Post AtFSW53o4m7EYYpVc8 by frederic@chaos.social
(DIR) More posts by frederic@chaos.social
(DIR) Post #AtEJij77tFwfVfNUHo by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-18T22:55:11Z
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Here is a Roman D20 carved from crystal in the 3rd century AD. These were used, historians suspect for telling fortunes. However, no one can *prove* they weren't used for some kind role playing game. Which is what getting a fortune told with a die is kind of like anyways if you ask me. "roll for initiative"
(DIR) Post #AtEJrIbznH9HvAu8ci by GeoWend@kosmos.social
2025-04-18T22:56:41Z
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@futurebird maybe rolling for initiative was a way to get motivated to do anything...get fate involved. (chuckles)
(DIR) Post #AtEKCGXggQ8jaGt3OS by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-18T23:00:28Z
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At least we know how this polyhedron was used. The "Roman Dodecahedrons" continue to confuse people. But, I don't think that is all that shocking. There are many durable but baffling objects. https://sauropods.win/@futurebird/114145823248199949
(DIR) Post #AtEKTOAhZSm8AWIh0a by sam@togl.me
2025-04-18T23:01:19Z
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@futurebird just wow!! Beautiful!
(DIR) Post #AtEKeMpIudIVBMWihc by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-18T23:05:36Z
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@inthehands It's for drying the tea pot and lid after you rinse it with hot water.
(DIR) Post #AtEL4GfERlUvbCALyK by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-18T23:10:16Z
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@inthehands uh... i guess??
(DIR) Post #AtEL6pZNdiIAR5eQQS by rlstone4dems@mastodon.social
2025-04-18T23:10:44Z
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@futurebird Yixing clay teapots... I wasn't even close…LOL.
(DIR) Post #AtELWztJt20PydSFhA by rlstone4dems@mastodon.social
2025-04-18T23:15:27Z
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@futurebird Oh, and this is a stupid place to ask this. But, I currently am a coffee drinker. Is tea better? Strangely enough, I am intrigued by tea all of a sudden…LOL.
(DIR) Post #AtEMySaJPfjQk0DtgW by Crow@pagan.plus
2025-04-18T23:31:36Z
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@futurebird you find yourself at a table before a diviner. "Shall we ask the spirits what they advise for you?"
(DIR) Post #AtEN92agOloPJ7RSL2 by funkula@goblin.camp
2025-04-18T23:33:31Z
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@futurebird something that has always stuck with me but I have absolutely no idea where I read it was the observation that rpgs could have emerged at any time in the past several millennia. All you need is the concepts of storytelling and games of chance, and ideally some kind of writing so you can record your adventures and share rules and characters with others
(DIR) Post #AtENZE1OWOXMHxQCno by hazelnot@sunbeam.city
2025-04-18T23:38:05Z
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@futurebird Ancient Roman D&D!!!Dvngeonvm et Dragonvm
(DIR) Post #AtENf0nIc5Zd0CaWAq by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-18T23:39:14Z
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@rrgeorge I'm trying to track it down. I've seen another example, but not in as good condition. The sources I can find are a little mid:https://mymodernmet.com/roman-20-sided-icosahedron-dice/One claimed it's at "Musee Louvre"
(DIR) Post #AtENn4yEy9PuGvYJe4 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-18T23:40:43Z
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@rogueren There are a few etsy sellers who make reproductions of various kinds, some from crystal, some in resin ... the later more affordable.
(DIR) Post #AtENyEJOZxv2QdlT3Q by potpie@mastodon.social
2025-04-18T23:42:44Z
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@futurebird I dunno but... this Roman dice tower looks mighty nerdy to me. I think the evidence is piling up.
(DIR) Post #AtEORKD3jKkv7OfsdU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-18T23:48:02Z
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@potpie This is damning. Might as well have a bunch of character sheets with all the stats in Roman numerals.
(DIR) Post #AtEOiWmiEIfp2fYPCq by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-18T23:51:10Z
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@potpie The "Picts" were a bunch of LARPers IMO
(DIR) Post #AtEQ57n5QGSa8h4GTg by Robo105@mastodon.social
2025-04-19T00:06:27Z
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@futurebird Carceres et dracones perhaps?
(DIR) Post #AtEQGQbzmp6thIGo0u by alex4alameda@sfba.social
2025-04-19T00:08:28Z
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@futurebird Who sells a repro of that?
(DIR) Post #AtESR89kwZ8LYJIBXs by Lazarou@mastodon.social
2025-04-19T00:32:49Z
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@futurebird I wonder what a culture with a 2000 year history of TTRPG would be like, apart from brilliant!
(DIR) Post #AtETK1KO28dkIjRE4O by randomgeek@masto.hackers.town
2025-04-19T00:42:44Z
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@futurebird @potpie TTRPG vs LARPers, the oldest of our schisms.
(DIR) Post #AtETUQleIuhA649bc0 by celeste_42bit@infosec.exchange
2025-04-19T00:44:37Z
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@futurebird @rrgeorge I already see the pseudo-archaeologists go like "how did they create such an intricate object without lasers and CNC machines? I'm only asking questions..."
(DIR) Post #AtETgJkkD4srogOn1U by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-19T00:46:46Z
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@celeste_42bit @rrgeorge So annoying. There are people who make stone dice to this day. It's not a "deep" process, but can be time-consuming for harder stone. But with something like soap stone it's almost trivial. 1. Mill a sphere2. Divide it to find the centers of faces. Turn and flatten forever.
(DIR) Post #AtEULsAh9CFwR8Lt6u by LGS@friendsofdesoto.social
2025-04-19T00:54:14Z
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@futurebird Do any of the inscriptions translate to "Nat 20, babee!"
(DIR) Post #AtEWjWNzzq2pjEylk0 by rs_hole@mastodon.online
2025-04-19T01:20:57Z
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@futurebird R&D - Romans & Dragons....
(DIR) Post #AtEcfqjsywItQ2qhHs by zaunkoenig@mastodon.online
2025-04-19T02:27:32Z
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@futurebird The image description is wrong - there is one letter and one number on each side. The letter could be used for the game where you need to say a word starting with that letter quickly (name an animal starting with...). Probably the letters are the 20 most frequent ones and not X or Y.
(DIR) Post #AtEclCjKeB854T8wW8 by drwho@masto.hackers.town
2025-04-19T02:25:24Z
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@bri_seven @futurebird I know a bunch of knitters out here that have modern ones. In the Before Times we use to have stitch and bitch evenings.
(DIR) Post #AtEclDxY4o5ysqnoJc by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-19T02:28:26Z
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@drwho @bri_seven Having used a jig like that to make fingers for gloves I don't understand the utility of having different sized holes. The hole size isn't what controls the size of the finger, it's how many stitches there are in the round (and the thickness of the yarn) and if you use these things it's always 5.If I wanted a tool to make various glove fingers it'd need to have a way to adjust the number of pegs. And then you have the icosahedron versions... they don't have holes.
(DIR) Post #AtEdBYwyeiwFVy5uds by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-19T02:33:16Z
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@bri_seven @drwho I have several decorative dodecahedrons around my house. I just like them. I know it's not exciting but they could just be nice things to have on a shelf?
(DIR) Post #AtEdPPwIxFnrcdO0Lw by temporal_spider@masto.ai
2025-04-19T02:35:44Z
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@futurebird @drwho @bri_seven I don't see how anyone could knit a good, functional glove this way. A jig is totally unnecessary for that anyway. All you really need is a few thin sticks and a certain amount of manual dexterity. There's another idea that these were meant for knitting wire. That makes a lot more sense to me, although I'm not 100 percent convinced.
(DIR) Post #AtEdSo4jfrKFLawheK by crcordray@ieji.de
2025-04-19T02:36:22Z
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@futurebird Very cool!
(DIR) Post #AtEdZ8PB0Ab08VWYvw by temporal_spider@masto.ai
2025-04-19T02:37:32Z
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@futurebird @drwho @bri_seven https://youtu.be/lADTLozKm0I?si=JeWOQU67LJOlULJi
(DIR) Post #AtEdbwUVkoFc3RMHPE by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-19T02:37:08Z
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@temporal_spider @drwho @bri_seven You can do it with just two extra needles. And fingers go so fast... all that set up just to do like 30 rows tops?
(DIR) Post #AtEe0cP5Zl0qzgaYN6 by AlgoCompSynth@mastodon.social
2025-04-19T02:42:30Z
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@futurebird IIRC the little gizmo in a Magic 8 Ball is a D20 / icosahedron.
(DIR) Post #AtEeLJnDxtefM4kRcG by drwho@masto.hackers.town
2025-04-19T02:45:49Z
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@futurebird @bri_seven I don't know. When we used to have stitch and bitch evenings it never came up in discussion. And I was to busy sewing to think to ask.If I had to make a wild guess.. I would add them so that I could string them on a piece of string or yarn to keep them together and maybe hang them up on a hook for storage.
(DIR) Post #AtEfWwjrbcPTHbHieu by dx@social.ridetrans.it
2025-04-19T02:59:32Z
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@futurebird There are a bunch of archaeological objects that look like games that archaeologists argue are for religious or other purposes. The Jiroft culture game boards, or the plausible Mancala boards found in various locations dating back to 3-6000bce. In a similar, modern twist, tarot cards were originally a game and only fairly recently became predominantly associated with fortune telling.
(DIR) Post #AtEfrNIMZyF1RDA9CK by jcastroarnaud@mathstodon.xyz
2025-04-19T02:21:39Z
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@funkula @futurebird RPGs also need a theme, and the realization, from the players, that they can *create* their own theater play, instead of only watching.I think that RPGs weren't created in Roman times or the Middle ages, because of lack of critical mass: too few people knew how to read/write, and paper was expensive. It would be much harder to find someone able to create a RPG system - an endeavor much harder to do than, say, create a theater play.
(DIR) Post #AtEg6uPlixMYV329wG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-19T03:06:04Z
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@jcastroarnaud @funkula I think it depends on what you'd accept as "and RPG"When I was 8 I was desperate to play D&D, my older brother, 17 ran a game, but wouldn't let me play because I was 8.So, I decided to try to start my own game. Only. I didn't have a rule book, or anything. I got my friends from school excited about the idea "it's like getting lost in a story"And we made up characters I designed places for them to explore and was kind of a DM
(DIR) Post #AtEgHMAbNwGFTevCGO by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-19T03:07:41Z
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@jcastroarnaud @funkula We used dice for random events. Argued a lot. But had a wonderful time. It went on for like three months. This wasn't "home brew" it was "no brew"Basically collaborative story telling with a leader and rolling dice every now and then.
(DIR) Post #AtEgZLffyidB8v2G00 by gregsbrain@mstdn.social
2025-04-19T03:07:21Z
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@futurebird they were used with other dice for playing Cryptae et Draci
(DIR) Post #AtEgt0ifaOKlxCoMPA by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-19T03:13:57Z
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@jcastroarnaud @funkula The campaign was about rescuing Prince (not a prince. The guy. Prince, the singer.) who was also king of the Fae. Only his court was planning to kill him and he didn't know this. So, we had to break into the castle through the tunnels below which were full of various giant insects that could either eat you, or you could tame them and they'd help you. You can guess which parts I was responsible for in all of that.
(DIR) Post #AtEh5kxBVxLgozg6i0 by antdude@mastodon.social
2025-04-19T03:16:14Z
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@futurebird maybe ants did this ;)
(DIR) Post #AtEhADs7wEtLfWRTma by Moss@beige.party
2025-04-19T03:17:50Z
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@futurebird @jcastroarnaud @funkula I had a very similar thing, in high school, where I was the nerd with the rule books etc but my friends were too high and tripping all the time for any such structure. So I DM’ed from a spontaneous storytelling position, flowing with their wild digressions and keeping the story going, no matter where their attention and capacity went.
(DIR) Post #AtEi4WPoBLWxOd2eoa by jcastroarnaud@mathstodon.xyz
2025-04-19T03:28:03Z
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@futurebird @funkula You created a freeform RPG, which I consider very valid: shared and guided storytelling, with little to no rules.Now, you had the advantage of already knowing about RPGs, and living in a society with ample variety of entertainment, and where almost everyone reads/writes. How harder would it be for a person in Roman times to create something like a freeform RPG, with no previous examples, but with access to storytelling, live music, theater, scarce news from outside one's city, and a very limited selection of books?
(DIR) Post #AtFSW53o4m7EYYpVc8 by frederic@chaos.social
2025-04-19T12:08:24Z
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@futurebird They were probably playing some form of "Carceres et Dracones".
(DIR) Post #AtFSfd3x1dzGcRRz1s by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-19T03:20:14Z
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@jcastroarnaud @funkula Only the purple rain could remove the glamor from the court and expose the ones who had turned against him!Then my brother totally STOLE one of my custom bug monsters and used it in one of his games and I'm still salty about that.
(DIR) Post #AtFSfeTVm61l00PuVc by luigirenna@infosec.exchange
2025-04-19T06:31:25Z
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@futurebird @jcastroarnaud @funkula I loved this story! Did your brother eventually let you join his games, or you kept playing with your friends?My brother is 9 years younger than me, and my sister 18 years younger and I got them to play as soon as they wanted. I was not around often while they were growing up, and they ended up GMing for other friends etc, but every time I went home I made a point to have at least an evening to play a one shot with them, for years. Now we play online.
(DIR) Post #AtFSffOwKZxrs7Hm1Q by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-19T10:32:24Z
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@luigirenna @jcastroarnaud @funkula He did not! My brother is the worst. LAMO.
(DIR) Post #AtFSfgAnSeFIGXfzcG by luigirenna@infosec.exchange
2025-04-19T12:10:08Z
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@futurebird @jcastroarnaud @funkula booh!
(DIR) Post #AtFm7kAE7CNdseVOEq by lertsenem@mastodon.lertsenem.com
2025-04-19T15:48:04Z
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@futurebirdDo I believe what he's saying?I don't know Gaius, roll an insight check.:d20: ... that's a two, plus one is three.Well, Brutus is your beloved son and he does seem trustworthy.Okay, I guess I enter the Senate then.
(DIR) Post #AtFryPN6eNsOVsSfVw by Lapizistik@social.tchncs.de
2025-04-19T16:53:38Z
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@futurebirdThis dice was used by three Ethiopian rangers – and one dwarf – to slay the great Cetus released by Poseidon in the battle of the BC&C group »the Bath of Hedomis«.@dieeinelms
(DIR) Post #AtG1FcqGiiXAnjO1jc by hyc@mastodon.social
2025-04-19T18:37:38Z
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@futurebird I can't believe after going thru all that trouble none of them thought "there must be an easier way to inscribe the numbers 1-20 on these tiny facets."
(DIR) Post #AtGNCe4lsG2Kkc9c8W by willowwren@hcommons.social
2025-04-19T20:28:29Z
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@jcastroarnaud @funkula @futurebird Could the gladiator fights be considered a kind of violent RPG, where your body is the character sheet? A kind of extreme LARP? These were spectator sports, true, but they were much less often deadly than popular history suggests, and often played out elaborate scenarios from mythology and history, even filling the Colloseum with water for sea battles, which we weren't sure was true until a couple decades ago. To some extent, the stories for these scenarios were shaped by those that ran the game, with final, but limited, "DM" arbitration by the emperors. It's not a perfect analogy, but maybe enough to push back on the idea that there was no possibility of conceiving of such a thing. I wonder if such cooperative stories were just the unrecorded province of children...I played out such stories with my childhood best friend, one as character, one as storyteller, years before I ever heard of an "rpg."
(DIR) Post #AtGNGgDFs5MuXK2v4K by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-19T22:44:21Z
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@willowwren @jcastroarnaud @funkula I wonder to what degree there was WWF style story telling for those game and matches.
(DIR) Post #AtGa4T8dxFN5urOf8S by jcastroarnaud@mathstodon.xyz
2025-04-20T01:07:48Z
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@futurebird @willowwren @funkula Someone must organize the matches; then, someone under that one would roughly script the spectacle.The equivalent of "future-endeavoured" would be one of "freed" or "dead".
(DIR) Post #AtHHWf0Pip28rKEjGy by d112df37f999e8e616652566e4ee666c5537c0479839e2c49d8fbbbf7c73c925@mostr.pub
2025-04-20T08:59:10.000Z
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https://www.thepsmiths.com/p/review-lectures-on-the-icosahedron
(DIR) Post #AtLk9g01XHPMaFHox6 by mattmcirvin@mathstodon.xyz
2025-04-22T12:54:19Z
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@futurebird Sometimes people propose that the Roman dodecahedra were dice, but I think it's obvious that they weren't because we have so many dice from that era and they look obviously different, like this d20 here.