Romans had some slick dice.

[Redrobes]

Who said the Romans didn't play D&D

http://www.christies.com/Lotfinder/l...jectID=4205385
(Link stolen from BoingBoing)

[jfrazierjr]

Cool link. It's amazing to see how well they cut those dice 2000 years ago.

Joe

[RPMiller]

I love how the assume that it was used in a game. What if it was an educational tool, a counter of some sort, or used in a religious ritual. These people have no imaginations.

[rpgmapmaker]

The Romans as well as many other ancient cultures used dice and other objects to call on their gods to help them make decisions... most famous is probably the roman guards at the "cross" in the biblical account of Christ's crucifixion. (although by this time in history it was almost like gambling) see Matthew 27:35 (King James Version)

(35) And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.

The practice of casting lots was widely used to determine things both trivial and important... the concept of finding an answer using a set beginning point and a random outcome it by no means new.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleromancy

the second article on wikipedia seams to favor the Hebrew and Christian faiths but as is noted in the above verse from the bible... the Romans were the ones using the "dice".

Anyway...

-Chris

[Redrobes]

Now come on, they were playing strict D&D Basic edition with "Keep on the borderlands" + "Deities and Demigods" special edition with the Aztec gods removed as nobody had been there yet. Thats definitely a to-hit dice there...