@futurebird I dunno but... this Roman dice tower looks mighty nerdy to me. I think the evidence is piling up.

@potpie

This is damning.

Might as well have a bunch of character sheets with all the stats in Roman numerals.

"The front face of the tower bears the words: PICTOS VICTOS HOSTIS DELETA LVDITE SECVRI

When read as a sentence reads "The Picts are defeated, the enemies destroyed, play with confidence"

@rrgeorge

I'm trying to track it down. I've seen another example, but not in as good condition. The sources I can find are a little mid:

Explore the Early 20-Side Icosahedron Dice That Were Tossed in Ancient Rome

Icosahedron dice in stone, bone, rock crystal were used in Ancient Hellenistic and Roman times to divine prophecies.

My Modern Met (mymodernmet.com)

One claimed it's at "Musee Louvre"

@futurebird @rrgeorge I already see the pseudo-archaeologists go like "how did they create such an intricate object without lasers and CNC machines? I'm only asking questions..."

At least we know how this polyhedron was used. The "Roman Dodecahedrons" continue to confuse people. But, I don't think that is all that shocking.

There are many durable but baffling objects.

myrmepropagandist (@futurebird@sauropods.win)

Attached: 1 image I got one for my husband and he loves it. Can you guess what it's for? (If you love a 'big red robe' or 'number one factory' you may not participate in this guessing game, just be quiet and see what they say)

Sauropods.win (sauropods.win)

@futurebird i am intrigued by the dodecahedrons with different sized holes and uniform sized knobs but even more intrigued by the accompanying icosahedrons with uniform holes and different sized knobs

@bri_seven @futurebird They're for knitting gloves.

@drwho @futurebird

@bri_seven @futurebird Yup. They're jigs to make knitting gloves easier. The regular ones are for fingers, the lopsided ones are for the palm and back. The cuff, as I understand it, is usually knitted freehand.

@futurebird something that has always stuck with me but I have absolutely no idea where I read it was the observation that rpgs could have emerged at any time in the past several millennia. All you need is the concepts of storytelling and games of chance, and ideally some kind of writing so you can record your adventures and share rules and characters with others

@drwho @futurebird it’s a popular theory but there’s certain things about it that don’t really add up

@bri_seven @futurebird I know a bunch of knitters out here that have modern ones. In the Before Times we use to have stitch and bitch evenings.

@drwho @bri_seven

Having used a jig like that to make fingers for gloves I don't understand the utility of having different sized holes. The hole size isn't what controls the size of the finger, it's how many stitches there are in the round (and the thickness of the yarn) and if you use these things it's always 5.

If I wanted a tool to make various glove fingers it'd need to have a way to adjust the number of pegs.

And then you have the icosahedron versions... they don't have holes.

@futurebird @drwho to me they seem almost like gears for some kind of computer

@drwho @bri_seven

Having used a jig like that to make fingers for gloves I don't understand the utility of having different sized holes. The hole size isn't what controls the size of the finger, it's how many stitches there are in the round (and the thickness of the yarn) and if you use these things it's always 5.

If I wanted a tool to make various glove fingers it'd need to have a way to adjust the number of pegs.

And then you have the icosahedron versions... they don't have holes.

@futurebird @drwho @bri_seven I don't see how anyone could knit a good, functional glove this way. A jig is totally unnecessary for that anyway. All you really need is a few thin sticks and a certain amount of manual dexterity. There's another idea that these were meant for knitting wire. That makes a lot more sense to me, although I'm not 100 percent convinced.

Here is a Roman D20 carved from crystal in the 3rd century AD. These were used, historians suspect for telling fortunes. However, no one can *prove* they weren't used for some kind role playing game. Which is what getting a fortune told with a die is kind of like anyways if you ask me.

"roll for initiative"

@funkula @futurebird RPGs also need a theme, and the realization, from the players, that they can *create* their own theater play, instead of only watching.

I think that RPGs weren't created in Roman times or the Middle ages, because of lack of critical mass: too few people knew how to read/write, and paper was expensive. It would be much harder to find someone able to create a RPG system - an endeavor much harder to do than, say, create a theater play.

Here is a Roman D20 carved from crystal in the 3rd century AD. These were used, historians suspect for telling fortunes. However, no one can *prove* they weren't used for some kind role playing game. Which is what getting a fortune told with a die is kind of like anyways if you ask me.

"roll for initiative"

@jcastroarnaud @funkula

I think it depends on what you'd accept as "an RPG"

When I was 8 I was desperate to play D&D, my older brother, 17 ran a game, but wouldn't let me play because I was 8.

So, I decided to try to start my own game. Only. I didn't have a rule book, or anything.

I got my friends from school excited about the idea "it's like getting lost in a story"

And we made up characters I designed places for them to explore and was kind of a DM