"Playing craps at the game table" Topic

I hosted a game at a regional convention this weekend and noticed that one or two of the players were throwing the dice like they were at a craps table in Reno. Several times dice went off the table and many minis were hit by flying dice. Having hosted dozens of games, I fully expect some damage to occur, but is it necessary to actually throw the dice on the table or drop them from 2 to 3 feet up?

Totally unnecessary. A good place for a building-shaped dice tower?

Were they yelling things like "Come on 7!" or "Roll high!" when they threw the dice? Just wondering. *big grin*

The problem is that you can't tell these guys not to do it, or they rant on you and treat you like every time they see you the rest of the weekend.

A few months ago at a con I experienced the same thing from a player on my "side" but on the opposite flank. Plus it was a bucket of dice game. As "he was losing," along with all of three of us on our side, he got more "violent" with his dice rolling and eventually stomped off in disgust, saying some stupid stuff along the way about the game. Ironically, he stayed close enough to watch us lose to the bitter end. That guy was weird. Thankfully never saw him again that weekend.

BTW what did he expect when playing an asymmetric game against a superior force? Sheesh!

The worst offender was obnoxious is more than one way. He made several loud complaints about the game mechanics that could be heard several tables away. That was what I was told. I'm rethinking hosting anymore games at conventions after this.

People complained about my wild dice throwing once. Eye protection recommended. The next game I put my dice in a peanut butter jar and shook them in that. They complained about the noise. There is just no pleasing some people.
My pet peeve is guys that hold the dice in a way that when tossed they don't tumble.

microgeorge--as GM, you certainly have the right to ask players to be more careful of your minis and terrain. And to ask them to leave if they don't comply. I'd hate for you to cease being a GM over one a**hole.

pzivh43, understood. I believe next time I'll do just that. I think my mistake was channeling Ward Cleaver this weekend. Next time, I'll try channeling Ragnar Lothbrook.

+1 pzivh43.

I provide dice trays for the players, but some people are apparently incapable of using them, or are so cack handed the dice miss anyway and go all over the place. Just a normal day running games at shows.

Dice trays with the pregame announcement that rolls outside of the dice tray are not valid.

I've played games for years at cons and find that annoying as well. I shake the dice in my hand and then drop them down on the table from 3-5 inches up when there isn't a dice tray in order to ensure that I don't hit any terrain or minis or that the dice don't go off the table. This usually works fine. However I did get accused of cheating once by a guy who chucked his dice on the table. He claimed that not rolling them across the table allowed me to get better numbers. Of course anyone who has seen my die rolls knows that isn't true as my dice are rarely in my favor.

Some people are really strange with their die rolling habits. I run a lot of games at cons and recently had an exuberant kid who rolled at least one die off the table every single roll. It would have been comical if it wasn't so annoying. We (other players and I) had to repeatedly ask him to calm down. He was very excited to be playing so we chided him as gently as possible as young players should be encouraged, but it got very disrupting.

Fitzovich + 1

Fitovitch +2. I'll announce that the next time I host a game at either a con or my house.

Fitzovich + 3

Maybe I'm lucky or oblivious. Everybody I see seems to use some kind of dice tray or dice tower, or just throws on the table in a reasonable way.

A dice tower with associated tray has much to recommend it, and can be camouflaged as, say, a chimney and ruined house. A cure for obnoxious players is another matter, but they're not common.