The Dice Cradle 2.0.19
In the last game I ran one of my players, Christian by name, came up with this simple, but great, innovation. What is it? It is a reference guide, a guarded rolling surface, a luck generator, and a dice holder all in one.
Essentially it is two frames, held together by two hinges so the glass sides will fold in on each other, thus protecting them from breaking while traveling. The two frames have a wooden edge that raised about half and inch. This provides enough space when folded together to keep dice inside safely. Under the two glass protectors one can keep any kind of information they feel important. Again, I took my cue from Christian's original design and placed important combat info on one side and a lucky signature on the other side.
A quick word ab
out the signature... Christian used Gary Gygax's signature in his, and normally I would not deviate from that. But I am using my Cradle for a Hackmaster game so... Yep, I'm using Gary Jackson's autograph! I took out a little insurance though by keeping Gary Gygax's signature right underneath. Yeah, I know that is kinda cheating. But hey, one can never have too much luck. The fame rub (HMB p.142) has never been so easy to execute!
As for the other side of my cradle, I'm still new to HMB so I opted to put down all the 'Special Combat Moves' from the Combat chapter. This will mean I don't have to flip though the book to find out what my options are when things
start getting hairy.
The final, and perhaps most useful feature of the Dice Cradle is that it is a guarded rolling surface. Rolling on one of the two sides (on the signature if it is a big roll, on the reference guide if not) means that your dice will not go falling off the table, or worse rolling onto another player's DRZ (Dice Rolling Zone). But seriously, the raised edges of the frames ensure the dice stay in and you don't have to go searching around to find out what you rolled.
Really the only improvement I made over Christian's design is the place a clasp on the opposite side as the hinges so as to be able to lock the cradle shut for safe and easy transport. This ensures that you never have to take your dice out and they can soak up the luck from that signature the whole week!
Now this article has been about my Cradle that I am using for Hackmaster Basic, but believe me this works well for any RPG. In fact, Christian's original was used in a D&D game. So regardless of your game, make yourself a Dice Cradle. It's fast and easy to make and an extremely useful game aid. Hey, the GM has his screen, why shouldn't you have something cool too?
Essentially it is two frames, held together by two hinges so the glass sides will fold in on each other, thus protecting them from breaking while traveling. The two frames have a wooden edge that raised about half and inch. This provides enough space when folded together to keep dice inside safely. Under the two glass protectors one can keep any kind of information they feel important. Again, I took my cue from Christian's original design and placed important combat info on one side and a lucky signature on the other side.
A quick word ab
out the signature... Christian used Gary Gygax's signature in his, and normally I would not deviate from that. But I am using my Cradle for a Hackmaster game so... Yep, I'm using Gary Jackson's autograph! I took out a little insurance though by keeping Gary Gygax's signature right underneath. Yeah, I know that is kinda cheating. But hey, one can never have too much luck. The fame rub (HMB p.142) has never been so easy to execute!As for the other side of my cradle, I'm still new to HMB so I opted to put down all the 'Special Combat Moves' from the Combat chapter. This will mean I don't have to flip though the book to find out what my options are when things
start getting hairy.The final, and perhaps most useful feature of the Dice Cradle is that it is a guarded rolling surface. Rolling on one of the two sides (on the signature if it is a big roll, on the reference guide if not) means that your dice will not go falling off the table, or worse rolling onto another player's DRZ (Dice Rolling Zone). But seriously, the raised edges of the frames ensure the dice stay in and you don't have to go searching around to find out what you rolled.
Really the only improvement I made over Christian's design is the place a clasp on the opposite side as the hinges so as to be able to lock the cradle shut for safe and easy transport. This ensures that you never have to take your dice out and they can soak up the luck from that signature the whole week!
Now this article has been about my Cradle that I am using for Hackmaster Basic, but believe me this works well for any RPG. In fact, Christian's original was used in a D&D game. So regardless of your game, make yourself a Dice Cradle. It's fast and easy to make and an extremely useful game aid. Hey, the GM has his screen, why shouldn't you have something cool too?
Very cool, and simple! I dig it.
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