The Making of a Dice Tray

I was asked to post some pics of my attempts at making a dice tray, so here they are with some quick comments. But first, why use a dice tray or what good is one? Well, both Marty and I use it to pass the dice around the table for games like Elder Signs, King of Tokyo, and Zombie Dice. I use my small hexagon as a way to contain my dice during our RPG sessions. They also keep the dice on the table for those zealous rollers that you might have in your gaming group.

I started off with an octagon, tried the hexagon, and went back to octagon. An octagon requires a miter cut of 22.5 degrees, and that is a challenge to find that .5 degrees on the table. That is why I tried the hexagon, but I didn't like how the dice reacted when they hit the sides. From the picture below, you can see the various sizes and heights that I have attempted. I also tried numerous stains and I think the Golden Oak has been my favorite so far.

I have tried numerous ways to attach the bottom with rabbet cuts and groove cuts. I was using rabbet cuts at first, but when I inherited the Shopsmith Mark V, grooves become very easy to do with a dado blade. The picture below shows the cut, but unfortunately it is hard to see. (Also, when you type in Google rabbit cuts, you get a whole different set of webpages and you learn Zombie survival tactics). Now that I got the process down, I will start upgrading the wood so they sides are much nicer and will require less sanding.

As already stated, the right tools are a key and the strap clamp that you see below helps me get the pieces in place and then I can either glue them with the base board in place, or I will then put a rubber band around the trays to get everything in place, glue (Titebond is the stuff) and then air nail the whole project. I use a heavy foam template for marking the thin plywood veneer to cut out for the base (white board marked 1)

The finish product is below, but this did not stain as well as I wanted. I found some Rustoleum Stains marked way down at Lowes and while they looked good going on, they didn't cover very well. Not sure what happened there. The base is covered in a foam piece to help deaden the dice and then the fabric so it feels good on your fingers when you pick up the dice. I will use any material to cover the base because when I am at Walmart, I go through the scrap fabrics and pick up cheap leftover pieces. Overall, the inside dimension of the tray is 9 inches and that seems to be a good working size.

Well, that is about all there is to the making of the dice tray and I will say that a table saw really has made a huge difference since I started playing with this. I am going to start on the towers next and I promised a friend a Warmachine carrying tray which is going to be done next weekend I hope. I will post pictures of those projects as well.

I hope to have a bunch made by MACE and sell them at the show so I can upgrade some equipment for doing the podcast and of course pick up a few new games so we can get the reviews out to you guys.

Good luck if you decide to make a tray.

Day 1: Introduction

Hello! My name is Vanessa Connell and I live in Waxhaw, North Carolina with my husband and three sons. We enjoy many family activities such as sporting events, going to movies, and traveling. However, our favorite hobby is tabletop gaming! It is a time when electronics are turned off and we connect with each other and our friends. I would like to invite you to join me this month as I share our experience with tabletop gaming and how it has enriched our lives!

Kickstarter: Kromore 2145 RPG

We were contacted by some local gentlemen about a Kickstarter Project they have going on and they gave us the opportunity to preview their new RGP called Kromore 2145. Created by T. Julian Bell at R.A.EX Games, Kromore is a RPG based on a system (AKA RAEX system) that Julian started to design in 2007. At the basic level, it uses three combat open actions during a players turn. The actions may be to move, cover, attack and so on. And based on my reading of the manual, what you do determines the number of actions needed. For example, you want to walk, that might be one action leaving you with two more to use, but say you want to pull out a massive gun to destroy your enemy, that could cost you 3 actions thus ending you turn. Either way, how you spend those actions is the strategy of the game and in a way doesn't tie you down to a system that gives you a quick action and a normal action in a turn. In my simple mind based on the RPGs I have played or currently play, this mimics really how we do things and provides some structure.

Here is what I am talking about, say in one RPG you want to throw a knife. The first quick action you have is to pull out the knife, and then the second action which is an attack, would be throwing the knife. In the RAEX system, the manual may define that pulling the weapon is an action, throwing the knife is an action, leaving you with one action which could be take cover. Or say you want to pull out a knife, take aim and then throw, thus not letting you take cover, your choice. One could argue that other games allow for this as well and I am sure they do, but Kromore details this out for a whole bunch of stuff.

The book they are producing has a ton of detail and information in it, more than I expected when I first began to read it, so much so that I was a bit overwhelmed. This is definitely a thinking person's RPG. The character creation is very deep, the weapons are fully detailed, and the skills/professions/etc give you a very open system. For example in the current RPG that we play, we needed to figure out the damage that was caused by a door being splintered due to an explosion. It wasn't really defined like we wanted and we made due by using other concepts from the book. In Kromore, it is defined nicely on page 145 of the promo pdf rule book. Also, how much damage could the door take, is the wood treated or not? That determined how much damage the door could take. I liked that and it was easy to find.

Like I stated, I am sure other RPGs have all this in them, but I don't play theseRPGs, so I appreciate that RAEX Games included it in their first attempt.

So, if you are in the mood to try a different RPG than maybe the one you are doing that is heavier than maybe consider checking out Kromore 2145 out and for $20, pick up the pdf copy. Unfortunately, this game is way to in-depth for me and would require a lot more attention than I am able to provide. The game will close on Kickstarter on 10/4 and is just over 50%. If it doesn't make it, RAEX states they will relaunch if it doesn't get funded.

Wow - I never knew our shirts had style

Do you remember me telling you about Gene and his wife. I met them at Gen Con 2013 at the Dice Tower live podcast. And do you also remember how I gave her the RDTN shirt I had been carrying around for a day because it just seemed like the nice thing to do for people who listen to the show (see Episode 21). Well, she said that she was going to modify it a bit to give it a more style than our regular T-shirt. Today we heard from Gene and he sent us a picture of his lovely wife in her masterpiece. Thanks guys, it looks great!

And not being wasteful, she made a dice bag out of the leftovers, so she can carry them and be ready to take some names. Now, she was able to make our shirt look this good, just imagine the costumes they were wearing at Gen Con and you know how good they were.

Episode 23: Eww that smell

Yes, we promised not to use song titles awhile ago, but this one just fit. In this episode, we do one final batch of Gencon 2013 interviews. We still have a few left, but those will be spread out over the year. One of the big items in this episode is the chance to win $2000 at Square Shooters, the guys that brought you the dice that have the playing card suits on them. Be sure to listen to that as well as head over to their website to find out more details. We are still working out the details for a video and please be sure to send us your response for our At The Table segment. The question for October is: What game do you play to get you in the mood for Halloween? 

Intro - Run for you life Candyman	1:00
Marty's has a Brilliant Idea	2:30
RDTN Podcast Projects	7:30
Augustus Game Overview	10:00
Ted Alspach - Ultimate Werewolf Inquisition	15:00
Dan Yarrington	25:15
Melody - Smirk and Dagger	34:15
Sean Garrity - What's He Doing In There?	39:35
Square Shooters - Win $2000	42:06
In Closing	48:00

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At the Table: Send us your answers

As we said in Episode 22, the segment we do called 'At the Table' was liked by the listening audience. Normally, Marty will ask a question each month at the Queen City Game Club Meetup and get audio responses and I have used an online forum to get written in responses and then just read them during the podcast. What we want to try for October is to see if anyone would be willing to send in audio clips to be included in the podcast at the end of the month. We will post a question, you record your answer and then send it us in either MP3 or WAV format. Marty will then use his mixing talents and put it all together. Answers don't need to be long, matter of fact, 15 seconds should be long enough. You can state your name (if you want) then your answer. So, lets give this a try shall we?

Question for October: What game should be at the table to help you get into the Halloween theme?

Submit your audio recordings to rolldicetakenames@gmail.com

Thanks in advance and hopefully this will be the start of a recurring segment on the show, or it might be the last time we try this depending on the response. It is all up to you. No pressure.

Episode 22: Survey says...

The Cool Stuff Inc contest has come to a close and thanks to everyone who took the time to either join our BGG guild, do an iTunes Review, or fill out the survey. If you did each of those, thank you three times.

Congratulations to Traci Weiland, the winner of our drawing. Over in the BGG forum, we got a post going to help Traci figure out on to spend that money, so if you are so inclined, give some helpful advice but she has decided on Memoir '44 but sure the mind can be changed.

Marty and I are still reviewing the comments received and all the feedback is really helping us structure the show in the future. So in this episode we discuss Marty's experience at Dragon Con in Atlanta,  the survey results, and and interview with Patrick Connor of Arcane Wonders.

Dragon Con	.1:15
Survey Says	27:00
Patrick Connor - Mage Wars	49:26
Closeout	01:05:00

Yaya, Marty and the boys

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Pretty Graphs from the survey