think) 19th century games that were played using a teetotum instead of dice.  A teetotum is essentially a stick with flat sides and a round stick through the middle.  It's spun like a top, and the side that ends up on top is the result.  So, kind of like a dreidl.  It's basically used as a die substitute in households where gambling (hence dice) is forbidden.

So, I'm working on a game concept right now that has strong Nar leanings in a sort of heavily mechanical, but simple, with loads and loads of color.  My Life with Master is an obvious precursor, but instead of gothic monsters, I'm shooting more for baroque heroic tragedy.

So, I thought that a teetotum would serve three purposes:

1) Give the game a kind of folksy feel.  It's a bit crude and anachronistic.
2) More information could be stuck on a long, rectangular side of the teetotum than one could place on a die, which prevents needing tables.  I *hate* tables :D
3) They do reasonably well with arbitrary numbers of sides, and you can, in fact, "weight" sides by making them slimmer relative to the rest.

Also, I imagine that whatever game I produce with this would probably be a free PDF, so I could provide teetotum templates, and players could print them out, tape them together, and roll away.

I haven't gotten out the paper, scissors and tape, yet...  but let me just run an informal survey...  does this sound like something you'd be willing to try to play a game?  Is it too much set up?

I hear people say "I've got to make some FUDGE dice", but I've no idea what they're talking about, never having read FUDGE's rules.  Same deal? <:( 

Thank you.

[JSDiamond]

Mutex, I don't know if you've done this, but your teetotums reminded me of something I did in high school.  Role-play games were forbidden on campus because they used dice --considered to be "games of chance" and therefore akin to gambling.  So, my friends and I made d6s out of #2 pencils by writing very tiny numbers (1-6) on each facet near the eraser end.  We did not spin them, but instead would roll/toss them like lots.

To answer your first question --yes, I would enjoy a game with tropes such as teetotums.  Anything that reinforces the "alive-ness" of the game's setting/world is cool to me.

If I recall correctly (and I'm certain someone else can answer this better) Fudge dice are dice with modifiers on them like -1, 0, +1, +2 --something like that.  Anyone?




 

[JakeVanDam]

A fudge die is a d6 showing a "-" on each of two faces, a "+" on each of two faces, and the remaining faces blank.

Teetotums sound like a nice change of pace.

[Graham W]

The really nice thing about this is that it's a quick way to make "custom" dice. So, if you need a die with, say, six different types of environments on, you just get out the "environment" teetotum template, stick a pencil through it, and spin it.

I have a feeling, though, that teetotums will often be biased one way or the other. If the disk attached to the stick isn't quite horizontal, it'll be more likely to fall on one particular side. Also, you'll find that they'll get bashed about and fall apart quite quickly. (And the "get bashed about" will again mean they're more likely to fall on one side)

None of these are killer criticisms, just things to bear in mind.

[Vaxalon]

I like the pencil thing.  You can get pencils imprinted for cheap... hm...

[Josh Roby]

3) They do reasonably well with arbitrary numbers of sides, and you can, in fact, "weight" sides by making them slimmer relative to the rest.

I'm not sure I'm reading the description of these things correctly, but if I am, don't you mean you can weight sides by making their direct opposite side slimmer or wider, since that's the part on the tabletop and the side sticking up is opposite it.

Or am I just not envisioning this thing in the right shape?

[Shreyas Sampat]

I'm not sure I'm reading the description of these things correctly, but if I am, don't you mean you can weight sides by making their direct opposite side slimmer or wider, since that's the part on the tabletop and the side sticking up is opposite it.

Or am I just not envisioning this thing in the right shape?

Er. It seems like, since you're not writing on the face that's concealed by contact with the ground, as with a dreidel, you might as well read the side that's touching the ground. That way, you don't need to redesign layouts for odd numbers of sides.

[mutex]

Joshua, those mean the same thing...  although in retrospect, weighting them might be too fiddly to be useful.

Shreyas, you could also have the top two values expressed.  E.g. Environment = (swamp, jungle, forest, meadow, river), so you could end up rolling swamp, jungle or river, swamp, both of which make sense together.

Anyone have experience with Dice Land?  They do something kinda similar (especially in the data-richness of each die face), but I've never actually felt them or assembled them to know how cumbersome it is...