Mission: Accomplished! It Must Be Christmas!

Here we are: Christmas Eve. The time has come for the final tally of the roleplaying game dice that came in my specialist advent calendar this year.

We ended up with a very ordered spread:

• 3d4
• 3d6
• 3d8
• 3d10
• 3d12
• 3d20
• Metal d20
• 3d% (that is, d10s with faces marked 10, 20, 30 etc)

And a pin badge along with, today, a plastic miniature of a mindflayer/illithid

This novelty advent calendar was - unsurprisingly given its contents - the perfect pre-Christmas present from Rachel... and has definitely set a precedent for future festive favours.

The standout piece has to be the hefty, spikey, metallic d20. Unfortunately, some of its delicate numbering is nigh-on illegible to my old man's eyes and I can't help feeling it would work better as a slingshot projectile for taking down Biblical giants from Gath.

"Whoa, We're Halfway There; Whoa Oh, Livin' On A Prayer"

Dice (so far) from my advent calendar

We're halfway (12 days) to Christmas Eve, meaning we're halfway through my "dice advent" calendar (a glorious gift from my gorgeous wife, purchased from the TikTok Shop).

So far, the doors have revealed an interesting mix of dice (and an unexpected pin badge), namely:

• 3d4
• 1d8
• 2d10
• 3d12
• 2d20

All are quality dice that will find a home in my ever-increasing pool of roleplaying game dice, but I'm particularly smitten by the transparent 12-sider that was behind door number 12 today. It reminds me of a Fox's Glacier Mint.

But why no six-siders? Will the next dozen doors reveal a run of d6s?

We'll have to wait and see.

Rolling Into Christmas

A tradition has developed in our house of multiple advent calendars, but Rachel has outdone herself this year with a dice calendar (I believe purchased from the TikTok Shop).

We began today with a shiny d12 and by Christmas Eve I'm going to have 24 new polyhedral dice to add to my collection. Gamers can never have too many dice, right?

Alice has a meaty treats advent calendar and has already nommed the packet of three strips that was behind door number one.

I know as a geek I'm supposed to love Halloween (which I do, even though we don't embrace it like our trans-Atlantic cousins), but Christmas is still my favourite holiday time of the year.

The first wave of festive decorations went up at the weekend, namely the big tree in our dining area and the small tree in the lounge.

With the bulk of my present shopping done, appropriate tunes on the radio and seasonal films on television, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Our glorious tree with another advent calendar (of mini Santa sacks) across the door

This year's new decoration: Snoopy on his house