Gaming Superstitions?

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**mwnciboo**

I've noted at my club there are little foibles that people have, like habits or superstitions that are quite amusing.

One player will always say "I'm firing Krak Rockets at that"
"Don't you mean Krak Missle?" Says I.
"Nah, Rockets are more accurate, If I say Missile I always miss!"

Another player won't roll any other dice than the specific colours, so for him Plasma weapons are always Blue dice, Red Dice for PW attacks etc. It's very OCD and amusing, especially if you hide his dice during the game.

My own, is that I tend to put the end of tape measure in my mouth when I am thinking, I definitely wouldn't recommend asking to borrow my tape measure! So do you Know of any amusing examples? Or admit to any of your own idiosyncrasies?

**BlapBlapBlap**

I have to roll transparent dice for shooting and opaque dice for characteristics.

**Cryonicleech**

I buy new dice based on the main color of my army. Blue dice for blue armies, purple dice for purple armies, etc.

**tyro_neophyte**

Only re-roll with my left hand. Just works better, no joke.

**CrashCanuck**

I roll one die from each colour set I have (eg, 1 blue, 1 green, 1 ivory) and arbitrarily select either the highest or lowest rolling die to determine which colour I primarily use for that match.

**chromedog**

I seem to mostly roll my dice with my left hand.

But then I am left handed (dominant - whilst I can use the right with some degree of control, it is nowhere near as good as the left).

I don't seem to manifest any superstitions or ocd behaviour though. Nothing I "must" do.

**Mr. S Baldrick**

I use regular white dice for leadership tests and colored dice for everything else. I once knew a guy that would take one die from every new set he bought and crush it in a vice while the other dice watched to encourage them to roll well.

**Vendetta 476**

Mr. S Baldrick wrote:I use regular white dice for leadership tests and colored dice for everything else. I once knew a guy that would take one die from every new set he bought and crush it in a vice while the other dice watched to encourage them to roll well.

...And did it work?

Anyhow, there is a superstition that dice work better if you have a painted army.

**SwiftLord14**

I always wear my Baltimore Ravens hat. Its a good luck and I always use my grey dice for my wolf lord.

**Avatar 720**

I avoid using dice that are the same colour as my army. I have some green dice that I used with my Lizardmen in 7th edition, and my Slann's favourite past-time during that period was spontaneous combustion whenever I needed him the most.

Outside of that, i'm a firm believer in potential hazards being more deadly than actual hazards.

Case in point: 2 Leman Russes spent 6 turns trying to kill my Wave Serpent, and they were only able to when a Grenade Launcher managed to immobilise it on the 3rd turn, and even then it took till the end of the 6th after removing its weapons.

**Maenus_Rajhana**

I like to keep a commissar near my dice pool. To... keep an eye on things....

**Ultrafool**

I never let other people touch my dice and I never roll the same dice twice.

**DoctorZombie**

Cryonicleech wrote:I buy new dice based on the main color of my army. Blue dice for blue armies, purple dice for purple armies, etc.

I like that idea. It makes evrything go together nicely.

**I-bounty-hunt-the-elderly**

When picking dice up to roll them, I select ones with higher numbers, especially 6, facing upwards. They just look like they'll do a better job!

**Lokas**

I-bounty-hunt-the-elderly wrote:When picking dice up to roll them, I select ones with higher numbers, especially 6, facing upwards. They just look like they'll do a better job!

I do exactly the opposite.

My logic being that they rolled poorly before, so law of averages says they'll roll better this time around.

**Kodanshi**

^ Logical fallacy. Unless the dice are loaded, they have exactly the same chance as before of rolling any particular number.

@ topic: I wouldn’t call it a superstition, but I like to sacrifice a live chicken to Khorne, and every time I roll the dice I shout: “Blood for the Blood god! Skulls for the Skull Throne! Beer for the Beer god, and YOU… ARE… PWNED!”

Kidding. I try not to indulge in superstitions as I used to obsess about things like that when younger.

**Joey**

I have none.
I'm pretty much a robot, though.

**Howard A Treesong**

Lokas wrote:My logic being that they rolled poorly before, so law of averages says they'll roll better this time around.

That's not how probability works...

I just don't understand why people develop superstitions or get these bizarre ideas about how probability works. Wasn't it covered in school? Only use red dice, throw with my left hand, hop on one foot when throwing the dice, etc. Unless you're using loaded dice or have perfected controlled dice throws (ie. cheating) then the results are largely random. Unless there's a bias in the die because it's a bit squiffy - in which case a die that throws a result several times is more likely to get the same result again, not a totally different result just to fulfil the "law of averages" which some gamers think is some controlling force in the universe that allows you to guess the next die roll. But generally, dice are fair and one throw has no baring upon the probability of the result of the next throw.

With a decent grasp of probability and an understanding of things like the Gambler's Fallacy and Confirmation Bias you can try to avoid quite a few pitfalls generally, and on matters somewhat more serious than the die rolls of a wargame.

**Nagashek**

I buy a new set of dice for every new army I buy. I roll dice from the dice case until I run out of them, then roll the ones on the table, replacing them into the case. Not only does this latter habit satisfy my OCD, but it also ameliorates the posibility that my dice are not perfecly balanced and might roll inaccurately.

**LoneLictor**

I have a Plague Marine army, so I every time I sneeze/cough/have a nosebleed I make sure that the fluids go into a container which I wash my dice in. My opponents hate it, but so what?

My actual superstitions are to stop rolling dice that fail important saves. Like if I get a 1 on a Terminator's saving throw I put that dice away and don't use it again until the next game. During long games I tend to run out of dice.

**CadianCommander**

Maenus_Rajhana said: I like to keep a commissar near my dice pool. To... keep an eye on things....

I'm so trying that.

I can't play unless I'm wearing my IG dogtags and stop using dice that roll badly. Those dice also get "punished".

**The Mad Tanker**

In our group we never roll the opponents dice in a game, its weird, but whenever we roll each others dice we always roll badly. We are very superstitious about dice.

**Mr Nobody**

My dice must all be the same colour; as soon as I mix colours, my rolls get worse.

**ObliviousBlueCaboose**

I always take a shower, shave, put on deoderant and clean clothes before I play. It has no effect on the game but people seem to like me more. Wish more gamers would follow this philosophy. Some tournaments too funky from the neck beards who seem to think grime equals good luck.

Not so much of a tradition or superstition, but my plasma gunners will roll 1s 50% of the time. No exageration.

**mwnciboo**

ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:I always take a shower,

In my experience that puts you in an ethnic minority!

**Lord Rogukiel**

I keep my dice in a skull...

This to be exact:

edit: picture was massive

**Sparks_Havelock**

Mr. S Baldrick wrote:I use regular white dice for leadership tests and colored dice for everything else. I once knew a guy that would take one die from every new set he bought and crush it in a vice while the other dice watched to encourage them to roll well.

Don't know why but I like this idea. Made me chuckle - all the dice gathered around the vice, wincing and rattling with every crack and squeal as the vice crushes the hapless die.

I can't think of any superstitions off the top of my head but my friends have some. One of them (who we'll name Bob) refuses to let another of my friends (we'll call him Tom for reference) touch his dice because they're immediately affected by the magic of Tzeentch. No joke. His dice rolls immediately, without fail, go completely and utterly wrong. This has happened many times, even in our pen & paper RP games he refuses to let the chap touch his dice. Another fun thing with these two; during a tournament, as 'Bob's' game entered his magic phase and he attempted to cast a crucial spell Tom, at the other end of the room, turned and shouted 'Miscast!'. Double one. He then rolled whichever result blows up/kills your wizard.

Oh yes 'Bob' does what Cryonicleech does - buys new dice in the same colour as his new army. He had yellow for his 'Flash Gitz' army at the UK Doubles last year while his partner had blue for his blue coated Orks. Yellow + Blue = Green = Better. Ork logic. They did very well too at that tournament.

**mwnciboo**

Sparks_Havelock wrote:

Yellow + Blue = Green = Better. Ork logic.

Brilliant.

**juraigamer**

I have crazy luck with my standard GW dice that came in a tin. Specifically my 10 black dice. Make 15 armor saves? 6 cover saves on a vehicle in a row? Not a problem for them.

I have once dice box that I carry around that rolls gak, all the time. I give that to people who forgot their dice. Serves them right.

**TheAngrySquig**

I have a thing where I give my HQ, usually Sliscus, a pep talk before each game, just to make sure he's ready to kick some ass