The Dice Are A Treasure Hoard

 My inner dice goblin recently went on a collecting binge and the results are interesting.

Here are some of the shiny, clickety-clackety math rocks I recently accumulated.

Also shown - Scroll of Rolling 2 which has compartments with containers for dice or miniatures. 

It's Getting Muggy in Here.

Time for more shameless self promotion. The blog's Zazzle store has these mugs and some other things for sale. Follow this link to see what's available. If you like something order it. Thanks!

http://www.zazzle.com/tdaalmerch*     <----- Link

Below are the designs on three other mugs. Pardon the duplication of images. The banner design mug image copied fine, but the rest came out, well, not as mugs.

There are cards with these images, you can send to folks for whatever reason or to invite them to a special game session. 

Also there are a banner pin and a banner magnet available.

Blog Monetization Update

It has been about seven years since I chose to allow advertisements to be shown on the blog. This was never expected to provide any real income and was merely an experiment to see how it would perform. 

I disallowed subjects like Politics, Religion, and Porn from running ads since the site is relatively open to all viewers with minor exceptions. I also don't agree with some of the advertisers that would have been pushing their ideals.

You may be asking (though likely not) "how did it do?" The short answer is so far, over seven years it has earned a whopping $8.88, enough for a big name coffee chain latte. 

So why keep monetizing the site? You never know when I might be craving an overly expensive yet sub-par coffee with weird names. That, and I am really curious about ways to generate more views worthy of earning a penny now and then. So far, the ads don't seem to be hurting anything.

There's always the possibility that one day this blog might even pay for a game book or set of dice. 

Getting Hammered part 8

At the time I was planning out my new table, one of the items I wanted to get along with it were a pair of custom dice trays. These were to be gifts to two of my players, good friends that I have known for a very long time. Dan Fisher of Hammered Game Tables began work on these after the table and primary accouterments were done.

Here they are:

That's right, the artwork is a reproduction of a Magic: The Gathering Black Lotus. The player getting this tray used to be big into collecting MTG cards and had some originals of the card.

The second tray goes to my longest friend, CaptCorajus, who happens to be an excellent KJ and DJ. That is his company logo in the dice tray bottom. He teared up when he saw the tray for the first time.

Eventually I plan to have more trays produced for another couple of long time friends and gamers, but those will have to wait for now.

Another Discount in the TDAAL Store

This time it is 50% off bags for carrying your game stuff.

The discount code is SUNDAYDEAL75

Here is the link.

The least expensive version, while not the most attractive, are excellent for handling the standard sized game books with plenty of room for dice bags, etc.  I usually have two books and a large dice bag in it. Note, you can turn the book sideways and it fits with room to spare.

There are other designs in the shop.

Prop Dusting - Giant Foam Dice

Some time ago I backed a number of Kickstarter projects including one for Giant Foam Dice.

Most of the dice are soft enough to hurl at the heads of trouble making players without causing any appreciable harm, however watch out for the 4 sided die, if you step on it with a bare foot or catch one with your eye, you will still painfully notice the points. The safest one to toss around if you absolutely must throw your dice, is a choice between the d6 and d20. The d6 has rounded corners, and the d20 is the softest.

For those of us whose vision is deteriorating with age, these are very welcome.

All of the dice roll well, with an expected bounce to them. I have used them during a couple of game sessions and made them available for use during my last game. Note: in my set, the d20 seems to slightly favor the number 17.

A Wicked Cool Journey

Idle, grumbling, waiting
Growling, lurching into motion
With a rising roar, away through
The precipitous, cold weather
Precious cargo upon its back,
Enshrouded from the elements
Closer, slowly closer to home,
Wicked, it brings
To awe those gathered
Warmly sharing laughter and fun
Shining, a phoenix
Further brightening joyful play
Soon at the doorstep
Soon through the portal
Soon, the clatter of dice

Fight On! Magazine - Dice Tables contest.

Fight On! Magazine and Magician's Manse blog put together a contest that wrapped up at the end of May.

The judges are now going over what turned into a pile of entries reported to be 107 tables big, including one nearly 2 dozen pages in size. I cannot imagine what kind of random table that is other than perhaps an encounter table.

I am very much looking forward to seeing the book that will be made from these tables, and I am also interested in seeing what the judges finally decide are the winning entries.

Anyone out there have any updates on how this is progressing?